Malay Muslims must avoid slander, internal disputes - Ahmad Zahid

Malay Muslims must avoid slander and internal disputes to enable themselves to build their strength, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said the Malay Muslims needed to learn the lessons from the fallen of the Islamic and Malay empires caused by slander and disunity.

"These two factors are the reasons for the fallen of the Malay Muslims. This race, if attacked from the outside, will be strong and united, but will get easily disunited if attacked from within.

"In this borderless world, slander can be spread easily. So, modern Malays must reject slander and internal disputes that can cause disunity," he said when launching the Dunia Melayu Dunia Islam (DMDI) Sports Festival at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), here Friday night.

Also present were Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron and DMDI president Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam

Five types of sports, namely silat, sepak takraw, gasing, badminton and bowling will be contested in the four-day sports festival.

A total of 866 participants from six countries, namely Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia are participating in the festival held at the university and several locations in Ayer Keroh.

Commenting further, Ahmad Zahid said efforts to build the strength of the Malay Muslims did not mean that the people were racist or wanted to exclude other races.

"We just want to unite about 300 million Malays across the globe to restore our strength in the region for our future and the future of our children," he said.