AFP: Singapore's most-wanted still at large two months after escape
Excerpt:
The report prompted much derision on the Internet, where popular Singapore blogger Mr. Brown posted pictures of toilets perched on a tricycle and motorised carts, saying he had thought Kastari might have escaped on something similar.
"But I was wrong. It was nothing THAT sophisticated," he wrote.
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Reuters: Singapore says militant escaped without trousers (It was filed under Oddly Enough news)
Excerpt:
Singapore said on Monday that a suspected Islamic militant managed to escape from a detention centre two months ago mainly because of an unlocked window in the toilet -- and fled without his trousers.
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Catherine Lim (catherinelim.sg): The Mas Selamat Scandal: Its Impact on the Government-People Relationship
Excerpt:
In each case, public debate has followed a predictable pattern: first, the people are allowed to speak their minds freely through the permitted channels including the forum pages of newspapers, TV debates, the feedback units, and dialogues with government representatives; next, at an appropriate point, the Prime Minister himself and his ministers enter the fray with patient, sustained explanations and persuasive arguments, and finally the matter comes to a close, usually with a gentle but firm message from the Prime Minister himself that in effect says, ‘Trust us; let’s move on.’
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Catherine Lim: More Comments on the Mas Selamat Scandal
Excerpt:
I have been more perturbed by the Mas Selamat case than by any of the past issues that we Singaporeans have expressed unhappiness about, including even the very contentious issue of the ministerial salaries. My unease has to do with the increasing disconnect between the government and the people which I had mentioned in my previous article and which I’ll try to explain more clearly and fully here.
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Seah Chiang Nee (littlespeck.com): Holding the line
Excerpt:
When Singapore’s terrorist leader escaped from high-security detention two months ago, he could not possibly have foreseen the political repercussion that he was leaving behind.
It has given Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong his worst political headache since he took office nearly four years ago.
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Alex Au (yawningbread.org): The great hunt: more management failures than guards' lapses
Excerpt:
In order to be fair to Wong Kan Seng in my comment here, I spent a couple of hours watching all the videoclips available on Channel NewsAsia before penning this. What I saw was a minister trying to be humble in giving Parliament a report on Mas Selamat's escape from the Whitley Road Detention Centre. Where he was armed with the findings from the Commission of Inquiry, he was forthright, but where he was not, he fumbled.
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Chua Lee Hoong (Straits Times, newspaper scan at Singapore Mind): That escape: Crucial issues aplenty, so let's move on
Excerpt:
Reading internet postings often make my blood boil.
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SM Goh Chok Tong (Straits Times): Time to move on to more pressing tasks