TPPA: What’s in store for us?

Many of us only have an inkling of what it’s really about and the actual contents of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement continue to be shrouded in mystery.

COMMENT

By Su Kian Hui

Yesterday the government announced the conclusion to the drawn out negotiation of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

The announcement was made at a press conference and PKR’s vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar took exception to the absence of the minister in charge Mustapa Mohamed, lamenting the attitude of the ministry towards such an important matter.

The TPPA is of as much concern to the general public as it is to the politicians and government.

Many of us only have an inkling as to what the agreement entails, gleaned from the sporadic and patchy objections voiced by a few concerned and anxious quarters. But the actual contents continue to be shrouded in mystery.

Someone, tongue in cheek, said waiting for the full revelation of the TPPA is akin to a bridegroom waiting to unveil his arranged bride on the wedding night.

Since the TPPA negotiation first came to light the most strident concern and objection raised pertained to the Bumiputera agenda and intellectual properties, especially access to affordable drugs and medical treatment.

Yesterday we read in the news that the Agreement actually consists of a few hundred pages.

It is a no-brainer that a trade agreement of this magnitude will have far reaching economic, socio and political ramifications.

As is always the case when there is a major change of policies, the rich do not suffer and may even benefit from these changes, but if there are any adverse consequences those left high and dry are the ordinary folks.

As it stands, we are already saddled with the GST (Goods and Services Tax) and the weakening currency, and its attendant inflation. The ordinary folks can ill afford another blow.

With the assurance that the government had taken great pains to ensure our interests were protected in the negotiations, we should expect some positive outcomes but until we see the Agreement our concerns naturally linger.

Speaking of the concerns of our local interests calls to mind the less developed economies’ experiences in the wake of formalising trade agreements with the US.

A case in point is when in the early ‘90s the Russians discovered to their consternation a major trade agreement with the US was indeed a lop-sided one. The less informed Russians with no exposure to market economy had happily liberalised their economies to the US expecting reciprocal treatment.

They were dismayed that exceptions of the so-called partnership were actually camouflaged in fine and nuanced legal language. For example, that agreement barred the Russians from exporting aluminium products to the US without even them realising it.

Those who are aware of the Russian experience and have read Joseph Stigliz’s caution about globalisation in his book Globalisation And Its Discontents will naturally hope and pray that the field ahead for Malaysia is cleared of land mines.

It doesn’t help to allay our worries that our government is not going to disclose anything to us until the TPPA is signed.

Meanwhile we just have to trust our government and hope that some of us, including yours truly, have indeed been crying wolf.

Su Kian Hui is an FMT reader.