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| Image: Flickr User - The White House |
By Prashanth Parameswaran
Support deemed sufficient for country to get mammoth free trade pact through.
Malaysia is almost certain to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement domestically in spite of the obstacles currently faced by its current prime minister, a scholar told a Washington, D.C.-based think tank Tuesday.
Although Malaysia is one of 12 countries in the mammoth free trade pact, which comprises 40 percent of global GDP, some remain concerned as to whether the current government under Prime Minister Najib Razak – now embroiled in a high-profile corruption scandal – will be able to push the deal through at home once negotiations are concluded in the following months (See: “After the Scandal: What’s Next for Malaysia”).
While Najib himself has supported the TPP as a way to boost Malaysia’s economy, the agreement is unpopular among some, including conservative Malays who oppose the cuts in state enterprises and government programs that benefit them. As I reported in June, a Pew Research poll found that Malaysians showed the least support for the TPP among all participants, with just 38% being for it (See: “Do Asians Back the US Pivot More than Americans?”).
But Pek Koon Heng, a professor at American University and a Malaysia expert, told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars today that the TPP would almost certainly pass in Malaysia in spite of the opposition to the agreement itself and Najib’s government more generally.
Read the full story at The Diplomat