The missing point on Mas Selamat's escape committee investigation result.
I personally quite satisfied with the investigation result and suggestion given by the committee regarding about the escape of Mas Selamat from Whitley Detention Centre. But I do still disappointed of the point of why is the media been miss out during that situation, is not been mention or suggested to prevent this to happen again.
I personally thing that this information would be critical to the public as such dangerous person might be hidding in the mids of the our community.
Could critical information be released earlier?
One of the biggest contentions surrounding this event is the four-hour time lag between Mas Selamat’s escape and the notification of the media. Before we point fingers, we must first think through what could have happened.
The first step in this train of consequences is the discovery of Mas Selamat’s disappearance. At this point in time, the guards, and their commander, would only know that he has eluded the guards. The first step would be to sound the alarm, and lock down the facility. At the same time, neighbouring police posts, and the regional police headquarters, would be alerted. As the guards search the detention centre, the police would begin to set up a cordon around the area. This would require dozens of police officers, all of whom need to be diverted and directed to their positions by their superiors.
But before that can happen, they need to swiftly decide how and where to position their men, which takes time.
After the perimeter has been established, the police would have to wait for the guards to complete their search. Meanwhile, the police commanders need to inform their counterparts at the airport, Causeway, and other points of egress from the country, in case Selamat is on his way there. The national police headquarters would also be alerted as well. The Ministry of Home Affairs would be called up, and then a Cabinet meeting called. More policemen would probably be called up at this point, to reinforce the hasty cordon and to expand the perimeter. When Selamat is declared to have escaped, the dragnet must expand. But this means the police needs reinforcements.
A national call-up of police officers would ensue. The police commanders would have to call upon the Special Operations Command. The SOC would then mobilise the Police Tactical Unit and the Police National Service Key Installation Protection Unit. At the same time, the Gurkha Contingent was activated to aid in the search. Later, Guards and Army Developmental Force soldiers were called up to aid the search.
The train of information has now split into several branches, each carrying a massive amount of raw data and communications as everybody tries to coordinate with each other. A minimum of six organisations would have to work together, leading to a lot of friction owing to different operating procedures and mindsets.
Somewhere amidst this maelstrom of information, the police would judge that Mas Selamat has breached the cordon. News of this would have to travel up the line, possibly all the way to the Cabinet. Someone higher up would then decide to alert the media, and gather the essential information the media crews need. Once the media stations get that information, they would need to set up before going live. The media would not have been informed any earlier, in case Mas Selamat was found within the detention centre, in the area cordoned by the police, or some distance near the cordon — in which case, there would be no national bulletin to broadcast.
Could this system have been streamlined? Maybe. Until and unless an insider tells us what happened that day, we wouldn’t know who said what to whom, and how much information was being traded. I do believe, however, that the four-hour delay could have been cut short, to perhaps an hour or two, or three at most. It is better to send a false alarm than to risk an escape.
The trickle of information the media received following his escape, however, was disgustingly sparse. Drab by drab, day after day, the media released crucial information about Selamat’s description. It began with his name, inferred race, and height. Then came his limp — but a man has two legs. Only after that were we told to look out for someone who limps along on his left leg. Some time after that, the police revealed that this limp was only noticeable when he runs or walks briskly. By now, there have been hundreds of calls to the police, all of which have yielded nothing but wasted time and energy.
What should have been done was full disclosure. When the decision was made to announce Selamat’s escape, the media should have been given Selamat’s physical description. Every media organisation should have been given his name, height, weight, distinguishing features, and a description of the clothes he last wore. Television media and government agencies should have received his photograph to broadcast on air and on the Internet.
The following day, news agencies should have broadcast a notice to watch for suspicious activities and people, such as a neighbour suddenly buying more food than usual or curtains being drawn even at night, in case someone were to live near a possible Selamat confederate. Had this information been released earlier, Selamat could have been captured earlier.
Lest we forget, the blame is not entirely on the media. We must also consider that the media only broadcast what information it was given. In this case, we must also examine why our security agencies failed to release this information in a timely manner. Stinginess with information in this scenario would hinder Selamat’s successful capture, and could indeed aid his escape. In any event, our media and security agencies have lost their credibility in the eyes of the world.
