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22 November 2010
Ministerial Statement By The Minister For Home Affairs, Mr K Shanmugam, on 22 November 2010 in Parliament.
On 18 Oct 2010, DPM Wong informed this House of what Mas Selamat had said about how he got out of the Whitley Road Detention Centre (WRDC) on 27 Feb 2008. The account given by Mas Selamat was consistent with the findings of the Committee of Inquiry (COI).
CID investigations into what Mas Selamat did after he escaped from WRDC are still in progress. He has not been entirely forthcoming. He has changed his story several times. In some instances, whether his accounts are completely truthful cannot be fully verified. Today, I will update the House on the findings that the investigators have verified through independent corroboration.
Took shelter with brother’s family
Mas Selamat escaped from WRDC on 27 Feb 2008. Two days later, on 29 Feb 2008, he made his way to his brother Asmom’s home in Tampines to seek shelter and assistance from his grown-up niece, Nur Aini bte Asmom. Mas Selamat thought that Nur Aini was living alone. He believed that Asmom and his wife were living in their house in Johor while Asmom’s son (i.e. Mas Selamat’s nephew), Mahadir, was overseas. Mas Selamat believed that it would be safe for him at Asmom’s house as only Nur Aini would be there and that she would render assistance to him.
However, Asmom, his wife Aisah, their daughter Nur Aini and son Mahadir were all living in Asmom’s home. They have all independently admitted to the fact that Mas Selamat had stayed overnight in their home between 29 Feb and 1 Mar 2008. Asmom, Aisah and Nur Aini have also admitted that they had harboured Mas Selamat, providing him with shelter, food, money and clothes.
I will set out their respective roles in harbouring and aiding Mas Selamat on those two days.
Nur Aini
Nur Aini had let Mas Selamat into the flat. Her mother Aisah had reservations about allowing Mas Selamat into the flat because by that time, his escape two days earlier and fugitive status were very public. She knew that it was wrong to help him. Nur Aini, however, persuaded her mother to allow Mas Selamat to enter the flat. She gave him the use of her bedroom, provided him food and water, and also assisted him by destroying material evidence, namely the clothing he wore to the flat, which included his WRDC-issued attire.
On 1 Mar 2008, before Mas Selamat left the flat, Nur Aini applied make-up on Mas Selamat and secured a tudung over his head so that he could disguise himself as a woman to evade detection and recapture. She also gave him several items, which included a set of clothes to wear, a baseball cap, water, a snack, an illumination stick, air-tight re-sealable plastic bags to pack the items, and a backpack which he used to store all the items. At Mas Selamat’s request, she also handed to him a map of Singapore that showed part of Malaysia.
Asmom
Asmom jointly owned the flat with his wife Aisah. He found out about Mas Selamat’s presence in the flat when he returned from work in the early hours of 1 Mar 2008. He knew it was wrong to harbour Mas Selamat, was unhappy about Mas Selamat’s presence, but eventually decided to allow Mas Selamat to stay in his flat.
Before Mas Selamat left the flat on 1 Mar 2008, Asmom gave him S$100 and RM100 to facilitate his escape from Singapore to Malaysia. He also gave Mas Selamat some traditional medicine which the latter kept in his backpack.
Aisah
Aisah is joint-owner of the flat with Asmom. She was initially reluctant to allow Mas Selamat to enter the flat on 29 February. But she nevertheless subsequently went along and helped Mas Selamat. She gave him an EZ-link card and hair-net which he wore as part of his disguise, and some paracetamol.
Mahadir
Mahadir had returned home to the flat on the night of 29 February. He became aware that his family members were harbouring Mas Selamat in their flat. He did not report the matter to the authorities. However, neither did he render any specific assistance to Mas Selamat, nor was he in the flat most of the time when Mas Selamat was taking refuge in it.
The independent accounts of Mas Selamat, Asmom, Aisah, Nur Aini and Mahadir of what took place in Asmom’s flat and the assistance rendered to Mas Selamat are consistent.
Information still under investigation
As to how Mas Selamat made his way to Asmom’s flat and how he subsequently made his way toMalaysia, the account given by Mas Selamat is still subject to verification. It would therefore not be productive to set it out at this time.
Offence Committed by Asmom and family
Asmom, Aisah and Nur Aini had knowingly harboured Mas Selamat, an escaped prisoner of the State, who they knew was the subject of a massive manhunt. Even after Mas Selamat left their flat on the evening of 1 Mar 2008, they did not reveal information concerning Mas Selamat to the authorities. On the contrary, they deliberately withheld the information when they were interviewed by the authorities on 3 Mar 2008. It was only in Oct 2010, after being confronted with the facts, that Asmom, Aisah, Nur Aini and Mahadir admitted to what had happened. Asmom’s and his family’s decision to harbour Mas Selamat and provide him with material support that enabled him to escape to Malaysia was very wrong, illegal, and had grave security implications.
Mas Selamat is a hardened and dangerous terrorist, who has been involved in various plots by the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) to mount terrorist attacks in Singapore since the 1990s. He is operationally trained and has undergone training not once but twice in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. After the Singapore authorities disrupted the Singapore JI network in Dec 2001 and averted the terrorist plot to conduct simultaneous truck bomb attacks in Singapore, Mas Selamat plotted to mount retaliatory attacks against Singapore. Harbouring Mas Selamat and assisting him to escape from Singapore placed Singapore’s and Singaporeans’ security in serious jeopardy as Mas Selamat would thereby be able to resume his terrorist activities of attacking Singapore.
Criminal Offence Committed
The Government had stated in Parliament on 28 Feb 2008 that anyone who rendered assistance to Mas Selamat would be committing a “grave offence”.
Nur Aini, Asmom and Aisah were arrested and charged on 10 Nov 2010 under Section 130 of the Penal Code for their roles in knowingly harbouring Mas Selamat, a prisoner of State. The three pleaded guilty to the charges and were convicted and sentenced on 18 Nov 2010.
For their actions, Nur Aini, Asmom and Aisah have been sentenced to 18 months, 12 months and 3 months of imprisonment, respectively. Mahadir, who had a lesser role in the matter, has been served a stern warning in lieu of prosecution.
Singaporeans will be understandably disappointed that Asmom and his family had helped Mas Selamat in his escape. Their actions are however not a reflection on the wider Malay-Muslim community who had disapproved of Mas Selamat’s deeds, and participated in the manhunt for him in 2008. We should therefore not allow this episode to affect the trust and goodwill that has been built up over the years between our different communities. Instead, this episode should reinforce how important it is for every Singaporean to unite together and assist the security agencies to overcome the threat of terrorism from a small number of persons in our society.
Thank you, Sir.
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Nevertheless Govt is not transparent enough, how did Mas escape from Whitley under such intense security, was it an inside job within this Camp, which is too sentitive for the Govt to reveal.
Now we are prone to lots of speculations.
I fully understand the dilemma in which the family members were. The authorities most probably not.
its liked tellin us a story AFTER he xscape..what is the point?
when we jollywell know that this or any1 on the number 1 most wanted is the most dangerous which is also why this sort of criminals must be incaserated in a INHUMANE way of imprisonment..
imagined a fanatic terrorist who would saw off your head with a saw(not electric) piece by piece without anystetic and you 1st to grant him an aircon cell with sofa bed and a ricecooker as well UNCHAINED?
minister K Shanmugam,
It has been more than 2.5 years since 27 Feb 2008, the day Mas Selamat escaped state detention. Till now, the People are still waiting for the answers to the following questions.
1. Who approved the sheltered walkway which manifestly compromised the physical security of the WDC and allegedly allowed Mas to jump over the double fence?
2. Who appointed Pang Kin Keong as the ISD director? Pang is a political appointee who has very little experience in MHA and ISD. Previously he has served in the PMO and MTI.
Would you agree that these are systemic problems which are NOT clarified in either the COI or the parliament? And I can find no excuse why they are still unaddressed.
I have also found it unbecoming of the then minister Wong Kan Seng who did not take personal responsibility for a failure which would have cost at least $200 million in opportunity costs (for the largest extended manhunt in our history) and more in terms of indirect costs (higher security taxes, business costs, etc.) due to the escape.
Separately, since you have stated that Mas Selamat is a dangerous terrorist, there is no reason why you should not just charge and try him for attempted terrorism. Accord him his rights under Article 151 of the Constitution; remember he is still a Singapore citizen. Otherwise you would have yourself committed the crime of constitutional violation as did your predecessor.
Does not matter where he went or hid after his great escape : but rather the serious security lapses which permitted him to slip out despite incarcerated in our so called top class ISD detention center and be lamented / branded as the great limper aka bai ka escape by a young neitzen.
How and why it did happen ; upper most on everyone mind
Who writes this stuff? Who approves it?
So, if they did not ‘jointly-owned’ the flat, would that have made any difference?
“…grown-up niece..” if ‘grown-up’ wasn’t mentioned, would we or the judge assumed otherwise?
Is giving traditional medicine to a brother or a close relative who is on the run, a compassionately wrong doing? If it wasn’t a traditional medicine, would it make any difference?
Is this like a composition test where you are required to write a number of letters/words for your paper to be submissible?
though against the LAW of the country,the family members clesrly demonstrated their natural instinct to offer shelter and protection for their errant member.
It is in fact more a BETRAYAL when singaporeans put charge let down their own countrymen by letting aliens steal their livelihoods,isn’t it?
we always point fingers at others’ faults but we never stop for a moment to see the more grievious faults we committed against others.
SECULAR LAWS SHOULD NOT BE DIVORCED FROM MORAL LAWS and MORAL LAWS include fulfilling our MORAL OBLIGATIONS TO THOSE WHO PUT THEIR CONFIDENCE AND TRUST IN US,DOESN’T IT?
If the PAP cannot even prevent the escape of one limping terrorist and have to depend on our Malaysian buddies to find him, will Singaporeans have the confidence in the government to protect us from other external terrorists?
The police need some training on how to stake out important places like the BROTHER HOUSE where Mat Selamat might visit ?
Need to be replaced with faster and cheaper workers
AND THEN ‘STAKE-OUT’ ALL THEIR HOUSES.
An immediate spot check would has resulted in an immediate arrest.
A police ‘boo boo’?
maybe our polis hav no malay369 informer @ all..
so ow to check/followed up? imagined a chinese intelligence civilclothed polis sergeant dressedup as osamabinlatte tryin to pray in jalan sultan mosque…
Police too smart and probably think MSK won’t dare hide in relatives houses????????
MSK applied ‘most dangerous place is the safest’ theory
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim disappointed with Mas Selamat’s family
• Mas Selamat’s relatives aided escape
——————————————————————————-
SINGAPORE: Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, said he was very disappointed that Mas Selamat Kastari was helped by his immediate family members after his escape from the Whitley Road Detention Centre.
In a statement, Dr Yaacob said harbouring is very serious offence, especially when it involves a wanted fugitive who was a threat to the whole country and at a time when everyone was deeply concerned and actively looking out for him.
He said Singaporeans from all backgrounds have come together since 2002, prominently the Malay-Muslim community which has kept the lid on the danger of terrorism.
Dr Yaacob expressed tremendous disappointment as the community has also come together to built strong ties among faith leaders and among fellow Singaporeans at the neighbourhoods and communities.
He added that the good work must continue at all levels to build understanding and confidence, and enhance safety and security for Singapore to emerge stronger from this episode as a society.
………………
yeah right.. are you speakin as a fellow abang/adek or 1st that draws $100,000 salaries/month?
you don’t even lent a helpin hands nor lendin a ear to your fellow homeless abangs/adeks and you xpect them to betray theit relatives?
try harder again
bodoh orang tua..wak skerang puki tehtarek…
I personally believe that when a runaway detainee escape,and if he needs to seek refuge,using knee cap to think will also know that he would choose those closest to him,ie. girlfriend,siblings or friends.The most dangerous place will also be the taken as the safest place.No need to read Kulong’s novel to know that.These are commonsense.
I dun believe that our capable and efficient men in blue never think of that.As such I believe that there must be discreet surveillance outside his brother’s flat.
How to believe Selamat had went into the flat without being notice with the premises being under surveilance?I hardly believe unless Selamat is implying that our men in blue is sleeping on the job.
JAPAN JUSTICE MINISTER RESIGN AFTER SAYING HIS JOB IS ‘EASY’.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/-/1068/1058152/-/4xks21z/-/index.html
agongkia
I hardly believe unless Selamat is implying that our men in blue is sleeping on the job.
did i mentioned before.. all OUR CIDs xpert are CSI trainned..unfortunateLEE
they thin their CSI graduation pladgue make them very very qualified..
whose idea is that that send our valuable ns soldiers on patrol with sticks in choacukang cemetry? and whose idea is that every vehicle that visit jb would had their boot openned with security men searchin the spare tyres for mas sala? is mas sala a rubber man of xtraodinary talents?
than again mas sala did visit johore bahru undetected and live there for so many many months fully fed…
The loyalty of family members to MSK is something I admire and I cannot fault them in doing what they did, simply because MSK was never convicted in an open court. Simply put, MIW and their stooges have no credibility.
Having said the above, I will not be surprised if majority in the Muslim community had similar sentiments…may not be able to provide shelter but will see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
sentiments sama sama for me too.
Looks like the authorities attempt to push the blame away from them might fail. We are all not stupid. This news raises even more questions. How did msk managed to travel all the way to tampines 2DAYS AFTER ESCAPE WITH A LIMP WITHOUT DETECTION? the police suddenly thought msk wouldn’t go to his relatives? Is it not common sense to to monitor the immediate relatives movements?
So what now, we are supposed to be “disappointed” at the actions of msk’s relatives? We are supposed to applaud the authorities for a job well done for finding scapegoats to blame?
By the way, I still find it very suspicious that a man with a limp could swim across the sea and after all that trouble escaping, msk only hid just across the causeway inland?
Anyway, how did the authorities found out about all of this?
He was at his brother’s house? And nobody checked? What on earth…
on the other hand, after reading all the comments elsewhere on how the police should have paid more attention to msk families, I think we have to be careful too, with all the recent “mysterious” media interests in gangs, we might unknowingly fall into the govt’s trap, who knows, in future, if any of your family members is being suspected on any crimes, they will detain the whole families too, on the grounds of what happened to the msk saga.
if you take a stepback, it’s not that hard to figure that all these mysterious events are taking place to take away all of our freedom, or whatever that we have left.
who knows, after all these securities fear mongering, we all have to go through some kind of scanners to enter malls, mrt and all over the place. the govt can also now justify on their “security” spendings.
just some food for thought.
GRAVE OFFENCE??? Assisting him to escape place Singapore and Singaporean’s security in serious jeopardy? Come off it! The sentences of 18 months, 12 months & 3 months just DO NOT justify the severity of the offence committed. I rest my case! You decide.
without the malaysians, could he be caught at all? I wonder.
though Malaysia is so much bigger than spore, he was caught there. impressive ! Malaysia Boleh!
The sentence for those who helped him escape is too light. Not deterrent enough. It is not commensurate to the severity of the crime.
The disguise part is so funny and stupid. Such a terrible disguise and he must have looked like some ugly man in a tudung and yet nobody noticed? This must be made into a comedy!
1. After being dressed as a lady, where did he go?
2. When news broke, ST reported he swan to JB.
3. From where did he launch his swim?
Tell us more. Or are you hiding more lapses in our system. Certainly, you need to hide informations in order not to show up the weakness in the system.
4. Did he/she uses someone else passport and magaged to walked thru immigration.. But earlier you said he swam..now you said nothing. Why?
Singaporean deserve to know the truth.
iamtheWHITLYhotel18innkeeper
hehe..I still find hard to believe.Maybe should add another charge for Selamat for giving false statement for implying that he can go in and out of the Tampines flat without being detected .
Maybe he want to brainwash us to let us think that our capable and efficient men in blue are actually inefficient or brainless?
Maybe he want to make us think that there is actually no survellance outside the brother’s flat.His motive is to discredit our hardworking men in blue.
This brainwashing is also an act of terrorism if you look deeper into it.So dun fall into Selamat’s trap.Trust our men in blue..hehe..
I just simply can’t stomach why was the charge and conviction of those involved in harbouring MSK done so secretively?
The more they refuse to be transparent the more doubts and distrust the people will get.
Can we trust what the government say anymore? So sad
“”Given the fact that Mas Selamat did escape in a tudung, will the Ministry assure the Malay community that there won’t be unnecessary scrutiny on Malay women wearing tudung in security areas and when they seek appointments for jobs,” asked Zaqy Mohamed, MP for Hong Kah GRC.”
what needs to be scrutinised is not women in Tudung but
a) who runs ISD and how it is run
b) capabilities of our police who obviously did not search MSK’s brother’s house for at least 3 days after the escape (shanmugam claims they were questioned.. but did his men search the house?)
c) the capabilities of Wong Kang Seng, Shanmugam and Jayakumar(who is secretly quiet though is homeland security minister). Can these three brains prevent another major security lapse after MSK… oops i mean after the Swiss vandal…
the elephant in the room is PAP and their 1000 men and horses (or whores). yet they are more interested in backlasha against Malays, worried about Malay women in tudung…
why are we paying $50million per year to keep these guys in power to screw up and blame the goat and sheep
harbouring a terrorist – 18 mths!
wat a stupid joke!
MHA MINISTER REPLY IS LIKE NO ‘STAKE OUT’ DONE, ESP AT HIS IMMEDIATE FAMIY HOUSE.
AINT HE THE TOP TERRORIST IN SINGAPORE?
So because he has more than hundred family members, ………….
” That said, Member will remember that I have said taking into account his family members, which numbered more than a hundred, and with contacts they number many more. ”
.
.
Extracted from TODAY Newspaper 23/11/2010
” Mr Viswa Sadasivan, Nominated Member of Parliament: On the day of the escape, shouldn’t it have been standard operating procedure for the security forces to actually go down to the homes of the immediate family members?
Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam: Let me start out by saying we are naturally disappointed that despite the intensive and massive effort made to track him down, Mas Selamat managed to slip through and to take shelter with Asmom and his family.
That said, Member will remember that I have said taking into account his family members, which numbered more than a hundred, and with contacts they number many more.
I don’t want to go into details on what surveillance was done because they are really operational security matters and it is not in the interest of our country for us to disclose these matters.
However, Member can be assured that what was done has been reviewed and I’m satisfied that all the necessary steps were taken.”
” I don’t want to go into details on what surveillance was done because they are really operational security matters and it is not in the interest of our country for us to disclose these matters. ”
A SIMPLE REPLY LIKE, ‘YES THERE WAS SURVEILLANCE DONE’ or ‘NO, SURVEILLANCE WAS NOT DONE’ WOULD BE FINE WITH SINGAPOREANS.
And if surveillance was done, how was MSK not detected when he went to his brother’s home????
MHA MINISTER REPLY SHOULD BE ”WE SCREWED UP AGAIN”.
Why is the minister and MPs playing up the racial card now? More smoke? This is an Asian value. Not a Malay Muslime value system. Esp when Mas has not been charged in open courts. Why should the family believe ISA stories, given their past records of Marxist Catholics and Chia Thye Poh? I feel sad for the brother’s family. Wong Kan Seng should have done better and not put this family into the spot.
people, I think to be fair it is not
Shanmugam’s fault. WongCan’tSing is responsible as the escape occurred when he was the missnister of MHA. Now he can act blur as if it has nothing to do with him.
Now we know why there was a cabinet “reshuffle” recently – to take him off from the limelight and also because he has a very cocky look. It is all about the general election. Let’s hope the Toa Payoh-Bishan GRC do Singaporeans a favour by voting WongCan’tSing out.
Come on Shanmugam! He has 94 siblings? The Question was for immediate family members! Not every 2nd cousin or bestest friend.
http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4476122
OOPS, forgot the text.
” In the civil service, the recruitment policy is based on a system of meritocracy. I can state categorically that this incident will not affect the government’s recruitment policies….”
“I don’t want to go into details on what surveillance was done…it is not in the interest of our country for us to disclose these matters.” – Shanmugam
dear oh dear… sounds like another cock-up to add to a long list of cock-ups. It’s getting more embarrassing. And it’s also alarming!
not only blood is thicker than water, this is an example of “i know it’s wrong but i don’t want to be the one that send my brother/brother-in-law/uncle back in detention”
Obviously intelligence failure. That is the best term to describe this whole comedy as they were looking at the wrong places and wrong people because ISD etc didn’t have the right clues.
The flip side of this whole drama is that there were surprisingly open about this failure when they could have hushed it up.
probably one of the fanily members blow the whistle when theres a huge rewards for information leading to selamat whereabout- nothing intelligent but tip-off .
Well the statement just proves how incompetent our security/police force is and the Minister failed to address this. Our elite Malay MPs are more worried about women in tudung being targeted and the sentence for the family members being too lenient. I was answers to the following questions.
1. What action has been taken against those who due to negligence allowed a known terrorist to escape? They should bear the same responsibility as the family members.
2. Why did the leadership take no responsibility for this blunder? You want to pay yourselves millions but do not have the common decency to take ownership
3. It was 2 days before he made his way to brother’s house. Why he was not detected. How did he make his way to Tampines. Bus, taxi, MRT, Limo, walking?
4. Why was the house not put under surveillance? Don’t give the crap of hundreds of relatives. Its simple police procedure to monitor immediate family and close relations. Who decided not to do this? What action has been taken for such misjudgement?
5. How did he make his way to the coast? Why did not the coast guard detect him
Until we get answers to this, it’s nothing but hogwash. MS proved that he is smarter than you elite lot. The ministry should hire him as security consultant and fire those who were responsible for this major blunder
Was the negligence by MHA and ISD intended – so as to allow MSK’s brother to commit an illegal act ?
This will surely allow HDB to exercise a clause to repossess an HDB unit that has been used for illegal activities !!!
Common sense please!
All his known family members, relatives, friends and khakis were under surveillance.
More likely, this is another one of those deceptive lies!
Response from Law and Home Affairs Minister in Singapore Parliament for a question on what kind and level of surveillance was done: “ I don’t want to go into details on what surveillance was done because they are really operational security matters and it is not in the interest of our country for us to disclose these matters. ”
Japanese Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida had to resign for saying the following: “Being a justice minister is easy, as I only have to remember two phrases, either of which I can use in parliament whenever I’m stuck for an answer,” he said, adding that the two phrases are “I refrain from making comments on a specific issue” and “We’re dealing with the matter based on laws and evidence.”
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/-/1068/1058152/-/4xks21z/-/index.html
We do not need MPs like Zaqy Mohd & Ng Seh Hong to ask stupid and irrelevant questions in Parliament on this case. I would rather they keep quiet than to talk and remove all doubts that they are nincompoops. Such MPs, even if they ask 1000 questions per year, is not needed. Wasting Parliament’s time!
We do not need MPs like Zaqy Mohd & Ong Seh Hong to ask stupid and irrelevant questions in Parliament on this case. I would rather they keep quiet than to talk and remove all doubts that they are nincompoops. Such MPs, even if they ask 1000 questions per year, is not needed. Wasting Parliament’s time!