There’s more to it than that. Forget about the message Zahid’s discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) says about the hypocritical nature of the Pakatan Harapan base.

What is more damaging is the message being sent to the civil service and security apparatuses.

What it says is that the elites in Umno can get a get-out-of-jail card and the plebeians in the civil and security services who are caught for corruption have to do time.

Where is the justice in this? Keep in mind that the civil and security services are dominated by the Malay polity and the messaging this sends to them is that anti-corruption policies are targeted at them and not the elites.

As I have argued before, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is right to play the class card. However, what this DNAA does is remind everyone how the elites have it differently in the Malay community, that the non-Malays will accept this as long as it gains them power and that the only form of justice for the Malay community is the likes of Hadi.

The PAS supremo has made so many inconsistent statements about corruption and Islam but controls the narrative when it comes to the religion in this country.

While the Harapan and the DAP base believe that they are propagandising a unity narrative with Umno, the reality is that PN leaders tell the Malays that they do not need to bend their knees to the non-Malays to achieve political power.

You have to understand that PN is a political insurgency against traditional power structures in this country.

PN supporters believe their leaders are speaking truth to power and the establishment knows that even if what political operatives from PN say is not true, they are speaking to power, to them.

And the more the majority believes what PN says, the less control the establishment has over a populace who understands that for decades, they have been taken for a ride.

What “reforms” could Umno undertake to reassert dominance? The fact is that there is no ideology beyond “ketuananism” that sustains race-based parties.

The reality is that Umno is getting far more out of this unity government than any other coalition member but this does not reassure the base.

PN’s political war is a war of attrition. They do not need to retake the federal government. In fact, they are gaining more mileage out of a floundering Madani than assuming the reins of power.

All they need to do is chip away at the Malay base of Harapan and they will succeed in the racial and religious narratives they are putting out there.

As always with “ketuanan” politics, the enemy is within.