KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today launched Asal Usul Melayu Induknya di Benua Sunda (The origins of Malays on the Sunda continent), a book tracing the origin of the Malay race.

Najib, who is also the Umno president, launched the book at Dewan Tun Razak 1, Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), here in conjunction with the Umno Open House 2017.

The book was written by Zaharah Sulaiman, Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Wan Hashim Wan Teh and Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Nik Hassan Suhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman, of Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). It was published by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI).

Zaharah, who is the researcher and lead author of the book, said she spent seven years collecting materials and making reference to more than 1,000 resources from human genome geneticists.

"I hope that this study will eliminate all the negative perceptions of the origin of the Malay race and become a reference for research purposes,” she told reporters after the launch of the book.

Deputy Prime Minister and Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was also present. — Bernama