DPM Wong: Residents don't ask me about Mas Selamat
He believes constituents will weigh lapse in context of his work over 27 years
By Huang Lijie & Jeremy Au Yong
DEPUTY Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said yesterday that voters would have to decide if the escape of Mas Selamat Kastari was enough to deal a 'fatal' blow to their support for him.
However, the People's Action Party anchor Minister for the Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC is confident that voters will ultimately weigh the lapse in the context of his track record and the work he has done in the constituency over the past 27 years.
'Ultimately, they see. Have I been doing work here? I think that's what they see. If they say: 'Oh no, you've been neglecting us', then I deserve to be out,' he said.
'I don't think that's the sense because I know, walking around, talking to residents, well, they do appreciate the changes that have happened in Toa Payoh or Bishan, for the better, or even in Shunfu and Sin Ming, because I also know these places quite well.'
He was Home Affairs Minister when Mas Selamat, a Jemaah Islamiah terrorist leader, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre in 2008.
The fugitive was captured in Malaysia in 2009 and is now back at Whitley Road, where the security has been beefed up.
The Singapore People's Party (SPP), which is contesting the GRC, has made public accountability a campaign issue, citing Mas Selamat's escape.
Mr Wong was on a walkabout in Toa Payoh East yesterday when a reporter asked if he thought Mas Selamat would cost him votes.
He said he had told Parliament the day after the escape that a mistake had been made.
'There was a lapse in the security and I apologised for that and I said we would do everything to find him,' he said.
It took a while to locate Mas Selamat, and that came about after Singapore gave the Malaysians information on where he was hiding.
'Having done all that, I think people did understand that, yes, indeed, we had done what we could,' said Mr Wong.
'Of course, the first mistake cannot be obliterated. It was there, I owned up to it - as the Minister, I took responsibility for it. That was the right thing to do.
'And I think people will look at that and see on the whole, based on what I have done here for the last 27 years, is that one lapse by a department fatal - fatal to their decision to elect me or not?'
He said that during all his neighbourhood visits, nobody had asked him about Mas Selamat.
Mr Wong pointed out that he had served the area for 27 years, during which it had been transformed from an estate of three-room Housing Board flats and one- and two-room rental flats into one that boasted 40-storey buildings.
Residents, he said, were generally happy with the type and mix of housing, connectivity to the rest of Singapore and the facilities.
Mr Wong and others in the GRC were at the Kim Keat Palm Market and Food Centre in Toa Payoh East, where they launched the Revitalisation of Shops Scheme, carried out under the Housing Board, as well as the Retail Price Watch Group.
Yesterday was the second time in two days that Mr Wong had addressed the Mas Selamat issue.
On Saturday, in a response to a question from the media on the SPP's intention to include government accountability on lapses such as the Mas Selamat escape as one of the key issues for dialogue with Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC residents, Mr Wong noted that Mr Chiam had asked only one question when a full account of the incident was given in Parliament in April 2008.
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CHIAM: MY QUESTION ON MAS SELAMAT NOT FULLY ANSWERED
'I remember I asked only one question, but that question was not fully answered.
'I asked whether heads would roll over the issue of Mas Selamat. They didn't give us a good answer. The reason I didn't ask more questions was that we were waiting for the elections, and we believe in accountability. I want minister Wong Kan Seng to account to the people of Bishan-Toa Payoh over why heads have not rolled.
'What we want is just more accountability and not a personal attack on him. I think Singapore must get more accountability from the Government.'
Singapore People's Party chief Chiam See Tong, responding to Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng's comment on Saturday that Mr Chiam had asked only one question - about whether police had considered using tracker dogs to find Mas Selamat Kastari - when the terrorist's escape was discussed in Parliament in 2008
He believes constituents will weigh lapse in context of his work over 27 years
By Huang Lijie & Jeremy Au Yong
DEPUTY Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said yesterday that voters would have to decide if the escape of Mas Selamat Kastari was enough to deal a 'fatal' blow to their support for him.
However, the People's Action Party anchor Minister for the Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC is confident that voters will ultimately weigh the lapse in the context of his track record and the work he has done in the constituency over the past 27 years.
'Ultimately, they see. Have I been doing work here? I think that's what they see. If they say: 'Oh no, you've been neglecting us', then I deserve to be out,' he said.
'I don't think that's the sense because I know, walking around, talking to residents, well, they do appreciate the changes that have happened in Toa Payoh or Bishan, for the better, or even in Shunfu and Sin Ming, because I also know these places quite well.'
He was Home Affairs Minister when Mas Selamat, a Jemaah Islamiah terrorist leader, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre in 2008.
The fugitive was captured in Malaysia in 2009 and is now back at Whitley Road, where the security has been beefed up.
The Singapore People's Party (SPP), which is contesting the GRC, has made public accountability a campaign issue, citing Mas Selamat's escape.
Mr Wong was on a walkabout in Toa Payoh East yesterday when a reporter asked if he thought Mas Selamat would cost him votes.
He said he had told Parliament the day after the escape that a mistake had been made.
'There was a lapse in the security and I apologised for that and I said we would do everything to find him,' he said.
It took a while to locate Mas Selamat, and that came about after Singapore gave the Malaysians information on where he was hiding.
'Having done all that, I think people did understand that, yes, indeed, we had done what we could,' said Mr Wong.
'Of course, the first mistake cannot be obliterated. It was there, I owned up to it - as the Minister, I took responsibility for it. That was the right thing to do.
'And I think people will look at that and see on the whole, based on what I have done here for the last 27 years, is that one lapse by a department fatal - fatal to their decision to elect me or not?'
He said that during all his neighbourhood visits, nobody had asked him about Mas Selamat.
Mr Wong pointed out that he had served the area for 27 years, during which it had been transformed from an estate of three-room Housing Board flats and one- and two-room rental flats into one that boasted 40-storey buildings.
Residents, he said, were generally happy with the type and mix of housing, connectivity to the rest of Singapore and the facilities.
Mr Wong and others in the GRC were at the Kim Keat Palm Market and Food Centre in Toa Payoh East, where they launched the Revitalisation of Shops Scheme, carried out under the Housing Board, as well as the Retail Price Watch Group.
Yesterday was the second time in two days that Mr Wong had addressed the Mas Selamat issue.
On Saturday, in a response to a question from the media on the SPP's intention to include government accountability on lapses such as the Mas Selamat escape as one of the key issues for dialogue with Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC residents, Mr Wong noted that Mr Chiam had asked only one question when a full account of the incident was given in Parliament in April 2008.
[email protected]
[email protected]
CHIAM: MY QUESTION ON MAS SELAMAT NOT FULLY ANSWERED
'I remember I asked only one question, but that question was not fully answered.
'I asked whether heads would roll over the issue of Mas Selamat. They didn't give us a good answer. The reason I didn't ask more questions was that we were waiting for the elections, and we believe in accountability. I want minister Wong Kan Seng to account to the people of Bishan-Toa Payoh over why heads have not rolled.
'What we want is just more accountability and not a personal attack on him. I think Singapore must get more accountability from the Government.'
Singapore People's Party chief Chiam See Tong, responding to Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng's comment on Saturday that Mr Chiam had asked only one question - about whether police had considered using tracker dogs to find Mas Selamat Kastari - when the terrorist's escape was discussed in Parliament in 2008
