Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's press aide has expressed disappointment that his boss' statement regarding Dr Mahathir Mohamad's roots has been sensationalised.

According to Ibrahim Yahya, the message which Zahid intended to put across was not to use Umno for personal interests.

“Zahid said Mahathir used Umno for his personal and family's interests and after that, he left Umno and became part of the opposition. In fact, he is collaborating with his former arch rival DAP.

“However, he (Zahid) is not surprised with Mahathir's attitude because the former premier of 22 years is not a Malay by origin but his family is from Kerala, India. That's all,” he added in a statement to Sinar Harian.

Ibrahim said Mahathir's supporters had exploited this issue and it resulted in a pandemonium on social media.

The press aide also pointed out that certain quarters used this issue to accuse the deputy prime minister of insulting Indian Muslims.

Ibrahim said this was wrong as Zahid only mentioned Mahathir and the latter's attitude towards Umno at present.

“What Zahid wanted to portray was that the attitude of 'habis madu sepah dibuang' (a Malay proverb which speaks of discarding an item after having used it for one's interest) is not a Malay trait and Mahathir had done this because he is not a 'Melayu sejati' (true Malay),” he added.

On Sunday, Zahid, when speaking at an Umno meet, claimed that he had sighted Mahathir's identity card, which purportedly bore the name "Mahathir a/l Iskandar Kutty".

The patronym “a/l” (short for 'anak lelaki', meaning 'son of') is commonly used by Indian Malaysians, although it is also used by some indigenous groups. “Kutty” is a common Tamil name.

Malay male names normally carry the “bin” title instead, which is the Arabic term meaning “son of”.

The deputy prime minister said that he had received a copy of the so-called identity card from the National Registration Department director-general.

However, Zahid came under fire for revealing personal data for political purposes, resulting in police reports being lodged against him.

Yesterday, Mahathir branded Zahid a "liar" and dared him to produce the so-called identity card.

Prior to that, Mahathir's supporters explained that it was the former premier's grandfather Iskandar who came from Kerala, whereas his father's name was Mohamad.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim warned that the politics of hate sowed by the opposition has the potential of destroying the nation.

“The opposition uses the tagline to hammer BN to make the people hate and reject BN...,” he added.