The question of Mas Selamat and the ISD

The question of Mas Selamat and the ISD

March 9, 2008, 4:40 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized

Mas Selamat bin Kastari has been many things to many people since he escaped from ISD custody. To most laymen he is a stark reminder of the threat of terrorism. To the eternal opposition he is a good stick to beat the government and security services with. To critical commentators his face is a symbol of the bungling (and at times frankly insulting) way the government has engaged the public on the issue since his escape. To many friends in the SAF he means many more hours of work. One issue that is conspicuous in its absence, though, is the legitimacy of the organisation that was detaining him and was responsible for his escape: The Internal Security Department. I think its legitimacy and practices should come under greater scrutiny.

The ISD was a tool of counter-insurgency for the British government during the Emergency period. Its most famous operations so far -Coldstore and Spectrum- has been against supposed left-wing conspirators. Its ostensible purpose is to ensure swift and decisive action against elements that threaten national security. The methods accorded to it includes the power to detain suspects indefinitely without trial and extra-judicial methods of interrogation. It obviously gives the state sweeping powers against its citizens. Is this appropriate in a somewhat democratic state that claims to be built on the rule of law?

The case of Mas Selamat raises several pertinent questions about how the ISD is being used. He has been detained since Febuary 2006 – almost 2 years. In that period he has been denied the right to trial in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Singapore. One can safely assume that he has been interrogated using methods that one would consider reprehensible if used by a normal policeman. And yet, in these 2 years, the government has shown no inclination to charge him for the crimes he was planning to commit. We have been told that he was planning to fly planes into the Changi airport control tower, a heinous crime if true. The authorities should have no trouble persecuting him if this was true. But why are they not doing it? Why do they insist on keeping him locked up, depriving him of so many rights in the process? Could it be that he is not really the great terrorist mastermind that he is purported to be? We will never know the real answer to these questions unless he is brought to trial. The main obstacle to that is the ISD. As long as it exists, Singaporean citizens who have not been pronounced guilty by the courts will remain locked up in a manner that can only be described as arbitrary.

Fear is powerful. People inevitably makes compromises with their highest ideals when they fear that their lives are in the balance. The rights of the minority are but a trifle when weighed against it. But surely it should be incumbent on any fair-minded citizen to rise above this fear and ensure that the right thing is done. The ISD arbitrarily denies citizens the rights guaranteed to them by the state, whether they be guilty or not. The only time a citizen should have his rights taken away is when he has done something against the law. I acknowledge that most countries needs an intelligence agency, but the ISD’s powers are simply too sweeping and arbitrary. It must be reformed to ensure greater transparency and scrutiny of its actions.

Nowadays most of us rail against the United States for Guantanamo bay and Abu Ghraib and rightfully so. Well, we have a Guantanamo in miniature in Tanglin Road. It is time we rail against that too, or any attempts at building a society that respects human rights would just be rank hypocrisy.

If I’m not blogging anymore, you know why.

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