KUALA LUMPUR - RACIST and provocative sentiments from within Malaysia's ruling party are jeopardising the stability of the multiracial nation, a former cabinet minister said on Thursday.

Zaid Ibrahim, who was sacked from the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) this week after attending the opposition's annual assembly, raised concern over the state of race relations in a country that has seen ethnic violence in the past.

He took aim at 'provocative' statements by government lawmakers, including one who referred to ethnic Chinese citizens as 'squatters' and another who proposed dismantling Chinese and Tamil schools.

'It is as if we don't want unity,' he said.

'If the party is not inclusive, cannot accommodate the views of many, then it will carry on with this narrow, very communal struggle,' he told a press conference.

'I think it's not just race relations but the stability of the country,' he said when asked whether ethnic tensions will worsen if there are further racist outbursts from Umno figures.

Zaid, a maverick figure tasked with cleaning up the judiciary and police force, quit the cabinet in September after complaining he was blocked from carrying out the promised reforms.

He was sacked from the party after attending the annual assembly of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's Keadilan party, but quashed speculation that he was planning to join the opposition ranks.

'I have always been very... tolerant of people with different views, I didn't do anything to cause me to be expelled,' he said.

'They resent my views, my more accommodating approach to other people,' he said of Umno.

Zaid said that the ruling party, which has dominated Malaysian politics for half a century but suffered its worst-ever showing in March elections, had to restore relations with minority ethnic Chinese and Indian communities.

He urged the party, which represents ethnic Malays who dominate the population, to go back to its roots as an institution that brought unity to a diverse country.

'Umno has become more ethnocentric, more communitarian but that is not our role,' he said.

'Umno's role is to be the provider, the one who takes care of everyone, the one who has the trust of all the communities. That's how we started, that's our achievement.'

'We have to do everything possible to maintain good relations, harmony in the country and stability, because there is no economic stability if there is no political or social stability,' he said. -- AFP