US Prof Claims Malaysia Is Not Safe To Travel To As M'sian Leaders Want "Second Holocaust"
He took to X, formerly Twitter, to share parts of the keynote address he gave at UM.
By Sadho Ram — 25 Apr 2024, 01:01 PM — Updated 7 months ago
An American professor of political science, who was in Kuala Lumpur to deliver a talk at Universiti Malaya (UM), claimed that Malaysians are advocating for a "second holocaust against the Jewish people"
During his talk, titled Will Malaysia Become an Active Middle Power?, at UM on Tuesday afternoon, 23 April, Bruce Gilley from Portland State University also downplayed Malaysia's ties with the US.
He took to X, formerly Twitter, to share parts of the keynote address he gave on Malaysian foreign policy.
"'A country whose political leaders advocate [for] a second Holocaust against the Jewish people will never be a serious player in world affairs, and will certainly never be a friend or partner of the US.' From my keynote address [on Tuesday] in KL on Malaysian foreign policy," Gilley wrote on X yesterday, 24 April.
Gilley also called out former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
"This [advocating for a second Holocaust] has been a long-standing vice of Malaysian politicians going back to Mahathir's advice to learn from the Germans on how to kill Jews. Today, TV news hosts end daily broadcasts with 'From the River to the Sea' and 'Israel cuak' (Israel is frightened)," he added.
Gilley cited an alleged remark of "Israel will soon disappear" by Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu at a rally in October last year as an example of an anti-Semitic remark.
For context, Malaysia is one of the 28 UN member states that do not recognise Israel.
As such, Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel and consistently condemns its actions against Palestine. The ongoing conflict in Gaza has led to the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians.
In response to the backlash over his remarks, Gilley stated that he removed the post for the safety and well-being of his colleagues at UM
"The quote from my keynote address reflects my views alone. I regret the harm I have caused to my academic colleagues," he wrote, sharing a screenshot of his deleted post late last night, 24 April.
He then made another post stating that he had "safely departed from Malaysia", claiming that he was "one step ahead of the Islamo-fascist mob whipped up by the [Malaysian] government".
"This is not a safe country to travel to now. Updates to follow," read his post this morning, 25 April.
Gilley, a staunch advocate for the return of colonialism, is no stranger to controversy.
Back in 2017, in his article titled The Case for Colonialism, Gilley argued that colonialism was both objectively beneficial and subjectively legitimate. The article resulted in immense criticism and generated two separate petitions signed by thousands of academics demanding that it be retracted.
Amidst the outcry, Higher Education Minister Zambry Abd Kadir has instructed UM to investigate the matter and reportany additional details
The New Straits Times quoted the minister as saying that the ministry is aware of the incident.
"I have directed that any programmes and activities scheduled to be attended by the foreign speaker be cancelled immediately. I also request UM to investigate this matter and report further details," he said.
According to Zambry, while local institutions of higher learning are given autonomy to organise intellectual programmes, this does not mean that they do not need to consider the community's sensitivities.
"I would also like to remind all agencies under the Higher Education Ministry to be alert and conduct background checks before inviting anyone to an event [...] Every decision taken needs to take into account the sensitivities and be in line with the government's policy and stance," he added.
