The detention regimes, amenities and food must be more
suited for Mas Selamat Kastari in Malaysia, and he will surely have
less incentive to make a run from it.
With the current report that MSK claimed that he felt being
dizzy most of the time, and suspected that he was drugged, it will
be quite damning to know that a sem-drugged prisoner can still
succeed to escape from the ISD facility.
The Star, Tuesday September 22, 2009
PETALING JAYA: Jemaah Islamiah militant Mas Selamat
Kastari is happier being detained in Malaysia than in Singapore,
says a human rights commissioner.
Suhakam vice-chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun said Mas Selamat did
not have any complaint about his detention in Kamunting, Perak,
where he has been held since early this year.
“He said he prefers to be in Malaysia. He has no complaints of
the treatment he gets here.
“His only complaint is on the failure of his family to visit
him. From what I understand, there is no problem as far as the
Malaysian authorities are concerned.
“The issue is with the Singaporean authorities,” he said when
contacted yesterday.
Sipaun said both him and Suha-kam commissioner Datuk N. Siva
Subramaniam had met Mas Selamat, as well as the other seven
detainees during their inspection of the centre on Friday.
The 48-year-old militant had escaped from a maximum security
detention centre in Singapore in February last year, and swam to
Johor. He was arrested at his hideout in a tiny Johor village in
April this year.
Sipaun said Mas Selamat had told him during their meeting that
he suspected he was drugged while detained in Singapore as he was
constantly dizzy after meals.
He said they spoke to Mas Selamat, who looked healthy, for about
20 to 30 minutes.
“He was not aggressive, he was very pleasant and very
polite.
“In fact, we didn’t know he was Mas Selamat until we asked him
where he was from. Only then did we realise it was him,” he
said.
“My only regret is that I forgot to ask him how he managed to
escape from Singapore, as Singapore is so strict and the security
there is so tight,” he said.
When contacted, Siva Subramaniam said the militant should be
allowed to have his day in court.
“Malaysians, of course, do not support terrorists. But he should
be tried in court, to see if he is indeed guilty of all the charges
brought against him,” he said.