Accused by PAS of backing TPP for Chinese concerns, DAP insists firmly against trade deal

(Malay Mail Online) – The Trans-Pacific Partnership will be detrimental to Malaysians by causing prices to increase and killing off small— and medium-sized enterprises, Lim Guan Eng said today when reaffirming DAP’s rejection of the trade deal.

Disputing PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s claim that the Chinese domination of local industry meant that DAP was supportive of the TPP, Lim said that race and religion did not factor into the support or otherwise for the free trade agreement.

The DAP secretary-general claimed that his party was firmly against Malaysia signing the deal as it would purportedly cause nearly 40 per cent of SMEs to close down.

“This is a fact that the federal government has yet to address,” the Penang lawmaker said in a statement released today.

“Malaysians would expect such misrepresentation of DAP’s position or a racially-tinged statement from Umno but for a PAS leader to indulge in such baseless untruths shows that PAS is now not only co-operating with Umno but also adopting Umno’s dirty politics of slander against the DAP,” Lim said.

He pointed out that the TPP is initiated by Umno not by DAP and that the the agreement is led by the United States to restrict China’s influence geo-politically.

“Using Hadi’s logic, then Umno must be Chinese too for initiating the passing of the TPP in Parliament. Why then does Hadi continue to work with Umno and even advice the BN federal government?”

He then told Hadi that he should not be against TPP if he is “so anti-Chinese”, but to support the TPP to oppose China.

Lim also asked why Hadi chose not to criticise Umno for spearheading Malaysia’s involvement in the TPP if PAS were sincere in its opposition to the deal, adding that PAS now appeared to be on congenial terms with the lynchpin of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Last week, Hadi accused DAP of agreeing to the TPP because the Chinese control trade in Malaysia.

This is despite the DAP announcing that it would vote against the TPP if Putrajaya could not clarify the impact of the agreement.

Parliament will convene a special session this week to discuss Malaysia’s participation in the TPP.

A rally was held during the weekend to oppose Malaysia’s signing of the free trade deal, although Pakatan Harapan parties such as DAP and PKR were poorly represented.