HIDDEN AGENDA OF CAPITALISM
Barack Obama had a
three-day visit to Malaysia on April 26, as part of a four country economic and
military agreement tour. This is just the second visit of a President of the
United States to Malaysia in 50 years. Malaysia was the third country on his schedule
after South Korea and Japan. Philippines was the final destination before
heading home. This visit is seen as an important event on the agenda of the
United States who are trying to revive their economic ties and influence in
Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific region.
At a joint press
conference with the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, the focus of both
leaders was on issues of economic and military security. The Prime Minister
made huge effort to impress Obama in his opening speech, highlighting the
involvement of Malaysia in chairing the ASEAN meetings and the East Asia Summit
next year, as well as Najib’s role in the recently agreed southern Philippines
peace deal. The speech was clearly intended to show Malaysia as being pivotal
in ensuring economic development and political stability in the region.
Economic ties and military security
Malaysia and the
United States trade has averaged nearly US$35 billion annually in the past five
years. The United States is also one of the largest investors in Malaysia with
about US$1.9 billion, which is said to have created more than 8,000 new jobs
last year.
However, much of the
benefit of this investment is not felt by ordinary people. There has been a
rise of unemployment among youth and stagnating income while inflation has
increased. Similar to many developing nations such as Taiwan, there is a huge
growth of outsourced and temporary-contracted jobs at the expense of stable
permanent employment in Malaysia over the past 5 years.
National debt and
subsidy cuts are resulting in an increase in household debt which is ranked as
the highest in this region. Subsidy cuts and austerity measures that rose
dramatically after the thirteenth general election last year were purposely
left out in Prime Minister Najib’s speech. Recently, questions about democracy
and the criminal violation of human rights by the Barisan Nasional government
have been brought out by some Western media and human rights organisations
internationally; but this was not discussed either during Obama’s visit.
The agenda behind the TPPA
Largely affected by
resistance to the agreement among ordinary people and the space that exists for
the opposition to exploit it, Najib looked rather hesitant in supporting the
proposed TPPA (Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement). However, he announced his
commitment to signing the deal as soon as some minor details could be worked
out.
Obama stressed that
the TPPA agreement will open up the Southeast Asian market, stimulate exports,
encourage growth of innovation and help create new jobs. Obama insisted that
Najib should rapidly expedite the process of signing the TPPA because this
agreement could contribute in bringing Malaysia towards a high-income country
by the end of the decade.
TPPA is an effort by
the United States to persuade a total of 11 countries, or 40 % of the global
economy, to sign a free trade agreement between them. This is mainly to assist
the American economy which is experiencing the worst economic crisis in its
history since the great depression of 1929. Important meetings and tours have
taken place over the years to convince the leaders of the countries involved to
sign the agreement. However, the process of negotiations does not run as
smoothly as expected as opposition after opposition is being launched by
various layers of ordinary people in these countries. Health professionals,
environmentalists, trade unions, and others have criticised and protested
against the negotiations, in large part because of the proceedings’ secrecy,
the agreement’s expansive scope and controversial clauses.
The proposed
agreement was a major focus of Obama’s visit to Tokyo, but negotiations have
failed so far to overcome the resistance of the Japanese farmers who do not
agree to open their markets to imports of rice, chicken and other agricultural
goods.
In Malaysia, despite
the disapproval from various quarters against the TPPA, the opposition party is
not taking a clear position against the government in the deal. The opposition
coalition - Pakatan Rakyat - is taking a ‘wait and see’ approach to see if they
can get support from the United States for their policies. But their reformist
political attitude determines that they will only begin their protest when it
is clear that the U.S. will continue to support the government of Najib Razak
and ignore them.
Currently, the weak
position of Prime Minister Najib and Barisan Nasional provides an opportunity
for the opposition Pakatan Rakyat to gain some support from the United States
on the issue of democracy. Although the Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim was
disappointed for not getting a chance to meet with Obama, he met with the U.S.
national security adviser, Susan Rice, to criticise the undemocratic approach
of the Najib government, including its biased electoral system. But Pakatan
Rakyat did not object to the TPPA and other policies of the USA which can be
disastrous for the working and poor people of Malaysia.
Power struggle between United States and China
Although this visit
does not include China, Obama’s visit will definitely have an impact on the
Chinese leadership who have their own agenda for the region. In a speech in
Japan, Obama gave assurances and the commitment of U.S. military support for
allies in the region who are involved in territorial disputes with Beijing. In
South Korea, he encouraged Chinese leaders to use their influence to control
North Korea who are seen as the troublemaker of the region. In a speech in
Malaysia, Obama stressed his readiness for cooperation in terms of military
security, particularly in the South China Sea. Obama has also signed another
military agreement with the Philippines which would most definitely stir a
controversy in an already high tension area with both the USA and China pulling
in different directions.
Hidden agenda of capitalism
President Lyndon
Johnson, during his visit to Malaysia in 1966, underscored America’s agenda at
the time in the shadows of anti-communist rhetoric directed at the ‘Soviet’
bloc and China. Ironically today, in view of the friction between the superpowers
of the ‘west’ (America, Europe) and the ‘east’ (Russia, China) over issues like
the Paracel and Spratly Islands as well as Taiwan etc., Obama’s visit seems to
have some parallels with that of the President who came before. Behind the
TPPA, talks about WMD proliferation and discussion on the issue of security in
the South China Sea is the hidden agenda of a power struggle between the
imperialist powers of the world.
All this can be
expected as long as imperialism and capitalism dominate. But, new struggles
against the hardships imposed by the system will develop. The solidarity of the
working people and the oppressed internationally, will mean that, a socialist
agenda will be seen as the only way to stop the economic, social and
environmental catastrophes created by capitalism and imperialism.
Yuva, CWI Malaysia
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