About a week ago, an American conservative political commentator mocked Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Malaysia by saying that “Malays don’t have money” and that we could not afford to buy products from China.
Following this, Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim (PMX) shot back at O’Reilly, saying that the latter lacked an understanding of the current realities of Southeast Asia and that he has a narrow worldview shaped by racial bias and colonialist ideologies.
“This is a clear display of extreme arrogance by individuals who are, in fact, poorly informed, ignorant, and who believe that only their group or nation is successful,”
“In social sciences, this is referred to as a trapped mindset, a worldview shaped by imperialist attitudes that foster xenophobia, racial prejudice and Islamophobia,” PMX said.
“Malaysia is mad at me.”
Hearing PMX’s words against him, O’Reilly once again took to his YouTube channel, this time to address PMX’s statement.
“Chinese President Xi visited Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam to try and get better trade deals with them to offset the trade stuff in the USA. I reported on that and here’s what I said,” he shared before showcasing a short clip of his initial video where he said Malaysians “have no money at all” and that “they cannot help you, they’re not going to buy your stuff“.
O’Reilly then highlighted that his belief caused Malaysia to get offended. He also brought up PMX’s statement against him and laughed it off by pointing out how Malaysia’s household income per capita is much lower than America’s.
“I hate to break it to the Prime Minister, but here are the stats. The household per capita income in Malaysia is US$5,731 (RM25,067) a year. By comparison, the USA household income per capita is US$42,220 (RM184,712), and you’re only making 5 grand (US$5,000) a year. You’re barely eating,”
“So, Prime Minister, I wish you the best. We want you to succeed, but this ‘colonialist’ told the truth.”
You can check out Bill O’Reilly’s latest video on Malaysia here:
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
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