KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 ― Putrajaya must not sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) as it will negate the goodwill it has won from unveiling the new Bumiputera agenda, Malay supremacist group Perkasa warned today.

According to Perkasa, the agreement will lead to an open market scenario in which the Bumiputera will have fewer opportunities and be put at a disadvantage by having to compete with multi-national or foreign firms.

“If the government signs the TPPA, everything announced by the PM will be shattered,” Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said here, referring to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

On Saturday, Najib had detailed a far-reaching New Economic Model (NEM) that is set to offer the dominant Malay community access to tens of billions in aids and contracts.

“Once again, Perkasa rejects the TPPA. There is no compromise in this,” stressed Ibrahim.

Originally slated to be concluded by October this year, the global free trade arrangement has been pushed back for Putrajaya to run two cost-benefit analyses (CBA) announced last month.

In August, negotiators from 12 countries concluded a week of talks in Brunei on a free-trade agreement, but announced no breakthroughs in discussions that one Malaysian official called “difficult”.

The effort pushed by US President Barack Obama to create an Asia-Pacific free-trade area covering nearly 40 per cent of global economic output has run into turbulence amid protectionist reflexes, casting doubt on hopes of concluding the pact by year-end.

The TPPA has drawn protests in various nations amid fears it could leave domestic markets exposed to foreign competition.

Washington wants negotiations completed this year, but Putrajaya was adamant that Malaysia will not be bound by any fixed timeline to sign the agreement.

Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed had also said that Malaysia had “serious difficulties” with the potential impact on state-owned firms.

Consisting of Malaysia, the US, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, the TPPA aims to boost trade in the region by removing present barriers.