DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said today he had met with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on national issues and they were able to find encouraging developments in solving the problems the country was facing.

This comes amidst speculation that following his exit from Umno yesterday, Mahathir may now champion a movement to oust Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"I have met and discussed with Mahathir the current national situation, as well as with Zaid Ibrahim on his March 27 initiative.

"Both of these are encouraging developments to find a solution to the national cul de sac ," Lim said in his speech at a retreat for DAP councillors in Selangor this afternoon.

Without elaborating, he said the party would support all efforts to 'Save Malaysia' as opposed to campaigns to just 'Save Najib” or 'Save Umno'.

Prior to Pakatan Rakyat's break-up in April last year, Lim had called for all like-minded Malaysians, including Mahathir, to work on a common agenda to 'Save Malaysia'.

According to him, the grand coalition idea was mooted to defend the constitution and rule of law with a new prime minister.

"I had stressed that the proposed 'grand coalition' was not a 'unity government' like the one of Umno and PAS but a completely different creature altogether," he added.

"The new prime minister can come from either side of the political divide, who wants to save Malaysia, who can be a man or a woman," he said.

"I had then asked whether this idea of a grand coalition, going beyond the existing political parties, was a practical and achievable concept," he said.

Lim said that the parties involved must be prepared to put their differences aside and concentrate on a common agenda to save Malaysia from forces 'tearing the country asunder'.

The question was whether the country was ready for a 'Save Malaysia' campaign which transcended race, religion, region, politics and individuals to stop the nation’s trajectory towards a failed and rogue state, he asked.

"This a challenge facing all Malaysians today," said Lim.