Capture of Mas Selamat: Singapore Muslims relieved

May 9, 2009

Capture of Mas Selamat

S'pore Muslims relieved

		'Now that Mas Selamat has been caught, a sense of relief is as much felt by the Malay community as by the community at large.' said Mr Masagos. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

THE re-arrest of Mas Selamat Kastari in Johor, where he sought shelter while on the run, vindicates the Singapore Muslim community's stand that they have no sympathy for those who plot violence in the name of Islam, several leaders of the community said on Saturday.

After the Jemaah Islamiah regional leader escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre in February last year, there was suspicion among some that he might be harboured by sympathisers here.

Mr Abdul Mutalif Hashim, the chairman of the Darussalam Mosque in Clementi, said that for as long as he was on the run, some suspicion lingered over Muslims here.

'I feel very relieved now, as that assumption did not help race relations,' he said.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs and Education, stressed that the Malay-Muslim community was just as alarmed as other Singaporeans were over Mas Selamat's escape.

'Now that Mas Selamat has been caught, a sense of relief is as much felt by the Malay community as by the community at large.

'This reflects the fact that the Malay-Muslim community is mature and rational and understands that whatever threatens the nation is also a threat to them, and therefore, we are as single-minded about how we need to address and look at the threat of terrorism,' he said.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=28568.90