Instead of cowering in fear, the public are risking running afoul of the law to do what’s right, and if the government is really paying attention, it would notice a strong yearning for information and a clamp down on corruption, he told FMT.

“No matter how hard they want to come down on whistleblowers, either with threats of life imprisonment, amendments to the Official Secrets Act and so on, what you notice is more and more people have become more daring.

“I am fully aware of the environment within which we operate. The Whistleblower Protection Act doesn’t protect us whatsoever, but that’s not even an issue.

“To me what’s important is that throughout all these years, all of our disclosures and expose have been proven right one way or another,” said Rafizi, who is PKR secretary-general.

He was responding to remarks by cabinet minister Nazri Aziz who told FMT that an individual could only be protected under the Act if they revealed the information they possessed to relevant authorities.

Rafizi said while Nazri was entitled to his own opinions, he believed that whistleblowers had in their own ways opened up a space for the rakyat to contribute towards the truth by coming forward with relevant information to those they trust.

“I wouldn’t be able to do all these if the real whistleblowers didn’t provide me with these information.

“I’m just a public figure who can absorb all threats of legal action as, given my position, I suppose I can survive.

“Whistleblowing is here to stay. What I think will happen eventually, is that there will be enough pressure for the WPA to be revised so it will actually protect real whistleblowers.”