MP SPEAKS The recent statement by Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya seems to indicate that he just woke up from a coma. The Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has been going back and forth between the Malaysian and US negotiators, plus 10 more countries, over the last five years.

However, the Health Ministry has chosen to voice its concerns over the patent period, after the trade deal has been concluded. The agreed text is currently undergoing legal scrubbing and awaits national ratifications from respective participating ccountries.

The text will only be made publicly available in a month.

And not just that, but the deputy minister is also clueless as to how the process works. He has said the views and suggestions of the Health Ministry on the TPPA are still at the discussion stage. This is ludicrous, considering the fact that the negotiations have been finalised.

I agree with Hilmi’s ( photo ) concerns, but they should have been raised by Malaysian negotiators during the long, five-year process. The fact that not even a whimper was said during the various meetings seems to indicate that the issues raised by the Health Ministry were brushed aside by the Malaysian negotiators, who may well have buckled under US pressure.

Hilmi is raising questions that I have repeatedly posed in Parliament. In the last session of Parliament, I asked the Health Minister if the ministry had done the health impact assessment study on the impact of the TPPA on access to affordable medicine for the poor.

The minister replied in the negative, giving his assurance as well that the government of Malaysia will protect the interests of its people.

But today, the same ministry is saying that it will not support the deal struck in Atlanta and is accusing the US for the gross mistake. I hope that the minster is aware that the Malaysian government has agreed to an extension of patent medicine and biologics.

Such flip-flop antics seem to extend beyond the Health Ministry. For example, the International Trade and Industry Minister, Mustapa Mohamed, said if affordable medicine is not made available to all Malaysians through the TPPA, then the government would not sign on the controversial trade deal.

Going by what these cabinet members have said in the past, the Malaysian government needs to come clean to the people as to whether it will still go ahead and sign on the dotted lines.

CHARLES SANTIAGO is the Member of Parliament, Klang.