PUTRAJAYA: Farming and consumer NGOs want
to know if Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu studied the
impact of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific
Partnership (CPTPP) on the agricultural sector before agreeing with the
government's decision to ratify the agreement.
The 54 groups, represented by the
Malaysia Food Sovereignty Forum, handed over a memorandum to Mohamad at his
ministry on Thursday (Dec 29).
Forum
head coordinator Nurfitri Amir Muhammad said the CPTPP infringes upon the
rights of farmers, livestock breeders and fishermen and will have a negative
impact on the country's food security and sovereignty.
"Does the government now only care about the exporters (and not)
the local farmers and fishermen who work hard every day to ensure that the
country's food security can be met?" he asked.
Mohamad declined to answer any questions from the media, merely stating:
"It is their right to pass the memorandum to me."
He had been asked why the memorandum was
being delivered to him and not the International Trade and Industry Ministry
(Miti), which was in charge of ratifying the CPTPP on behalf of the government.
In the memorandum, Nurfitri claimed that
without any action on the government's part, Malaysia may lose control of its
food and product supply and prices to other countries.
"What we are saying is not new.
Before the last government’s Cabinet meeting to ratify the agreement on Sept 30,
other memos and media statements had been made by farmers, livestock breeders
and fishermen and relevant NGOs urging it not to ratify the agreement in haste.
"However, our words are often
labelled by profiteering capitalists and open market advocates as baseless and
unfounded.
"If the parties supporting this
agreement claim that the CPTPP will allow them to export more goods and make
greater profits, on what basis do they deny farmers the right to share and sell
seeds freely and deny fishermen the right to fish freely just because they want
to export more?" the memorandum read.
Among the effects of the CPTPP it listed
are: denying farmers' rights to share and sell seeds; depriving fishermen of
the right to catch certain types of fish; increasing costs to farmers and
breeders; and difficulties in implementing CPTPP mechanisms on the ground.
The three-page memorandum was endorsed by
famers, livestock breeders and fisherfolk organisations, consumer associations
and environmental organisations.
It was also ratified by entrepreneur and
economic associations, social, human rights, health, religious and cultural
organisations, research and development organisations and political parties.
In October, the previous government
stated that Malaysia had ratified the CPTPP following the government’s
submission of the instrument of ratification to New Zealand, the depository
country, on Sept 30.
At the time, Miti said the ratification came after years of detailed deliberation, extensive consultations and careful assessment by the government.
Artikel oleh: The Star
NGOs HAND MEMO TO MAT SABU OVER GOVT'S SEPT 30 RATIFICATION OF TRANS-PACIFIC TRADE PACT
No comments:
Post a Comment