Activist Fahmi Reza is now RM50,000 richer and expecting another cheque.

This is after the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and police were ordered by the courts to compensate him for unlawful arrest during a protest at Dataran Merdeka in 2012.

Upon receiving a cheque from DBKL today, the artist, in a sarcastic swipe, said he has decided to follow in the footsteps of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

However, Fahmi does not intend to return the sum to the donor, but donate it to a public cause instead.

"Like our wise prime minister, I, too have decided to return this money but not to the Saudi royal family or to DBKL, but to the rakyat […]

"I am not returning it because I have a lot of money; I am struggling by freelancing for a living, just like you, but I am returning the money on a matter of principle.

"I am waiting for the cheque from the police. I will share with you what how I will distribute the funds in further detail when I get the cheque from the police," he posted on Facebook .

On Dec 29 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court instructed DBKL and the police to pay Fahmi RM38,000 in damages and exemplary damages, plus costs.

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Posted by Fahmi Reza on Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Fahmi said he would use the money to fund anti-corruption activism.

Unlike Najib, whom attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali said returned US$620 million of the donation he received from the Saudi royal family, the artist vowed not to keep a single sen.

On Tuesday, Apandi cleared Najib of any wrongdoing with regard to the RM2.6 billion political donation and RM42 million from SRC International that were transferred into his private bank accounts.

The RM2.6 billion was described as a donation from a Saudi royal family with no strings attached.