Although he did not specify the nature of the accusations or the parties that made them, he said the participation of over 1,500 companies from 60 countries from the global defence and security sectors proved the claims “had no basis”.

Speaking during a walkabout at the 16th Defence Services Asia (DSA) Exhibition and Conference 2018, held at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre, he said the strong participation was encouraging.

“I’m happy to see so many foreign participants today, even the participation of Turkey. This gives us confidence that Malaysia is strategically located to sell products not only in the country, but in the region as well.

“This is why there are many who are here today despite there being some accusations from certain quarters about our country,” he said, adding that those who made the claims were sometimes driven by political considerations.

Commenting on several exhibitions that were anti-terrorist in theme, Hishammuddin said terrorism was a key challenge.

“It remains the biggest challenge for all of us to face, not only in Malaysia, but also in the region.

“It’s the most important issue that we need to address, and we will be addressing it this afternoon. We are looking at dealing with these threats that at one time were never in our region.”

This year, the National Security Asia (Natsec Asia 2018) exhibition was included in the DSA platform.

Almost 340 delegates from 45 countries have confirmed their attendance at the DSA and Natsec Asia exhibitions.