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Suspicions
over Singapore jailbreak
Alex
Au
Asia Times
7 Mar
08
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JC08Ae02.html
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 counter-terrorism 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.
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