So by now everyone in Singapore knows a little bit more on how Mas Selamat escaped the authorities and fled the country to Malaysia. Yup, his brother, sister-in-law and niece were in on it. *pause for dramatic gasp of shock*.
R e a l l y? Did it surprise anyone to know that he a) had help and b) had it from FAMILY? Well the fact that he fled dressed as a WOMAN was a cause for some hilarity but honestly, trust a terrorist to once again abuse religion in the name of his own fucked-up agenda.
But it all makes for good reading while the PAP government stumble and blush over their facetiously worded press releases and farcical Q&A in Parliament (what kind of a clown would ask if Shanmugam would ensure that women wearing the tudung would not face discrimination when it came to employment, "entering security areas" etc.?!) Note too, the breathless exhortations by various red-faced figures in the government for the people not to blame the Malay-Muslim community over the latest divulgence in the Toilet-Break case.
Well for a bunch of people who are paid multi-million dollar salaries, they sure are fucking stupid. Nobody and I mean NOBODY is blaming the Malay-Muslim community for this entire bad circus sideshow they have going on here. EVERYONE however is well aware of the monumental cock-up led by Wong Kan Seng in his previous multi-million dollar role as Home Affairs Minister (jog our memory abit, what is he NOW again?!) And everyone is sick of the blame-pushing and "cover-backside" statements (then again, how typically 'government' of them, as anyone who has done NS will attest to).
What would really surprise anyone would be if WKS had the balls to step up and say, "I fucked up, here's my resignation." If he needed help, South Korea's now ex-Defence Minister, Mr Kim Tae Young could give him some tips on how to bow out like a man and with honour. But again honestly, I wouldn't hold my breath. I'd even dare say there are better odds of Mas Selamat saying "Fuck you JI, I wanna be a normal person instead of running around wearing a tudung and planning to blow shit up."
Ok fine, my rant's over. But here's the crux of my post; why on earth did his family, his own flesh and blood help Mas Selamat, an alleged terrorist as proclaimed by the government? According to the sketchy news reports, it seemed that during his 2 day jaunt across the island from Whitney to Tampines, Mas Selamat already knew (or thought he knew) that his niece a) stayed alone and b) would be partial to assisting him further in his escape.
Assuming that his family members aren't raving lunatic terrorists, after all they all seemed to be normal Singaporeans with the niece even working as a teacher for MOE, why did they not take one look at Mas Selamat and go "OMG you're planning to blow up our neighbours and friends! I happen to LIKE Yishun MRT station! GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!" (or something to that effect).
Or did he sell his family a different version of his side of the story? Note that while he has been locked up at Whitney all this while, presumably under the ISA act (I cbf to read up on this), he has not been charged and convicted within a proper court of law. How far would one have to go to ignore his/her conscience in order to help a loved one who is so obviously wrong in his ideals and actions? Did they consider an intervention of some kind or did they in some misguided way, believe that his incarceration was wrong in the first place? Note also that his nephew, who although did nothing of substance to assist his uncle further in his escape, was also privy to the information that Mas Selamat was taking up transvestism in his home and did nothing to alert the bungling authorities about it.
In a nutshell, do their actions hint of a deeper seated root of resentment and defiance against the government?
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