TWN Info Service on Free Trade Agreements

19 October 2006


Stop FTA talks and talk to the people
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz
Oct 19, 06 4:22pm
(From http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/58450)


Before and after every round of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, the US Trade Representative provides briefings and reports to business and industry groups in that country.

Why is the Malaysian government not disclosing any information on the talks to its own people?

Posing this question today, a coalition of opposition political parties, non-governmental organisations and civil society have demanded that the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) stops the FTA talks with the US until a thorough study is done on all the issues concerned and disclosed to the public.

The next round of negotiations between the US and Malaysia, which is led by Miti secretary-general Abdul Rahman Mamatare, is scheduled for Oct 30 - Nov 3 in Kuala Lumpur. There have been two rounds of talks so far - the first in Washington and the second in Penang.

Members of the Anti-America-Malaysia FTA coalition said stopping the negotiations was all the more urgent and necessary considering that bilateral FTAs between the US and other developing countries have proven
to have worsened the lives of millions.

“These (US-Malaysia FTA) talks are so secretive that the public is not aware of what is being discussed and how it will affect the country!” coalition chairperson Dr Xavier Jayakumar told a press conference at the
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

“Why all this secrecy? If there is nothing to hide, we the Malaysian public would like to know the details” added Jayakumar, who is PKR deputy secretary-general.

According to him, Miti had refused the coalition’s request for a meeting and despite having expressed its willingness to exchange correspondence on the issue, the ministry has not provided any information on the discussions with its US counterpart.

Malaysians will suffer

Members of the coalition, who include PAS and DAP, said Malaysians would suffer from an FTA with the US in terms of job security and working conditions, affordable medicine and food security.

Secretariat member of the workers advocacy group Oppressed Peoples’ Network (Jerit) D Sevan said US FTAs with developing countries led to the weakening of the countries labour unions relative to the management bodies of corporations.

He said Malaysian workers, who are already suffering from a legal and business environment that is hostile to unions, would be worst off following a FTA with the US.

“Yet, despite bearing the brunt of the (potential) costs of an FTA, workers are not even consulted!” he added.

On this point, Jayakumar noted that a large percentage of Senegal’s workers in the manufacturing sector lost their jobs following its FTA with the European Union, with similar developments having occurred in
many other countries.

Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation (MSN) head Charles Santiago said among the main thrusts of the US in its FTA talks with Malaysia is to protect and promote US investors’ rights to the same standards as
Malaysians.

He said this will reduce any privileges Malaysians would have over foreign businesses such as subsidies and bids for government procurement.

He said as the US seeks the protection and promotion of its investors’ intellectual property, this would have disastrous consequences on Malaysians’ access and ability to afford medical treatment, for example,
as medicines would be more expensive.

Commenting on this, Positive Malaysian Treatment Access and Advocacy Group (MTAAG) for HIV/AIDS-affected persons director Edward Low warned
that the FTA and its provisions for patenting rights would not only kill local pharmaceutical companies producing generic medicines but HIV/AIDS-infected persons as well who cannot afford the higher costs of
medicine.

Agricultural products

Jayakumar also pointed out that the elimination of tariffs and other barriers to US imports would lead to the flooding of the Malaysian market with US agricultural products made cheaper by government
subsidies.

“At this point, we’ve been having problems with (competition posed by rice exported from) Thailand, and now we’re going to have US rice?” he said, noting that 25 percent of US rice production is subsidised by the US government, far more than the Malaysian government’s assistance to local farmers.

Jayakumar also asked whether Malaysia would follow the example of the US - whose Congress has to approve FTAs negotiated by its Trade Representative before they can come into effect - and involve Parliament in the decision to sign the FTA.

“Would Parliament ask for a white paper? A public hearing? A parliamentary debate? Or (set up) a parliamentary select committee to discuss the agreement?

“Up until now, Parliament has been silent on the matter. Will there be public participation with stake holders? Can we hope for an open and fair discussion?” he asked.

He said the coalition will organise a demonstration against the FTA with the US in front of Sheraton Imperial Hotel - the venue of the five-day talks - as well as submit a memorandum to Abdul Rahman.