KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Malaysians should honour the national badminton team that fought to bring home the Thomas Cup yesterday by rejecting hate speech against the local Chinese community, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said today.

The former de facto law minister suggested that speaking out against racial bigots would be a more fitting tribute for all seven of these badminton “heroes” rather than gifting them land and honorary titles such as Datukships.

“To honour them, we should stand up against those who make derogatory remarks about the Chinese — even if they are members of DAP — about where they came from or about their ‘rightful’ place in this country,” he wrote on his blog in a post titled “True Malaysians”.

The former lawyer-turned-politician’s call comes in the wake of an article by controversial columnist Ridhuan Tee Abdullah today.

An ethnic Chinese convert to Islam, he suggested in his article that Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese will support a badminton player of their own race, even if he is from China, when he is pitted against a Malay.

The lecturer also said some within the local Chinese community did not acknowledge or respect the rights of Malay and Bumiputera citizens.

Zaid, who has taken a strong stand on ethnic relations in Malaysia in the past, reiterated his call for Malaysians to stand united and object to politics based on hate.

“If our leaders are too small and too afraid to say so, let us collectively make it known that we the people reject hate politics. We prefer badminton, which has proven to be a stronger way for the people of this country to bond together,” the one-time Umno leader said.

In the same blog post, Zaid turned the tables on some allegedly “shameless” individuals from the Bumiputera community who had verbally attacked the Malaysian Chinese community.

“We need to stop irresponsible and mindless political apparatchiks and political mercenaries from ever again uttering shameless words like ‘pendatang’ or from calling the Chinese ‘ungrateful’,” he said.

He pointed out that Malaysia’s all ethnic-Chinese badminton team were neither Bumiputera nor Muslims, adding that they had “already accomplished far more than” the “shameless” individuals which he did not name.

While noting that Malaysia had experienced “heartbreak” when it failed to win the Thomas Cup when it lost 2-3 to Japan last night, Zaid praised the badminton team for their “inspiring” hard work and sacrifice, as well as their “selfless dedication”.

Left-leaning Malay-Muslim activist groups have been growing increasingly vocal in recent years.

Earlier this month, Malay-Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) claimed that the influx of Chinese migrants into the country had been “a mistake” which must be rectified, but stopped short of saying how this could be achieved.

According to Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman, ethnic Chinese are considered trespassers on Malay land, and had been brought by British colonialists to oppress and bully the Malays.

Yesterday, Isma vice president Abdul Rahman Mat Dali said that Malays should be allowed to question the rights given to non-Malays, including their citizenship rights, vernacular schools and benefits from the riches of the land.

“If DAP and anyone who loudly question the past decisions about Malay rights, we can also dispute the past decisions that gave the non-Malay rights, including allowing residence, getting (wholesale) ‘jus soli’ citizenship, use of foreign languages, their schools and others.

“If DAP can dispute UiTM, Isma can dispute Chinese schools! If DAP questions the giving of the country’s financial resources to the Malays, Isma can question the riches of Malay land which has long been taken and some were taken back to China,” he wrote as a columnist on Isma’s website.

The Malays and Bumiputera make up the majority of Malaysia’s population at an estimated 67.4 per cent of the 25.98 million local population, followed by the ethnic minorities Chinese and Indians at 24.6 per cent and 7.3 per cent, according to the most recent census at 2010.