I first knew of Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, a.k.a. Tok Pa, in the early 1980s when he was still an “Encik” and serving as a senior private secretary to the then finance minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin.
A trained economist, Tok Pa came from a poor family in Bachok, Kelantan. He must have made his family proud when he graduated from the University of Melbourne, Australia, with a First Class Honours degree in Economics.
He went on to Boston University and graduated with a Master’s in Economic Development. He was supposed to pursue a PhD programme but the then Public Service Department deputy director-general, Tun Ahmad Sarji, assigned Tok Pa, then a young PTD officer at the Finance Ministry, to Daim’s office.
Tok Pa, now 65, never looked back since. He later became Daim’s political secretary. One account says when he was serving Daim, he played an important role as a backroom operator in helping to grow the Bumiputera business community.
Mustapa has held a number of government positions, including deputy finance minister, entrepreneur development minister, minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, second finance minister, higher education minister and agriculture and agro-based industry minister.
He has been international trade and industry (MITI) minister since 2009.
People who worked closely with him described Tok Pa as meticulous and hardworking. He knows his stuff well. He doesn’t believe in the regular 9 to 6. He can call a meeting at 7.30am or even late at night. He is a very clean politician and loyal to the boss. One former colleague of his recalled how he felt guilty about helping his brother to get a bank loan.
This week will be a defining week for Tok Pa’s long political career. His “baby” — the TPPA (sounds almost like Tok Pa) — will be put to a vote in both houses of the Malaysian parliament.
The vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will be a big test of his fantastic C.V. as a minister and a veteran politician.
Tok Pa will table the parliamentary motion to support the government decision to enable Malaysia to be part of the TPPA grouping by signing and ratifying the trade agreement.
He will also propose that the Dewan Rakyat and the Senate accept Malaysia’s position as a nation that practises an open economy through international trade, foreign investments, technology and tourism.
He will argue that Malaysia’s membership of the TPPA will enhance the country’s competitiveness regionally and globally.
The special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat on TPPA will be on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Senate will sit on Thursday.
Malaysia is among the 12-member TPPA, which also groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Singapore, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the United States and Vietnam.
As MITI minister, Mustapa is our chief TPPA negotiator. He has been working tirelessly to secure the deal for Malaysia. And for the past few months, he has been criss-crossing the country, meeting various stakeholders to address their concerns.
He sat down with a group of editors at his regular meeting venue at Seri Pacific Hotel the other night, hearing out our concerns and views on TPPA communications.
Many government critics opposing the TPPA are already targeting Tok Pa if Malaysia stands to lose from the execution of the pact.
The common misconception is that the US, given its economic size, stands to benefit the most from TPPA. The detractors, of course, must have overlooked or chose to ignore the findings by the World Bank and others that, in fact, Malaysia will be one of the nations that will benefit the most from the TPPA.
“Malaysia’s economy would swell by eight per cent as its exporters acquire an advantage over regional competitors that aren’t part of the bloc, including Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia,” The Wall Street Journal said recently.
This is based on its reading of the latest World Bank report on the possible macroeconomic impact of the TPPA on both member and non-member countries.
The World Bank study also predicted that other than swelling the Malaysian economy, the trade pact will boost Malaysian exports by a whopping 20 per cent.
“Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia are set to get a big economic boost from a sweeping Pacific trade agreement concluded in October, while the US and other North American countries would see much smaller gains from the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” opined WSJ.
Proponents of the free-trade deal would argue that a trade-dependent Malaysia has few alternatives if we sit out of trade groupings.
Can we do it alone when everyone else tries to sign up to a myriad of free trade agreements?
We will run the risk of being by-passed for foreign direct investments when other countries, such as China, Vietnam or even India, are competing for foreign investments.
It’s easy to hit out at Mustapa. Given the complicated Malaysian economic fabric, it is easy for us to walk away from the negotiating table. But at the end, we got what we wanted, even on the issue of Bumiputera participation in the economy.
Tok Pa, you will prove the critics wrong.
A veteran newsman, Jalil believes that a good journalist should be curious and sceptical at the same time