TPPA should be called investor protection pact, says MP

by  James Sivalingam    December 4, 2015    Source : Free Malaysia Today 

PETALING JAYA: Charles Santiago of DAP has said that while trade and its promotions are extremely important for the nation, trade deals should serve all stakeholders; businesses, governments and its people, where everybody should be able to benefit from it.

At a press meet here this morning, the Klang MP said the old ‘zero sum game’ notion, where one gains and the rest lose was “passe” and new approaches were needed with agreements that balanced profit, rights and the interest of people.

“Rights are heavily compromised in our current agreements. It is very skewed in favour of businesses over the rights and lives of people.
“In fact, one should call this an ‘investor protection agreement’, as oppose to trade and investment agreement,” said Santiago.

Trade, Santiago believed should recognise a company’s need for profit. However, he said protection of consumers and workers were equally important.

Empowering the middle and working class population who tend to spend, would increase the aggregate demand of the economy, which in turn was profitable for businesses, he claimed.

Malaysia should also make policy changes that moves it out of the bottom of the supply chain to a higher level, which involves ownership of patterns and intellectual properties as well as development of new products and processes.

He added, “Our universities and vocational schools have to be at the forefront of this.

“This means we have to rethink the way we organise our schools, vocational centres and universities.