Malaysia should vote for their own prime minister instead of having a party decide for them, said veteran Umno lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

"We ought to explore other systems of government and see if we can perform better.

"(Maybe) we should have an elected prime minister rather than someone who is pushed up by the party," he said during a speech in Petaling Jaya today.

The Gua Musang MP said this is because the Westminster system currently practiced may no longer be suitable for the country.

Under the present system that the ruling BN practises, the prime minister post is assigned to the incumbent Umno president of the day.

"We adopted our system from the British, which was successful for other countries, but not Malaysia," he said.

He said the new generation of Malaysians have different mindsets and values from the old generation, thus necessitating the need for a new way of governance.

Among the changes he proposed besides direct elections for the prime minister's post was for an end to race based politics.

He also emphasised the need for better education, and better wages in an effort to improve Malaysian society as a whole.

Tengku Razaleigh was speaking at a forum organised by NGO Harmony Malaysia titled 'Our Malaysian Journey: Still In The Making' at the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies.