Lim said DAP was founded 54 years ago to make “Malaysia succeed as a world-class nation in various fields” and not go against any race, language, religion or culture.

The party, he added, was determined to make the mission a success and would therefore “remain true and steadfast on our principles so we always remain a principled political party”.

“We will not cooperate with kleptocrats and those who abused their powers for personal gain but we must be open-minded and flexible to co-operate with Malaysians of integrity, regardless of race, religion or politics, to build a united, just, prosperous and great Malaysia,” he said in a statement.

Lim’s statement came hours after Umno assemblyman Saarani Mohamad was sworn in as the state’s 14th menteri besar. It ended a six-day tussle for the post of menteri besar, with even the Perak DAP at one point, prepared to work with arch-rivals Umno to form a new government.

Saarani replaced Ahmad Faizal Azumu of PPBM who lost the confidence of the state assembly last Friday.

Lim had last year said that “only a kleptocrat who is insane” would want to join Umno as it had “not cleansed itself of global kleptocracy”.