Nov 6: Malaysian police and government have come down hard on peaceful rallies and yet they opted for a weakling response when media reports stated that spying by the US Intelligence had been carried out in Malaysia by the US Embassy and the Australian High Commission.
It only summoned the US and Australian mission heads to "hand over a protest note in response to the alleged spying activities carried out by the two embassies in Kuala Lumpur" and such a response is embarrassing, said Klang parliamentarian, Charles Santiago.
"In sharp contrast, European Union leaders are planning to stall the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations with the US following allegations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) was monitoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone.
"And in a similar trans-Atlantic rift, Germany and Brazil submitted a new draft resolution to the UN General Assembly earlier this month, demanding an end to excessive electronic surveillance, data collection, and other snooping techniques," he said in a statement released today.
In addition to that, he said, the German government has called for the suspension of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (SWIFT) with the US as an expression of outrage and anger over the spying scandal of its Chancellor and citizens.
"The rule of thumb is that we don’t do business with enemies. We play smart. We keep away. And we certainly don't ink on dotted lines, allowing them to reign over us. Neither do we threaten the sovereignty of our country by getting into a deal with them.
"But our Prime Minister and ruling party leaders don't seem to get this," he pointed out.
The Malaysian government must take a stronger position by immediately stopping all TPPA negotiations with the US and Australia and negotiations should only resume when the US and Australia come clean on the spying scandal, spilling facts if Malaysian citizens were also spied on, he added.
Stalling the trade agreement and demanding an explanation would send a strong and serious message to the US and Australia that eavesdropping on governments and its citizens are not acceptable.
But would Prime Minister NajibRazak have the gumption to do so, he asked.
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