The International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) has been urged to “stop playing cat and mouse” with the public over the impending Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

The DAP’s Klang MP Charles Santiago, who is among the most prominent critics of the TPPA, said parliamentarians and civil society groups are still in the dark over details surrounding the international negotiations which began in 2011.

charles santiago pc on phantom voters 4"The TPPA has been negotiated for more than two years now and on July 15, the 18th round of negotiations will be held in Malaysia. But yet... (we're) still in the dark," he told a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.

He urged the government to immediately form a parliamentary select committee (PSC) on the TPPA to ensure adequate oversight by Parliament and to make public the cost-benefit analysis.

Charles said the ministry's "cat and mouse" modus operandi of promising to release the cost-benefit analysis - but then holding off on grounds of  legal concerns and empty dialogues with MPs and civil society groups - has been "meaningless"

He called for more transparency, repeating his warning that the TPPA will have wide-ranging consequences for citizens, and that they should therefore be kept in the loop.

Charles said he hopes Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will step in to initiate the formation of the PSC.

He related how, in the US, a congressional oversight committee oversees TPPA discussions and similarly a special committee of the Thai Parliament.

Indeed, transparency with stakeholders claimed Charles, is required by all participating nations as per US trade negotiation guidelines, which is standard for all trade treaties including the TPPA.

Charles told of how he was recently approached by the US lead TPPA negotiator for labour to ask for his input.

It is strange he noted, that the US asks for input from Malaysian MPs, while Malaysia ignores her parliamentarians.