Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim said he has always emulated practices of football that he liked from other countries as a way to improve local football.

The prince said this following an allegation by pro-Umno portal MyKMU that sporting brand giant Nike might sue Johor's Football Association (JFA) for its jersey launching video concept as it is very similar to an old Nike advertisement.

However, the portal has since retracted that post, saying the posting was misleading the public into thinking Nike will be suing JFA.

Tunku Ismail, who was formerly the JFA president, pointed out that he has copied ideas from Spain, Germany as well as football clubs AC Milan and Juventus before.

"All this is for the betterment of local football. I admit that I have learned a lot from all these countries, which are far ahead of us," he said in a Facebook posting on the JFA official account last night.

"Unfortunately, the typical Malaysian mentality is more interested in finding the faults of others rather than giving credit to those who want to evolve and move forward," he lamented.

Weakness of the Malays

That is why it is very difficult for the country to move forward, Tunku Ismail said, as people are focused on "petty things that are not beneficial".

Specifically, he said, the Malays are the ones condemning his ideas to better local football.

"This is the weakness of the Malays since before this.

"If you want this country to move forward and want the state of football to persevere, please change your mentality and mindset," he advised.

Other teams in Malaysia have also been copying JFA's ideas, Tunku Ismail said, but no one has made an issue of it before.

He mused that it is because people have always been jealous of Johor for being more modern and unique.

However, he complained that when the nation is in trouble, the people then look to Johor to voice out the concerns of the masses.

"What you are indirectly doing is making Bangsa Johor, myself included, as if we are an outsider," he said.

Tunku Ismail went on to urge the government to look into this matter and control the media and social media better so that these media would not divide the people.