utterly...utterly...disgraceful

DISGRACEFUL!

JI (Jemaah Islamah) Leader escapes while on way to toilet

On 27th February 2008, terrorist leader Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from Singapore’s high security detention center. He was found missing at 4.05 pm and there have been a nation-wide manhunt. It was found that he escaped while on the way to the toilet. He was supposed to go out to meet his family when he escaped.

I find this utterly disgraceful given Singapore’s supposed tough clampdown on terrorists. What is even more embarrassing for the country is that this was a man who walks with a limp, escaping in broad daylight. How can this happen in Singapore, especially in a supposedly high-security detention center? You would only think that this would happen in less-developed countries like Indonesia.

Minister of Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng has apologized during a parliament session saying that “This should never have happened. I am sorry that it had. An independent investigation is underway and we should not speculate on what and how it happened.”

Singaporeans have all expressed their disbelief and disappointment, as to how our national security can be compromised and breached like that. This is becoming something of a national joke drawing past incidents like the Huang Na killer’s escape as well as CPL Dave Teo’s SAR21 incident.

I think the person or people who are directly responsible for the escape should be the one(s) coming on television to apologize to the nation. They should take the blame and should be publicly humiliated for not performing their duties adequately. This is not just a failure in one’s job, but much more. They have failed their employers, their country, their families, and the world. It is almost a crime. Lucky for them we do not live in the age of the samurais or they would be required to take their own lives for such a huge failure.

The only thing the government can do now is to capture Mas Selamat Kastari to restore order and redeem themselves. This is poor. This is utterly disgraceful. It is an embarrassment to be a Singaporean now.