Rafizi guilty verdict – outrageous intimidation

I refer to the Malaysiakini report NFC saga: Rafizi, ex-bank clerk sentenced to 30 months' jail.

The corrupted ones are let off the hook and set free while whistle-blowers are sent to jail. This is an outrageous and unfair treatment.

This adage says it all – 'When exposing a crime or an allegation is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals.'

Yes! Early Wednesday, Rafizi Ramli was slapped with a 30-month jail sentence by the court for merely exposing banking details - which led to the NFC scandal.

Being a vocal politician from the opposite side of the political divide, he had to reveal what he knew about NFC to keep the rakyat posted on the on-goings at NFC.

Otherwise, nobody will bother and the matter will be swept under the carpet in full view of the rakyat.

And for that, he was found guilty in the Shah Alam court for exposing the banking details of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC).

This should be a non-commercial case which should be treated and handled as a normal civil case. This is not a capital crime. There was nothing “criminal” in nature. And, besides, there was no espionage or selling of company secrets to a foreign secret agent or spy.

Rafizi is like a watchdog on behalf of the taxpayers - checking how the NFC uses the taxpayers’ money. Since the entity is partly-run with taxpayers’ monies, the rakyat has the right to know how their accounts are handled.

In actual fact, the owners and operators of NFC are therefore answerable and accountable to the taxpayers, but, on the contrary, their dealings were made known only by Rafizi.

And for this, he has been given a 30-month sentence for leakage of NFC's banking details.

Though he has voiced out loud and clear that he had nothing to do with NFC or neither did he use a single sen which belonged to NFC, yet the court sent him to jail for 30 months. This is outrageous and an act of intimidation.

You see, what he did was to let the rakyat know that money somewhere had allegedly been misused or for whatever other reason.

Also he reckons that all hanky-panky business should be stopped. And all stolen money as alleged should be recovered and the crooks or culprits involved be brought to book and punished by the court of law.

As a matter of fact, in foreign nations, the government is fully responsible, obligated and dutiable to give them (whistle-blowers) 100 percent protection and safety for volunteering to reveal the truth and wrongdoings.

Though it has to be proven true first, these whistle-blowers should be respected and given the protection for coming out as witnesses. Otherwise, nobody else would dare come out again in the future.

What happened to Rafizi was that he was back-stabbed for coming out with information on the banking details of the NFC.

This is something meant to be addressed by the government and they should take it over the investigation from Rafizi. Instead he was “screwed up” and punished for coming out with the discovery.

This can only take place in Bolehland.

The bottom line is the government should catch the crooks and culprits who are really responsible. And most importantly, get the court to set Rafizi free.- Mkini