However, he insisted that former Umno lawmakers must “atone for their sins” by admitting their mistake in supporting former prime minister Najib Razak as well as the 1MDB scandal.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said this was to avoid giving the impression that the question of integrity within PH was being undermined.

He said a failure to do so will result in those abandoning Umno being seen as nothing more than a bunch of opportunists.

Those involved in corruption and criminal conduct have to pay the price even if they switched sides, Lim said after launching Malay Mail’s pictorial book, “100 Days, 100 Pictures”, which commemorates the first 100 days of “Malaysia Baharu” (new Malaysia) at Pietro Ristorante Italiano here.

Asked if he was willing to have former adversaries, such as former Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia on his side, Lim said this was among the “things that everyone has to think about”.

Umno today confirmed that six of its MPs had quit the party.

Umno won 54 seats in the May 9 general election, which saw the party’s fall from grace after six decades dominating the government.

With the series of defections, the party is now left with 37 MPs.

Besides Pandikar, other prominent Umno MPs who have quit the party are former trade minister Mustapa Mohamed, former Puteri Umno chief Mas Ermieyati Samsudin, former foreign minister Anifah Aman and former communications and multimedia minister Salleh Said Keruak.