Mas Selamat

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said Singapore's security challenge is to keep up its guard without getting fatigued or complacent.

In his first remarks on the capture of Mas Selamat Kastari, Mr Lee said Singapore must not think that the re-arrest of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader is the end of its problem.

He said the terrorism situation in Southeast Asia is under control, but the threat is far from over. He added that the price of security is eternal vigilance.

In a statement to the media on Saturday, the Prime Minister also said information about the capture of Mas Selamat on 1 April was not made public earlier, because of a prior agreement with the Malaysian authorities.

Mr Lee said he was told about the arrest by his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak on 11 April during an impromptu four-eye lunch in Thailand's Pattaya after the ASEAN meeting was called off due to demonstrations.

He thanked Datuk Seri Najib for Malaysia's generous support and help and told him Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Wong Kan Seng had earlier told him of the arrest.

Mr Lee said he was happy and relieved that Mas Selamat had been found and arrested before he could do any harm.

But Malaysia had asked Singapore to keep this information quiet for the time being, so Singapore respected this and held the information very tightly in order not to jeopardise the operation.

But on May 7 afternoon during a weekly pre-Cabinet meeting lunch, Mr Wong received a phone call informing him that the Internal Security Department (ISD) had received a request from the The Straits Times to confirm a scoop that Mas Selamat had been arrested by the Malaysian authorities.

As the news had leaked, the Singapore government had no choice but to confirm the story.

Ministers who were present at the lunch were completely taken by surprise when Mr Wong told them that Mas Selamat had been arrested.

In his statement, Mr Lee also thanked all officers involved in tracking down Mas Selamat over the past year.

He said he never had a doubt that Mas Selamat would be found because he knew the quality and commitment of the ISD officers working on this.

He said the ISD had recovered quickly from the mistakes which led to Mas Selamat's escape from the Whitley Road Detention Centre in February last year.

Mr Lee also thanked the ISD and its Malaysian counterpart, the Special Branch, for working closely together.

adapted from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/428076/1/.html