Mas Selamat bin Kastari

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This is a Malay name; the name "Kastari" is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by his or her given name, "Mas Selamat".

Mas Selamat bin Kastari
Picture taken from Interpol website
Born	January 23, 1961 (1961-01-23) (age 47) Kendal, Central Java, Indonesia
Status	At large
Occupation	Former bus mechanic, alleged head of the Singapore branch of Jemaah Islamiah
Children	Five

Mas Selamat bin Kastari (born 23 January 1961), an Indonesian-born Singaporean, is Singapore's most-wanted terror fugitive who escaped from detention on 27 February 2008. The search for him has been described as the largest manhunt ever launched in Singapore.^[1] It was his third escape from prison; the previous successful attempts were made in Indonesia. He was allegedly the head of the Singapore branch of militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

Singapore authorities have alleged that he planned to crash seven bomb-filled trucks at various locations around the city-state.^[2] In January 2006, Mas Selamat was arrested by Indonesian anti-terror squads in Java and deported to Singapore. He was suspected of plotting to bomb Singapore Changi Airport in 2002,^[3] and, according to the Singapore Police Force, he had initially planned to do so by crashing a plane into the airport.^[2] However, Mas Selamat has never been formally charged with any terrorism-related offences;^[4] instead, he was detained under the country's Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial.^[5]

Contents 1 Childhood 2 Involvement with JI 3 Arrests 4 Escape in February 2008 4.1 Public reaction 4.2 Findings of investigation 5 References

[edit] Childhood

Born on 23 January 1961, in Kendal, Central Java, Mas Selamat grew up in Kaki Bukit leading a typical childhood kampung life. He attended the Kaki Bukit Primary School, and was known simply as "Selamat" to his neighbors. In the early 1980s, Mas Selamat moved to a flat in Bedok Reservoir and became married with five children.^[6][7][8]

[edit] Involvement with JI

Mas Selamat was believed to begin his involvement in the 1990s when he joined Darul Islam, a precursor movement to the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group. By 1992, he had joined the Singapore JI cell and was sent to Afghanistan for training a year later. In 1998, he studied the Taliban system of government and returned home 'deeply impressed'.^[9]

According to Singapore intelligence authorities, Mas Selamat has met Hambali, the leader of JI, and discussed various terror plots including hijacking a plane from Bangkok and crash it into Singapore Changi Airport.^[10][11] He escaped from Singapore in 2001 before authorities conducted a massive operation to arrest 13 suspected JI members in December 2001.

[edit] Arrests

Mas Selamat had earlier been arrested in February 2003 in the island of Bintan, Indonesia, to assist Indonesian police in their investigations of several bombings in Indonesia in 2001 and 2002. Mas Selamat had changed his identity, assuming the name of Edy Heriyanto and obtained an Indonesian passport. Found in his possession were literature on making bombs and the virtue on suicide. He was jailed for 18 months in 2003 for immigration offences.^[3] He was, however, not handed over to Singapore upon his release, since Indonesia and Singapore do not yet have an extradition treaty. During this period of imprisonment, he broke his left leg in a botched attempt to escape when he jumped from a high floor, resulting him walking in a permanent limp.^[6][9]

On 20 January 2006, he was arrested again for using a fake identity card in Java, where he was visiting his son who was said to be studying at a religious school there. Singapore requested for Mas Selamat's extradition and he was handed over to Singapore on February 3, 2006.^[12] Mas Selamat is detained in Singapore under the Internal Security Act without trial.^[13] The Malaysian intelligence authorities also want to question Mas Selamat who had made frequent visits to Johor before fleeing to Indonesia.^[3]

[edit] Escape in February 2008

At 4.05pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2008, the JI leader escaped from the Internal Security Department's Whitley Road Detention Centre where he was being detained.^[2][14] His family was visiting him at the time, and he was being led to a room to meet them when he asked to go to the toilet. He then fled.^[15][16] A massive manhunt comprising personnel from the Singapore Police Force, the Gurkha Contingent, the Police Tactical Unit and the Police National Service Key Installation Protection Unit were deployed in the vicinity of the area immediately after the escape. They were later aided by members of the Singapore Guards and the Singapore Armed Forces Military Police Command, before the operation was wound down over 17 hours later without success in locating the fugitive, who was believed to be unarmed.^[17]

Authorities said security was very tight at the detention centre and were conducting an independent study to determine how the fugitive escaped.^[10] Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng acknowledged that a security lapse led to his escape, and that everything was being done to recapture Mas Selamat.^[15][8] The Onraet Road facility has armed guards, high wire fences and CCTV cameras. Reactions to the escape were filled with surprise and disbelief in what Western observers describe as a country where "security breaches are virtually unheard of",^[18][19] brought serious embarrassment to the Singapore government,^[20][21] and many questions raised by the public and the press.^[20][21] Security around the schools in the area was also beefed up to assure worried parents.^[22][23] Indonesia and Malaysia have also announced that they too have stepped up their own border security in the wake of this incident.^[24][25]. Government authorities have received more than 1100 calls on sightings of Mas Selamat. The earliest sighting of him was in a back road near MacRitchie Reservoir leading to Toa Payoh Lorong 1 right behing Braddell View Estates.

An urgent worldwide security alert, or Orange Notice, has been issued by INTERPOL following a request from Singapore, INTERPOL issued the Orange Notice - which includes Kastari’s photograph and fingerprints, essential elements to help law enforcement officers in their search and eventual verification of his identity when located and arrested – to each of its 186 National Central Bureaus (NCBs).^{[26][27][28][10]} The alert has since been changed to red.^[29]

Wanted posters of Mas Selamat were put up in shopping centers, buses, train stations and even schools islandwide to appeal for the public to inform Police should they spot him, and leaflets given out by volunteers to members of the Public.^[7] The three telecommunications companies in Singapore sent out free Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages starting on 1 March 2008 to all 5.5 million subscribers with Mas Selamat's photograph, as well as email messages to SingNet Internet users.^[30] The MMS read "Please call 999 immediately if you see Mas Selamat bin Kastari. He is short (1.58m tall) and limps on his left leg. Thank you." Lockdowns at border and immigration checkpoints have also resulted in much longer queues for people leaving Singapore.

There were conflicting reports on the whereabouts of Mas Selamat. While Singaporean police believe that he remains in Singapore,^[31] others such as Malaysia's The Star reported that he may have fled to Indonesia via a speedboat ride.^[19][32]

[edit] Public reaction

Response from certain sectors of the public has been sharply critical, particularly on the internet.^[33][34] Agence France-Presse noted how "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."^[20] Online critics also accused the pro-government media of trying to play down the incident and skirting key issues.^[35] Speculations abound the internet chatrooms and blogs, sometimes bordering on the incredulous. Some of which attributed the escape to black magic or insider collaboration. Claims of conspiracy theories such as Mas Selamat had died in detention or that he was let out to allow authorities to sniff out other terrorists were also put up by the online community.^[36]

Criticism has been directed towards Wong Kan Seng, the Minister of Home Affairs in Singapore, with regards to the fact that news of Mas Selamat's escape was not disseminated to the public until 4 hours after its occurrence. The public were not given any details until the next day at a parliamentary session. Wong then had cited a serious security lapse as the reason for the escape and revealed that Mas Selamat escaped when he was being taken to the toilet before a meeting at the Family Visit Room.^[37] Further details have yet to be provided.

On 2 March 2008, it was announced that an independent Committee of Inquiry, chaired by former judge Goh Joon Seng, would be set up to find out how the escape occurred.

[edit] Findings of investigation

On 21 April 2008, the only findings of the Committee of Inquiry were released in a Parliament of Singapore session. It was announced that he escaped through an unsecured bathroom window. The Committee attributed the escape to three critical factors - first, the lack of grilles where the window was located; second, Mas Selamat being allowed to close the toilet door on the guards, thus avoiding detection during his escape and third, a physical weakness at the perimeter fencing outside the visitation centre.^[38]

Additionally, the report stated that a re-enactment of the potential escape route would have taken 49 seconds to escape through the window and clear the perimeter fencing, with another 2 minutes and 44 seconds to reach the Pan Island Expressway located next to the detention centre. Mas Selamat had switched on the water tap after closing the toilet door and the guards on duty only acted on their suspicions 11 minutes after this incident. It is believed that Mas Selamat could have escaped for some time at that point.^[39]

[edit] References