Speaking to FMT, he alleged that corruption became a culture in Umno only under its current leadership.

“We have to be fair to Umno,” he said. “It has done great things in the past. Only after Najib Razak became Prime Minister has it got into the state it is in now.

“Never in the history of Malaysia have we seen the country in such a terrible state, and there’s no redemption now.”

Chang was one of the speakers in a forum on the 1MDB issue yesterday. In his speech, he said Malaysia enjoyed the respect of the international community during Mahathir’s tenure as prime minister.

“We were seen as a progressive and moderate Muslim country while countries in the Middle East were failing at representing the true Islam,” he said.

“Everywhere we went we could hold our head up high, but now, with the 1MDB crisis, everyone is embarrassed.”

He also said Mahathir would be the first person to admit that he wasn’t perfect.