IT WAS the week after I re-joined The Straits Times that Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from the Whitley Detention Centre. Thinking about all that's happened in my time in this newsroom since then, it really struck me that a lot of time has passed since February 27th, 2008.
During that time, a lot of our email inboxes were inundated with jokes about our "much-vaunted" internal security capabilities, conspiracy theories about how Singapore might have let him go in exchange for other information and other tongue-in-cheek or caustic commentary.
Although I admit to giggling at some of the Photoshopped material, the conspiracy theories just didn't resonate with me. Singapore? With our pride in security and our insistence on detention-without-trial (even before the US changed its tune post-911)? Willing to allow a high-level escape in exchange for information? Or even making up a story of a major bungle to cover up the fact that he got accidentally killed during torture or some other sinister doings?
I just didn't think so. Call me naive - many have - but I just couldn't swallow those theories.
And yet, the longer time drew on, the more I started to wonder: When will those wanted posters be taken down from the HDB void deck announcement boards? When they eventually do, will the government's detractors make a big deal about it? How badly has Singapore's reputation of safety been hit by this fiasco?
As a Singaporean, I felt quite disgraced. All my previous justifications to my expat and overseas friends about why I didn't want to work abroad, in part because of the safety and peacefulness of life in Singapore, fell flat.
So when I heard today that Mas Selamat had been apprehended, I actually felt strangely triumphant. But as our discussion boards started registering jeers like: "Why is Wong Kan Seng so happy? It's not as if it was him who caught Mas Selamat", I started to get annoyed.
The Malaysian authorities caught him in Johor on a tip-off from our security forces. He escaped, swam across the Causeway and caused international embarassment to our country, but we got him back - even if it took a while.
And why weren't we told earlier? Probably because the security forces on both sides of the Causeway were extracting as much information out of the Jemaah Islamiah leader as possible.
Sounds to me like that's a coup!
Those who jeer at anything the government does will continue to do so whether Mas Selamat was re-captured or not. They will harp on the fact that we "allowed" him to escape in the first place, and howl for heads to roll no matter what.
Meanwhile, I am proud that Singapore authorities managed to graciously tolerate the brickbats from their detractors while oh-so-secretly working behind-the-scenes to salvage the situation - and perhaps even find out more about JI's network in the process.
I'm going to be happy when I see those wanted posters taken down now; and I'm going to be able to hold my head up high again when my expat and overseas friends praise Singapore for being one of the safest places in the world.
To those who worked to regain Singapore's reputation: You aren't going to be appreciated by all, but here's a big thank you from me.