S'pore leaders knew about Mas Selamat’s arrest says PM Lee (Update)
SINGAPORE: Singapore's top leaders already knew that its most wanted fugitive, Mas Selamat Kastari, had been captured by Malaysian authorities but had to keep mum about it on Malaysia's request.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said his deputy Wong Kan Seng had told him that the Malaysian authorities had arrested (the Jemaah Islamiah militant group suspected leader) Mas Selamat, but the news could not be made public as it would jeopardise followup operations.
"Kan Seng told me that the Malaysians had asked us to keep this quiet for the time being," Lee said in a statement Saturday.
Lee said he then told his deputy that Singapore had to respect Malaysia's request although he knew that Singaporeans would be very anxious to know the news.
It is believed the statement was issued after some Singaporeans voiced their dismay over the news blackout on Mas Selamat's arrest by the local authorities that only officially confirmed it after it was leaked Friday by Singapore's main newspaper, The Straits Times. Malaysian authorities who also confirmed the arrest Saturday said Mas Selamat was captured by the police Special Branch early last month in Skudai, Johor, and was now detained under the Internal Security Act.
Mas Selamat, 48, who was said to be plotting several bomb attacks here had been on the run after he escaped from the maximum security Whitley Road detention centre on Feb 27, and this led to the first ever massive hunt by the city state authorities.
The prime minister said he came to know about the leak in the press on Thursday afternoon when Kan Seng, who is also the Home Affairs Minister, received a phone call from The Straits Times while all the Singapore cabinet ministers were having lunch before their weekly meeting.
His deputy said The Straits Times had called to ask the Internal Security Department (ISD) to confirm the newspaper's scoop that came from its Kuala Lumpur correspondent, that the Malaysian authorities had arrested Mas Selamat.
"As the story had leaked, we had no choice but to confirm it. It was only then that Kan Seng told the ministers that Mas Selamat had been arrested, the news had leaked and we would be confirming the story. They were taken completely by surprise," Lee said.
The prime minister also said that when he had a four-eye lunch with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Pattaya on April 11 after the Asean meeting was called off because of the demonstrations, Najib told him that the Malaysian authorities had arrested Mas Selamat.
Lee said he told Najib that he had been informed about the arrest earlier, and thanked Najib for Malaysia's generous support and help.
"I said that the terrorism problem affects both of us. The JI group remains active in the region, and we must work together to counter them as well as other such groups."
Lee said he also told Najib that he especially appreciated the close cooperation and trust between the ISD and its Malaysian counterpart, the Special Branch.
Lee said he was happy and relieved that Mas Selamat had been found and arrested before he could do any harm. - Bernama
Meanwhile, Bernama reported from Johor Baru that soon after entering Johor from Singapore, Mas Selamat Kastari, the alleged chief of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group in Singapore, had met his two trusted friends.
Bernama was told that one of the men was Abdul Matin who lived in Ulu Tiram and the other, Johar Hassan who lived in a village in Skudai.
"Soon after reaching Johor after swimming from Woodlands, Singapore, Mas Selamat went to Ulu Tiram to look for Abdul Matin, who was believed to be a JI ordinary member," according to a source who is familiar with the operation to nab the man most wanted by Singapore authorities.
Not too long after that, Mas Selamat, who slipped out of a maximum security prison in Singapore in February last year, met Johar, a JI sympathiser in Skudai, he said.
As reported by the media, Abdul Matin and Johar were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) on April 1.
On Friday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein confirmed the capture of Mas Selamat, a Singaporean, who is now detained under the ISA.
The source told Bernama that throughout his time in Johor, the JI chief was believed to be in contact only with only two trusted friends, refuting claims by an international think tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG), about the JI network in Malaysia.
ICG analyst Sidney Jones was quoted as saying in an article published by the online version of The Straits Times, Singapore, that the fact that Mas Selamat was able to stay under the radar for over a year in Johor "suggests the JI network in Malaysia may be less destroyed than we thought."
The source told Bernama that the statement by the ICG was "illogical and unacceptable" and that he doubted that the analyst had an in-depth knowledge of the actual JI position in Malaysia.
"Throughout the period he was hiding in Johor, Mas Selamat only made contact with the two men. This goes to show he has neither the support nor the sympathy," he said.
Meanwhile, he also revealed that while in Johor, Mas Selamat had planned to flee either to southern Philippines or to Indonesia but did not go ahead with it, thinking that he was safe in Johor.
"What Mas Selamat did not know was that we were already shadowing his movement.... later on, we moved in for the arrest," the source said. - Bernama
