The breakdown of racial relations in the country is the work of parties that have manipulated racial sentiments - especially among the Malays - to achieve their own interests, said Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

tengku razaleigh speech 110310 02 He said Malays are not racist, blaming the worsening of the racial divide on those who encourage Malays to think and act as “communalists”.

“I know that the Malays - and the other communities - are not ‘racists’ but the Malays and the others are becoming communalists because they have been manipulated to behave and think and act as communalists,” he said at the launch of his new NGO, Angkatan Amanah Merdeka, today.

“We are not gathered here today to start a protest movement and neither are we here to play politics.

“We are here because many of us are genuinely very concerned, grieved and saddened by what is happening in this beloved country of ours.

“We are here because we need that voice of conscience for the nation, to articulate our voice for the nation, to engage the authorities in a democratic fashion as guarded and guided by our constitutional rules and our common tradition as peace-loving rakyat,” Razaleigh said.

Around 300 people attended the morning launch of Amanah at the Tunku Abdul Rahman memorial park.

Among the notable attendees were Parti Kita president Zaid Ibrahim, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar and former Transparency International Malaysia president Ramon Navaratnam.