Rafizi says broke secrecy law to get media spotlight on ex-servicemen

(MMO) – PKR’s Rafizi Ramli, who is currently facing charges under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972, said he exposed a classified secret in public to help the country’s former servicemen claim their dues.

The Pandan MP added that he knew only a bold move like that would gain media attention for an otherwise forgotten community.

“Who cares about thousands of ex-servicemen? Even you guys you don’t think it’s of news value but I understood things enough that on its own, it’s not newsworthy stuff for anyone. It’s only newsworthy because it is connected to 1MDB.

“Otherwise, nobody wants to run their stories. It has always been like that. So I knew enough that unless someone who could attract the media attention, they will not get their say,” Rafizi told Malay Mail Online when met on the Sungai Besar campaign trail yesterday.

“I know it sounds corny (but) as you go along, personalities like me gain more traction. I owe that to them (the people). As you go along, you have to give back some time,” he added, claiming that he was only doing his duty as a “public servant”.

The lawmaker maintained that what he revealed was no “national secret”, saying he had merely broken an embargo.

“If you trace back, the report was put under OSA — it was meant to be embargo. It was never meant as a state secret. It is not a state secret. There is a big difference between an embargo and a state secret,” he said.

Rafizi had, in a March media expose, released an excerpt of the federal audit report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to prove an alleged connection between the troubled state-owned firm and the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT).

According to the lawmaker’s previous assertions, LTAT’s subsidiary Perbadanan Perwira Hartanah Malaysia’s (PPHM) deal with 1MDB in a relocation project was the cause of the delayed gratuity payments to retired military personnel.

Rafizi said he understood the plight of the ex-servicemen who had come to him for assistance as he too had come from humble beginnings.

He said he owed his current successes to society and that he was merely trying to pay it forward by revealing the alleged misappropriation of funds.

“I came from a poor family, I know exactly what it means to them. Unless, you threw something like that (OSA document), everyone will just ignore the issue. 

“Not everything you say has to be calculated on the basis of the safest and the most profitable to you,” he said, adding that he and his family, which also includes his two-year-old son, are prepared for the possibility of his going to jail.

“Sometimes you have to lose some but you have to honour the traction that the public has given you all along,” Rafizi said.

Rafizi was nabbed outside the gates of Parliament on April 5 for his OSA expose. Three days later, he was slapped with two charges under the Act.

In the first charge under Section 8(1)(c)(iii), Rafizi was accused of having unauthorised possession of Page 98 of the 1MDB audit report at about 3pm on March 24 at the Parliament lobby.

In the second charge under Section 8(1)(c)(iv), Rafizi was accused of acting in a way that jeopardised secrets through the disclosure of the same document’s contents during a press conference he held that day.

If convicted under either count, both of which are punishable under Section 8(1), Rafizi will be committed to jail time of at least a year, a term that may extend to a maximum of seven years.