I refer to the letter FTA: Gov't should walk away.

Let me put forth a different view from that of the CAP president 's. Much has been touted on the FTA’s effects on so-called ‘national interest’ - an undefined term meaning different things to different people.

American and Chinese banks have fewer than a dozen branches in Malaysia (Citibank 10 and Bank of China, one). Free trade means - to an ordinary consumer like you and me - the freedom to choose which bank I want to bank with.

It so happened that a Citibank and CIMB both opened in the same building in Klang which has all the other big five Malaysian banks - Maybank, Public Bank, etc. Surely the CAP should be supporting the interests of consumers in having the widest possible choice in such an important sector taking into service, charges and long-term viability (anyone heard of Sime Bank and Bank Bumiputra?)

The notion that the financial crisis of 1997 was somehow started by foreign bankers sounds hollow when it was Malaysian companies (many government-owned under a pro-bumiputera policy) borrowing beyond its ability to repay (many of the loans being in foreign-denominated currencies). That was the root cause.

As to what International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz calls ‘bumiputera policies’, the least we can expect now is a clear-cut definition of what is a ‘bumiputera policy’. Nobody in the last 50 years has been able to give Malaysians a creditable and satisfactory answer.

We have already dozens of fast-food joints and coffee outlets franchised from the US where workers are paid only between RM4 and RM7 an hour while the franchisee and his associates become rich beyond their dreams of avarice. Where has ‘national interest’ been served and what ‘bumiputera policy’ does this come under?