Blog Posts

Lim Kit Siang: FTAs - perils and pitfalls — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

My friend Dinesh has warned of the perils of Malaysia’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) for Malaysia’s IPR and ICT future. In an posting yesterday on the DAP bungaraya mailing list, Dinesh said: The US normally uses these Free Trade Agreements to backdoor their legislation into the legislation of the target nations. this has happened previously in Chile, Australia for starters with every nation who’s signed the FTA being subject to American legislation. somehow as a citizen of an independent nation, it is abhorrent that legislators in another country can decide what i should be doing in my country and depriving the legislators which we voted in the freedom to decide how to govern.

Meling Mudin: fta is bad — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

 

Mohamad Hafiz Bin Ismail: Dangers of Free Trade Agreement to Malaysian ICT Industry — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

FTA includes certain clause that will drive our local software company out of business, please don’t let this happen! Do not let what has happened to Australia happen to our ICT industry.

Sey: Malaysian jobs and business will fall with FTA — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

Free Trade Agreements (FTA) sounds like a good thing for Malaysia, by opening up our market to USA and increase export opportunities for Malaysia. But look closely at the clauses of FTA and certains clauses may stop you cold.

Khairil Yusof: Free Trade Agreements and ICT Industry — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

FTA signing with the US could literally wipe out our domestic industry in a few years. Lock up the market, send your little sister to jail and prevent any alternatives such as FOSS by suing your small startup company to through Patent infringements.

Khairil Yusof: Free Trade Agreements - Bad for Free/Open Source Software? — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

Free Trade Agreements can have clauses that can be very damaging to the local software industries which are often overlooked by policy makers concentrating on other market segments.

Ezwan Aizat Bin Abdullah Faiz: eColonization Part 1 — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

Well the good news is that a few people are starting to understand the dangers of the FTA, but there needs to be more public awareness. Problem I see now ( wll from my biased pount of view ) is that the discussions online are taking place in English. I wonder if there is any engagement with any people who don’t speak English fluently.

Ezwan Aizat Bin Abdullah Faiz: Free Trade Agreement with the US — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

Before I begin, let me just say this. I am not a man of politics. Politics are not my game, and forte. I am no expert in this. Nonetheless just over a week ago, an invitation was made to “The US-Malaysia FTA: Implications For Malaysian Society,” hosted by Third World Network, Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP), Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM). I had, and still have, little understanding to FTAs. But all I understood was the danger of software patents. Since no one was going to represent FOSS, or at least the software industry, I decided to pitch in my efforts, and at least voice my opinions.

Lim Kit Siang: FTAs - one-sided agreements? — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

Parliament and private sector NGOs should be fully consulted in FTA negotiations with United States

Ezwan Aizat Bin Abdullah Faiz: eColonization Part 2: eCommerce — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

I don’t know why it didn’t hit me earlier, but here goes.

Mohammad Hafiz bin Ismail — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

As show of support, I’ve started to put FTAMalaysia.org banner on my websites. Please visit the website to understand the implication of US-Malaysia FTA for Malaysian society.

Brian Yap: Just Sayin': What people want is fair trade, not free trade — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

BEFORE the year 2000, which also happens to be the year President George W. Bush stepped into the Oval Office, the United States only had three free trade agreements — with its North American neighbours Mexico and Canada, and Israel. Six years later, Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Jordan, Oman, Morocco, Singapore, Peru, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua have joined the list. The Republican administration, one has to assume, has a thing for free trade agreements.

Ezwan Aizat Bin Abdullah Faiz: Roundtable on Intellectual Property Right Cooperation Between Malaysia and the US — by aizatto — last modified Jul 07, 2007 04:12 PM

Last week I was invited to attend the Roundtable on Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Cooperation Between Malaysia and the US, to be held on April 20th 2006. Well, today was the day.