Lajim was the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) supreme council member and also Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) executive chairman at the time of his death in 2021.
[9] In July 2012, he renounced his official positions in UMNO to align himself with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalition.
[2] He recontested his parliamentary seat of Beaufort in the 2013 election on a People's Justice Party (PKR) ticket, but was defeated.
[11] He has stated his intention to form a new Sabah-based party and ally with the former Sabah UMNO leader, Shafie Apdal.
He was then referred to a local traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner or "sinseh" and was advised to rest for one week.
With a history of chronic illnesses, including a kidney transplant and heart ailment, he was later placed under an induced coma after his health deteriorated on 24 August afternoon.