I have read this article the Straits Times 26 April 2008 and
nearly fell off the chair. As it cannot be found on the
online Straits Times, I had to type this out. This article is full
of flaws in her arguments as she tried in vain to explain
the whole incident.
Reading Internet
posting often makes my blood boil. Especially recent one on Mas
Selamet Kastari incident and the Committee of Inquiry finding
disclosed by the Deputy Prime Minster Wong Kan Seng in Parliament
this week.
Too many
nitzens:
>>Obviously have not read
the full account f what Mr Wong said, yet think they are in
position to pass judgment.
>>Seem to
feed on one another's vitriol, and try to outdo themselves in
calling for punishment; and
>>Have no
sense of perspective, seeming to think the escape of one detainee
is sufficient cause for the entire government to be thrown into
flux by sacking a minister.
How many of
those calling for Mr Wong's resignation really mean it, I
wonder.
Or will they be
like Low Thia Khiang, the Hougang MP who, when pressed for an
on-the-record statement that Mr Wong should resign, decline to
provide one?
How many of
these called for the resignation of Mr Teo Chee Hean, who was
Defence Minister in 2003 when the commando died as a result of the
dunking during training?
Not only was
there a death, but the Ministry initially did not state how he
died. It was only after two months later - after the newspaper
reports and the Internet postings by friends of the commando - that
appeared before Parliament to answer questions on the
death.
If a fire
should break out in an HDB block due to shoddy wiring, will the
people the National Development to resign?
If a
teacher with an undetected mental problem starts slashing at
students in school, will the Education Minister have to
resign?
In both cases,
there will have been negligence- but does extend all the way up to
the minister?
Common sense
will tell you the buck has to stop somewhere, or there will be no
ministers left in no time.
This is not to
say ministers should be immune. If a block of HDB flats was found
to be unsafe, for instance, due to shoddy workmanship, I would join
the call those calling for the minister to resign, even if he had
not known about it.
If a hospital
was found to have been awarding tenders to its CEO’s family and
friends, and the Health Minister knew but did nothing, the latter
should be sacked, perhaps even charged with complicity.
But the Mas
Selamat escapes? What loss has there been, except that of face –
mostly?
If he were a
homicidal manic, there would be danger to the Singapore public. But
he is not one.
The danger he
poses is incremental: He is now one more militant on the loose,
whether in Singapore or in the region, joining the no doubt
hundreds already out there. Terrorism did not begin, and will not
end, with Mas Selamat.
The escape has
been a big stain on the reputation of the Ministry of home Affairs
(MHA). But it has been a lesser stain on the reputation of
Singapore. We hold ourselves as infallible than the world hold us.
If you talk to businessmen and investors, the escape has been no
more than and interesting interlude, with no impact on their
business decisions.
But this does
not mean nothing more needs to be done. After such a high signature
event, there can be a closure only if there are two things: a high
degree of transparency, and the heads seen to roll. Such is the way
human nature is wired.
To me – a not
always sympathetic observer of local politics, as those who have
followed my writing closely over the years will know – there has
been unprecedented transparency in the way MHA disclosed
information on the case over these two months.
Yes, there were
confusing moments, such as when information about his clothing, his
limp or his mole was made public. MHA will no doubt have learnt
from this experience how to communicate more clearly and precisely
in future.
Compare
Singapore handling of the Mas Selamat escape with the America
equivalent.
As recounted by
the security specialist Michael Richardson in an article published
in this newspaper on the March 28, Omar Al-Faruq, “one of the top
Al-Qaeda leaders of South East Asia”, escaped in July 2005 with
three others from the supposedly tightly guarded United States
detention centre at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.
When he escaped,
the US was so embarrassed it did not disclose Faruq’s escape for
some time.
“The news
emerged only months later – during an army trial in November 2005,
the US sergeant accused of mistreating Faruq in 2002,” said
Richardson.
In Mas Selamat’s
case, four hours, rather than four months, elapsed between the time
of escape and the time of public disclosure.
Unlike the US
Army, MHA informed the media on its own initiative, a fact I still
marvel at. Time indeed is changing.
If people want
transparency, they are getting a lot of it. Not everything, to be
sure: For one thing MHA will not let you into Whitley Road
Detention Centre (WRDC) just to satisfy your craving fro
transparency. But nor will the US let you into Bagram detention
centre.
As for heads to
roll – this is where you could say the Government made a tactical
mistake.
It should have
given full details of the disciplinary action to be taken at the
same time as it gave details of the escape, rather than leaving the
latter to a later date. This would have silenced the hounds baying
for blood.
Still, that the
Government did not do so was not because it had no disciplinary
action planned, but because it wanted everything in its time. This
is the orderly Government, after all.
Mr Wong, in his
statement to the Parliament on Monday, said: “I have directed
Commissioner of Police and Director ISD (Internal Security
Department) to investigate …..Officers who are responsible for Mas
Selamat will be disciplined and penalized. In this connection, I
have asked the Director ISD to examine the roles not only of the
WRDC junior officers, but to go up the chain of command and include
the supervisory and management levels of WRDC as well.”
His concluding
line: “There is a proper process for disciplinary action under the
civil service or Police Force rules and this must take its
course.”
However, if the
Government had waited for the disciplinary hearing results to be
out before releasing details on the escape, Singaporean would still
be waiting now. You pay your penny and you make your
choice.
Words has it
that we’ll know more about the disciplined and how by the next
Parliament sitting.
Meanwhile, there
really are many other things that I would rather focus my mind
on.
I concur fully
with the unionist G. Muthu Kumar, who said there are more important
concerns for workers, like rising food costs. “People don’t bother
about this Mas Selamat…..they’ve got no time to think about
this,”
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