Age of Conspiracy

Haha, it does seem that Paul Jacob, Deputy Political Editor for the Straits Times has read my blog. In his March 15, 2008 Thinking Aloud article, he refers to “rants”, “incredulous theories” and “conspiracy theories” regarding the escape of Mas Selamat. He is quoted “Then there are the conspiracy theories that he has been killed and all this is just a ruse to cover it all up; or that he’s been deliberately allowed to flee from his confines so that he can be tracked to his nest of terrorists vipers – and, of course, to that ultimate meeting he will so easily be able to set up with the biggest snake of all, Osama.”

Okay, maybe I am being a little presumptuous here, but finding first two theories together in the same paragraph is more than a little coincedental. You heard it here first, Paul Jacob, so if you become the scriptwriter for the upcoming Mas Selamat movie, do not forget me. And please, adding that last bit about Osama to over-sensationalise the theory in an attempt to discredit it, is very amateur.

Back to reality, though. I find it strange that Paul Jacob feels that we should not be blaming the government for the escape but should be blaming the culprit himself. Lets look at it this way, prisoners basically have two choices, face their sentence, or attempt to escape. It should come as no surprise to anyone that a prisoner harbours the thoughts of escape, it almost part of their job description. However, it is in the job description of prison guards not to let prisoners escape, so there must have been a lapse in the prison guarding situation.

One of the virtues that Singaporeans can be proud of in our country is its safety. We feel safe under this government and its civil servants protection. The government gets good mileage with trumpeting our low-crime status, with the media constantly reporting on the crime-ridden nature of our nearest neighbour Johor Bahru to make a contrast. Singaporeans who have experienced life elsewhere, as well as many foreigners, find Singapore a decent and safe place to raise families. This stems some of the brain drain, and attracts family-minded foreigners, always a good import.

Inevitably, people will comparing the escape of Mas Selamat to the recent and headline grabbing escape of Dave Teo from Mandai Camp with a rifle and ammunition, we find a few big differences. Firstly, Dave Teo was caught relatively quickly and before he could come to any harm. Having served in the Army, I can easily see how a soldier performing Guard duty can make off with his rifle and the few bullets. The surprise is that Dave Teo actually climbed out of the camp, instead of opening the gate with the key, when he was on sentry duty.

However, the circumstances of Mas Selamat’s escape just boggles the mind, the lack of explanations are glaring. Why soldiers are trampling through the jungle is a big mystery, the Straits Times perpetuating this possible smokescreen by digging out Commando experts to talk about jungle survival. Singapore is a concrete jungle, unless the government is completely sure that Mas Selamat does not have a single sympathiser or accomplice in Singapore, he will likely be hiding indoors waiting for the alert levels to drop, as they inevitably would as human society is not designed to be at high alert for very long.

A state of emergency and a total lock down of society in order to find this guy, and the resulting economic disruption is too high a price to pay, but that is not obvious to the casual thinker’s mind. I am also sure that law enforcement thinkers have searching methodologies that state that if an escapee is not recaptured in a certain number of hours of escape, he has likely found refuge and the only way to recapture him is by luck, or when he attempts to move again.

Our erstwhile efficient and reliable authorities have made a mistake of letting Mas Selamat escape, and their subsequent actions, while likely to be very sensible and justified, are not wholly understood by the general public and fuels speculation. We have no information except for our imaginations. Ultimately even full transparency of information and the recapture of Mas Selamat might not end all the conspiracy theories. We live in an age of being aware of propaganda, when we cannot trust the U.S. government when it wants to go to war with another country. Are we so innocent to think that our own government does not use any of those tools of manipulation, control and governance?

I hope Mas Selamat gets recaptured. Not to save the jobs of any minister or top civil servant, but to give the guys on the ground a break. The Police and Army personel on the ground, and the lorry drivers and bus drivers trying to make ends meet. And of course, to prevent a terrorist attack on our shores. Nothing would give Singaporeans insecurity as seeing a HDB block collapse like the World Trade Centre due to a terrorist act. In an uncertain world, if you are not safe at home, where are you safe?

Taxi rule not tackling the root of the problem.

Just wrote this to the ST Forum. While the haphazard lane changing of taxis is a danger to cyclists, I believe that improving the quality of taxi drivers is better than implementing predictable taxi stands. As a user of multiple modes of transport, I find that the new taxi ruling is poorly thought out and the reasoning weak.

Many Singapore taxi drivers are under qualified. Some are retrenched middle aged and elder workers, or hotblooded young drivers. These people used to be managers and businessmen, and their familiarity with the roads are suspect. The taxi driver’s license is a means to keep them self employed but that does not do the commuters any justice. Yes, the vast majority of them are good a their jobs, but I feel that 10% to 20% of them need, to be reconsidered because of their attitudes towards the safety of other road users, or to be familiarised with Singapore roads better.

“I REFER to the letter “LTA replies to feedback about new taxi rule” by Jeremy Yap, Acting Group Director, Vehicle and Transit Licensing, Land Transport Authority. He stated with regards to the new taxi stopping rules in the Central Business District (CBD) that “the Land Transport Authority (LTA) wishes to explain that the principal reason for the new rule is safety”.

I would like to ask if the LTA can furnish data about the levels of traffic accidents within the CBD, related to “haphazard lane changes by taxis along heavily used roads to pick up or alight passengers” and how this compares to the levels of traffic accidents outside the CBD because of the same reasons, measured against traffic accidents in general in both areas. If the reason to implement the rule is for safety, why is the safety on “heavily used roads” outside of the CBD not considered as well? Why is this new rule not implemented island-wide? The root of the problem is already be stated in the letter: “haphazard lane changing by taxis”. Perhaps the answer lies in taxi driver training instead. London black cab drivers go through years of training to qualify, surely we can aspire to that quality.

In Singapore’s tropical climate, we are frequently either drenched in rain or perspiration. The recent increased cost of hiring a taxi, together with this new inconvenience of using the taxi is, ruling it out as a means of transport for many, myself included. But we have few alternatives. Bus and MRT frequency, as well as station and stop distances, are sub-standard to New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo. We are left to resort to privately owned cars, causing the congestions that which the recent land transport policies are stated to reduce.”