M'sia should not pull out from TPPA discussions

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia should not pull out from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) discussions.
In a statement today, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) CEO Wan Saiful Wan Jan said to be part of the negotiations "does not mean that we have to sign the TPPA."
"If Malaysia does not like with the end (of the discussion), there is no need for Malaysia to sign it.
"However, if Malaysia withdraws from the negotiations now, it will place the country in the weak situation as we would not know what will be discussed and we will not have the mechanism to affect the development of the negotiations," he said.
He was commenting on the statement by PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad on Monday calling on Malaysia to make a stand on the TPPA negotiations. Nik Nazmi had claimed the TPPA would only benefit the United States.
He said that in order to protect the rights and sovereignty of Malaysia, it is important to stay in the negotiations and be informed of what is going on.
However, he concurred with Nik Nazmi that the negotiations have been carried out "too discreetly".
"This is a disadvantage to the people as they do not know the actual status of what has been discussed during the negotiations.
"We call for information discussed during the negotiations to be revealed to the public," he added.