“The government will do what it wants to do. Don’t ask why. You know what answer you will get when you ask the government any question.”
The government could not care less for whatever opposition that is voiced by anyone in Malaysia or abroad against signing the TPPA, he added. “It will go ahead and sign.”
Mahathir noted that the Minister of International Trade and Industry (MiTi) Mustapa Mohamad had given an assurance that the country can get out of the agreement anytime it wants. “Yes, indeed we can.”
“But it is not going to be easy and the cost would practically bankrupt us.”
So, please don’t talk about extricating ourselves from this treaty for controlling trade and investments called the TPPA, continued Mahathir. “It is not for promoting free trade. It is entirely dedicated to regulating trade.”
Against this, said the former Prime Minister, the people should remember that when the country had not entered into any such treaty, it became the 17th biggest trading nation in the world. “We were free to protect ourselves and to devise policies beneficial to the people. We grew fast at that time. We traded with whomever we liked.”
In the TPPA agreement, stressed Mahathir, companies can sue the government for loss of profit including future profit if its action results in the loss.
In one case in a Latin American country, recalled Mahathir, following massive pollution, the government decided to stop the mining operation granted to an American company. “The company then sued the government for loss of profit, including future profit amounting to several billion US Dollars.”
A decision to withdraw from the TPPA will obviously result in loss of profit and future profits by companies investing in Malaysia or trading with Malaysia, said Mahathir. “The withdrawal will involve numerous companies and the purported loss will run into hundreds of billions.”
“The court will not be ours where we can count on sympathy and concern for what will happen to our economy and finances.”
There is also no way the government can pressure or bribe the courts, said Mahathir. “We will just have to pay the billions.”