Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Reconsider + Revise + Review the TPPA!

Malaysians esp rural people know less about this so-called TPP agreement between the Uncle Sam's country and few other countries.. wake up and don't be fooled by the negotiators.. Read more and do research before following what the negotiators want us to follow.. Keep on updating on this issues via this web/blogs: NajisTPPA; It's Our Future; Occupy TPPA; donttradeourlives and many more web/ blogs.

Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
This agreement (if they are succeed) could have a huge effect in our everyday life esp to the middle to lower income people. The biggest damage will be in our economy, food safety & security, environment, health, investment, legal system, research & education.

Why they negotiate secretly and no public access towards the agreement?The negotiation itself is not proper and not acceptable. We live in a democracy, which means we have the right to know what is done in our name and to have a say.

TPPA Damages (from the NZ web)
If the negotiations are completed, the government will have a hard time to look after our environment, promote health, protect workers and consumers, and promote the public interest:
  1. Most restrictions on foreign investment will be frozen and rolled back even further.
  2. Big overseas companies will be able to sue the government for millions in damages in secretive offshore tribunals, claiming that new laws and regulations (for example, a ban on fracking, smoking control laws, or a cap on electricity prices) have seriously undermined the value of their investments.
  3. Medicines will become more expensive as big pharmaceutical companies gain more influence over PHARMAC, and restrictions are placed on generic medicines.
  4. Copyright laws will be toughened and more harshly enforced, restricting internet freedom and access to information, costing libraries, schools, and businesses, and stifling innovation.
  5. Parallel importing will be banned, meaning that ordinary people, especially the poor, will have to pay far more for all sorts of ordinary products.
  6. Foreign banks, insurance companies and money traders will gain more powers to challenge laws designed to prevent another financial crisis; and overseas property dealers could contest moves to burst the property bubble, such as a capital gains tax.
As for Malaysians, the same effects will be (from several references):
  1. TPPA could also encourage increased export of raw materials which would inspire even more logging, forest clearing and mining, by removing export taxes.
  2. The TPPA’s IP protection measures will also impact access to knowledge in the fields of culture, education, research and publication.
  3. With the TPPA, access to affordable, life-saving medicines for millions of people is under threat as big pharmaceutical companies seek higher protections for their patents and clinical data and to make it harder for generic companies to produce affordable generic medicines.
  4. The TPP may extend the duration of copyright beyond the present 50 years after the death of the author, which would impact on library digitization programmes, lead to removal of works already digitized from public access, restrict the re-use or use of out-of-copyright works; raise the prices of library materials; and lead to fewer purchase of works by libraries.
  5. The TPP may make it harder for computer users to make even “buffer” (temporary) copies of documents; download music; and Internet Service Providers may be able to bar users from the Internet for violation of copyright.  ISPs are encouraged to implement measures like ‘three strikes’ after which users are barred from the internet for infringement offences.

So what will be the decision of Malaysia government? Will they just follow the negotiators? Will they decide to continue with the agreement? Will they reconsider and rethink of TPPA? Will they give full info and the effects of the agreement to the RAKYAT? 

Please do meet the Rakyat and explain what is the gov stand! This is NOT a secret anymore!