Lim said that Pua had gone overboard in attacking the Foon Yew High School board members, but agreed with the DAP MP’s criticism of Najib in using the school to “exculpate his kleptocracy.”

“The school’s board of governors should not be blamed if Najib wanted to visit the school as he was the one who had approved the school’s Johor campuses in Seri Alam and Kulai.

“However, he should not have abused his visit to whitewash his criminal conviction in the courts and to appeal to the Chinese community to support Barisan Nasional in the Johor elections,” he said in a statement.

Lim said that schools should not be diverted from its primary task to make future generations able to differentiate between right and wrong and never to lose the moral compass in life.

On Monday, Pua, who is Damansara MP, criticised the school’s board of governors for allowing Najib to speak at its Seri Alam branch in Johor.

He said the institution, a top Chinese independent school, had invited a “world-renowned kleptocrat”.

He demanded that the school governors be sacked for “a complete lack of integrity” in failing to set a good example to students.

In response, Najib accused Pua of practising “intimidation politics,” saying his criticism of the school’s board was “absolutely unbecoming” and reflected a malicious need to lambast a prestigious school.