Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)

The government should not be hasty in signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) but must first clarify all the details of the agreement. Any decision concerning the interests of the people must be made cautiously as the agreement has a wide range of implications, one of which is the rise of cost of medicine which the people are worrying and it will impose a heavy burden the poor and the people on long-term medications. As such, the government must conduct a more in-depth study on the cost of medicine, law and intellectual property, the impact on the economy of Malaysia as a whole. I think in the end we should let the people including professionals to engage in an open consultation to get the final conclusion for an amicable solution. Meanwhile, the government representatives in the TPPA negotiations must keep defending the interests and sovereignty of Malaysia and the Cabinet must express and strengthen Malaysia’s position that TPPA must be most beneficial to us before signing the agreement. The government must insist on disagreeing on those proposals which deprive our people of affordable medicine and healthcare and should make sure we do not compromise this in the TPPA negotiations. The signing of TPPA has a significant impact on our economy as we know foreign trade has long been the locomotive of Malaysian economy. As the agreement involved economic powerhouses such as US, China, Japan, its impacts on our businesses must be firstly studied and understood. Malaysia is expected to sign the TPPA agreement this year, but it is still face with opposition from the local businesses and NGOs. As such it is foremost important for the government to answer their concerns including the impact of TPPA on Malaysia sovereignty and policies, lifting of tariff and non-tariff barriers, government procurement, labour rights, environment, medicine, capital controls, economic policy, SME, tobacco control, transfer of knowledge etc before signing the agreement.