PSM deputy chairperson S Arutchelvan has urged the US-based professor Bruce Gilley not to be hypocritical in speaking up on freedom of expression and academic freedom in Malaysia.
He was commenting on claims by the professor that Malaysia is not a safe country to visit after the latter’s programmes were cancelled following a controversial speech at Universiti Malaya on Tuesday (April 23).
Arutchelvan told Malaysiakini that while he has no issues with Gilley airing his views, he said the professor should also realise that academics in Western countries faced more severe repercussions for practising the freedom of expression compared to their Malaysian counterparts.
“I have no issues with people having a different opinion, but to me, what he said is hypocritical,” he said.
Arutchelvan said lecturers and students in Western countries would be reprimanded and expelled from their universities if they spoke about the Palestinian issue or were anti-Zionist.
“In countries like America and elsewhere, students who fight for the Palestinian issue face disciplinary action and so on. So, there is absolutely no freedom.
“When he (Gilley) talks about Malaysia, it doesn’t mean Western and European countries are better than us,” he said today after a press conference at Muda’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Previously, in his speech at Universiti Malaya, Gilley alleged that Malaysian political leaders advocated for a second Holocaust against the Jewish people.
Following that, the Higher Education Ministry cancelled all programmes and activities the academic was set to attend, and instructed the university to submit an immediate report regarding the incident.
The professor then vented his anger on X after leaving the country.
“I have safely departed from Malaysia, one step ahead of the Islamofascist mob unleashed by the government there. It is not a safe country to visit now. Further developments will follow,” he said on the social media platform.
Dared to speak about Thai monarchy
A day later, Gilley posted a picture of two individuals believed to be his friends with the flags of Israel and Thailand beside them.
He wrote, “I am deeply grateful to my academic partners in Thailand for scrambling to get me out of Dodge. I look forward to enjoying the academic freedom here. And long live the enduring Thailand-Israel relationship”.
Commenting on this, Arutchelvan labelled the academic a hypocrite and questioned whether he could speak about other countries as he did about Malaysia.
“Can he speak about the monarchy system in Thailand like he spoke about the Palestine-Israel issue in Malaysia?
“If he can give his views, he also has to accept that Malaysians do not accept his views,” he added.
Arutchelvan said PSM considers the cancellation of Gilley’s programmes as appropriate.
“We don’t blame Universiti Malaya for inviting him, maybe they didn’t know (his background).
“But if he makes a comparison about rights here, what about the people who defend Palestinian rights in America?
“The rights of lecturers and civil servants who face action and are dismissed from their jobs (for voicing the Palestinian issue). It’s worse. What happened to freedom there?” he asked. - Mkini
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