Ministry of Trade & Industry Free trade agreement between Singapore and European Union
I read a report in the Straits Times on 14 Feb 2019 that the Parliament of the European Union has rectified the free trade agreement between the European Union and Singapore.

I read in this report today that firms are asking for more clarify on potential perks. There is an post in Wikipedia that the text of the agreement has been available for access by the public for the past few years. I am surprised that the business community was not paying attention to it earlier.

I like to make this observation amid the confusion.

a) If a free trade agreement is so important for the economic development of Singapore, why are the details not discussed in the Singapore Parliament? 

b) If there were active discussions, the impact and potential benefits would have been made clear to the business community and the population at large.

c) Apart from the impact on the business community, what about the negative impact (if any) on the people? Are there people who are responsible to look after this matter, e.g. trade unions, consumer associations, non-government organizations?

It is clear that our democratic process is rather weak, compared to other countries. Decisions impacting our businesses and the livelihoods of people are being taken without adequate consideration by a wider body of people. They are left to people who work in secret in their ivory towers.

Tan Kin Lian

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