Search the Community

Lapses were not systemic, says MHA YOUR editorial yesterday, 'Were failings systemic?' questioned whether the breach of security at Whitley Road Detention Centre (WRDC) is a 'systemic contagion or the personal failing of only certain staff', and 'the appropriate level of culpability (that) should be drawn'. As Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng has explained in Parliament, the Committee of Inquiry (COI) did inquire into all aspects of the circumstances relating to the escape of Mas Selamat at the WRDC, including whether the lapses were the result of individual action or omission, or were they due to systemic issues. Although the COI made recommendations to strengthen or improve the WRDC's systems and processes, it found that the custodial protocols and procedures of WRDC to be generally sound. The principal security lapses occurred because specific individuals had failed to observe these protocols and procedures. For instance, it was the WRDC Superintendent's wrong decision which resulted in the failure to secure the toilet ventilation window, which in turn enabled Mas Selamat to escape. These were specific faults, not a 'systemic contagion'. As DPM Wong also stated, the Ministry of Home Affairs will be taking action against the officers responsible for Mas Selamat's escape, including not just the junior officers but also the supervisory and management levels. There is, therefore, no basis for the editorial to suggest that 'it is usually small fish that get fried'. There is a due process to be followed and the outcome will be made known in due course. Toh Yong Chuan Press Secretary to DPM and Minister for Home Affairs EDITOR'S NOTE: For the record, this was what our editorial said: 'If it is determined there was only one weak link, at junior escort level, then the people should stop carping about why it is usually small fish that get fried.' http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Sto...ory_230802.html