Malaysians are urging their government to reject Donald Trump’s appointment of conservative provocateur Nick Adams as the US ambassador to their country.
Political parties, parliamentarians and members of the public are pressing Anwar Ibrahim’s government to reject the MAGA commentator as ambassador to the majority Muslim country over his “vocal support of Israel’s Zionist regime”.
Mr Adams, 40, a provocateur with a reputation for making incendiary social media posts, including one in which he referred to pop star Taylor Swift as a “woke jezebel”, was nominated by Mr Trump last week.
Mr Adams was born in Sydney before immigrating to the US in 2012. If confirmed by the senate, he would replace Edgard Kagan, who took the job less than 16 months ago.
Although Mr Adams, who became a US citizen in 2021, does have prior political experience, he has never been a diplomat. He was a member of Australia’s Liberal Party before being driven out over an offensive rant about a journalist.
“Nick Adams is not a diplomat, not a statesman,” Mus’ab Muzahar from Amanah party, a member of the ruling coalition, said. “He’s merely an extreme right-wing propagandist, a Trumpist and vocal supporter of Israel’s Zionist regime. His social media rhetoric is full of hatred, racism and Islamophobic sentiments which veer far from mature bilateral relations.”
Mr Muzahar warned that Malaysia was “not a testing ground for US political puppets”.
Mohamed Sukri Omar, an official of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, said the government should take a firm and clear stance against the nomination.
“Nick Adams is not just a controversial figure. He openly spreads hatred towards Islam and supports the Zionist colonial regime without consideration,” Mr Omar said, according to The Star.
He said Mr Adams once pressured a restaurant in the US to fire a waitress simply for wearing a “Free Palestine” pin. “This is an inhumane act that demonstrates extreme and hateful attitudes towards the oppressed Palestinian people’s struggle,” he said in a statement on Monday.
His statement referred to a post of X, where Mr Adams proudly claimed to have gotten a waitress fired for wearing a “Free Palestine” pin.
“I won’t tolerate being served by those who support terror, I stand with Israel,” Mr Adams wrote in the post dated 5 August 2024.
Malaysia has openly supported the Palestinian people since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Youth International Relations Bureau warned that Mr Adams’s nomination was being viewed with concern due to his “extremist ideologies and divisive rhetoric”, which stood in contrast to the Malaysian government.
“Such a rejection should not be misconstrued as hostility but rather seen as a necessary measure to safeguard the integrity of bilateral relations and ensure that diplomatic envoys can contribute constructively, in a manner aligned with the shared aspirations of both nations,” the bureau’s chief, Arief Izuadin, said.
The choice of Mr Adams as America’s envoy to Malaysia reflected a lack of respect for and understanding of the nation, said Dr Bridget Welsh, a political analyst specialising in Southeast Asia.
“Trump’s focus on loyalty and political appointees, rather than professional diplomats or regional expertise, will inevitably undercut US engagement with the region,” she told The Straits Times.
Malaysia last week said it planned to “continue discussions” with the US to reach a “balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement” after Mr Trump threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on the country from 1 August.
