State police chief Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said investigations found that the 59-year-old man ordered the sticker from a shop in Selangor about 13 years ago, Sinar Harian reported.

“The man came across the Hebrew phrase ‘Israel Betainu’, which means ‘Israel is our home’. He later modified it by replacing ‘Israel’ with ‘Malaysia’ when creating the sticker,” Dzulkhairi told a press conference at the Melaka police headquarters.

Dzulkhairi said the individual had used Hebrew out of interest in foreign scripts, including Greek and Russian.

He also said that the man, who retired four years ago, lodged a police report after realising that footage showing his vehicle had gone viral on social media.

He said the investigation remained ongoing, including to obtain the input of language experts.

Dzulkhairi yesterday said that a special officer to the chief minister lodged a report after coming across the 14-second video on Threads.

Police investigations found that the writing translated to “Malaysia is our home” or “Malaysia is in our hands”.

Further checks by police revealed that the vehicle was registered under a man with an address in Gemencheh, Negeri Sembilan.