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SINGAPORE: An independent Committee of Inquiry has been set up to find out exactly how Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from custody and will also propose measures to prevent this from happening again.
The report should be ready within a month.
This is in addition to police investigation by CID into any possible criminal wrongdoing centering around the escape.
Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng gave this assurance after visiting Special Operations Command officers involved in the search.
The physical breach that was discovered in the escape has been dealt with and security has been beefed up at Whitley Road Detention Centre.
Also, Mas Selamat’s family members have been questioned extensively to see if they know anything.
However, many holes still remain such as when exactly did authorities realise that Mas Selamat was missing?
Police on Sunday confirmed that it was only a matter of minutes from the time he was last spotted to the time they realised he's escaped.
Meanwhile, independent investigations are underway.
Home Affairs Minister, Wong Kan Seng, said: "There is an independent police investigation to look into whether any criminal wrongdoing has been committed. We should not speculate that there is but we must not rule out any possibility. That is why it becomes a police investigation led by the CID.
We also need to look at the whole system, process of the Whitley Road Detention Centre. And we want to get to the bottom of how he managed to escape and what measures can be taken to stop this from happening."
Mr Wong said a Committee of Inquiry has been set up to give an objective, balanced and comprehensive report on what happened.
The committee is chaired by Goh Joon Seng, a retired judge (and current member of the Council of Presidential Advisers), with former police commissioner and current ambassador-at-large Tee Tua Ba, and Deputy Secretary of Security at the Home Affairs Ministry, Choong May Ling,
Meanwhile, authorities are committed to continuing this search until he is found.
Mr Wong continued: "After searching the whole of Singapore and after searching every possible lead and every possible haunt where he may be found, we will have to find a way to find him through other means.
"No doubt our reputation has taken a knock but we must not be demoralised by it - we must learn from mistakes so we do not repeat them."
Mr Wong said cooperation with Malaysian and Indonesian authorities remain good and these countries have tightened their border security.
Mr Wong also said that Mas Selamat will not be of immediate danger if he is on his own and is unable to access any materials that can cause any harm. However, he cautioned that this might not be the case in the long-term.
While taking all necessary precautions, Mr Wong urged members of the public not to be cowed and go on living life as normal.
If you feel something is amiss, police want members of the public to send their feedback to a specially set up email account at spf_police_information@spf.gov.sg. -CNA/vm
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