JOHOR BARU: The owner of the Johor house in which Mas Selamat Kastari hid has said he did not know a terrorist was harboured there.

Mr Pak Sabar said his house was looked after by his daughter and son-in-law Johar Hassan, The Star newspaper reported on Tuesday. Johar was arrested on the same day as Mas Selamat and placed under the Internal Security Act, along with a third person, Abdul Matin Anol Rahmat.

Mr Pak Sabar spoke up following newspaper reports about where Mas Selamat hid after escaping from the Whitley Road Detention Centre in Singapore in February last year.

The house is located in Kampung Tawakkal near Skudai, about a 30-minute drive from the Johor Causeway. 'I used to go back once a month to collect fruits and coffee beans from our orchard.

'I would even cut grass sometimes if I felt well enough, but I never once saw Mas Selamat there,' he was quoted by The Star as saying.

He said he knew that Johar had allowed a friend to live in the house but did not know who the man was until the arrests, the report said.

He said Johar's arrest had badly affected his daughter Riza, who had left her four children under his care while she went to Kuala Lumpur to be with her sister. He added that his daughter claimed to have met her husband twice since his arrest but she did not say where.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Monday that the Malaysian and Singapore home ministers had agreed not to comment on speculation about the Mas Selamat issue.

He told reporters that Prime Minister Najib Razak would make an official visit to Singapore soon and would discuss the issue with his Singapore counterpart, Mr Lee Hsien Loong.