KUCHING: The call by the Movement for Change Sarawak (MoCS) to set an ultimatum to Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to step down within the next three months or face mass protests is a threat that police must monitor and take precautionary action to prevent any untoward incident that could jeopardise peace and harmony in Sarawak.
The warning was issued by the State BN backbencher chairman Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah as the threat by MoCS was an incitement to the people to turn against the government.
“I urge the police to monitor the statement from MoCS as it is detrimental to the legitimate government elected by the people,” Karim told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
He added that Sarawak or Malaysia for that matter should not condone street protesters such as those staged by the Egyptians or Tunisians to oust their leaders.
Karim, who is also the chief political secretary to the chief minister also stressed that the people should not listen to MoCS especially its leader Francis Paul Siah, whom he considered as a “Soldier of Fortune” and a “Loner”.
“Who cares about what Francis Siah is saying as he is nobody.
But to issue such as threat is tantamount to threatening national security,” warned Abdul Karim.
The grassroots organisation had repeated its ultimatum to Taib to step down within the next three months or face mass protests.
At the press conference in Kota Kinabalu yesterday, Siah also urged Taib to leave before Aug 13, after more than three decades of dominating Sarawak’s political economy.
According to the MoCS website, Siah said that, if Taib does not comply, the movement will lead the opposition and civil society groups in staging public demonstrations for “one week or even longer” to force Taib to step down.
Siah had said the MoCS would call on peaceful demonstrators to stay on the streets until Taib resigned, just as mass movements in Tunisia and Egypt had unseated dictators Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak.
When contacted state special branch chief SAC Dato Aladdin Kassim said the police would probe the website if it contained any seditious element.
However, he also said Siah could say whatever he wanted in his blog as “it reflects the freedom of speech”.
The police can also investigate if members of the public lodged police reports over the threats made by MoCS.
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