Mas Selamat Was Volved in Aiding Mas Selamat’S Dash from Whitley to Singapore’S Northern Shore
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MICA (P) 191/11/2008 SATURDAY, MAY 9 2009 ● A SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS PUBLICATION ESTABLISHED 1845 $ 1.00 * * Not just Garden More young INTERVIEW WITH TEO CHEE HEAN City, but Sky people turning Civil servants keep Garden City to Buddhism S’pore safely afloat LIFE! PAGES E14&15 SATURDAY SPECIAL, PAGES D1-7 INSIGHT, PAGE A34 FOR BREAKING NEWS GO TO www.straitstimes.com REACH AND INTERACT ON www.stomp.com.sg SMS MMS 75557 1800-777-5557 WATCH OUR VIDEOS ON www.razor.tv news of the capture. 200 PAGES IN Mr Wong said that as far as the authori- NINE PARTS ties know, no local JI network was in- Mas Selamat was volved in aiding Mas Selamat’s dash from Whitley to Singapore’s northern shore. VESAK DAY GREETINGS Mr Wong, who is also Home Affairs The Prime Minister sends his Minister, said the Singapore Government greetings to all Buddhists on the did not inform the public of the capture occasion of Vesak Day. earlier because doing so could jeopardise The Straits Times also sends Vesak operational secrecy and perhaps even en- PLOTTING danger sources of information. Day greetings to all its Buddhist The Malaysian Special Branch (MSB) readers. and Singapore’s Internal Security Depart- ment (ISD) both avoid premature disclo- sure that can compromise ongoing investi- Aware’s sex ed courses gations, he noted. SENIOR Minister of State for “For example, sometimes, intelligence Education S. Iswaran said that after a HITS ON obtained from interviews of arrestees Ministry of Education probe was may put us on the trail of other terrorists. conducted into Aware’s sexuality In such instances, premature public reve- education programme, “there’s a lation of the first arrest would cause the sense that they have exceeded the other terrorists to flee, and compromise guidelines”. our ability to capture them,” he ex- pages He added that parents were “quite plained. right” to express concern about some In the case of Mas Selamat, intelli- of parts of the programme. S’PORE gence provided by ISD late last year í PRIME PAGE A16 helped the Malaysian authorities to make ers: “We apprehended him here (in Malay- the arrest on April 1, he said. reports He was ‘planning a lot sia), his main focus at the time was Singa- Two Malaysian JI terrorists were ar- pore. He was planning a lot of things in rested the same day, according to other PRIME PAGES of things’ when he Singapore.” reports. A2-10 He did not provide details, but said he “ISD has been following many leads. 8 was caught, says Najib At the end of last year, one of ISD’s own had “mentioned this” to Singapore’s SEE ALSO leads helped to pinpoint where Mas Sela- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong when í EDITORIAL, PAGE A24 BY CHUA LEE HOONG mat could be hiding. When it was general- they met in Pattaya, Thailand, on April í POLITICAL EDITOR ly satisfied that the information was credi- FORUM, PAGE A39 10-11 for the Asean summit that was even- ble, we passed the information to Malay- tually aborted because of protests. JEMAAH Islamiah (JI) terrorist Mas Sela- sia,” said Mr Wong. Mr Lee was “very happy and grateful mat Kastari was plotting attacks on Singa- Replying to a question about the role RSAF gets 4 F-15SG jets pore at the time he was captured in Johor that Malaysia has succeeded in appre- of the Singapore public, he said a lot of in- der the Internal Security Act in Malaysia. hending Mas Selamat”, said Mr Najib. Singapore’s Air Force has taken on April 1. formation was provided but none proved “The Malaysian authorities want to in- possession of its first four F-15SG Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak Mas Selamat, leader of a group of Sin- credible, and it was ISD’s own informa- terview him, and in good time he will be fighter jets (above). The aircraft, disclosed this to Malaysian media yester- gaporean JI members, escaped from the tion that led to the breakthrough. returned to Singapore,” Mr Wong said. equipped with advanced air-to-air day, hours after Singapore’s Deputy Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27 He noted that ISD officers had been in He pointed out that Mas Selamat is missiles and sensors not used outside Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told local last year. constant touch with their Malaysian coun- still technically under a Detention Order the United States, are part of the media the JI leader escaped Singapore by He was captured in Johor on April 1, ac- terparts, as with their other regional coun- issued by ISD and last renewed in March Republic’s move to modernise its swimming across the narrow stretch of cording to regional intelligence sources terparts, to exchange information. last year. military. water that separates Singapore from Jo- The Straits Times spoke to. Mr Wong said the Malaysian authori- When Mas Selamat is returned to Sin- í HOME PAGE B2 hor, with the help of an “improvised flota- This was confirmed by Mr Wong at a ties informed Singapore of the April 1 ar- gapore, he will be sent back to Whitley tion device”. (See story below) press conference in Singapore yesterday, rest “soon after” it occurred. Road Detention Centre, he said. Datuk Seri Najib told Malaysian report- the same day The Straits Times broke the Mas Selamat is currently being held un- “But today’s Whitley Road is a very dif- Condo buyer in trouble ferent detention centre from the one he ANOTHER buyer who purchased fled. We have now made it very difficult luxury condominiums in bulk under for anyone to escape from there,” he said. the deferred payment scheme is Mas Selamat’s latest arrest is his third Improvised since 2003, and each time information having trouble paying up. Keppel Land says an Indonesian investor who provided by ISD proved crucial, noted Mr bought 51 units at The Suites @ Wong. Central in Devonshire Road has asked float helped The first time was in February 2003 for more time to cough up the final when the Indonesian authorities caught payments. up with him on Bintan Island. A botched í MONEY PAGE C27 him escape escape attempt during his imprisonment left him with a broken left leg and a per- manent limp. The new Chinese CEOs He was not handed over to Singapore to Johor after he served his prison term and went THEY jetset around the world and are missing for about five months. well-versed in Wall Street lingo. Meet China's new breed of He was captured a second time by the state-owned company chieftains who MAS Selamat Kastari escaped from Singa- Indonesian authorities in early 2006 for are executing a key national mission: pore by swimming across the Johor Strait using a fake identity card. This time, he to drive China Inc’s expansion with the help of an “improvised flotation was handed over to Singapore in Febru- overseas and up the Fortune 500 device”, Deputy Prime Minister Wong ary 2006. Improvised flotation devices such as rubber tyres or plastic tubes tied together are often used by He was held at the Whitley Road De- charts. Kan Seng told reporters yesterday. illegal immigrants trying to slip into Singapore undetected. ST FILE PHOTO í WORLD PAGES C1-2 The fugitive fled from Singapore to Jo- tention Centre until his escape on Feb 27 hor “soon after” his escape from the last year. Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27 rubber tyres, plastic tubes tied together long coastline. It is porous, and it’s easy Recalling Mas Selamat’s past escapes, last year, Mr Wong said, citing informa- or biscuit tins tied together, he said. for people and for goods to be brought in Mr Wong noted that he had told Parlia- tion provided by the Malaysian authori- Mr Wong, as Home Affairs Minister, is or even to leave Singapore. ment at its sitting on Feb 5 this year: ties. also in charge of the Immigration and “We must not assume that just by the “Whether Mas Selamat is in Singapore or He also said such flotation devices Checkpoints Authority. arrest of one person, Singapore will be he has fled our country, we will hunt him were often used by illegal immigrants at- He stressed that despite the capture of safe from the terrorist threat,” he said. down as we did before. CALL 6388-3838 TO SUBSCRIBE OR tempting to enter Singapore undetected. Mas Selamat, officers manning the check- “We must continue to be vigilant and “And this is indeed what has hap- GO TO www.sphsubscription.com.sg The devices could be as simple as plas- points must continue to be vigilant. continue to implement the security meas- pened,” he said. tic bags filled with air and tied together, “Singapore is a small country. It has a ures we have put in place.” [email protected].