AMERICAN academic Bruce Gilley is no stranger to controversies, but the political scientist has crossed the line. Surely fabrication, exaggeration and conspiracy theories are not the hallmarks of any respectable academic.
He may have his opinion of how Malaysia handles its foreign policy, particularly on Palestine, but it is surely flawed for him to suggest that Malaysia was pushing for a “second Holocaust against the Jewish people” and, worse, for him to declare that Malaysia was unsafe for travel.
With his delusionary sense of self-grandeur, he claimed he left Malaysia due to safety concerns caused by an “Islamo-fascist mob whipped up by the government there”.
“This is not a safe country to travel to now,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter), besides saying that he had removed his controversial initial post for the “safety and well-being of my colleagues at (Universiti Malaya), whose leadership has responded to a student outcry”.
Good riddance. You are not welcome in this country, of which you have such a low opinion.
In fact, why did Gilley even accept a visiting professorship at Universiti Malaya if he actually believed that this purportedly unsafe small country could actually have the influence or ability to initiate an act of terror against the Jewish people?
It is outrageous for Gilley to believe that he was in danger of being tied up and lashed for his simplistic arguments.
Yes, many Malaysians are outraged, and it’s not just Muslims, but none of us would cause any harm to him.
But let’s examine what Gilley says. He is well-known for his thesis that Western colonialism was “objectively beneficial and subjectively legitimate” in most places it existed, and even suggested that the solution to poverty and economic underdevelopment in parts of the Global South is to reclaim “colonial modes of governance; by re-colonising some areas; and by creating new Western colonies from scratch”.
His 2017 article “The Case for Colonialism” earned him widespread criticism for whitewashing the history of human rights abuses.
It led to the resignation of board members of Third World Quarterly (in which it was published), and Gilley had to issue a public apology for the “pain and anger” his article may have caused, according to an article in The Conversation by Joseph McQuade, University of Toronto.
Martin Klein, also from the University of Toronto, pointed out that Gilley’s problem was that “he gets his facts wrong” and that colonial rule was simply racist, adding that colonial rule ignored famines, and did little for health and education.
In short, there were no grounds for Gilley to harp praises on colonialism, and in Klein’s words, “Gilley’s article is seriously flawed. He often does not get his facts right.”
Gilley has a fascination with, or rather openly defends, colonialism as his books in 2020 include The Last Imperialists and In Defence of German Colonialism.
As respectable academician Syed Farid Alatas rightly asked, why was Gilley even invited as he was well known for making a case for re-colonisation and “attempting to make colonialism something beneficial”?
“Many of us in academia wondered how Gilley’s paper could pass the external peer review process of such a prestigious journal as the Third World Quarterly.
“His point of view is not only objectionable but also based on mediocre scholarship,” he wrote on his blog.
There are many like Gilley who have turned a blind eye to the genocide that is taking place in Gaza. The reality is that Palestinians are getting butchered every day and Gilley should have the moral compass to speak up for these people.
Perhaps he does not because he likes to believe that there is value in occupying the land that belongs to the Palestinians.
