Dr M: We will be colonised again under TPPA
The former Prime Minister knows the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) is set on agreeing to the TPPA despite criticism from all quarters.
Anisah Shukry, FMT
Malaysia will lose its sovereignty should the BN-led government insist on “secretly” bulldozing through with the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned today.
The former prime minister predicted that signing the new trade deal with the 11 other Pacific Rim countries would lead to the loss of billions in taxpayers’ money, and leave Malaysia bound “hand and foot” to the whims of America.
“…[America] invented TPP, a partnership of unequal, of the strong to take advantage of the weak. This is going to be legally binding. If we breach the agreement, their corporations can sue the Government for billions,” he wrote on his blog chedet.cc last night.
He doubted Malaysia would win the legal tussle, pointing to the decades-long sovereignty dispute Malaysia had with Singapore over the Pulau Batu Puteh which, in 2008, saw the neighbouring country claim victory in the World Court.
“After we sign the TPP we will be bound hand and foot. No more capital control. We will be colonised again,” warned Mahathir.
But the premier, who still wields considerable influence in BN lynchpin Umno, noted that the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) was set on agreeing to the TPPA despite criticism from all quarters.
“I know the MITI is already set to agree to the TPP. It will not entertain any counter arguments. It wants to do this secretly. We don’t punish people who make agreements detrimental to the interest of this country. So what is there to lose,” he said.
The deal, which is expected to be signed before October, has received flak from opposition leaders as well as civil society, who charge that such an agreement would reduce the public’s access to affordable drugs.
