BATU CAVES: Terror suspect Dr Mahmud Ahmad was a quiet man who seemed occupied with his family mostly, said his neighbours.
When approached by The Star, none of the residents in Taman Selayang Baru had anything bad to say of the Universiti Malaya senior lecturer.
His neighbourhood is a peaceful, well-kept street with residents of mixed races and religions.
Immediate neighbours didn’t seem to be concerned about the recent news of police naming Dr Mahmud as one of the top recruiters for militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
One neighbour, who declined to be identified, said he would see Dr Mahmud occasionally outside with his young children but said he didn’t take much time to notice him.
“I don’t know him but he seemed like a family man and looked respectable,” the man said.
Another neighbour said Dr Mahmud lived there with his wife, children and mother.
When met outside the gate, Dr Mahmud’s mother, who gave her name as Umi, appeared angry declined to be interviewed.
“If I say A, you are going to write B, like that reporter yesterday,” she bristled, referring to an English daily that quoted her as saying that her son was a jihadist but not a militant, and was answerable to no one but God.
She quietly disappeared behind her tinted sliding door and did not respond to any calls.
Dr Mahmud’s two-storey terrace house is cosy with a well-tended garden.
His students and staff members at Universiti Malaya also seemed surprised that the senior lecturer at the university’s Department of Aqidah and Islamic Thought has been named as an alleged militant.
They describe the 36-year-old lecturer as an affable and approachable man.
Related stories:
Dr Mahmud absent from teaching centre he co-founded
Suspected militant sacked for being AWOL
Fatwa council urged to decide if fighting in war-torn nations is jihad
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