FTA? What The Hell Is That?

'MPs must know FTA's impact on future generations' - The Star, 19th Oct 2006

• It is imperative for Members of Parliament (MPs) to know what impact the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the US and Malaysia will have, as the agreement will affect the country's economy and future.
• "Many MPs are clueless about the FTA and its implications," Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation director Charles Santiago said today.
• "MPs should ask questions on the FTA's contents and its impact, for the good of future generations," he added at a Gabungan Rakyat Menentang FTA (GRMFTA) press conference.
• The group - comprising 38 non-governmental organisations and opposition parties - offered to help MPs understand the issues involved through briefings.
• It also asked if the government had conducted a cost-benefit analysis of the FTA that takes into account trade and job gains and losses, loss of policy freedom, social effects such as access to affordable medicines and knowledge, food security and technology transfer.
• Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy secretary general Dr Xavier Jayakumar said: "We are not against trade, but we do not want a lopsided trade agreement with the US."
• "The World Trade Organisation agreement is a government-to-government level agreement but the FTA is an agreement between the country and large corporate interests," he said.
• "Once it is signed, there is no turning back," he said, noting that the FTA also allows private companies - some which are richer than the country itself - to haul governments to international courts.

Clueless? I bet they are, with the worshipping practice, "government must be right!". They don't need to know anything because it just can't be wrong. It sounds pretty dangerous to their empire when companies can haul government to international courts.

No more cover-up, closed-door meeting and under table solutions for you guys? Better think carefully before you put your signature on it, you seriously need to know the impact on future generation, especially your unquestionable empire and not even FIL can get you out of the mess you created.

FTA sounds to me that I am getting "more transparency"?