Social unrest will erupt in Bermuda if ?the politics of racial division, hatred and segregation? continue to be practised, a former PLP MP told a public forum on the weekend.

Julian Hall gave his warning at a meeting on Saturday night in which other speakers also forecast a grim future for the Island unless the current two-party political system is changed.

Mr. Hall, a lawyer who represented the PLP as an Opposition MP in Hamilton Parish for one term and who was also once a member of the UBP, claimed the current adversarial system of Government was not working in modern Bermuda.

He said politicians were too keen to use race to gain an advantage in that system, instead of tackling the real challenges facing the country.

And he repeated claims he has made publicly before that some PLP cabinet ministers are not competent enough to run the country.

He warned: ?Social unrest is right around the corner whether we like it or not. We are in severe danger. We have some young people here who are really increasingly alienated; no longer a part of this society. The PLP is going to find itself unable to handle social unrest. We need change.

?This Island, I think, is really this close to perishing. It may not look like that because of all the affluence and the rest of it. There is an underpinning, a substructure of mayhem, which is just around the corner.?

Mr. Hall, 56, added: ?It?s a matter of great distress to me that I see Bermuda in 2006 still practising the politics of racial division, hatred and segregation.

?I do not wish to associate myself with a political party that?s based on the support of one race. The result of that kind of politics is that a lot of the people who can be of great use to our society are excluded.

?We have a two-gang system. Politics based on ideology is what we should be all about.?

He said Bermuda?s tiny population was ideally suited to a system that was ?systemically democratic and accountable to its people?.

?We are just a little rock with some people on it trying to survive together,? he said, adding that there were two ways of bringing about change.

?Either the movement for systemic change is going to convince one political party or the other to bring about that systemic change or it?s going to have to create a third force which is going to take it up. I?m going to try to convince the PLP.?

The meeting at St. Paul?s Christian Education Centre in Paget also heard from newspaper columnist and former Bermuda Sun editor Tom Vesey, who listed his ideas for changing the system.

They included banning party whips, having open Cabinet meetings, electing the Senate, introducing a code of conduct for MPs and having more committees and a U-shaped House of Assembly.

He said the Westminster system used here was designed for Britain 800 years ago. ?Bermuda is a very different country than England. I think we have been dragging along doing the same old tired stuff for so long and we forgot this is our country and we can change it if we want to.

?It?s not a problem with our Government, it?s not a problem with the Opposition. I think it?s a problem with the system.?

Former UBP strategist David Sullivan questioned why no MPs were at the meeting. ?They are supposed to be representing us,? he said. ?I would think they would want to be where the people are. I guess they don?t want to be where the people are.?

Government backbencher Renee Webb later received a round of applause when she arrived late for the meeting.

Young Bermudian Dennis Pitcher questioned whether the Island was ready for Independence under the current Government system and called for action from ordinary people to bring about change.

?If we want Independence, I believe we need to take a serious look at our constitution,? he said. ?Can we not achieve change and unify our people under a better constitution?

?Our Government has failed because our people are no longer involved. We don?t stand up for ourselves when things aren?t going our way. If they don?t know what we want, then they are going to tell us what we want.?

The meeting was organised by Khalid Abdul Wasi who said he planned similar forums in the near future.