Make defending sovereignty our New Year’s resolution, says Mahathir in shadow of Anwar’s trade deal with Trump

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has again warned of threats to the country’s sovereignty, as Malaysians marked the end of a year overshadowed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s move to sign a trade agreement with the Trump administration, which experts have criticised as one-sided and reducing Malaysia’s status to that of a vassal state of the US.

The two-time prime minister, who turned 100 in July and has consistently spoken about the independence struggle during the British colonial era which he lived through, said it is common for people to repeat their past unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions.

“Resolutions are like a struggle, and there is no struggle more noble than for the country.

“We have fought so much in the past year, but the most important is to defend the sovereignty and freedom of our country from being colonised again,” he said in his New Year message.

The comments are directed at the so-called Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) that Anwar signed on Oct 26, which government leaders defended as a way to get Washington reduce Trump’s trade tariffs, but which later turned out to be a document replete with clauses forcing Malaysia to align itself with American geopolitical interests, in addition to heavily skewed conditions in favour of the US economy.

Critics have described the agreement as unprecedented, with one local economist calling it “a stunning retreat” that surrenders Malaysia’s trade autonomy “in exchange for meagre concessions”.

The deal has also been the subject of more than 300 police reports nationwide, including one filed by Mahathir himself on Dec 2, in which he urged authorities to investigate Anwar and those involved in negotiating the agreement for economic sabotage and undermining the country’s sovereignty.

It is understood that police have yet to launch an investigation into the allegations.

Mahathir referred to clauses in the agreement obliging Malaysia to follow any unilateral sanctions by the US against other countries, and to disclose Malaysia’s cross-border data, which has “potential to interfere with the country’s regulatory policy”.

He also listed 14 negative implications for Malaysia, including those related to regulation of the halal industry, Bumiputera economic empowerment, national strategies for the high-tech sector, and export of critical minerals such as rare earth elements.

“All of these matters raise serious concerns, as in my opinion, they eliminate Malaysia’s power to determine foreign policy, economic policy and the use of national strategic resources independently and sovereignly,” said Mahathir, who is widely credited with rapid economic growth throughout the eighties and nineties, during which Malaysia saw a peak in foreign investment despite his government’s aggressive nationalist drive that irked some developed nations.

Details of the US-Malaysia deal only emerged to the Malaysian public after the White House published them on its official website, hours after Anwar and President Donald Trump signed the agreement in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of the Asean Summit on Oct 26.

Among those outraged by the agreement is former attorney-general Tommy Thomas, who said the various commitments imposed on Malaysia showed that those involved in the negotiations – from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Attorney-General’s Chambers – “did not negotiate at all”.

“The US handed them their draft. And it was signed lamely by Anwar, who had Trump’s pen to show for it, and a ride in Trump’s car,” he said, referring to Trump’s gift of a White House pen to Anwar shortly after signing the agreement.