The debate for Mas Selamat rages on, two months (and counting) after his miraculous Toilet Break from the high-security ISD Detention Centre at Whitley Road.

I met a friend of mine from a certain unit a few weeks ago. His unit was one of the first units to be activated at 8pm 27 February to aid the Gurkha contingent and the police in their manhunt. His unit combed entires swathes of jungle all over our tiny island, and found illegal immigrants, brothels and gambling dens, but no Mas Selamat.

Apparently, his unit CO is very eager to capture Singapore's most wanted man. The ambitious young CO would like to have a star to rest his on shoulder.
(For a full definition of all acronyms, refer below)
So my friend shared this with me.

"If i catch Mas Selamat, my sergeant will take credit for it, saying he was the one who lead us in the field.
Then my PC will stake his claim on the bounty by pointing out he was the one who planned out the operation.
Then the OC will surely claim credit too, since he organized the operation for the company.
And at last, the CO will tell all the reporters, that is was his men that caught Mas Selamat, and he will get all the rewards and adulation for it.
So in the end, what do i get? Nothing, of course".

(PC = Platoon commander
OC = Officer-in-charge of the company
CO = Commanding officer of the entire unit)

Hahaha. Thats how life goes, i tell him.

But its interesting to draw parallels to current situation.
The Committee of Inquiry has released its report on Mas Selamat's escape, and there is talk on who should get the sack.

Wong Kang Seng has been given a vote of full confidence by Lee Hsien Loong and he will not resign.
So when's there gold, everyone's greedy. When there's shit, you have scapegoats.
The two gurkha guards who were guarding Mas Selamat have been "replaced", which is such a vague word, i wonder why nobody has asked for what its supposed to mean.

The poor gurkhas will probably get lose their pensions cos they thought it was alright for somebody to throw his pants over the door while peeing. You can't defend their stupidity, but for everyone to pin all the blame on the two guys appears to be pretty short-sighted.

The real culprit, in my opinion, is the ISD superintendent. He decided that the un-grilled window should have just have its knob sawed off, which turned out to be the most critical factor. So even if Mas Selamat needs to remove his pants while peeing, a grilled window would have prevented my friend from spending his weekends traversing the forests.

And of course, Wong Kan Seng is responsible as well. It was his men that screwed up, and a commander must accept responsibility for his men.

But the public desire to see the Deputy Prime Minister step down is more complicated than a lust for rolling heads. I think people see the government as getting complacent and incompetent, and that they do not deserve their fat salaries. It appears to be the tipping point of all the previous pent-up greviances.

PAP risks the ire and cynicism of the electorate. But to tell the truth, i doubt its going to matter come by election time. People will forget this whole debacle and we will all move on.

Thats life.