Rain no deterrent to anti-TPPA protesters
A group of protesters sang in the rain against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) outside the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) today.
A group of protesters sang in the rain against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) outside the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) today.
As planned earlier, more than 100 protesters started to gather at the As-Syakirin Mosque at 2pm, after Friday prayers, for a round of speeches before marching under the light rain to the KLCC Park for another round of speeches.
Along the way, protesters chanted “Down with America” and “Reject TPPA”, while holding placards and banners that read “Beware of the TPPA menace” and “Generic medicine now”.
However, the rain got heavier around 3.20pm, near the end of the second round of speeches, leaving a group of about 50 to march on to their final destination on Jalan Ampang, which is in front of KLCC.
Many in the group wore Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) T-shirts or red ribbons that are synonymous with the AIDS awareness campaigns. Both SAMM are the Malaysian AIDS Council are members of the Bantah TPPA coalition, which organised today’s protest.
“TPPA, you cheat. We want you to withdraw. We come. We fight with the people of Malaysia.
“We fight. We fight. We fight until we win,” went one the songs sung by the crowd, adding a jovial atmosphere to the otherwise cold, wet protest.
'TPPA terms are lopsided'
The protest was originally planned in conjunction with United States President Barrack Obama's official visit to Malaysia.
It is now aimed at the delegation led by Obama's representative and US Secretary of State, John Kerry instead, who was at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2013 at the KLCC today.
The protesters fear that TPPA’s terms, which are largely secret except for purportedly leaked information, are lopsided to the benefit of American corporations at the expense of ordinary Malaysians, and are demanding that Malaysia withdraws from the talks.
About 12 police officers and men stood by and helped direct traffic, but did not interfere with the protest.
The protesters dispersed peacefully at about 3.25pm, but some took shelter at in the foyer of the KLCC Tower 2 and continued singing their protest songs for some time.
Among the speakers at the protest was Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael D Jeyakumar (left), who called on the government to disclose the terms of the TPPA and to put it to a referendum.
“When the TPPA was born in the US, there are 200 corporations that sat with negotiators who set the terms.
“But here, Malaysians do not know what is being discussed. Everything is secret. Even MPs don’t know its terms and the concessions we will have to make. Even Umno people and BN people don’t know, but the corporates do.
“What is this? Democracy? If this is a democracy, they have to tell us the terms in all 29 chapters (of the agreement),” Jeyakumar said.
Echoing his call was PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub, who in his speech demanded that the government tables a white paper on TPPA’s terms at the next sitting of Parliament.
Other speakers at today’s protest included Batu MP Tian Chua, PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan, Malaysian AIDS Council treasurer Hisham Hussein and Bantah TPPA leaders Badrul Hisham Shahrin and Anas Alam Faizli.
