Television viewers today are no strangers to intriguing conspiracies, and while we are in the middle of our very own unfolding drama with the escape of Mas Selamat, perhaps we can put a bit of a Hollywood spin to the story. With the screenwriter’s strike in the USA in the past months, perhaps some of them had decided to find some freelance work overseas to make ends meet.
Plot 1: What if Mas Selamat is already dead?
If Mas Selamat had somehow died in custody, due to illness or whatever other reasons, announcing his death in the hands of the Singapore government could have him being portrayed as a matyr. Singapore would then risk revenge attacks by his supporters.
To stave off this possibility, it is made to look like he has escaped, and at some point later, he would turn out killed by a law enforcement agent in some remote forest. This way, his death would be legitimatised and any mystique of matyrdom can be erased.
Plot 2: What if Mas Selamat is still in detention?
Seven years after 9-11, and with the bad PR on the Iraq war, it seems that the general public have become relaxed about terrorism. Mas Selamat’s escape and his portrayal as imminently dangerous to Singapore have focused everyone’s mind back to the fight against terrorism.
It would also serve to light a fire under the buttocks of the Police and Military leadership so that they do not let up on our fight against terrorism.
Plot 3: What if there is a bigger fish out there than Mas Selamat?
Perhaps the authorities have discovered that Mas Selamat was not the biggest fish they need to catch in their anti-terrorist net, that he could possibly lead them to more terrorists. With the modern technology we see in spy movies, perhaps a tracking device can be implanted in Mas Selamat without his knowledge.
Known for detesting incarceration, Mas Selamat would capitalise on a slight lapse in security to make his escape. With few upstanding Singaporeans willing to help him, he would have no choice but to find his former collaborators, and hence lead the authorities to them.
On a serious note: I think the escape of Mas Selamat has come as a shock to many Singaporeans. We are very used to our government to being efficient to a fault. We hope that our society is strong enough not to have our security personel infiltrated with terrorists and their sympathisers.
With Singapore’s history of racial riots in the 1960s and the more current global situation after 9-11, I would think that Mosques and Muslim organisations in Singapore will not be safe havens for the likes of Mas Selamat. But unfortunately, there remains many ways and places for such a fugitive to hide.
Mas Selamat is probably not imminently dangerous, he is very likely to be busy trying to survive and escape. Who knows, he might already be a spent force, so risking public panic makes it not worth declaring a state of emergency over him.
Someone on an internet forum said this very well. I hope Mas Selamat gets caught soon, so that all those Police and SAF personel do not have to keep doing extra duty.
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