On Kastari's escape..

Well, needless to say, everyone should have learnt about Mas Selamat Kastari's famous, or infamous escape from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Wednesday. The nation is now busy with hunting down for this guy.. Good effort from all walks of life.. I read, even MP (Member of Parliament) is giving out flyers with his photos today.

Wednesday night, I was happily taking time off in the Mess after a day's work, the news hadn't seeped through, to us at least.. At 10pm, when the mess closed, I made my way back to bunk. Funnily, I stopped at the Wall of Achievements of sorts, of our Brigade. There was the news write up on my unit helping out during Hotel New World collapse, saving a drowning man at sea and more recently, being involved in the man hunt for the 3 armed guys who fled to Tekong after commiting robbery in Johor. Read through them to see what we've contributed and happily walk back to my bunk thinking of turning in early..

When I reached the corridor outside my bunk, a guy from my company came to me..
Him: Sergeant, later got activation or not?
Me: Huh?? Smlj.. Why got activation?!?!
Him: You don't know meh?! Got a terrorist escaped..
Me: What the.. How you know?!
Him: Cos I'm the duty signaller... (Means he'll be the first to learn of these news from higher HQ)
Me: *speechless*

Anxiety start building up, I knew if what he said was true, we'd definitely be activated, just a matter of time. So I called home, but surprisingly, none of them knew of it. So I began suspecting if it was true, though the rumours/news was spreading like wild fire in camp. Everyone was anxious to know the truth too. I called FM.. But it was inconclusive too.. Till he checked CNA site and called me back and told me it was indeed true. Die. I was just praying we could catch some sleep before the button was pressed.. So I shooed my guys to sleep, and tried to catch some rest too..

I was just about to snooze off, when my PS' phone rang. Gone. We were activated. Right on the stroke of midnight. The rest just took care of itself.. At 1am, the unit was very much alive, with everyone doing the necessary preparations. At 3.30am, we were ready to move out. To say the truth, I was quite excited that.. This is a real thing! Not exercise, not training, but a real emergency. And I am sure, I wasn't alone feeling this way.

The rest of Thursday was spent helping to cordon off the Whitley area, as you'd have seen in Friday's papers.. We were pretty much the only SAF force to be there, apart from the Military Police. Good feeling. Haha. It's a pity he's still at large till now..

Time to audit, revamp, strengthen the security system we have.. Big time. Maybe it's about time for somebody to be man enough to take the blame.. We'll see.. Let's just hope Kastari will somehow be found..