The following is a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office.
PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG ON THE RE-ARREST OF MAS SELAMAT KASTARI
I had a four-eye lunch with Datuk Seri Najib in Pattaya on 11 April. It was an impromptu arrangement which we made after the ASEAN meeting was called off because of the Red Shirt demonstrations. Datuk Seri Najib told me that the Malaysians had arrested Mas Selamat Kastari. I responded that I had been informed about this, and thanked him for Malaysia’s generous support and help. I said that the terrorism problem affects both of us. The JI group remains active in the region, and we must work together to counter them as well as other such groups. I especially appreciated the close cooperation and trust between ISD and its Malaysian counterpart, the Special Branch.
DPM Wong Kan Seng had earlier told me about Mas Selamat’s rearrest by the Malaysians. I knew that ISD had been working hard on the case, and had found some leads which they had given to the Malaysian authorities. But we could not say anything publicly or else it would jeopardise the operation. I was happy and relieved that Mas Selamat had been found and arrested before he had done any harm. Kan Seng told me that the Malaysians had asked us to keep this quiet for the time being. I replied that we had to respect this, even though I knew that Singaporeans would be very anxious to know the news. So we held the information very tightly.
On Thursday afternoon when all the Ministers were having our weekly Pre-Cabinet lunch, Kan Seng received a phone call informing him that The Straits Times had asked ISD to confirm their scoop which the ST said it came from the KL correspondent, that Mas Selamat has been arrested by the Malaysians. As the story had leaked, we had no choice but to confirm it. It was only then that Kan Seng told the Ministers that Mas Selamat had been arrested, the news had leaked, and we would be confirming the story. They were taken completely by surprise.
I thank all the officers who have been involved in hunting for and tracking down Mas Selamat over this last year. I never had any doubt that we would eventually find Mas Selamat, because I knew the quality and commitment of the officers working on this. ISD had recovered quickly from the mistakes which led to Mas Selamat’s escape, put things right, and set themselves to finding and arresting him back. But nevertheless it is good that we have now got him. Our security agencies work quietly and anonymously, keeping Singapore safe. The public only hears about their work occasionally, for example when things go wrong. But we owe them more than most Singaporeans realise.
We must not think that Mas Selamat’s arrest is the end of our problem. The terrorism situation in Southeast Asia is under control, but the threat is far from over. Once in a while there is an attack somewhere, so far fortunately not in Singapore. But for every attack reported in the newspapers there are many more plots which the security agencies uncover, track and hopefully disrupt. These never make it into the public consciousness, but we know about them from intelligence reports. Our challenge is to keep up our guard without getting fatigued or complacent. The price of security is eternal vigilance.
PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
9 MAY 2009
44) PJ,
Disgruntled, yes, but I think PJ you are missing the entire point.
One must scrutinise the source of the unhappiness and this is stemmed largely from the refusal by wongcan’tsing to graciously apologise or even step down for the potential terrorist threat to the entire country that his team has created.
Thus, as long as this painful nail is still stuck in the foot, ppl will always find avenues to attack wong and his team, including finding fault with why the news of the capture was released a month later.
To rub salt onto the wound, now wong and LHL are grabbing credit for the capture when we are still not entirely clear of how mas selamat was apprehended. It just makes one wonder if they are that desperate to redeem their status as the higher immortals.
so it is an undisputable fact that either WKS LIED to his ISD officers OR
PM LEE LIED about when he found out mas was recaptured.
pse don’t let this go away easily again.
PAP always talk about integrity but do they walk the talk?
I appreciate TOC’s carrying of a straight up press release.
Some may see it as lazy. But on the web, you have the luxury of space and you allow the PMO’s statement to be read in full and critiqued in full.
At the same time, TOC stays safe from defam-suits.
The ISD can’t track him down when he was in our turf and they can track him down when he’s abroad? C’mon, you think we are kids? O.K let’s say we are kids. We kids know the `hide & seek’ game. Say we play `hide and seek’ in our estate and we can’t even find the hider. He’s clever enough to slip through our fingers in our own territory which we know like the back of our hand and we can track him down in other people’s estate. Give me a break! I believe either the M’sian government is magnamious enough to let us claim some glory to save face or someone in Johore had a lead and called our ISD to negotiate the reward.
‘aloha on May 10th, 2009 10.39 am
Mat was captured in second/third world country like indonesia and malaysia and in a world class singapore, he escaped from toilet break?
The newspaper should stop trying to repair the damage by praising the people who let him escaped.’
I agree with Aloha!
We spent days using our army to try find the guy in singapore, which is just a little dot compared to the state of Johor. Yet our malaysian folks can find him! This is very strange and disturbing for our security and high-paying (referring only to the salary that is official) ministers. we boast of excellent military and talented ministers but how do we compare to the Malaysians and their ministers who are paid much lower in official salary?
We need better people than the PAP regime governing our country. because this is our country, not PAP regime’s country.
PJ – you must be joking – 82 in the Cabinet??? You had better check your facts and find out a few things about government. There is no Government Cabinet in the whole side world witn 82 members.
If you cannot trust members of Cabinet, who can you trust. Cabinet in any country discusses CONFIDENTIAL matters every day of the week.
Lie, white lie, disinformation, ambiguity, vague info, all semantics. The point is that it was hush hush and even cabinet don’t know for the sake of the investigation, why should people know. Fair enough. If people cannot understand priorities of , so be it. I thought the PM statement insulted our intelligence instead by explaining the obvious. But I want to know the details later in a White Paper.
Whilst I rejoiced and am also happy that Malaysia is involved ( Singapore need friends too), I am perturbed that if really WKS & then PM knew earlier, then WKS’ speech on the 15 April 2009. Is really stupid! Is not it ? “Stupid” is quite a fasionable work nowadays having found its way out from MM’s staff in the dialect debate. And now with this spill, who is really “stupid”?
So is there really something which citizens are led to miss a beat or two.?…
PM has said his bit…. and if it is the truth, the WKS must come out clean and tell his side of the story too …otherwise it only thickens the plot and put into disrepute the integrity of the PAP politicians ..like these two most recent episodes involving PAP people- and vis a vis, (1)”why would WKS lie ?”,(2) ” why would Lee Bee Wah implied that ex head coach LIu has issues of integrity and professionalism” ?, and yet am afraid to face up the coach Liu’s challenge of a meeting or to disclose the “facts”? Is she such a nice person to want to protect others – after all has seen of her outbursts and sackings without real justification or investigation.
The PAP must put its house in order if its members want to continue to enjoy the respect and their high salaries ; claiming credit of performances such as from Malaysian security and foreign coaches are somewhat natural human behaviour given the competitiveness here. BUT Lies if any , and wooling over citizens’ eyes will backfire just as in the NKF case.
#51 retiree
I wouldnt go as far to say he lied at the ceremony. He said he “will be recaptured”, he did not say, “we still dont know where he is”.
Do you remember Operation Iraqi Freedom? Knowing that the enemy was watching their every move on TV (as was the case in the Gulf War), the US effectively gave false information to the press in order to misdirect their enemy. Then they got surprised by their shock and awe tactics.
Some amount of circumspection is required by our leaders who are effectively keepers of alot of high level secrets. Lose lips have operation repercussions.
#56) Incredulout on May 11th, 2009 9.14 am
Oops. My bad. We have 21 members in cabinet, 82 MPs in parliament. Still, it doesnt change the complexion of things. There’s no need to inform everyone yet.
WKS did the right thing. He told a white lie to the ISD officers during the ceremony so that the Malaysian can continue to do their job. It must be tough for him to lie to his very own officers. Kudos to him.
to me, it is totally failure of the Home Team led by WKS. first, he escaped without of a trace and our expert have no ideas at all.
now, it appeared he has captured probably right after he got out of jail to johor and since then it already more than one year. again, there is no trace at all untill now. so why in the first place, the patrol coast is not red alert when sounded of his escape then.
look like credit should goes to selamat for being able to trick and walk out so freely under the nose of so called WORLD BEST HOME TEAM.
coninue……..
he should be welcome to take over WKS who know nuts about security.
It was a great relief that Mas Selamat is captured. Credit should be given to the close co-operation between the two countries. After all, it takes two hands to clap!
Objectively, it came at an extremely high costs, economic and otherwise, not only to Spore but also to the neighbouring countries. Despite tight securities and surveillances using the latest technology, it is amazing that it only took Mas Selamat to climb through a toilet window and escaped by swimming using, possibly a used car tyre!
With reputation now restored to the security agencies, it may be a good time to reshuffle some of the senior officials…. as the saying goes… No one is indispensable!
Just to lighten the conversation a little…
Our intelligence services have always known Mas Selamat was in Malaysia.
Because every time you cross the causeway, a large sign says…
“Selamat Datang Ke Malaysia”. :-)
PS – for those who dont know Malay, the above sentence can be translated as…”Welcome to Malaysia” or “Selamat came to Malaysia”…
If I were in his shoes, and had to spin a shell story to preserve opsec, I would. At the point of speech, that probably is more important than anything else.
Only LHL & WKS knew about it and THEY (these TWO) did not trust their own Cabinet colleagues. What a sad day for SIN; the rest of CABINET only knew about it the same day all SIN read about it.
WHAT is going on ? Is it so SSSSS SECRET to point CABINET mustnt know?. Arent you dealing with terrorist per se & on same wavelenght as all your CABINET colleagues or are you dealing with a plan which manages his escape and his final arrest where the PLAN from day one (before his escape) were also not made known to your CABINET colleague.?
This had been the speculation all along, he was deliberately set free to rein in more JI? He is not so much a terror as claimed, cant run far for one.
All this talk about Mas Selamat and JI is really another case of injecting phobia into the community when nothing really matters than our own job at risk. Rhetoric on Mas Selamat is a joke and its quite deafening to listen to those stooges keep on harping the slogan over and over again….i think they like to talk about him and instill the fear in the people……but its getting bored now. If you have not realised yet…Mas Selamat is not known to be armed….How to be terrorist like that hoh?
DAVID CORN, the Washington editor of The Nation magazine
Washington–a city of denials, spin, and political calculations. They may speak English there, but most citizens still need an interpreter to understand its ways and meanings.
Singapore – a city no different …..
‘Mistakes’ or ‘plans’ in 9/11, Iraq invasion and occupation, ‘war on terror?’
Steve Hammons July 11, 2006
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/11401
Is Mas Selamat escape a “Mistake” or “Plans”?
“Only the most naïve will take events and government actions at face value, for there are often many agendas going on behind the scenes. Legitimate and not-so-legitimate factors exist on many levels.”
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/11401
According to a January 2007 BBC World Service poll of more than 26,000 people in 25 countries, 73% of the global population disapproves of the US handling of the Iraq War.
The US government has long maintained its involvement there is with the support of the Iraqi people, but in 2005 when asked directly, 82–87% of the Iraqi populace was opposed to the US occupation and wanted US troops to leave.
Iraqi violent deaths, Opinion Research Business – August 2007: 1,033,000
Singapore being a apart of “Coalition of willing”
Singapore: 175 offshore (deployed 12/03-withdrawn 12/08)
After all this, the invasion being a mistake….Gov has to tell Singaporean we’re under terrorist threats…the result is the passing on of guilt or shame….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War
1) mas selamat escaped swimming on an “improvised floatation device”. he swam over. i want to puke. where were we or the malaysians at the time? sleeping?
2) did he have time to sunbathe at pedra branca as well on the way?
3) why is WKS taking credit for this? its not like they caught someone out of the blue, they made a mistake and now its been rectified. pure garbage.
4) it doesnt hurt, to say something to the effect of “i am sorry once again to the people of s’pore for this grave error that put your lives in potential danger” etc. but politicians will be politicians.
now can we please focus on the screwed up economy and things that matter to our daily lives.
The CIA admits that Bin laden worked for them under the code name “Tim Osman”.
http://mx.truveo.com/911-Coincidences-TIM-OSMAN-The-Perfect/id/1333238272
Will someone admit MSK worked for them under code name “Tak Selamat D’ Malaysia”?
Aaron Russo remix part 1 – Freedomtofascism.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3PO62kvsGw&feature=related
PAP needs to keep Singaporeans afraid to keep them submissive, an effective political philosophy. Mas is really just a bogeyman to distract people from issues such as ministers’ pay, Temasek Holdings.
America: Freedom to Fascism – Director’s Authorized Version
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173
Singapore is going to be the same…watch the video.
let mas escape again la, show us how good u can catch terrorist, justify all that money spend on security
First time on this Blog.
I actually enjoyed reading all the comments right up to the last comment.
I had a good laugh reading all the grumbles and rumbles.
To me, I take issue with the following:
1. The escape shoudd not have happened in the first place. How could it happen when we see people escaping from toilet window in the movies all the time. That was schoolboy error and those responsible should have their ears pinched.
2. He was able to swim accross to Johor in spite of the high security alert. So much efforts and moneys spent all go down the drain.
3. The recapture should have been a low profile affair. No credit should be claimed over the recapture.
4..Move on and improve our border security .Just to borrow the iconic phrase from the AWARE SAGA: “Shut Up And Sit Down”…………. and Work Hard On It !
Lets us all work very hard on it. Its everybody’s business.
maybe if the media just shut up and stop feeding the straits times (8 stinking pages today) we will be less angry
Lets make a movie.Comedy, of course!
Fact that mas still linger around when he could dig a hole like saddam & disappear means he is determined to terrorize our island, such a clown should be made example of by capital punishment, kill one to scare a hundred.
I can only think of a few reasons for the delay of the news being made public.
- Singapore police has not met MAS to confirm the person arrested is indeed him?
- Singapore has not gotten the chance to interview MAS as the Malaysia refused to let Singapore see him?
- Singapore needs to find out if any Singaporean had assisted him in the escape so that they can arrest the person too?
- Singapore needs to find out about his new planned attack on Singapore so as to tighten the compromised area before the news?
I wonder if the reasons are valid for the delay though…
# 76) Wendy Tan on May 12th, 2009 11.50 am
PAP needs to keep Singaporeans afraid to keep them submissive, an effective political philosophy. Mas is really just a bogeyman to distract people from issues such as ministers’ pay, Temasek Holdings.
Ya, you’re right Wendy. Don’t hear anymore or any follow up issues like the PAP TCs losing those $millions and still keeping dead quiet till now, no more issues of those profiteering from public housings HDB, issues of the toxic funds sold by DBS and all other issues in connection with the ruling party just seem to disappear now.
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2009/05/justice-for-mas-selamat-kastari.html
Will Gopi bother to defend Mas?
Now Malaysia says they were on top of things from day 1 when Mas cross over to Johore. They did not apprehend him in hope he’ll lead them to accomplices. This contradicts WKS point that the arrest arose from a Singapore tip-off. From experience, Singapore gov always refutes strongly any comments that discredit them. Wonder if they do so this time.