MoCS is back, to launch anti-corruption crusade

After a six-month hiatus, the Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS) will resume its work in Sarawak come Feb 13.

“We will continue where we left off. The Red Rally last August 13 was the final event of our one-year campaign to oust Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. While MoCS conceded defeat to Taib, we never lose sight of ‘Ops Taibetes’. We merely took a break,” the movement’s leader, Francis Paul Siah, said in a statement today.

The revival will kick off with the formation of the MoCS Coordinating Council which will act as the decision-making body of the movement.

In his email to the movement’s supporters over the recent Chinese New Year holidays, Siah stressed that he wanted the MoCS Coordinating Council to be in charge, unlike the first term of MoCS from 2010-2011 where he made all the major decisions for the movement.

“Now I would like the council to hold the fort. I will be the mere figure head of MoCS with Awang Abdillah Nasar as deputy leader,” he said.

He said that MoCS Coordinating Council will hold its first meeting on Feb 13 in Kuching.

Several resolutions are expected to be tabled at the meeting. One major thrust of MoCS in the new term will be the launching an all-out war against corruption, starting with a clean-up of the Sarawak Civil Service.

‘Ops Taibetes’ is still a top priority but we are also painfully aware that there now exists in Sarawak a very corrupt civil service which is easing the way for the chief minister to continue his plunder of the state.

“We are compiling the ‘misdeeds’ of several top civil servants in Sarawak and these people have to be brought to justice in due course. We want a clean civil service and is adamant to see that only incorruptible, competent and men and women of integrity and substance head the various state departments,” he pointed out.

“In our drive against graft in the new term, MoCS will establish its Anti-Corruption Committee (ACA). I will be proposing Baharuddin Mokhsen, one of our early endorsers, as chairman of the ACA. His name will be proposed for endorsement at the Feb 13 council meeting”, Siah said.

The meeting will also be attended by MoCS coordinators from throughout the country. Sabah MoCS president Datuk Abdul Razak Salam will also be present.

Siah said that MoCS has now appointed coordinators in six foreign countries. Their names will also be proposed for adoption at the meeting. These coordinators overseas will be co-opted members of the council.

On the evening of Feb 13, the movement will hold a Chinese New Year gathering for MoCS fellows and friends at Didi’s Restaurant in Satok Road. All Pakatan Rakyat leaders in Sarawak have been invited to the event.

The next day, Feb 14, a civil society dialogue with the Sarawak DAP will be held at Regal Court hotel in Kuching at 2.30pm.

Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen will lead the State DAP leaders to the dialogue. It will be an open session and the public are welcomed.