Singapore gov't butt of jokes after
prison escape
Terrorism is usually no laughing matter, especially not in
security-conscious Singapore, but the escape from custody of a
limping Islamist extremist suspect has led to scorn on the
Internet.
Barbed jokes and irreverent spoofs have sprouted up on websites
five days after Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the alleged Singapore
chief of regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, escaped with
apparent ease from a detention centre.
"Toilet Break, based on a true story starring Mas Selamat Kastari,"
read a mock post on one wesbite by a blogger inspired by the hit US
television drama "Prison Break".
Blogger Philip Chua wrote: "Singapore has now dropped the ball big
time and really is an international laughing stock."
"You don't see prisoners escaping from terrorist detention centres
in the West or Guantanamo. More so a leader of the terrorist
network in the country next to you!"
Kastari, who was arrested in neighbouring Indonesia in 2006 and
turned over to Singapore, remained at large Monday and officials
said he was likely to be still hiding in this multiracial island
republic of 4.7 million people.
Accused of plotting to hijack a plane in order to crash it into
Singapore's Changi airport in 2001, Kastari managed to escape after
asking to go to the toilet during a family visit, security
officials said.
Direct criticism of the government is rare in the mainstream media,
forcing dissatisfied Singaporeans to resort to the Internet to
express their views.
Teoh Khengze, a Singapore-based author and journalist, wrote on his
blog that the circumstances of what he called "The Great Singapore
Escape" were "as incredulous as the escape is audacious."
Talkingcock.com, a popular satirical site, said Kastari's escape
underlined the need to give cabinet ministers another salary hike
even though they were already among the highest-paid in the
world.
"We need to equip our Mini-stars with everything they can to deal
with this crisis... and as we know in Singapore, public service and
legislative influence are all not sufficient incentives," it
said.
"Only the highest salaries in the world will do," the humour site
said.
It showed 13 doctored photographs of Kastari in various possible
disguises - in a blonde woman's wig, a 1960s-style Afro hairdo and
aviator sunglasses, a handlebar moustache and a beard and turban in
Osama bin Laden style.
A popular Singaporean blogger who has previously irked the
government with attacks on high living costs said the city-state
need not worry about losing cabinet ministers.
"They won't be asked to resign or even take a pay cut," wrote the
blogger known as Mr. Brown.
"We are not like those free-wheeling and chaotic governments from
Western democracies that make their leaders accountable for every
little thing.
http://singaporedemocrat.org/articleJIescape1.html