Speaking at a forum on the 1MDB scandal yesterday, Zaid said Amanah had the potential to sway the Malays in rural areas, especially in electoral constituencies currently held by PAS.

“I think Amanah should contest in all PAS-held seats,” he said. “If the issue of 1MDB won’t sway their hearts, then nothing will because there is no issue bigger than this.”

He claimed that PAS supporters, especially in Kelantan, were also supporters of Umno and Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Others who spoke at the forum included former PAS vice-president Husam Musa and Mathias Chang, who used to be former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s political secretary. Husam and Chang recently filed a class action suit in the United States against individuals linked to 1MDB.

Husam told the forum that he was more concerned with saving the country than with hunting down individuals responsible for the 1MDB scandal.

“Najib should set up a royal commission and one of the terms of the commission must be that Najib be granted amnesty because what is important is that the 1MDB issue is once and for all resolved, not that Najib be punished for whatever he might have done,” he said.

Chang said that as long as people put themselves and money before God, morals and principles, the country would continue to see corruption and BN would continue to rule.

“Whether you are Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or Hindu, your first responsibility is towards God and towards upholding justice,” he said. “You can’t say that you believe in God and not uphold justice at the same time.

“Umno gets away with money politics because people are so overworked chasing money that they have no time to think about what is right and what is wrong.”

According to a news report on Aug 17, Zaid had sought a court order compelling Najib to return RM2.6 billion to 1MDB and RM42 million — said to be from SRC International Sdn Bhd — to the government, along with a two per cent interest on these amounts.

SRC International was a subsidiary of 1MDB, but was subsequently parked under the Finance Ministry.

The four defendants in the suit are Najib, 1MDB, the Government of Malaysia and Najib’s stepson, Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz.

Zaid reportedly also asked the court to order Riza to return all the money that he had allegedly received from 1MDB, either directly or indirectly, and to transfer the properties he had acquired to the company.

Chang and Husam filed their suit on Aug 13. They are claiming damages for the alleged theft of 1MDB’s funds and seeking to recover assets acquired using those funds. Among those they named as defendants are Riza, billionaire Jho Low, Red Granite Pictures and the Goldman Sachs Group.