TWN Info Service on Free Trade Agreements

15 March 2007


Protest Over Malaysia-US FTA Held Outside PM’s Office

A public demonstration was held outside the Malaysian prime minister’s office yesterday as the Cabinet deliberated on the Malaysia-US FTA.

Hundreds of representatives from grassroot organizations, NGOs and political parties protested against the FTA calling for a halt to the negotiations as they believe it threatens the livelihoods of many Malaysians as well as the country’s economy and sovereignty.

A delegation delivered a memorandum to an aide of the prime minister who was reported to have given an ‘assurance’ that matters had not yet been finalised as the ministers are still “studying the issues”.

Below are two articles reporting on Wednesday’s demonstration.


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Item 1

About 200 in protest over Malaysia-US free trade deal

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) About 200 people opposed to a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States gathered for a rare protest outside the Malaysian prime minister’s office Wednesday, demonstrators said.

"It was a noisy protest lasting up to about 90 minutes," said V. Selvam, of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress. He estimated the crowd at 200, mostly farmers from the country’s rice bowl in northern Kedah state.

They shouted "No to FTA, no to FTA with America," he said.

The group also included non-government organisations and opposition political parties, said another demonstrator, Ahmad Sabki Yusof, national youth secretary of the Islamic party, PAS.

He said they gathered outside the office of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur.

A delegation of six people conveyed their message in a memorandum handed to a government official, Selvam said.

Malaysian farmers, activists and opposition parties have been demanding a halt to the talks on an FTA, which they say will damage livelihoods.

Demonstrations are rare in Malaysia and even rarer at the Putrajaya seat of government, where access is more difficult.

Selvam said police watched the protest but did not intervene.

Dozens of activists last month held a peaceful protest outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur to call for an end to FTA negotiations with the United States.

The two countries have held five rounds of talks but negotiations have bogged down over 58 unresolved issues and no further rounds have been scheduled.

Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz has said sensitive or "no-go" issues, including Malaysia’s positive discrimination policies for its majority ethnic Malays, would be excluded from the next round of talks.

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Item 2

Don't fear the Iron Lady, ministers told
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz
Mar 14, 07 3:58pm
(http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/64504)


‘Do not be afraid of Rafidah Aziz!’

This is the message that protestors conveyed to the cabinet as ministers deliberated on the US- Malaysia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the administrative capital of Putrajaya this morning.

The International Trade and Industry Ministry helmed by Rafidah - who is known as the ‘Iron Lady of Malaysia’ - has led the past five rounds of FTA talks with the US Trade Representative.

The protestors, who had gathered outside the prime minister’s office, said ministers should not be intimidated into acquiescing to the trade agreement.

“Why is the cabinet so afraid of this woman? This woman who is acting for US interests?” asked former PAS leader Mahfuz Omar to shouts of approval from the more than 300 protestors.

Mahfuz is also the chair of the Kedah-based Institute of Community Integration and Development (Impak).

The protestors, comprising PAS members and supporters as well as representatives from grassroots groups, marched from the Putra Mosque to the premier’s office some 500 m away.

The hour-long protest, which started at 9am, was carried out under the watchful eyes of some 20 police personnel.

The protestors carried placards and banners, which among others, said ‘Don’t trade away our lives’ and ‘Don’t let US rule Malaysia’.

Just one minister

Meanwhile, PAS treasurer Dr Hatta Ramli told the protestors that Rafidah’s 26 years in office should not intimidate her peers.

“She may be a senior minister, as senior as (works minister) S Samy Vellu and (energy, water and communications minister) Dr Lim Keng Yaik. But she is only one minister!” he said.

Earlier, Mahfuz and five other leaders met briefly with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s senior private secretary Ahmad Yaakob to submit a memorandum on their concerns over the FTA.

During the closed-door meeting, Ahmad was said to have given an ‘assurance’ that matters had not yet been finalised as the ministers are still “studying the issues”.

If this is the case, Marginalised People’s Network (Jerit) co-ordinator D Letchimi Devi asked the protestors what Rafidah meant when she maintained that the cost-benefit analysis for the FTA had already been conducted?

“Are they (cabinet ministers) still willing to sell our dignity, to sell their own people, to the American capitalists?” she said.

The other speakers warned ministers that their names would go down in infamy if they agreed to an FTA with the US.

“The fate of 25 million people in this country cannot be gambled on an agreement which binds its future to the interests of a foreign nation,” said Malay advocacy group Teras president Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid.

Malaysian farmers, activists and opposition parties have demanded a halt to negotiations on the FTA which they say will damage livelihoods.

They also claim provisions in the FTA would bind the government and restrict the space for it to make policy in the public interest due to the higher protection measures for investors proposed by the US.