Lim was responding to “feedback” he had received on a statement he made on Sunday where he had said that he was prepared to work with Najib, whom he had been critical of in the past, for the good of the country.

However, he said, Najib must first condemn the 1MDB scandal and declare his stance against Malaysia becoming a kleptocracy.

“My media statements reflect my political views and have nothing to do with the DAP leadership, as I have retired from competitive politics and am no longer in the political front-line,” he said in a statement.

Social media users were seemingly stunned by Lim’s statement that he was willing to work with Najib, with one stating that it would condemn DAP to “the 18th level of hell” if the party chose to work with Najib.

Others asked if the DAP veteran had lost his mind in making such a statement.

At the party’s national congress in March, the 81-year-old DAP stalwart announced his retirement from politics after 56 years.

Today, the Iskandar Puteri MP said he could understand the horror expressed by some Malaysians over his earlier statement, especially those who regarded Najib as “the embodiment of evil who brought Malaysia the infamy of being a kleptocracy”.

However, Lim said the “Malu Apa Bossku” phenomenon was proof that many Malaysians still placed Najib on a pedestal despite the 1MDB scandal.

He added that if Malaysians who still worshipped Najib could be convinced to accept that corruption and the 1MDB scandal were crimes against the country, and if Najib could be persuaded to personally condemn it, then the effort would be worthwhile.

In his earlier statement, Lim said that in his six decades in politics, he had always been guided by the view that when it came to personalities, it wasn’t black and white, but “different shades of grey”.