The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is a chance for Malaysia to reevaluate its bumiputera policy and enhance transparency in their governance or risk being left out.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) founder Wan Saiful Wan Jan said by joining TPPA, the Malaysian government has the opportunity to catalyse the transformation process including by reassessing bumiputera policies and state-owned enterprises (SOE) to be fairer and more transparent.

“In bumiputera policy, there are two inter-related issues, bumiputeras and SOE. This is something Malaysia needs to resolve (to join TPPA). The agreement could be an opportunity and catalyst to speed up reforms,” he said after an Ideas forum on TPPA in Kuala Lumpur today.

Wan Saiful moderated the one-and-a-half hour forum featuring the US Trade Representative, Michael Froman ( left in photo ).

Other panellists were economic expert Munir Majid and Employee Provident Fund (EPF) chief economist Nur Hisham Hussein.

Wan Saiful added that Malaysia was allowed to continue its bumiputera-centric policies in the TPPA negotiations, but needs to make the policy clear and transparent.

“For government contracts, they need to specify. For example, they need to reveal x amount given to bumiputera. They can’t change it say, to give more (to bumiputera) for general elections,” he said.

Nurhisham, said in his opinion he also admits that the bumiputera policy needs to be reassessed.

“I think there is a realisation that the bumipuera policy needs to be revamped.

“We need to take a re-look at our approach on social integration, we need to re-look on poverty and the imbalance of Malaysia’s economy,” he said.

‘Malaysia had guaranteed rights’

Froman, during the forum, revealed that Malaysia had guaranteed rights to continue its bumiputera policy.

“Ministers Mustafa and Najib has made it clear how important the bumiputera policy is. I think it is a sovereign right. You will decide,” he said.

The forum was organised to give a chance for Froman to engage with various groups about their concerns regarding the TPPA.

Wan Saiful ( photo ), in conclusion, said that the main problem for TPPA in Malaysia is lack of information from the government regarding the negotiations, which have been going on since 2010.

“If we browse the EU (European Union) website we could see the EU trade negotiating team’s position. For Malaysia, we still do not know.

“The weakness (with TPPA negotiations) is the way the Malaysian government provides information to the public,” he concluded.