For Immediate Release
Press Statement on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
1) The conclusion of the negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has been announced by the President of United States as well as our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 5 Oct 2015. However the negotiation was done in total darkness of a black box operation in which, up till now, there is no formal public revelation of the details of all the 33 Chapters embedded in this agreement.
2) While the Minister of Trade and Industry Mr. Lim Hng Khiang has painted a rosy picture for Singapore SMEs to benefit from this TPPA, but we know that for every Free Trade Agreement, there will always be tradeoffs for every country.
3) It is inadequate for our Prime Minister and Minister to only talk about the potential benefits of TPPA without telling Singaporeans the tradeoffs we are going to make in return.
4) We urge the PAP government to make public all information with regards to TPPA as early as possible so that debate on this extremely important FTA could be carried out rigorously. We note that the government is obliged to make public the details of this agreement within 30 days from the signing. We would expect PAP government to fulfill this obligation.
5) It would be more helpful if an independent panel of academia, economists and experts could be set up to explain the potential implications of all the 33 Chapters.
6) We are particularly concerned over the impact on the income growth as well as job prospects of all Singaporeans, medicine cost, cost of living and population growth.
7) We are also concerned on the social and national impact of TPPA. In particularly, will TPPA give overwhelming powers to big corporations and MNCs to dictate our local legislation based on compliance clauses stated in it?
8) People’s Power Party is against black box operations for any legislation or ratification of any Free Trade Agreement without much transparency, open debate and scrutiny. If TPPA was proven to be overly controversial, we would want a referendum over its final approval.
9) We hope that PAP is more forthcoming and transparent with all the information of TPPA and do not shy away from public debate over this agreement.
Goh Meng Seng
Secretary General
For Pro-tem Committee People’s Power Party
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4 comments:
Do you think PAP will treat your press statement seriously?
We do not do things according to what PAP will do or how it will react.
We just perform our role as opposition as we deem fit. It is up for Singaporeans to judge and decide.
Goh Meng Seng
It is up for Singaporeans to judge and decide.
Goh Meng Seng 7:22 PM
Well said. But then didn't majority Singaporeans had already judged and decided on 11 Sep?
So what next will you do, differently and more, to make majority Singaporeans judge and decide to your PPP's favour come next GE? Surely not just by issuing Press statements? Even individuals can do that too, if they think they can warrant the attention of the Press.
I do not think just anyone will issue such press statement else you will be seeing a lot of such statements already.
And not everyone is willing or has the courage to step forward to face PAP as well.
I have no problem if people still voted for PAP despite of the things and argument we have put forward. But that doesn't mean we should do what we think best for Singapore: providing alternative views and policy debates and discourse, instead of just knocking doors and kissing babies.
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