Malaysia can withdraw from Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) with no penalties, said International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed.

He said that the "opt-out" options can be checked out even after the agreement is ratified and in force by 2018, and the only danger is Malaysia will become "less competitive".

"There are a few possible outcomes. Even after we sign, ratify, and implement by 2018, and we feel uncomfortable, we can withdraw, no problem.

“It is not as though anyone is going to attack our country if we get out of the TPP. This is voluntary.

"We are entering negotiations voluntarily. We can leave, and if we leave, there are no penalties.

"The penalty would be that our country would be less competitive,” he told the audience at the #TanyaGomen programme organised by the Economic Transformation Programme in Kelana Jaya today.

'Good outweighs bad'

Mustapa however said that the government does not consider withdrawing at first because they believed that the benefits of the TPP outweighed the drawbacks.

He said participating in TPP talks is important because it ensured Malaysia could influence the deal to safeguard the country’s core policies from being compromised, as opposed to joining the trade deal at a later stage.

“I admit that it has its pros and cons, but the government’s view on it is that the good outweighs the bad.

"We will wait for the decision of parliamentarians, and we will wait for the cost-benefit analysis. We want the decision to be made fairly, objectively, and viewed from different perspectives,” he said.

“If we only choose to join, say 10 years later, when instead of 12 countries, there are already 20 countries involved, and we are pressured as a country dependent on trade to join, by then, we would not be able to negotiate as we have today.

"We would have to accept the terms based on what had been decided by other countries," he said.