Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed and the government have given Abim and two other NGOs an assurance that the controversial Trans-Pacific Pact Agreement (TPPA) will not be signed until it is debated in Parliament.

Senior federal counsel Mazlifa Ayob said this in the High Court chambers in reference to a judicial review application filed by Abim and the two NGOs earlier this month.

Lawyer for Abim and the two NGOs, Hanif Khatri Abdullah, said the case has now been fixed for Dec 1, before Justice Asmabi Mohamed, who will hear the leave (permission) to initiate a hearing on the merits of the application.

Abim, through its president Mohamad Raimi Abdul Rahim, and the NGOs Urusetia Menangani Gejala Sosial (Unggas) and Persatuan Pendidikan dan Kebajikan Melayu (Teras), want the respondents to be refrained from signing the TPPA.

Besides this, they want the TPPA be revealed to the public along with other related documents on the trade pact.

However, following the release of the TPPA agreement on Nov 4, Hanif said they have agreed to withdraw its application for that document to be revealed but they still want other related documents to be made available to them, and also a declaration that the signing the agreement goes against the federal constitution.

The lawyer explained the government was required to reveal the TPPA agreement to the public by Nov 3 and that was why they filed the judicial review application on Nov 4, as it had not been released.

There are fears that following President Barack Obama’s visit to Malaysia tomorrow, the government will sign the TPPA.

Hanif said although today's leave application should have been an ex-parte matter, the SFC said they needed more time to study the application and affidavits filed.

“In the interest of justice, we allowed the leave application to be postponed from today till Dec 1,” he said.

Besides Hanif the other lawyers Aidil Khalid, and Abi Mursyidin Awal appeared for the applicants.