No split in UMNO, says Ahmad Zahid

Dissatisfied groups exist in all political organisations including UMNO but they will not lead to a split of the party which will be celebrating its 71st anniversary on May 11 , said Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Ahmad Zahid, who is UMNO vice president but discharging the duties of deputy president, said he and party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak were satisfied with the leadership line-up at both the grassroot and national levels.

"It''s true there will be those who are not satisfied in any organisation, not only in UMNO but in other political parties because politics is dynamic.

"So if there are problems, they should be overcome quickly and this is what the Prime Minister (Najib) and I are doing," he told reporters after opening the International Human Ecology Conference 2017 here today.

Ahmad Zahid who is also Deputy Prime Minister, was commenting on whether he was confident of the unity in UMNO as the party celebrates its 71st anniversaryy.

Commenting on the issue of social media in his speech at the conference organised by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Ahmad Zahid said Malaysians must use social media wisely for positive purposes and reject any information aimed at destroying the existing political ecosystem.

As a citizen in a multiracial and multi-religious country, the community should not adopt the model of other countries for adaptation in Malaysia, he said.

"I have read a book by an American blogger entitled ''Trust me, I''m lying''. It was written by someone who started the activity of giving wrong information in social media.

"In my view, it is fine to joke, but to create someone's misery or break-up to get sadistic satisfaction is not our culture," he said.

Earlier in his speech, Ahmad Zahid said social media had become the platform for the propagation of immoral behaviour, a bay for business transactions, a platform to incite terrorism, a propaganda machine, a channel to inform and to disinform, to incite hatred and to propagate lies.

Ahmad Zahid said research conducted by Malaysian psychologists and experts concluded that 95 per cent of the Malaysian terrorists were recruited through the Facebook.

He said the information they acquired through Facebook were distorted views of jihad and tauhid (oneness of God) fabricated by leaders of terrorists'' organisations.

"This a new culture that will turn people against their governments and wars will no longer be fought by armies against armies but armies against their own people.

"Wars will no longer be fought to protect sovereignty or territories but wars will be fought against some madmen with guns in their hands in the name of race, religion and politics," he said.

-- BERNAMA