WP on escape of Mas Selamat

Melvin Tan SG

Nonetheless the preferred airings in internet forums, I think WP deserves a fair share of space.

Regards

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11 March 2008

Two weeks have elapsed since the escape of Mas Selamat Kastari from the Whitley Road Centre.

Since the occurrence, the immediate priority has rightly been placed on his recapture. Our security forces have been hard at work in an island-wide manhunt, and Singaporeans too have put up with various inconveniences at checkpoints and other areas to facilitate this massive operation.

Many questions have been raised about how this incident could have taken place in a country which prides itself on safety and security. In seeking to reassure Singaporeans, the Minister for Home Affairs has established a Committee of Inquiry under the Prisons Act “to discover how the escape occurred and to recommend appropriate actions to prevent such an incident from occurring again”. (MHA letter to media dated 7 Mar 08).

As Whitley Road Centre is gazetted by law as a prison, the government’s decision to convene the inquiry under the Prisons Act is not wrong. The problem is that the Prisons Act states that such inquiries shall not be open to the public. The Committee will submit its report to the Minister, and no part of the proceedings may be released to anyone except with the Minister’s written permission.

This raises important questions as to how much the public will eventually be told, since the Minister retains the discretion to release the findings as he sees fit. In a matter of such high public interest as the escape of a high-risk terror suspect from a government-run facility, what assurances or checks are there that the public will be given full information? In the interest of transparency, other governments have conducted public hearings into sensitive matters such as intelligence failures.

One option is for the President to appoint a Commission of Inquiry under the Inquiries Act. He can do so when he considers that having a Commission to inquire into any matter would be for the public welfare or in the public interest. This regime will allow the inquiry to proceed in public as the President shall direct. If there is concern that release of certain sensitive information will jeopardize the national interest, the President may direct that certain information not be made public.

Moreover, since Singaporeans have been marshalled to assist the authorities to hunt for Mas Selamat, the least the government could do is to keep us fully informed of the inquiry and its findings.

SYLVIA LIM
CHAIRMAN
11 MAR 08

http://www.wp.sg/wordpress/?p=69

Melvin Tan SG

March 11, 2008

THE opposition Workers' Party on Tuesday urged the Government to keep the public fully informed of the committee of inquiry's (COI) probe into the escape of terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari, who has been on the run since Feb 27.

It said that as the inquiry is being carried out under the Prisons Act, which means that the Home Affairs Minister retains the discretion ot release the committee's finds as he sees fit, this raises the question 'as to how much the public will eventually be told.'

Said the party chairman Sylvia Lim in a statement: 'In a matter of such high public interest as the escape of a high-risk terror suspect from a government-run facility, what assurances or checks are there that the public will be given full information?'

'Moreover, since Singaporeans have been marshalled to assist the authorities to hunt for Mas Selamat, the least the government could do is to keep us fully informed of the inquiry and its findings,' she added, noting the huge security forces involved in the island-wide manhunt, and the various inconveniences at checkpoints and other areas which Singaporeans have to put up with to facilitiate the massive operation.

Ms Lim, who is a Non-constituency MP, said many questions have been raised about how the escape could have taken place 'in a country which prides itself on safety and security.'

While it is not wrong for the government to convene the three-member inquiry, headed by retired judge Goh Joon Seng, under the Prisons Act, the opposition leader noted that such inquiries are not open to the public.

'The Committee will submit its report to the Minister, and no part of the proceedings may be released to anyone except with the Minister's written permission,' she said.

She suggested an alternative option: a COI appointed by the President under the Inquiries Act in the interest of public welfare or public interest.

'This regime will allow the inquiry to proceed in public as the President shall direct. If there is concern that release of certain sensitive information will jeopardise the national interest, the President may direct that certain information not be made public,' she said.

Separately, the Criminal Investigation Department is also looking into whether criminal wrong-doing was involved in the break-out of the leader of the Singapore Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network from the Whitley Road Detention Centre.

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng has said that there was a 'physical breach' and 'security lapse' at the detention centre's compound, which has since been plugged.

The panel, which will also recommend changes to prevent similar break-outs, is expected to complete the review in a month. The other two committee members are retired police commissioner Tee Tua Ba and deputy secretary for security and corporate services Dr Choong May Ling.

In launching the COI on March 2, Mr Wong said he would decide on the part of the committee's findings that can be made public.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said that the escape of Mas Selamat is a 'very severe lesson in complacency.'

The search for the fugitive entered the 13th day on Tuesday. More than 1,100 calls and emails on potential leads have been received by police so far.

Besides reporting sightings or discarded belongings on the fringes of forested areas, many Singaporeans have offered tips on how to nab the escaped detainee.

Melvin Tan SG

March 12, 2008

By Peh Shing Huei

THE opposition Workers' Party (WP) has called for an alternative panel to be set up by the President to look into the escape of terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari.

Instead of the committee that was set up by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, the WP proposed yesterday that President S R Nathan appoint a Commission of Inquiry under the Inquiries Act so that investigations 'can proceed in public as the President shall direct'.

In a press statement signed by chairman Sylvia Lim, the WP noted that Mr Wong's Committee of Inquiry is being set up under the Prisons Act.

This is not wrong, since the Whitley Road Detention Centre is considered a prison under this law, said Ms Lim.

However, she pointed out: 'The Prisons Act states that such inquiries shall not be open to the public. The Committee will submit its report to the Minister, and no part of the proceedings may be released to anyone except with the Minister's written permission.

'This raises important questions as to how much the public will eventually be told, since the Minister retains the discretion to release the findings as he sees fit.'

As announced by the government, the independent committee is headed by former High Court judge Goh Joon Seng and will look into how Mas Selamat, 47, broke out of the detention centre a fortnight ago and recommend changes to prevent similar breakouts.

'In a matter of such high public interest as the escape of a high-risk terror suspect from a government-run facility, what assurances or checks are there that the public will be given full information?' asked Ms Lim, who is also a Non-Constituency MP.

'In the interest of transparency, other governments have conducted public hearings into sensitive matters such as intelligence failures.'

Since Independence, seven Commissions of Inquiry have been formed, including one on the Sentosa cable car accident in 1983 and another on the Hotel New World collapse in 1986.

In recommending that the President appoint a commission of inquiry under the Inquiries Act, Ms Lim noted that this would 'allow the inquiry to proceed in public as the President shall direct'.

'If there is concern that release of certain sensitive information will jeopardize the national interest, the President may direct that certain information not be made public,' she added.

She asserted: 'Since Singaporeans have been marshalled to assist the authorities to hunt for Mas Selamat, the least the Government could do is to keep us fully informed of the inquiry and its findings.'

But Ms Lim also gave credit to the security forces, saying they have been 'hard at work in an island-wide manhunt' and that the immediate priority has 'rightly' been placed on Mas Selamat's recapture.

Melvin Tan SG

TODAY

WP urges President to appoint
panel to probe JI leader’s escape

LEONG WEE KEAT
[email protected]

THE Workers’ Party (WP) is
urging the President to appoint
a Commission of Inquiry to look
into the escape of detained Jemaah
Islamiyah leader Mas Selamat
Kastari, instead of the
committee appointed for that
purpose by the Minister for
Home Affairs.
P a r t y
c h a i r m a n
Sylvia Lim
noted that
under the Inquiries
Act — a
new law
passed last
September —
the President
of Singapore
can appoint a
Commission
to look into
any matter
“for the public
welfare or in the public interest”.
He can also direct that the inquiry
“proceed in public”.
Her party’s concern is that
the current Committee of Inquiry,
as established under the
Prisons Act, allows the Minister
to “retain the discretion to release
the findings as he sees fit”.
“The problem is that the
Prisons Act states that such inquiries
shall not be open to the
public … This raises important
questions as to how much the
public will eventually be told,”
Ms Lim said in a statement,
even as she noted that it was
technically “not wrong” to convene
the inquiry under the Prisons
Act since the Whitley Road
Detention Centre — from which
Mas Selamat escaped on Feb 27
— is gazetted as a prison.
The current committee is
headed by retired High Court
judge Goh Joon Seng, with former
Police Commissioner Tee
Tua Ba and the Home Affairs
Ministry’s deputy secretary for
security and corporate services,
Dr Choong May Ling, on board.
In response, a Ministry of
Home Affairs spokesperson said
that Deputy
Prime Minister
and Home
Affairs Minister
Wong Kan
Seng has stated
that “after
the Committee
of Inquiry
completes its
inquiry, we will
give a full account
to the
public on how
Mas Selamat
escaped and
what has been
done to tighten security to prevent
such a thing from happening
again”.
Pointing out that the escape
of a “high-risk terror suspect”
was a matter of “high public
interest”, Ms Lim, who is a
Non-Constituency Member of
Parliament, said that if the concern
was that “release of certain
sensitive information will jeopardise
the national interest”,
the Inquiries Act allows the
President to direct that such
facts not be made public.
Ms Lim added that “since
Singaporeans have been marshalled
to assist the authorities
to hunt for Mas Selamat, the
least the Government could do
is to keep us fully informed of
the inquiry and its findings”.

drawer SG

Singapore PAP government and Police force are a disgrace to the nation for unable to catch the Malay terrorist for such a long time.

If the terrorist escape from Malaysia or Indonesia,i can understand it will be hard for the police there to catch the prisoner.

But,Singapore is a tiny little island,our government n police still unable to catch the terrorist.What a shame!!!!