Mas Selamat's life in last eight years marked by escape and evasion

May 8, 2009

Living life on the run

Mas Selamat's life in last eight years marked by escape and evasion

By Leslie Koh
		SAF personnel combing thick vegetation opposite Mandai West Camp after Mas Selamat escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre in February last year. -- ST FILE PHOTO

ESCAPE and evasion appeared to have been virtually a lifestyle for the past eight years as far as Mas Selamat was concerned.

The man who set off one of Singapore's largest manhunts last year had eluded capture and escaped detention several times.

THE MAN, THE TERRORIST, THE FUGITIVE Jan 23, 1961: Born in Kendal, Central Java, and migrates with family to Singapore. The youngest of several siblings, Mas Selamat grows up in a kampung in Kaki Bukit and attends the English-language Kaki Bukit Primary School. 1980s: Moves to a flat in the Bedok Reservoir area and later marries Nurlela Sahali. They have five children, four boys and a girl. Believed to have worked as a bus mechanic. ... more

And throughout, he always stayed one step ahead of the authorities, displaying the kind of cunning that suggested why he had been chosen in 1999 by alleged Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network operations chief Hambali to take over the Singapore cell from Ibrahim Maidin, who was later detained.

In January 2002, when the Singapore authorities discovered plans by the JI to stage a series of terror attacks on local shores and swooped in on JI members here, Mas Selamat somehow got wind of it and fled the country.

Not, however, before taking time to damage a computer hard disk that contained potentially incriminating evidence, so that police could not get more information when they raided his home.

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THE MAN, THE TERRORIST, THE FUGITIVE

Jan 23, 1961: Born in Kendal, Central Java, and migrates with family to Singapore. The youngest of several siblings, Mas Selamat grows up in a kampung in Kaki Bukit and attends the English-language Kaki Bukit Primary School.

1980s: Moves to a flat in the Bedok Reservoir area and later marries Nurlela Sahali. They have five children, four boys and a girl. Believed to have worked as a bus mechanic.

1990: Joins Darul Islam, a movement that had fought for an Islamic state in Indonesia in the 1950s. The Darul Islam is believed to have spawned several key leaders of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network, including its founders.

1992: Recruited into the religious council of the Singapore JI cell.

1993: Goes to Afghanistan for military training.

1998: Goes to Afghanistan again for one month, this time to observe the Taleban system of government.

1999: Alleged JI operations chief Hambali chooses him to take over as the leader of JI operations in Singapore.

December 2001: Flees Singapore after the Government cracks down on JI terrorists and nets 13 suspects. Makes his way to Medan and then Bali in Indonesia, via Malaysia and Thailand.

The arrests thwart plans to attack the Yishun MRT station and US naval vessels in Singapore.

In revenge, Mas Selamat is believed to have discussed with Hambali a plan to crash an American, British or Singapore plane into Changi Airport.

When arrested in Indonesia in 2003, Mas Selamat had a genuine Indonesian passport, issued in Surabaya, with a false identity. The name on the passport was given as Edi Haryanto. ST FILE PHOTO.

April 2002: Singaporeans hear of Mas Selamat Kastari for the first time, when then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong reveals the JI chief's involvement in the Changi Airport attack plot. Mas Selamat meanwhile is on the run, moving to places in Sumatra, Riau and Kundur island. His family joins him.

February 2003: He is arrested by Indonesian police in Tanjung Pinang, Bintan, after arriving with his wife and children from Riau. Singapore Home Affairs Ministry officers travel to Bintan to question him.

February 2003-August 2004: He is sentenced to 18 months' jail on charges of immigration violations and falsifying documents to enter Indonesia. He tries to escape from jail but breaks a leg, suffering a permanent limp.

August 2004-August 2005: Handed another 16-month sentence in Pasuruan prison for the same offences, he is released early because of remissions given.

January 2006: He is arrested again in Malang, 40km south of Pasuruan, also for carrying false identification.

February 2006: He is deported to Singapore, where he is served an Order of Detention and detained under the Internal Security Act.

Feb 27, 2008: Mas Selamat escapes from the Whitley Road Detention Centre.

Thousands of soldiers, Gurkhas and police officers fan out in a massive manhunt, border controls are tightened and countless posters and leaflets are distributed.

April 2008: Report of a Committee of Inquiry set up to investigate the escape finds several security lapses that allowed Mas Selamat to escape. They include a window with no grilles (below), guards who failed in their duties and CCTV cameras that were not commissioned. The Government comes under fire, with calls for officials and leaders to be punished.

May 2008: Nine officers and guards, including the commander of the detention centre and his superior, are penalised for the security lapses. Two are dismissed, three demoted and four relieved of duties or given reprimands and warnings. The Internal Security Department also corrects errors at detention centre and tightens security.

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