Better to Search or Find?

Big news. Terrorist escapes. Manhunt underway. The search is on.

By now, almost everyone reading would have been intimately familiar with the visage and name of a certain short Indonesian (not you, Kania) who walks with a limp. I personally only found out about it rather late, compared to most others. It was in school when someone rushed up to me and stammered "Naz did you hear about the terrorist? Oh my gawd!" and all I could do was to stare blankly and not appear irritated with my unmanageable hair.

Since then, I (like many others) have received curious "Wanted" messages (presumably) from the police amid the constant barrage of news reports on the radio and television, detailing that one Mas Selamat bin Kastari is "still in Singapore" and is "looking for food, money and shelter" despite the best efforts of our boys in blue. And in green.

Now... isn't it a bit, uh... stupid that a guy little bigger than a midget, with a limp, was able to single-handedly escape from a detention centre?

Come on.

Then again, alot of us, myself included, have been through time in the armed forces. Someone said that the guards were probably taking an impromptu canteen break while he was apparently relieving himself. Because, like, you know... it's not like he's going to escape, is he?

Because I'm such a helpful and patriotic guy, I'll even point out where he might actually be!

1. Siglap: The amount of construction sites and abandoned houses there are overwhelming.

2. The National Library: Because who really goes to a library where you aren't allowed to study?

3. A random S-League match: Who's going to see him?

4. Mediacorp Studios: More speicifically, the secret underground bunker where they keep the old tapes of VR Man.

5. Kembangan Plaza: WHo the hell goes there, except for, gasp, Indonesian maids and workers?

So he wanted to hijack a plane and crash it into the airport. One of our pride and joys. The big question is, however, which terminal? Terminal One is due for a makeover anyway... and Terminal Three seems to have been built wrong; it's more a shopping centre or a mall than an airport.

Of course, everyone has their own opinions and views on the incident, and how the search is going. There has been gossip, debate, discussion and dialogue from all corners, via every available medium. One person in particular mentioned that she wrote in to the Forum section of the Straits Times, and I was told it was a typical "Why are the things and people in Singapore so incompetant" spiel.

This person, criticizing the search, later went on to find something she was not supposed to find (yet).

Big news.

Big drama. Tears and tissues, grief and guile, laments and lies greeted us as we stepped into class yesterday amid the throng of curiously displaced students; half-heard whispers about a phone call and a petition bouncing about like a hyperactive Disney character.

It's hard to face someone when the tears are flowing.

But it's alot fucking easier when you just sat/stood through several minutes of them spouting their own deluded inventions of deceit and slander and betrayal and hurt. Why yes, it did put a rather ugly-looking dent in their CV, but calling us hypocrites when you remain guilty of the very same accusation, compounding it with every breath you take, is beyond unjust.

So there.

The incident also highlighted a few things that some of us may have been oblivious to.

It is said that in traumatic or stressful events, the true colours of those around you shine through. Let's just say that we found a few among us whose colours weren't that admirable. Self-preservation is one thing, but trying to weasel your way out of an issue one clearly has to take responsibility for is just pathetic.

Well, at least I'm mid-way through my mid-terms, eh? Yay?

Big news, big drama. Far from over, in either case, I feel.