The rakyat is angry. Riza, son of Rosmah, gets a DNAA. He need only pay back a fraction of the rakyat’s money that was stolen. No jail, no hand-cuffs, no orange-suit. Is that OK with you?

• By Mariam Mokhtar

For the majority of Malays, it is all about face.

They are not bothered by honour, respect, dignity, integrity and values.

An excerpt from Malaysiakini reads, “The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court granted movie producer, Riza Abdul Aziz, a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for money laundering involving US$248 million (RM1.08 billion) linked to 1MDB funds.

Judge Azman Ahmad allowed the application by ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram on grounds that an agreement had been reached where the accused will hand over “several million” ringgit to the federal government.

The DNAA would be subject to the accused fulfilling his end of the agreement.

So, that’s it. Riza, anak Rosmah, runs off with RM1.08 billion and just has to return a part of it.

For those who are not sure what DNAA means, I will try and explain it very simply. It means that they cannot find certain witnesses or evidence. So they just let the accused go. So it is not an acquittal. but if they find what ever they need by way of evidence or witness, they can haul the accused back to court.

If anyone with a legal background can fine tune the DNAA in the simplest of terms for us, that would be great.

Riza’s DNAA will not go down well with the rakyat.

If leaders or their children are allowed to escape scot-free, when they commit crimes, what message does it send to us, the ordinary rakyat?

What deal was cooked up behind the scenes so as not to humiliate Riza with the full force of the law?

Who else will escape the full force of the law? His disgraced step dad, Najib Abdul Razak? His mom, the self-styled former First Lady of Malaysia, Rosmah Mansor? Zahid Hamidi, the former deputy PM who claimed he was good friends of the Malay triad, Tiga-Line? Former  chairman of Tabung Haji, Abdul Azeez Raheem, for 12 counts of graft amounting to RM5.2mil and money laundering totalling RM139.4mil over the procurement of government contracts?

At the end of the day, Muhyiddin’s Malay Cabinet, his Malay heads of departements and Malay leaders, will not want to drag a son or daughter of elite Malay families to jail. Malu lah. It is all about saving face. Only theirs!

-rebuilding malaysia