Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara, said the opposition would have to restrategise its approach of labelling Umno and its leadership as corrupt.
With Zahid’s acquittal, he said Umno could now push its own narrative that the party’s leaders were not corrupt and that charges brought against them were the result of “political persecution”.
“For the opposition, their narrative that Umno is corrupt needs to be changed because Umno’s ‘number one’ has been freed of all charges,” Azmi told FMT.
Wong Chin Huat of Sunway University said the opposition would be likely to capitalise on the High Court’s ruling “to urge anti-corruption voters to rally behind them”.
However, Wong noted that the opposition should remember, based on the situation during Johor’s state elections, that the largest segment of voters would be “those who abstain”.
“How many of these voters care about Zahid remains unknown. They may care (more) about, and compare, what the government and opposition blocs can do for them, especially in a crisis,” he told FMT.
Wong said Pakatan Harapan leaders should spend more time on their political programme, beginning with their “shadow budget” before Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob tables his on Oct 7.
In contrast, Council of Professors fellow, Jeniri Amir did not believe that the Umno president’s acquittal would force the opposition to adjust its approach “because whoever (heads the Barisan Nasional campaign), Ismail or Zahid, the opposition still has to face BN”.
James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute said fighting corruption would always be the key campaign issue for the opposition.
The Zahid verdict would just make it harder, he said. However, people also realised that Zahid still has another trial pending and at most (the visa case acquittal) is “a partial victory”.
Zahid was acquitted today of 40 charges of receiving bribes from a company to extend its foreign visa system contract. The High Court ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the Umno president.
Zahid, 69, had been accused of 33 counts of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million (RM42 million) between 2014 and 2018 while he was home minister.