Shed no tears for militant Wanndy, villagers say

The death of Southeast Asia's Daesh militant leader Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, 26, should not be mourned as he himself had chosen the wayward path of terrorism, according to villagers in Bukit Tambun, Durian Tunggal, where Wanndy had originated.

Some of the villagers met by Bernama were in fact not at all shocked with news of his death in a drone strike in Raqqa, Syria on April 29 and saw it as fated for someone who chose the wrong path of Daesh terrorism.

Bukit Tambun Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) chairman, Mustami Ali, 61, said Muhammad Wanndy's family had moved out of the village quite some time ago and while living in the village, he hardly mixed with the other residents.

"To me, Muhammad Wanndy's demise has some good, before he could destroy the villagers' thinking with the deviant ideology that he had embraced.

"His (Muhammad Wanndy) parents had died a long time ago, while his wife and family had moved to another place...the only thing left is this house," said Mustami while pointing to the red terraced house.

Bernama found the house belonging to Muhammad Wanndy''s family in Kampung Bukit Tambun to be unoccupied and according to some villagers, the family no longer lived in the village.

Kampung Bukit Tambun Surau Committee member, Mohd Dian Ismail, 69, said the villagers had no plans to hold a "tahlil" over Muhammad Wanndy's death as he was not a hero of the nation.

"Muhammad Wanndy had smeared the good name of this village, so why should we bother with him? I hope that what happened to him could serve as a lesson to the villagers and the public in general not to follow the Daesh struggle as it is clearly wrong," he opined.

Mohd Dian said before Muhammad Wanndy went to Syria, he had seen the man coming to his coffee shop three times, but the latter kept to himself and did not speak to any of the other customers.

A retiree who wished to be identified only as Azmi, 56, said he had never seen Muhammad Wanndy coming to the village surau or participating in the village activities.

"To me, Muhammad Wanndy was a mysterious person as he hardly mingled with the rest, hence many of the villagers here did not know him.

"But suddenly, his name appeared in the media which reported that he was Southeast Asia's Daesh militant leader and that he came from Durian Tunggal.

"If it was something good about him in the media reports, it could have enhanced this village''s good name. But no, he had tarnished its good name," he said.

-- BERNAMA