Online search for links and information about Mas Selamat Kastari rose on Monday as Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng addressed Parliament about how the fugitive escaped from Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27.

By the following night, 'Wong Kan Seng' had also become one of the most searched for the day. The role and responsibilities of the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister had been discussed and defended by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong earlier.

This was the finding of Google Singapore after a month-long trial. It has since launched Google Hot Trends (www.google.com.sg/trends), as part of its effort to augment the power of its search and tracking tool.

Besides Google, Yahoo also offers a list of top search terms. On its Singapore website (www.yahoo.com.sg), Mas Selamat was the second most searched term on the afternoon of the day after PM Lee's speech in Parliament.

However, Mas Selamat lost out to Liu Yifei, the Chinese actress starring in the Forbidden Kingdom movie, who was the most searched at that point in time.