INTERVIEW | There has been an outpouring of responses following Rafizi Ramli’s conviction for leaking bank data of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) accounts, a chief concern being how the decision could potentially have a chilling effect on whistleblowing and investigative journalism.

The Pandan MP, however, is unperturbed by these concerns and believes the rakyat are more empowered than ever before to expose the truth.

“Before this, you might have felt alone (due to the) knowledge that you might be the only one saying it, and if they come, they come only for you.

“But when we have Facebook and Twitter, you can very easily verify if an issue reverberates with the rest of the public. Overwhelmingly, more people are coming forward to become volunteers, to give money, to ‘whack’ Prime Minister Najib (Abdul Razak) online.

“You are not alone, you are the majority, you know you are the rakyat. This balances out whatever Najib and BN try to do in terms of trying to send a chilling message to the public,” he told Malaysiakini in an interview yesterday.

With this strength in numbers, Rafizi believed that the rakyat will continue to rally behind the truth.

“Whatever the reason for people to dig for truth, I hope the public can see that it is the right thing to do and the rest of the world is with you,” he said, reiterating that he has no regrets for doing what he did six years ago.

If not fear, what is the biggest challenge to whistleblowing?

“The problem has always been about corroborating evidence, breaking down the information, developing the story and getting deeper into the case.

“The problem has never been about fear,” said Rafizi.

‘BN underestimated this’

Rather than silence whistleblowers, Rafizi believes his conviction has, in fact, worked to swing public support away from BN, and he has the data to prove it.

The PKR vice-president leads pollster Invoke, which monitors some 28,000 voters profiled as “fence sitters”. It keeps tabs on their reactions on social media platforms to current issues on a daily basis.

“The spike (in interest) on the NFC case and the conviction was a lot higher than the Penang undersea tunnel scandal and all the Umno attacks on Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali about having sex scandals.

“It’s like nothing we have ever seen, it’s by far a lot higher,” he claimed.

Rafizi also analysed that online sentiment was “extremely” against BN’s favour, and this was amplified by the ruling coalition’s delayed response to the issue.

More than 24 hours after the Sessions Court decision, Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (photo), whose husband had spearheaded the NFC before it failed, said Rafizi was no victim but in fact guilty for “abusing” the law for political expediency.

However, by then, online sentiment had already avalanched.

“Maybe BN underestimated it,” Rafizi said.

This interview was conducted by Geraldine Tong, Adrian Wong and Annabelle Lee.

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