MALAYSIA

WELCOMES AFP

 

Controversial AFP Correspondent Lectures

 

By Richard V. London

 

American Free Press received a warm welcome in the Southeast Asian republic of Malaysia in conjunction with a recently concluded 10-day speaking tour there by AFP correspondent Michael Collins Piper.

Hosted by a variety of independent organizations and private individuals, Piper visited Kuala Lumpur, the modern capital of the rising Asian economic powerhouse, to launch the publication there, in English, of his controversial books, Final Judgment: The Missing Link in the JFK Assassination Conspiracy and The High Priests of War.

High Priests of War is the first-ever in-depth look at the history of the pro-Israel neo-conservatives who control U.S. foreign policy under President George W. Bush.

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country having large Chinese and Indian minorities but with the native Malay population predominating. English is widely spoken throughout the country, which had been part of the British empire.

Several thousand copies of Piper’s books are already in circulation in Malaysia and are available in major bookstores in that country—which cannot be said for the United States.

Piper’s visit was auspicious, since, as his hosts pointed out, this was the first time an American known as an outspoken populist, nationalist and critic of the Israeli lobby in Washington has visited Malaysia in a high-profile manner.

The first event of Piper’s tour was a lecture at the five-star Mutiara Hotel in Kuala Lumpur with an overflow crowd of nearly 300 in attendance—a remarkable array of prominent attorneys, businessmen, industrialists, academics and diplomats including a representative of the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia.

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, an attorney and prolific writer and lecturer regarded as one of Asia’s premier intellectuals, was moderator. The president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), Muzaffar is widely respected internationally.

For more on JUST, visit its web site at just-international.org.

Later, JUST featured a special appearance by Piper, addressing an equally large and interested assembly on “The Hidden Power Behind Washington.” Piper spoke about the influence of the Israeli lobby influence as well as such power blocs as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the more secretive Bilderberg group (which, Piper discovered, was hardly known at all to his otherwise well-informed audience). Dr. R.S. McCoy, the Malaysian division chair of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, was moderator.

During a visit to the historic island of Penang—known as “the pearl of the Orient”—Piper addressed the question “The U.S. in the Middle East: Is Peace Possible?” in a gathering of academics and graduate students at the Center for International Studies at the School of Social Sciences at the University Sains [Science] Malaysia. The moderator, Prof. Johan S. Abdullah, concluded by presenting Piper with a book by Cecil Regendra, the prominent attorney, poet and human rights activist who attended Piper’s lecture.

Initially, there were plans for Piper to speak in a classroom course conducted by Dr. A.B. Kopanski at the distinguished International Islamic University (IIU) in Kuala Lumpur. Like Piper, Kopanski is a member of the board of advisors of The Barnes Review, the controversial revisionist historical journal. Last year, Kopanski came to Washington to speak at the joint TBR-AFP conference on real history and the First Amendment.

However, Piper’s visit to Malaysia generated so much interest in intellectual circles that university officials independently arranged for a larger venue at their institution, which has students from some 100 countries.

As a consequence, a standing-room-only crowd of energetic students greeted Piper. IIU President Seri Sanusi Junid, a highly respected figure in Malaysian affairs, joined Piper on stage for the lecture and honored the American by conferring upon him the title of “protected one,” to the delight of the students, who enjoyed Piper’s lecture on “The Neo-Conservatives, Zionism and Palestine.”

Piper addressed the equally contentious topic, “Is the American Press Really Free?” at the national headquarters of the Malaysian Bar Council, the attorneys’ association, which, in Malaysia, in contrast to the United States, is highly independent and outspoken, often standing as a counter-point to the government.

Piper noted that although in countries such as Malaysia, where the government often partially controls or places restrictions on the media, in the United States the situation is different: private corporations and special interest groups own the media and use that power to control the political process.

There was a concerted behind-the-scenes effort to block Piper from addressing the Bar Council. An anonymous caller, believed to be from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Israeli pressure group in the United States, urged the council to cancel Piper’s engagement, referring to “evidence” against Piper on the ADL web site “proving” Piper was dangerous.

Bar leaders, however, rejected the ADL’s advice. The moderator of the event, well-known attorney Tommy Thomas, pointed out that in the lengthy history of the council’s forums there had never once been an effort to prevent a speaker from being heard, despite a notable record of speakers representing wide-ranging points of view.

The closing event in Piper’s lecture tour was sponsored by Oriental News, the Chinese language newspaper in Kuala Lumpur.

Before a friendly crowd of roughly 250 people, Piper addressed the topic “The U.S. Map for Global Dominance in the 21st Century.” Piper spoke about the neo-conservatives in the ruling elite in Washington, who are known for their parochial enthusiasm for Israel. He also noted that what is little known is that they place Israel’s interests and security first even in the conduct of U.S. policy toward Asia, Europe, Africa or South Africa. The neo-cons believe that all such policies must be focused on what is best for Israel, said Piper.