Eager to become prime minister, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was prepared to sacrifice his own race, just to get non-Malay support, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

NONE The former prime minister said the obvious success of his former deputy was in breaking the unity of the Malays until they became weak.

Mahathir said those who were dissatisfied with Umno and wanted to see the Malays crumble, took the opportunity of finding this "champion" (Anwar) to realise their goal.

"The Malays easily forget. They should learn from history on how the British had controlled the Malay rulers and split Malay unity by forming the Malayan Union.

"That's the reason why Umno was set up. To unite the Malays...but there are still people willing to break up the party which belongs to their own race," he said in his keynote address at a gathering in Alor Setar organised by Perkasa, a non-governmental Malay rights group.

According to the former Umno president, the party had become the core of cooperation with other component parties in the Barisan Nasional which had brought prosperity and peace to the country.

- Bernama