00:00Why have you recently explained about how our agreement in the US is not as good as the
00:06pneumonia in the US, right? But the PM said that we have exit clauses that help us in any way?
00:13Well, any agreement has an exit clause. The structure of the reciprocal tariff agreement
00:25is almost similar between US and ASEAN countries. So if you compare the clauses, the framework,
00:37whether it's Malaysia, whether it's Cambodia, whether it's Thailand, whether it's Vietnam,
00:42it has all those similar terms. But the devil is in the details. And the details and the commitment
00:52that Malaysia has given is very onerous in terms of how strong we have to follow as well as in terms
01:01of how much money we had committed. Okay, that's number one, right? Hence, you know, a lot of comments
01:09being given now. I mean, I didn't want to butt in initially. I trust the process and so on.
01:15But I have to do my job and I have to read. When I read and I compare, I am concerned. So of course,
01:22in any agreement like this, you can exit, you can terminate. Even US can terminate. But that's the
01:30problem. When you reach the point when you terminate an agreement like this, that means that it already
01:38reaches a point of breakdown in commercial and diplomatic relationship with US. Which means that
01:45for all intended purposes, no country is going to exit that agreement. So it's a blank check, almost like
01:55a blank check for the US. Now that it's written, they can basically demand one, two, three, four, five.
02:02It's up to them whether they want to press or not. You know, so if they press, say for example,
02:07if they press and we don't want to do it, obviously you can break, of course. You can terminate the
02:13agreement or they can say that you have breached the agreement. Therefore, we will punish you.
02:18But by that time, you know, it's basically it renders the whole discussion, negotiation useless. So that's
02:28why you want to make sure that the negotiation at least provides ample room for us from the very
02:35beginning. So if there is no comparable agreement with Cambodia, then I wouldn't say a thing.
02:40Masalahnya, you have to ask a question, how come Cambodia can actually negotiate a much better clause
02:48than us? Cambodia made it very clear, especially on 5.1 complementary action, that nothing can
02:55compel them that is against their national sovereignty. We don't have. Kita kena, you know, so basically
03:03now, we have signed an agreement that we have committed to doing certain things. If we don't want
03:09to do it, later down the road, of course, you ask, okay lah, you nak terminate, you terminate,
03:14but there are consequences to your termination. Likewise, if you don't do it, there are consequences
03:21to your not following what we do because you have signed. By that time, then, you know, it's
03:27like all these things about trying to maintain relationship, the dancing and so on, is water
03:32under the bridge lah. So that's why I wish that if we had to take longer time to sign
03:40it, perhaps we should have done that. Because after all, only Malaysia and Cambodia had signed
03:45it so far lah. Thailand had not signed it, Vietnam has not signed it, Thailand dengan Vietnam
03:52only has framework because you agree on the framework dulu and then you negotiate, you sign
03:57kan. Thailand dengan Vietnam only ada framework, Indonesia dengan Singapore, framework pun tak
04:04agree lagi. They are still negotiating. Of course, people will say that, oh, it's better
04:09for us to be there first and so on, but that's where the fine line is lah. If we are seen
04:14to be too eager to please to the point that we start having questionable terms, then, you know,
04:24it defeats the purpose of being there first, other than other people lah. I mean, wearing
04:30my thinking cap lah, I would betray my duty if I just ungo and say that it's all nice.
04:41There's a lot, you know. So, whether or not, you know, government responds to it, I don't
04:47think government will respond to it. Because it's water under the bridge, you dah sign, Trump
04:53dah datang dance. You think that Trump will accept, kalau Malaysia after this, two months
04:58down the line kata, or we think that it's a bad deal, we want to revise it. Or we think
05:03it's a bad deal, we want to terminate it. Canada, salah komen sikit je, dia dah naikkan
05:09tarif. So, most probably, what Malaysia has to do now is just swallow it. Which, that is
05:15why I think, as much as is water under the bridge, I think government needs to reflect
05:22that a lot of the concerns ni, is actually valid concern. Of course lah, you know, you may
05:30not like what opposition cakap, or the way they say it. They politicise it, cakap ini,
05:35perjanjian syaitan, and so on. I'm not interested in that. I'm actually interested in the actual
05:41details, and having gone through it bit by bit, I am concerned. There's not even any specific
05:49reference to national sovereignty of Malaysia. Sama juga contohnya, kekangan-kekangan. Contohnya,
05:56I can't remember clause 4, yang pasal nuklear. Itu saya bagi contoh. Ada satu clause yang
06:02mengatakan bahawa, kerajaan Malaysia akan mengadakan mekanisme untuk bekerjasama dengan
06:11US, if I'm not mistaken, untuk menyemak pelaburan-pelaburan yang masuk ke Malaysia, supaya dia tidak
06:19bertentangan dengan kepentingan security dan ekonomi US. Eh, does that mean that lepas ni,
06:26FDI nak masuk ni, kita kena follow US. Kata Huawei, saya tak suka. Yang ini Chinese company,
06:33saya tak nak bagi. So, you know, I mean, at face value, saya, I'm not privy to the what
06:40they discuss dalam kerajaan. Jawapan Tengku Zafrul kepada parlimen setakat ini is
06:47oversimplifying and just wash it, basically sweep under the carpet. Jawapan dia, jangan
06:53marah penjawat awam. Jawapan dia, benda ni kita tertekan sebab kita kena runding, kita
06:58kesuntukan masa, ini dah cukup baik. That's not good enough for us. Kan, so, so, I mean,
07:05I'm sorry kalau contohnya, nampaknya, kritikan saya itu juga, Tun Mahathir pun sebut yang
07:11sama, pembangkahan pun sebut yang sama. But I think, kalau you baca ekonomis dalam
07:16Bloomberg pun, pun sebut yang sama. Kalau tengok international review, semua kata is a very
07:22lopsided agreement. So, what I hope, my lending my voice to this issue, I hope
07:28government, jangan sweep under the carpet lah. Sebab people can read now. Dia boleh
07:32tengok kan, perjanjian demi perjanjian. Dan yang paling damning to us, bila kita
07:38compare dengan Cambodia or even Thailand.
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