I felt like going back to bed, under the covers: Ex-ISD director on Mas Selamat escape

The man who was at the helm of Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) has opened up for the first time about the now-infamous escape of Jamah Islamiyah Singapore chief Mas Selamat from the Whitley Detention Centre.

Now the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Transport, former ISD director Pang Kin Keong said in an interview with Challenge, a civil service magazine, that the incident, which happened on 27 February 2008, was the lowest point of his two-decade career working for the government.

“I’ll be honest,” he was quoted as saying. “When I read the newspapers or my email, (I felt) like slumping and going back to bed, under the covers.”

According to the magazine, Pang said his greatest fear was that he would be posted out of the department before his team could recapture the man, who famously was known for walking with a limp on his left leg.

“I wanted at least to be able to say, yes, the mistake happened under me, but I rectified it under my watch as well,” he said.

He admitted that it was a challenge to rally his officers over the 13 months that the man was missing — he was only captured in Skudai, Malaysia, on 1 April 2009.

“After eight, nine months, and we still have absolutely no trace of him, how do you keep on telling them, ‘It’s okay, you need to keep plugging away’?” he asked.

“To have an incident of this national security magnitude happen under your leadership… that’s an awful feeling,” he said.

The importance of standing by staff

From it, Pang says he learned the importance of standing by his staff, even though they might have made honest mistakes.

“Loyalty is a two-way thing,” he said. “You can’t expect your officers to be loyal to you unless you’re loyal to them… when they have that confidence in you, they’ll go to the ends of the world for you.”

He said he would get a “lump in his throat” whenever he thought of the times when support officers like those working in the ISD’s IT department would volunteer nights and weekends to help out in the massive manhunt.

It was this effort, he said, and the “incredible teamwork” of the entire department, that led to the highest point of his career, too — when the man with a limp was finally re-captured.

Read his full interview here.