TERRORIST MAS SELAMAT CAUGHT: SECURITY TRIUMPH OR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 000441

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS - M. COPPOLA
NEW DELHI FOR J. EHRENDREICH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL SN
SUBJECT: TERRORIST MAS SELAMAT CAUGHT: SECURITY TRIUMPH OR
PR COUP?

REF: 08 SINGAPORE 236


1. (SBU) Summary: Malaysian authorities recaptured fugitive
Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari across the
border from Singapore on April 1. Singapore media first
reported the news on May 8, following up with days of
extensive coverage praising Singapore-Malaysia cooperation
and the Singapore security services' alleged role in the
arrest while warning of the continued threat of terrorism.
Singapore officials pressed the same themes in their public
statements. Meanwhile, the Malaysian government was more
circumspect, confirming the arrest but providing no
confirmation of Singaporean participation in the operation or
of a potential handover of Mas Selamat to Singapore
authorities. Online skeptics hunted for inconsistencies in
the official Singapore line and asked pointed questions about
Singapore's role in the arrest. End Summary.

Malaysian Authorities Capture Fugitive Terrorist
-------------- ---


2. (SBU) Malaysian authorities recaptured fugitive Jemaah
Islamiah (JI) terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari on April 1, the
government-linked Singapore media reported May 8. Mas
Selamat was reportedly hiding near Johor Baru, just across
the causeway connecting Singapore to peninsular Malaysia. He
had escaped from the custody of Singapore's Internal Security
Department (ISD) on February 27, 2008 (reftel),sparking an
island-wide manhunt that failed to prevent him from swimming
across the Johor Strait to Malaysia using an improvised
flotation device.

Local Media and Authorities Celebrate GOS's Role in Capture
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) Singapore's main daily newspaper, the
government-linked Straits Times, has published extensive
coverage of Mas Selamat's recapture. The coverage emphasizes
two principal themes. First, it highlights cooperation
between Singaporean and Malaysian authorities, claiming that
the ISD supplied a crucial lead that enabled Malaysian
authorities to catch Mas Selamat, assigning Singapore
authorities a substantial share of the credit for a
successful "joint operation," and anticipating Mas Selamat's
repatriation to Singapore. Second, it warns that terrorism
remains a regional threat despite Mas Selamat's rearrest,
pointing out that his ability to evade authorities for more
than a year raises questions about the continuing viability
of JI networks previously thought to have been seriously
degraded.


4. (SBU) Singapore officials reinforced the media message in
their public statements. Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and
Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng, whose ministry
oversees the ISD and who bore the brunt of criticism for Mas
Selamat's escape, held a press conference May 9. After
reporting that Malaysian authorities informed Singapore of
the arrest soon after it occurred, Wong heaped praise on the
ISD for its claimed role in the affair, as well as on
Malaysian Special Branch. Officials tempered their overall
tone of celebration by admonishing Singaporeans to continue
taking the threat of terrorism seriously, with Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, and Foreign
Minister George Yeo all urging the public not to let down its
guard.

Malaysians Stay Quiet, Bloggers Ask Uncomfortable Questions
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) The days-long trumpeting of the capture by
Singapore media and officialdom contrasts sharply with the
Malaysian authorities' more muted approach. The news
appeared first in the Singapore press, before any public
announcement by the Malaysian government. Though an unnamed
Malaysian senior official confirmed for the Straits Times
that Mas Selamat was in custody under Malaysia's Internal
Security Act, Prime Minister Najib Razak addressed the issue
only in response to press reports. Despite DPM Wong's
assertion that Malaysia would return Mas Selamat to Singapore
"in good time" after questioning him, the Malaysian
government has not so far made any public statement on that
point. Nor have Malaysian authorities confirmed ISD
participation in Mas Selamat's rearrest or a "joint
operation" by the two countries' security services.


6. (SBU) The reasons for the timing of the Mas Selamat
revelations remain unclear. Though DPM Wong said that

SINGAPORE 00000441 002 OF 002


Malaysia informed Singapore soon after the April 1 arrest,
Singapore authorities closely held the information, with only
a few officials in the know. Foreign Minister Yeo, for
example, has said he still did not know about the arrest two
weeks after it took place. Singapore officials say they did
not want to compromise follow-up investigations, but they
finally chose to announce the capture because the story had
leaked to a Straits Times journalist through unspecified
channels and was about to be published anyway. Given the
close links between Singapore government policy and the
material published in the Straits Times, whose parent company
is owned by the GOS, this explanation raises as many
questions as it answers.


7. (SBU) The government's jubilation at exorcising the
embarrassment of Mas Selamat's escape has not deterred a
chorus of online skeptics from raising pointed questions.
Some are openly casting doubt on the GOS's claims about its
role in the operation. One online critic noted that
Malaysian media have credited Malaysian Special Branch and
local police for the arrest, giving Singapore no more than
equal billing with Indonesia as a source of information used
in the operation. At least two bloggers posted excerpts from
a speech DPM Wong delivered in mid-April 2009 - well after he
allegedly knew about the capture - in which Wong stated that
he was being regularly updated on the ISD's efforts to track
Mas Selamat and expressed confidence that "we will recapture
him." One blogger who found this inconsistent with Wong's
more recent statements concluded, "Mr. Wong, really, please
clarify and don't think that Singaporeans are fools."

Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm
SHIELDS