JI Detainee’s Escape: Another Argument Against the ISA?

So the controversy surrounding the Budget 2008 Debate (which I haven’t the time to follow) has been drowned out by this news of the Manhunt. A rifle-totting, able-bodied, combat-trained CPL Dave Teo is apparently small-fry in comparison with the unarmed, partly-crippled former chief of the Jemaah Islamiah.

The Straits Times was notably quick to publish a report assuring readers that security at the Whitley Road detention centre (“WRDC”) is “very tight”. Conveniently, the report cites anonymous “people who have visited detainees there”. Surely the level of security should be gauged (on a technical basis) against those of regular prisons like Changi and Queenstown Remand, rather than on the basis of the opinions of ‘visitors’ to the WRDC.

Already, two differences of the WRDC from regular prisons may be noted from the Straits Times report. The WRDC has no watchtowers, and it is housed within a complex which rather bizarrely includes a “heritage centre” (not exactly what you would expect in a highly-secured facility).