There is no country in the world where nothing goes wrong. Anyone who believes nothing can or will go wrong in Singapore is living in a make-believe world.
No. Complacency sets in when a people have not suffered any shock or setback for a long time, as in Singapore without jihadist terror attacks, although we have ceaselessly talked about it and prepared our defences.
The complacency was that of his custodians who believed they had the measure of him and that he would not get the better of them.
He was an escape artist, evading arrest in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and then in Indonesia. Several times he had slipped away ahead of Indonesian security when they were about to nab him.
Our security officers knew his history. Yet he was able to lull them into a sense of security, that they had him under control. Then he gave them the slip.
If they had respected his skills in dissimulation and viewed him with scepticism, they would have not allowed him to spring surprises on them.
When you are complacent in handling a wily detainee, then you have been negligent.
No government in the world has been reckless enough to promise its people that they will be safe from a terrorist attack.
The people on the whole believed that the Government will take care of all security matters.
But no government can be 100 per cent on the ball 100 per cent of the time. A government needs the active support and cooperation of the people.
Because most people believe that bad things will happen to others, not to themselves.