Suspicions over Singapore jailbreak
By Alex Au
SINGAPORE - Renowned for its strict and
tight government controls, Singapore's Orwellian
reputation took a hit on February 27 when terror
suspect Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from the
island state's Whitley Road Detention Center.
The escape, and the government's
subsequent handling of the manhunt, have called
the island nation's terror-fighting credentials
into question. Mas Selamat is the alleged leader
of the Singapore cell of the regional terror
network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which is believed
to have links with al-Qaeda.
According to
government sources, Mas Selamat had in early 2002
planned for a commercial plane from Bangkok to be
hijacked and crashed into Singapore's Changi
Airport, in apparent imitation of the September
11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Prior
to that, in 2001, Mas Selamat and his
JI associates had also allegedly planned to plant
bombs at a train station, the US Embassy, the
American Club and other targets, as well as poison
Singapore's water system.
The main target
of the US's "war on terror" in Southeast Asia, JI
is believed to operate across at least three
countries in the region - Singapore, Malaysia and
Indonesia. The radical group stands accused of
orchestrating a number of terror attacks,
including the 2002 Bali blast in Indonesia which
killed 202 people.
The group is also
believed to have links and share training
facilities with Islamist rebels active in the
southern Philippines, including the allegedly
al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf. While many JI
operatives have in recent years been apprehended
by their respective governments, no country,
including the United States, has declared victory
over the underground network.
Mas Selamat
was a particularly high-value detainee. His
involvement in Islamic militant activities dates
to 1990, when he first joined the Darul Islam, an
Indonesia-based radical movement considered by
many as the forerunner of JI.
According to
the International Crisis Group (ICG), by 1992 Mas
Selamat was a member of the religious council of
JI's Singapore cell. He traveled to Afghanistan
for military training in 1993, and again in 1998,
to observe the Taliban's austere and strict
fundamentalist rule, of which the ICG reports he
was "deeply impressed".
Around 1999, Mas
Selamat was reportedly promoted to Singapore
commander by the group's Southeast Asian
operations chief Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali, who
was captured in Thailand in August 2003 and is now
in US custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
A
full week after Mas Selamat's dramatic escape,
details are still sketchy as the government has
reverted to damage-control mode. The authorities
have remained tight-lipped about the embarrassing
security breach. Their silence has allowed all
manner of conspiracy theories to flourish over the
Internet.
What is known is that Mas
Selamat was being taken by guards for a scheduled
visit with his family when at 4:05 pm he requested
to use the toilet. That apparently was the last
time he was seen by his prison minders. Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Wong
Kan Seng told the media four days later there had
been a "physical breach" at the facility, but
refused to elaborate. "An independent
investigation is underway and we should not
speculate on what and how it happened," he said.
Schizophrenic
manhunt
Thousands of police have
flooded the area in the vicinity of his escape,
setting up roadblocks and conducting
house-to-house searches. It wasn't until after 8
pm the day of the escape that the government
announced that the leading terror suspect was on
the loose. The four-hour lag between the escape
and the public announcement has stoked speculation
of a government cover-up.
Every day and
night since, police, army personnel and tracker
dogs have combed forested areas for the fugitive -
to no avail. The authorities have stated their
belief, without pointing to specific corroborating
evidence, that the suspect is still on the island
and has not fled to a neighboring country, such as
Muslim-majority Malaysia or Indonesia.
Urban areas are now covered with police
posters showing the face of the wanted man.
Authorities have alerted the population that Mas
Selamat walks with a limp and police have released
information about his height and weight. It was
only on the sixth day that the media were told
what clothes Mas Selamat was wearing at the time
of his escape.
The government's
schizophrenic impulse, simultaneously calling on
the public to help, but not trusting people with
specific information about the suspect, is
characteristic of the Singapore government's
nanny-state ways. Mas Selamat's escape is
particularly embarrassing not only because the
Singapore citizen had eluded capture before, but
it was the Indonesians who had originally caught
him and handed him over.
Thirteen
suspected members of JI's Singapore wing were
hauled off to indefinite detention without trial
under the Internal Security Act over their alleged
roles in plotting the 2001 attacks. Mas Selamat,
however, managed to slip through the dragnet and
fled to Indonesia, where the terror group has
deeper roots and is suspected to maintain a wide
sanctuary network.
Indonesian police
arrested him in 2003 on Bintan, an island near
Singapore, when they discovered he was carrying
fake immigration papers. He was sentenced to 18
months in prison on immigration charges, during
which he attempted to escape by jumping off a high
floor of the detention facility. He broke his leg
in the failed attempt, and the injury apparently
developed into a permanent limp.
Where Mas
Selamat went after serving that sentence is
unclear. However, he was arrested for a second
time on immigration offences in Malang, Java, in
2006. He was deported to Singapore in February
that same year and was held under the Internal
Security Act, which allows for indefinite
detention without trial if the state has cause to
believe a suspect is a threat to the state. Mas
Selamat was held at the Whitley Road Detention
Center until his escape.
Singapore prides
itself as a trusted and reliable partner to the US
in matters of regional security. The US Navy
regularly makes port calls and it is believed the
two sides have been sharing
counterterrorism-related information. It is
because of that special relationship, apparently,
that JI chose to scout out American targets for
attacks in Singapore in 2001.
Mas
Selamat's escape calls into question the
reliability of Singapore's own security
arrangements, as well as how much Western allies
can and should depend on them. There have been
similar breaches in the Philippines, where
high-value terror suspects have escaped, allegedly
through police corruption. Unless Mas Selamat is
caught and a full accounting of the lapses that
led to his escape are publicly disclosed, foreign
confidence in Singapore's counterterrorism
credentials will be hard to restore.
Noises have already been made from
Indonesia that if their police again capture Mas
Selamat in their country, they will keep him in
their own custody rather than deport him to
Singapore. The US, too, could be prodded to
reconsider its security cooperation with Singapore
if and when the details of the mysterious escape
finally emerge.
Alex Au is an
independent social and political commentator,
freelance writer and blogger based in Singapore.
He often speaks at public forums on politics,
culture and gay issues.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JC08Ae02.html