JAWATANKUASA BERTINDAK MEMBANTAH US FTA (WILAYAH UTARA)

3/25/2008 01:47:00 am 1 Comments

JAWATANKUASA BERTINDAK MEMBANTAH US FTA (WILAYAH UTARA)

d/a 21, Lintang Delima 15, 11700 P.Pinang

Tel ; (6) 04 6596930 Fax ; (6) 04 6596 931

Email ; zamashari@yahoo.com www.ftamalaysia.org

3 Februari 2007

Kerajaan Malaysia harus mendedahkan perundingan US FTA demi kepentingan Petani dan rakyat

Jawatankuasa Bertindak mengambil perhatian janji Dato' Seri Rafidah Aziz bahawa padi tidak akan dimasukkan dalam Perjanjian Perdagangan Malaysia US (US FTA). Menteri Pertanian, Tan Sri Muhyidin Yasin dalam satu kenyataan yang sama telah berjanji bahwa kerajaan tidak akan berkompromi sama sekali dalam apa jual melibatkan kepentingan petani tempatan.

Walaubagaimanapun terdapat laporan yang mengatakan bahawa US menentang pengeluaran beras dari perundingan US FTA. Kami menggesa pihak kementerian (MITI) untuk mendedahkan maklum balas US terhadap permintaan Malaysia untuk mengeluarkan beras dari perundingan US FTA. Kementerian harus bersikap terbuka dan telus kepada rakyat selaras dengan seruan Pak Lah untuk Kerajaan yang lebih telus dan berintegriti. Jika US sebenarnya menentang cadangan Malaysia berkenaan beras, kami menyeru Menteri terbabit untuk mematuhi janji mereka kepada kami, para Petani.

Menjadi sesuatu yang penting bagi kami mendapatkan penerangan yang jelas daripada kerajaan memandangkan Dato' Seri Rafidah telah sebelum ini memberi beberapa kenyataan yang bertentangan antara satu dengan yang lain. [Seperti dinyatakan di nota di bawah]

Walaupun Malaysia mampu untuk mendapat pengecualian dalam isu Beras, kami melahirkan kebimbangan kami terhadap petani-petani lain yang sebelum ini dilindungi dari kesan subsidi produk peranian US yang boleh menjangkau nilai subsidi sehingga 154%. Jika US meminta cukai untuk dikurangkan kepada 0%, sepertimana semua FTA dengan US sebelum ini, adakah Kerajaan Malaysia akan turut bersetuju.

70.6% rakyat Malaysia dalam kategori miskin berada di kawasan desa. Jika tariff Malaysia terhadap produk pertanian dikurangkan kepada 0%; para petani akan kehilangan mata pencarian dan kehidupan mereka memandangkan mereka tidak akan mampu untuk bersaing dengan kebanjiran produk pertanian subsidi US. Kami menggesa kerajaan benar-benar memikirkan nasib kami, penduduk desa. Ini dilihat sama sekali bertentangan dengan hasrat kerajaan dalam Rancangan Malaysia ke 9 untuk "meningkatkan pendapatan pekebun kecil, petani dan nelayan dan mengurangkan kemiskinan rakyat".

Apabila Sarawak mengharamkan import ayam proses, kerajaan negeri terpaksa mengangkat semula pengharaman selepas US membantah sebagai sebahagian perundingan awal US FTA. Ayam dari US, menerima subsidi yang cukup tinggi dalam bentuk subsidi makanan ayam (terutamanya kacang soya dan jagung). Sebagai contoh, subsidi jagung boleh mencapai 47% dari pendapatan sesuatu ladang. Apa akan terjadi kepada perusahaan ternakan ayam dan telur jika FTA ditandatangani? Adakah perusahan ternakan ayam boleh berkembang lagi kepada 5.7% sepertiamana yang dinyatakan dalam rancangan Malaysia ke 9 jika Malaysia dibanjiri ayam subsidi dari US.

Pengalaman penternakan ayam di Ghana apabila mereka menurunkan tariff mereka sepatutnya dijadikan pengajaran kepada kerajaan Malaysia. Pada 1992, ternakan ayam tempatan membekalkan 95% daripada keperluan domestic, menjelang 2001, pegangan pasaran mereka telah jatuh 11% disebabkan pengurangan tariff dan fenomena pembuangan ayam proses subsidi dari Kesatauan Eropah (EU). Kebanyakan 400 000 ahli, Persatuan Kebangsaan Penternak Ayam (Ghana) akhirnya telah gulung tikar.

Selain itu, makanan haiwan adalah 17% dari kos produksi perusahaan lembu dan boleh mencapai 47% bagi hasil penternakan haiwan lain. Kos ini walaubagaimanapun disubsidikan di US. Jika tariff Malaysia terhadap lembu dan hasil daging yang lain dikurangkan kepada 0%, penternak Malaysia semestinya tidak akan mapu bersaing dengan produk industri daging US.

Kerajaan US, juga telah mengadu bahawa syarat-syarat Halal Malaysia dianggap terlalu ketat. Dewan Perniagaan US dan Dewan Perniagaan Malaysia-Amerika juga memberi sokongan kepada pernyataan ini dengan mengatakan "Polisi Malaysia adalah secara tidak wajar ketat bagi produk Halal. Jika syarat Halal ini terpaksa dikompromikan untuk disesuaikan dengan kehendak eksport US, ini secara jelasnya akan memberi kesan besar kepada Industri Halal Negara ini dan hasrat Malaysia untuk menjadi pusat (hub) Halal serantau.

Melihat semua kerisauan ini, Jawatankuasa bertindak menggeasa Kerajaan Malaysia mengangguhkan Perundingan US FTA, bersikap terbuka dan mendedahkan perundingan tersebut kepada rakyat Malaysia dan memulakan disamping terbuka membincangkan kajian kos manfaat (cost benefit) terhadap impak US FTA kepada petani dan seluruh rakyat Malaysia. Sikap tertutup ini menunjukkan ketidak telusan Kementerian Perdangan Luar kepada Rakyat Malaysia dan bertentangan dengan seruan Pak Lah untuk integriti dan ketulusan.

Jawatankuasa bertindak akan terus membantah dan mengadakan penerangan kepada petani dan masyarakat desa sehingga US FTA didedahkan secara menyeluruh dan dibincangkan secara telus dengan semua peringkat masyarakat sebelum apa-apa keputusan dibuat.

Che Ani Mat Zain

Jurucakap, Jawatankuasa Bertindak

Petani, Nelayan, Masyarakat Desa dan NGO membantah US FTA (Utara)

Translation

Dato' Seri Rafidah Aziz has promised that rice will not be included in the Malaysia-USA Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. Likewise, Agriculture Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has promised that the Government will not compromise on anything that can affect the interest of our farmers.

However there have been reports that the US is opposed to excluding rice from the FTA negotiations. We call on the Government to disclose the response of the US, as to whether it agrees to exclude rice from the FTA talks. The ministry should be inline with the Prime Minister, Pak Lah for a government that is transparent and with integrity. If the US is opposed to Malaysia's proposal, we urge the Ministers to keep their promises to us, the farmers.

It is crucial for us to get clarification from the government as Dato' Seri Rafidah had given contradictory statement i.e. over the time frame of the negotiation. [Please see below for quote]

Even if Malaysia is able to obtain this exclusion, we are still worried about our other farmers who are currently protected from subsidized US farm products by tariffs of up to 154%. If the US requires all these tariffs to be reduced to 0%, as it usually does, will the Malaysian Government agree?

70.6% of Malaysia's poor live in rural areas. If Malaysia's tariffs on farm products are reduced to 0%; Malaysian farmers will lose their livelihoods because they cannot compete with a flood of subsidized US agricultural produce, what will happen to us? How will this help achieve 9 ^th Malaysia Plan goals of 'enhancing incomes of smallholders, farmers and fisherman' and reducing poverty?

When Sarawak banned the import of certain chicken parts, it had to remove the ban after the US objected as part of the preliminary negotiations for the FTA. US chicken is highly subsidized via subsidies on the feed (mainly soybean and corn). For example, corn subsidies can be as high as 47% of US farm income. What will happen to Malaysia's egg and chicken farmers if the FTA is signed? Can the poultry industry grow by 5.7% as stated in the 9^th Malaysia Plan if subsidized US chicken floods in?

We can see what happened to Ghana's chicken farmers when they lowered their tariffs. In 1992, domestic poultry farmers supplied 95% of the Ghanaian market, but by 2001 their market share had shrunk to 11% mostly due to a reduction in tariffs and the dumping of subsidized chicken parts from the European Union. Most members of the 400,000-member National Association of Poultry Farmers have now folded.

Furthermore, animal feed is 17% of the cost of production of beef and 47% of the cost of other meat production, and this is also highly subsidized. If Malaysian tariffs on beef and other meat production are reduced to 0%, will Malaysian farmers be able to compete with subsidized US meat?

The US Government has also complained that Malaysia's halal requirements are 'relatively strict'. The US Chamber of Commerce and American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce support ensuring that 'Malaysia's policies are not unduly restrictive' for halal products. If Malaysia has to reduce its halal requirements to suit American exporters, what will this mean for local halal producers and Malaysian consumers of halal products?

Given all these concerns, we call on the Malaysian Government to conduct and make publicly available a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis about the impact of the proposed FTA on Malaysian farmers. In the meantime it should stop the FTA negotiations with the US.

The action committee will continue to protest and educate the farmers and rural community over the potential impacts of US FTA if and until the government is open for a full disclosure of the negotiation and to be discussed wholeheartedly with all level of society before any decision are to be make.

Note :

Dato Seri Rafidah was quoted saying on 23^rd January 2007 that "If the talks are to continue and to come to a good conclusion, the US has to go beyond July 1" [Bernama], while in Davos as reported in Washington Trade Daily she was reported saying the Malaysia and US "recommitted to conclude talks by end of March" on 1 ^st February 2007.

The action committee also sees there is no coherent communication to the public between the Minister and US Representative on the negotiation process. While the Malaysian are reassured by the Minister on 17 ^th January 2007 as saying "I doubt it very much because July is only a few months away and we are not negotiating every week. This is a serious broad-based discussion. I am not very optimistic". In the same while, after the 4 ^th negotiation, US Deputy Trade Representative, Karan Bhatia is reported saying "the US is optimistic the current free trade agreement (FTA) talks with Malaysia will be concluded by end-March following positive progress of the negotiations".

"If they (the US) want to finish by July, I do not see it happening because of so many issues to cover …" [Rafidah Aziz; 17 ^th January; BERNAMA].

Further info Nizam Mahshar [0194777755]