The United States is the world’s biggest economy, but it also has leaders who are still geographically ignorant. Their understanding of South-east Asia and Asia is quite farcical.
FIRST, US Vice-president JD Vance found himself being rebuked – for his disrespectful comments about “Chinese peasants”.
In a recent interview, when speaking about the effects of the Trump Administration’s tariffs, he said the US “borrows money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.’’
As expected, it earned a quick rebuttal from the Chinese Foreign Ministry while the Chinese social media set Vance on fire for his remarks.
Then came Conservative talk show personality, Bill O’reilly, who arrogantly suggested that President Xi Jinping had wasted his time with his South-east Asian tour, which included Malaysia.
In a typical display of haughtiness and ignorance, O’reilly claimed Xi was “wasting his time in South-east Asia because the Malays have no money.”
We do not know if the 75-year-old newsman used the term “Malays” to refer to Malaysians in general, or to pinpoint the Malay-majority population of Malaysia, or even the broader ethnic group found across South-east Asia.
But it is safe to assume that he had in mind the population of Malaysia. It also indicated his lack of knowledge of Malaysia’s diversity.
Like many Americans, he has probably never set foot in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. His perception of Asians is probably based on Hollywood movies where the white man is always sweating away in noisy, crowded Asian market places, where, for some reason, everyone is using chopsticks.
It doesn’t matter which Asian city it is, it is always chopsticks.
To his feeble mind, we are just Third World people living in slums who can’t even afford our next meal.
Well, is that a surprise? No. It has been reported that although the majority of Americans have travelled abroad at least once, a significant percentage (27%) have never left their country.
The report said the degree of international travel experience varies widely among Americans, with only 11% having visited 10 or more foreign countries.
So, it is very likely that the average American would not know what Asean is. They may know about Singapore or Thailand, but Malaysia could well be Mars for many.
O’reilly’s remarks not only reflect a gross misunderstanding of South-east Asian geopolitics but also insults millions of Malaysians and their South-east Asian neighbours who have built vibrant, culturally rich, and economically growing nations.
To reduce their global significance to mere economic labels is not only simplistic but also racially charged.
I am proud of Malaysia. So are most of us. We take the trouble to explain the location of our small country to foreigners when we are abroad.
The reality is that Malaysia is a middle-income country with a diversified economy that spans electronics, petroleum, palm oil, tourism, and increasingly, digital services.
Malaysia is certainly not a “shit-hole country”, as Donald Trump infamously referred to African countries, Haiti and El Salvador in an interview in 2018.
Malaysia’s economy grew by 5% in the fourth quarter of 2024, with a 5.4% growth recorded in the previous quarter.
Overall, Malaysia’s economy grew at 5.1% (2023:3.6%) in 2024, with a value of RM1.93 trillion at current prices and RM1.65 trillion at constant prices.
Gross national income per capita increased by 3.6% to RM54,894 from a marginal decrease of 0.2% (RM52,991) in 2023.
Kuala Lumpur and Penang are home to a thriving tech scene and a growing number of start-ups, not to mention some of the tallest and most iconic buildings in the world.
The Straits of Malacca remains one of the busiest shipping lanes on the planet, making it geopolitically indispensable.
Our streets are safe. No one gets shot in schools. The metro stations are clean, bright and the trains run on time. No graffiti covers the walls of the stations.
Our streets are not filled with homeless people and the zombie druggies found in many American cities. That’s Malaysia for you.
To call Malays “poor” is not just misleading; it shows a lack of understanding of socio-economic dynamics and how wealth and development are measured.
While challenges like rural poverty remain, as they do in the US, Malaysia has made remarkable progress in human development, infrastructure, and education.
For O’reilly to suggest that Xi is merely “waiting” in South-east Asia implies that the region is a passive playground for global powers.
Asean is made up of 10 member states – with Timor Leste coming in next – playing a critical but neutral role in regional security, economic integration, and multilateral diplomacy.
Malaysia is clear about the US and China. Both are important trading partners. We will give an equally grand welcome to Trump if he comes to KL.
In fact, Asean leaders are ready to travel to Washington DC to meet Trump to engage with him. But China is our neighbour. It’s just a four-hour flight from KL to Beijing, and from Kota Kinabalu to Hainan, it’s less than two hours. That’s how close we are to each other.
Regular visitors would know how far China has advanced and how it has lifted its people out of poverty.
The US, meanwhile, continues to lag behind in many sectors because it continues to think it is superior.
China’s engagement in Asean is a strategic economic and diplomatic initiative aimed at expanding influence, often through soft power, trade, and infrastructure investment under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
O’reilly’s condescending view of Southeast Asians is both analytically weak and morally offensive.
As one report said: “O’reilly’s remarks are laced with cultural superiority. Such commentary doesn’t just diminish the credibility of the speaker – it also poisons public discourse with half-truths and prejudice.”
O’reilly really should get off his moral high horse, especially since he is someone who has faced - and settled – multi-million-dollar sexual harassment suits with at least six women. It reportedly totalled Us$45mil (Rm198.3mil).
The hilarity of it all was highlighted by one “Rep Jack Kimble”, who had the world in stitches when he tweeted that “we aren’t the only beef supplier in the world, but China isn’t the only huge country either.
“If they’re going to pivot from us, we should do the same and start selling more of our beef to India.’’
He then went on to follow up with: “Okay, I may have misspoken. It seems exporting beef to India is going to be tough with certain Hindu beliefs.
“However, instead of selling our cattle that way, what if we ransomed them off? How much would India pay if we’d let it go?”
This “Republican Congressman” is fictional and the account is fake but his remarks cleverly parodied the attitude of people like O’reilly, who is not just ignorant but also obnoxious.
And we all remember Pete Hegseth, the Defence Secretary, who was stumped when asked about Asean during his confirmation hearing in Senate in January. He could not name a single member country of Asean.
That kind of ignorance would be downright comical, if it weren’t so serious.
By Wong Chun WAI chunwai09@gmail.com A veteran journalist, Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai is currently the chairman of Bernama. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.
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