Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said the laws were the Trade Unions Act 1959; Industrial Relations Act 1967; Employment Act 1955; Sabah Labour Ordinance (Chapter 67); Sarawak Labour Ordinance (Chapter 76); Private Employment Agencies Act 1981; Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act, 1990 and the Children and Young Persons (Employment) Act 1966. Hence, the TPPA will not change the economic model (Malaysia).
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Waitangi Marae elder Kingi Taurua has said if the government signed the controversial trade deal the marae should close its gates to Prime Minister John Key. “It’s clear that our economic model is a mixed economy”. Some fear the TPP will encroach on affirmative action measures for the country’s Malay majority and hinder state-owned enterprises. They also spoke out over concern that the price of medicine will rise as a result of a longer patent-protection period under the intellectual property rights chapter.
Labour wants to be able to curb residential land and house sales to foreigners and does not regard a clause in the TPP, inserted by New Zealand negotiators and allowing discriminatory tax treatment of residential land sales to foreigners, as sufficient protection.
Nashita Md Noor, a 50-year-old social activist, believed Malaysia is not ready for the TPP.
The release of the National Interest Analysis, a document required for a select committee inquiry into the TPP as part of the ratification process, comes as opponents accuse the government of seeking to incite violent protest by holding an global signing ceremony in Auckland two days ahead of the February 6 national day, Waitangi Day.
The TPP nations also include Canada, Brunei, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
With the passage of the deal in the lower house, it will be brought for deliberation and voting in the Senate on Thursday, where it is expected to be easily passed since the National Front also dominates the upper chamber.
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It warns New Zealand’s competitiveness in TPP markets would be eroded, and trade and investment would be diverted away from New Zealand to other TPP members.
