Former minister Zaid Ibrahim lambasted attendees of the prime minister's Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house for allegedly brushing off allegations of corruptions to get a free meal. 

It was reported that some 75,000 people attended the open house at Najib Abdul Razak's official residence Seri Perdana in Putrajaya on June 25.

"They don't seem to care about stolen property, about cover-up(s) and abuse of power, so long as they have a free meal. And in some cases promotions...

"They always pride themselves as good, knowledgeable and pious Muslims, yet they don't care about corruption when they get a free meal," he said in a blog post. 

This comes after PAS vice-president Iskandar Samad said those who attend official open houses should not be condemned because they may be doing so because they cannot afford to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri otherwise. 

He added there are even people who approach elected representatives for assistance so they can buy meat for their family for the festivities, so attending official open houses is a way to share the festive cheer with the needy. 

Meanwhile, Zaid said the mass attendance at the open house has also led to him to reconsider his predictions for the next general election. 

He also questioned the cost of Najib's open house to taxpayers. 

"Why do they still love the PM and his wife is an extraordinary phenomenon that is puzzling to people of other countries (sic). This requires careful study. 

"Careful scrutiny of the characters of Malaysians, in the light of their appetite for cash and free meals, will be indicative of the outcome of this coming election," he said. 

Najib was accused of corruption after news broke in 2015 that RM2.6 billion (US$681 million at the time) had been found in his bank account. 

He was exonerated by attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali after saying that the money was a political donation from Saudi royals.

However, in its latest court filing to seize 1MDB-linked assets, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) said that the aforesaid donation had been traced back to 1MDB. 

The DOJ said that US$602 million from the donation, which Najib claimed to have returned to the Saudi royal family, was actually returned to a bank account linked to Jho Low. 

It said Low, who the Public Accounts Committee said was pivotal in the formation of 1MDB, used some of the returned funds to buy diamonds for an individual identified in the DOJ filings as the wife of "Malaysian Official 1".

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan previously said "Malaysian Official 1" is Najib, but stressed that the PM is not a subject of the DOJ's lawsuit. 

Low features prominently in the DOJ's case, which aims to seize more than US$1 billion of assets allegedly bought in the United States using cash stolen from 1MDB. 

Low has dismissed the DOJ's case as baseless, while Najib has consistently denied abusing public funds. Apandi has also claimed that the DOJ's lawsuit is politically motivated.