GEORGE TOWN, Jan 19 – The Penang DAP led government is urged to state their stand on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TTPA), said Penang Federal Action Council chairman Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Osman. He said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, as the federal government representative, was in Penang recently to clarify that TPPA would provide greater benefits to Malaysians than challenges.
“Many private sector, businesses and manufacturing have supported TPPA because they stand to receive more benefits if the agreement can be realised. We are still waiting for the state government’s stand on whether they will adhere to the party’s policy to reject TPPA or otherwise, they have to answer to the people of this country,” he told reporters after meeting with federal government officials here Monday.
On January 9, Mustapa in a TPPA information event in Universiti Sains Malaysia, said Penang would receive greater benefits from TPPA because the state had long opened its doors to foreign investors. Zainal Abidin said the state government’s main resources were from the private sector generated by the electrical and electronic factories through foreign investments.
He said the state government’s administration must provide explanation and reasons if they rejected TPPA. Penang recorded foreign investments of RM5.4 billion as at September 2015 with 15,009 job oppportunities generated through 87 programmes and projects, he said.
