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Wong
Kan Seng:
Will he answer SDP's questions?
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Media
Release: Questions that Wong Kan Seng must answer
Singapore
Democrats
29 Feb 08
The shocking revelation by Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng about
the escape of ISA detainee Mr Mas Selamat Kastari does not pass
the smell test. At the minimum, it raises troubling questions
that require urgent answers:
One, were there breaches of
physical security? The detainee could not have walked through
walls. The Minister has not told the public whether Mr Kastari
had dug a burrow, punched hole through the wall or cut the wire
fencing surrounding the detention centre. If there were no such
breaches, then did Mr Kastari push his way past the security
personnel guarding the doorways and gates?
The time Mr
Kastari took to go to the toilet is at most several minutes. How
does one effect an escape in that short span of time? This
apparently occurred at about 4 pm and just before his family
visit which means that the officers on duty had to be on
heightened alert. The situation becomes even more incredible when
we are told that the detainee walks with a "distinct limp".
Mr Wong Kang Seng expects us to believe that a detainee
who could not walk properly got past able-bodied officers from
the confines of a toilet, in broad daylight and without an escape
route?
Two, where are the footages of security cameras?
There are cameras mounted in all prison facilities precisely to
prevent such situations. The Whitley Detention Centre is no
exception. If the Elections Department has a CCTV camera and can
produce video footages, surely Mr Wong can now produce footage of
the moments that led to the detainee's escape.
Cameras
would have recorded Mr Kastari's movements as well as movements
of the police officers guarding him. They would also show Mr
Kastari walking, running, jumping, or limping through the
compounds of the Centre if he had escaped. The Government must
show the people such footage.
Three, what
are the officers' accounts? So
far we have only heard from the Minister. This is not sufficient.
The ISD officers involved in the matter must now give their
accounts in a public, independent inquiry whose panel should
include the SDP.
In addition, officers handling Mr
Kastari must give an account of the detainee's condition in the
months and weeks leading up to his escape. This is important to
establish the detainee's physical condition at the point of his
breakout.
If the Government cannot satisfactorily answer
the above questions and produce the video footage of Mr Kastari's
movements just prior to his escape, then the question of whether
an escape had in fact taken place necessarily arises. The logical
follow-up to this question then is: Is Mr Kastari still alive?
The media and Parliament have been derelict in their
duties in not raising the above questions and grill Mr Wong on
the matter. The kids' gloves that journalists and MPs have been
using to deal with this disturbing issue is revealing as it is
instructive.
At
the very least, the debacle calls into question the competence of
the Home Affairs Minister and his cursory statement given in
Parliament is woefully inadequate, negligent even. The SDP
demands that the Minister comes out in the open immediately and
answers our questions.
All this mystery surrounding this
incredible gaffe must, however, not distract us from the fact
that Mr Kastari has not been convicted of a crime with the
Government having proven its case in a court of law. Singaporeans
must remember that he ISA remains a tool of the PAP to serve its
own political ends.
If we decry the ISA in detaining
Singaporeans like Mr Chia Thye Poh, Ms Teo Soh Lung, and Mr
Francis Seow and depriving these citizens of their right to
defend themselves in an open and fair trial, then we must also
extend that right to Mr Kastari and all other detainees currently
incarcerated at the Whitley detention centre. Let the charges be
made against these suspects, let the prisoners defend themselves,
and let the evidence, if any, convict these persons.
Chee
Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party
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