(Nov 24): The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will protect the interests of big corporations more than the rights of Internet users, opening the door to wider censorship, Pakatan Harapan lawmakers said today.

PKR's Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen and Parti Amanah Negara's (Amanah) Kuala Krai MP Dr Hatta Ramli said that Internet service providers (ISP) would be given the role of "internet police" in the new trade pact when it comes to copyrighted content.

"This means that providers could take down Internet content without any sort of repercussions, allowing for potentially widespread Internet censorship," Dr Hatta told reporters at Parliament lobby today.

The TPPA provision requires Malaysia to provide legal incentives for ISPs to expeditiously remove content deemed as copyrighted material, they said.

The MPs also said that TPPA would extend copyright protection from 50 years after the author's death to 70 years.

“The provision would prevent creators and artists from accessing, remixing, or recreating existing material for an unnecessarily long time,” Dr Hatta said.

He said this only benefits large American entertainment companies who receive “windfall” in terms of royalties.

Meanwhile, Wong said that the government must make public the Cost Benefit Analysis of the TPPA as soon as possible.

“They should also let the MPs know about the format of the TPPA debate in Parliament because the document is 6,000 pages and we need time to go through everything,” he said. – The Malaysian Insider