A university don has suggested that instead of being anti-American to protest the US-led invasion of Iraq, Malaysians should build friendships with the American people.

At a public talk at the Dewan Sri Pinang in Penang last night, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia lecturer Dr Abdul Rahman Embong said the Americans are not monolithic and those who backed the war are the neo-conservatives who support the Bush Administration.

"These are not the American people, we should build bridges, make friends with the American people, the anti-war groups, the civil society," said Abdul Rahman ( photo ), who is currently a senior research fellow at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (Ikmas) in Bangi, Selangor.

"We should link up with global public opinion and other global civil societies," he told the 50-odd participants at the forum entitled "Invasion of Iraq: Issues and Implications".

Organised by the 62-member Stop the War Coalition (Penang chapter), the three-speaker panel was moderated by Penang State executive councillor Dr Toh Kin Woon.

The other two speakers were Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer Dr Johan Savaranamuthu and former DAP politician Fan Yew Teng.

Show of force

However, several other academicians who attended the talk were not so forgiving towards the US.

They told Malaysians to boycott US and UK goods and services as the people's show of force against the two governments' decision to invade Iraq o­n March 20.

One of the participants even suggested that Malaysia explore investments in other countries such as Europe, China and Asia in order to reduce dependency o­n the US, incidentally Malaysia's biggest investor, especially in the manufacturing sector.

USM's Dr Maznah Mohamad said that if economic matters was a major concern, there would not have been such a strong anti-colonialism struggle in the past.

During the first and second world wars, she said, Malaysia was highly dependent o­n the British, economically and administratively, and yet there was a massive anti-British movement in the country.

She said the perception that US is a leading economic market is a "deception" as the country has been running o­n a deficit budget and trade imbalance over a few years.

Maznah proposed that Malaysians go as far as to reject scholarships, funding and invitation to programmes from US organisations.

Contrary to Abdul Rahman's opinion, Maznah said: "We have to make the American people responsible for their governments".

People power

In his presentation, Fan supported the idea of a boycott as it was a non-violent and democratic response to the issue.

"We don't want to play games with mass terrorists. If our governments want to take the lead (to boycott), it would be very good, but if for some reason they cannot, Malaysians can do it...do not underestimate the power of the people," he added.

Fan cited several examples of boycott against governments which had worked positively. o­ne was former Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi's peaceful protest and anti-salt campaign against the British in the early 1930s.

He also related the story of how the US itself was a product of a boycott against the British, the famous Boston Tea Party in 1773, which was organised as a result of disputes between Britain and its colonies.

Other currencies

Another USM lecturer P Subramaniam said Malaysia should develop new markets with China, which is the rising economic power these days, instead of always depending o­n US.

Subramaniam suggested that Malaysia look towards Europe as 10 new countries would be joining the European Union soon as a result of recent EU-ties talks in Athens.

"These ten countries would be bigger than the US. Malaysian governments and businessmen should look towards these new ventures to halt our dependency o­n the US market," he said.

"We should also consider pegging our ringgit to a basket of currencies and not link it to the US dollar," he added.

Since the financial crisis hit the country in 1997, Malaysia has pegged the ringgit to the US dollar at US$1:RM3.8.

Puppet regime

Meanwhile, USM's Dr Johan Saravanamuthu ( photo ) encouraged Malaysians to back Europe and the United Nations as an instrument of peace.

"Although it (UN) is a lame duck, there is nothing much we can do," he said.

Johan proposed that Malaysia do not recognise the new US "puppet" regime in Iraq and urged the country leaders to stop collaborating with the US, especially economically.

He backed the idea that Malaysia discontinue linking its ringgit to the US greenback and suggested instead that the ringgit be pegged to the Euro dollar.