Call to withdraw from ratifying CPTPP
KUALA LUMPUR: The government should withdraw from ratifying the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Permatang Pauh member of parliament (MP) Nurul Izzah Anwar said CPTPP would not benefit the poor, terminally ill, women and the government.
“Rising from the ashes of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was tanked by the United States President Donald Trump, the new trade deal will instead have serious implications on Malaysia.
“We are yet to see the new documents, the CPTPP is all out to seduce the US back to the negotiating table.
“The main change is that 20 provisions of the original pact, backed chiefly by the US, have been suspended.
“The suspension and not removal of the regressive provisions is not a reason for celebration as they can be reinstated to please the American administration,” she said at a press conference here yesterday.
Nurul Izzah added that the CPTPP still required enforcement of patents, including on medicines that were significantly stronger than what the World Trade Organisation’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ruled, which would have adverse implications on access to medicines.
“This would see the cost of lifesaving medicines skyrocket as a result of patent protections that safeguard the interests of large pharmaceutical companies at the expense of average Malaysian citizens.
“The extended patent on new medicines will choke the entry of the cheaper generic medicine, cutting short the lifeline of terminally-ill Malaysians,” she added.
Subang MP Wong Chen said Pakatan Harapan had been against TPP since 2014.
“We were against TPP agreement when the US was part of it and even more when the US decided to withdraw from the original trade pact,” he added.