YOURSAY 'How did the former PM have access to the still confidential TPP Agreement? Is he not a member of the public, like everybody else in the country?'

Dr M to gov't: Stop being secretive about TPPA

Aishah: Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he has read all 29 chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). How? He must have a direct link to US President Barack Obama.

MrM How come this old man who is retired from government has access to the TPPA in full, when ordinary Malaysians do not?

Ksn: A simple question for Mahathir and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak - how did the former PM get access to the still confidential TPP Agreement? Is he not a member of the public, like everybody else in the country?

Or is he still the unofficial PM of Malaysia, as many say? An explanation is in order.

Joker: Why is it that Mahathir, an ordinary Malaysian, is able to access, read and comment on all 29 chapters of the TPPA when even elected Members of Parliament are denied access to the same?

Is the TPPA labelled as secret under the Official Secrets Act (OSA)? Will the attorney-general (AG) prosecute Mahathir for having read it and even commenting on it to the public?

Spinnot: Since our government is not telling us anything about the TPPA details, perhaps we should ask Indonesia and Thailand, Southeast Asia's largest and second largest economies, why they opted out from the TPPA negotiations.

Clever Voter One wonders which side Dr Mahathir is with, and whose interest is he protecting? The intent of any free-trade agreement is simply to raise competitiveness, and to gain access to markets.

Unless Dr Mahathir believes we can do neither, then we should make sure time will stand still. Ultimately, in any free market, consumers must have choices.

MockingYou: What Dr M neglected to say is Proton might not be able to survive the onslaught of TPPA.

Sad Malaysian: Proton will be disadvantaged with TPPA. But why are we prioritising a single company, where else the whole of Malaysia can benefit from the trade pact? Proton is not Petronas. We don't need Proton to survive.

Caripasal: Dr M, why are you complaining? The Malaysian government has never been transparent in most of its deals. The rotten government inherited your ideology that all such deals must be signed in total darkness.

Have you seen any details of those deals awarded to the cronies seeing the light day, if not for opposition leaders like PKR's Rafizi Ramli and all?

Not Confused: What utter hypocrisy! Dr M, arch rival to transparency and open government, what about all the toll agreements,or the agreements with the independent power producers (IPPs)?

All government contracts and agreements should be open to public scrutiny (except maybe certain defence contracts involving national security, etc).

Anticonmen: This old man himself was very secretive about all the government contracts that involved billions of ringgit in rakyat's money, whereby he hid everything behind the OSA. Now, he is preaching transparency. Hypocrite.

Now he is still milking from the rakyat's coffers through privatisation, bailouts and mega projects, Petronas and so on, quietly working behind the scenes using his cronies as frontmen. Why is there still no transparency in all these deals?

NewMalaysia: What is it so secretive about Petronas' accounts and many other government project contracts? Is there anything suspicious that needs to be hidden from the public?

As a matter fact, Dr M was the one who started so many mega projects and signed many contracts that only benefited the cronies, and yet remained secretive on the details of those contracts. So now who should be blamed for starting such an unhealthy practice?

Fair Play: Dr M, now you talk about disclosing things to the public. Since when under your tenure have you kept the rakyat fully informed?

You know what the crux of the issue is? Too much protection and over-protection, not including the excesses in the past, that are now coming back to haunt the nation.

And now you are using the term 'people of Malaysia' when the nation is facing a real crisis. Guess which community would suffer the most?

Green Mutant: Yes, Dr M, reveal, reveal, reveal. Reveal the details of your Project IC, please.

Real Truth: Mahathir in his time has also never revealed much of his privatisation programmes, and now he wants the government to reveal the TPPA.

I am sure Najib has the interest of the country at heart and Mahathir's words are akin to saying our PM is not interested in our country's welfare.

Supercession: Indeed, by Mahathir's logic, the OSA should be abolished.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .