Malaysians need to avoid corruption, disunity, says minister

Malaysians need to avoid corruption and disunity that had once caused civil wars to break out and weakened the ummah and led to the collapse of the Islamic empire, says Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak.

He said the people need to learn from history and avoid the same fate as Maal Hijrah was not just about celebrating a new year but about celebrating the meaning behind the emigration of Prophet Muhammad from Makkah to Madinah in the year 622.

“Back in 622, when Europe was still in the Dark Ages, the Muslim world fought for freedom, civil rights, and an end to oppression and persecution.

Muslims, Jews, and Christians co-existed in one community and respected one another’s right to their own belief. That eventually led to what historians call the Golden Age of Islam.

“Unfortunately all that was eventually destroyed due to corruption and disunity. Civil wars broke out and that weakened the ummah and led to the collapse of the Islamic Empire.

“Malaysia is fragile because of our many ethnicities and opportunists will exploit that to divide us,” he said in his blog post at sskeruak.blogspot.my, on Friday night in conjunction with the Maal Hijrah 1439H.

- Bernama