Trans-Pacific Partnership: What It Means for Brunei Darussalam

As the smallest Southeast Asian nation, media coverage of the TPP in Brunei has heavily highlighted the fact that Brunei was one of the first four Southeast Asian nations to draft the TPSEP, the precursor to the TPP. Even with its status as "a small country at the heart of Southeast Asia with a population of just around 450,000," Brunei played a significant role in the TPP as it exists today. The author writes "Brunei Darussalam can in fact be considered as a founding member of the TPP." This seems to be a way of covering the deal quite unique to Brunei because of its size; perhaps this creates a need to legitimate Brunei's participation in the TPP with much larger economies.

Because Brunei was one of the founding members of the TPP, the media coverage of the agreement is generally very positive. There is no ambiguity on whether Brunei will work to ratify the agreement. Furthermore, the media outlines clear economic incentives for ratifying the TPP. Brunei's media has emphasized the potential for growth and learning best practices from other countries, again acknowledging its small, less developed economy.

Like Malaysia, Brunei also feels the urgency to "make structural adjustment that includes updating laws and regulations where needed." There seems to be a common thread among the less developed Southeast Asian countries to catch up to global expectations or standards in areas like human rights and intellectual property.

http://www.bt.com.bn/business-national/2016/04/01/trans-pacific-partners...