Noting recent developments among the major parties, Patriot president Arshad Raji said the propagation of race and religion was taking centre stage and if allowed to fester “there is little hope of ever seeing a united Malaysian society”.

“Constructive change must start before our nation and society descend into permanent destruction.

“The dismantling of race-based political parties is our only hope of seeing the emergence of a truly undivided Malaysian society,” he said in a statement today.

Arshad said the last few by-elections had seen politicians making racially-charged speeches aimed at inciting hatred just to secure votes.

This culminated with “one of the most ridiculous statements” that non-Malays should not be appointed as the chief justice, attorney-general or finance minister because they could not be sworn in using the Quran, he said.

“The latest development asking MCA and MIC to leave BN is mischievous and bewildering and further indicates that politics has rolled back into pure racism.

“BN’s founding fathers had forged a coalition to strengthen unity among the three major races,” he said, adding that this was being threatened by selfish and self-centred politicians, including those who had held powerful positions in government before.

Arshad said Umno and PAS had become “one-issue” parties harping on Malay supremacy or Malay-Muslim unity against others.

This had also led certain Pakatan Harapan politicians to propagate policies of the Malay agenda, he said.

“We can start to get rid of racism by having non-race-based political parties.

“Patriot urges all parties to move towards achieving that purpose in sync with the multiracial nature of our society.

“We have had enough of politics of building obstacles instead of building bridges, enough of politics of ‘they versus us’ and enough of politics of exclusivity and not inclusivity,” he added.

Patriot is made up of former military and police officers.