HE is afraid to go out for fear of being mistaken for wanted terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari.

He has been pointed at and stared at and, on one occasion, even surrounded by a group of men while they called the police.

His children have been asked if their father is the fugitive.

The 40-year-old man, who wanted to be known only as Mr Halim, said: 'Mas Selamat may have escaped, but now, because of him, it feels like I'm in prison.'

At first glance, Mr Halim's facial features resemble Mas Selamat's - based on the mugshots on posters all over Singapore - right down to the short, wavy hair.

The father of four, who does not walk with a limp, said he has been getting dirty looks from people.

Mr Halim said he and his family have decided to avoid going out unless necessary.

The construction foreman and his civil servant wife have three sons, aged 11, 10 and 8. The couple also have a 6-month-old daughter.

Mr Halim told The New Paper on Sunday in Malay: 'Now, our daily route is simply to go to work or school, and then go home.'

Even the family's regular weekend visits to the hypermarket for their groceries have been canned. For the time being.

'If we need to get something from the shops, my wife will do it while I wait for her in the car,' he said.

Mr Halim said that, thankfully, they have a family car.

'Otherwise, I dread to think what it will be like if we had to take public transport.'

The family's plans to visit his mother in Kuala Lumpur this week during the school holidays have also been shelved.

'I don't want to put my family and myself in a difficult spot,' he said. 'It is really ridiculous, even though we understand why people react this way.'

Mr Halim acknowledged that 'in some ways, it is good because it shows that Singaporeans are keeping their eyes open'.

But he hopes that the fugitive can be caught soon.

AWKWARD

Since Mas Selamat's escape on 27 Feb from Whitley Road Detention Centre, there have been at least six occasions when MrHalim have found himself in awkward situations.

Mostly, different groups of people would deliberately walk past or around him.

But last Sunday, a group of men cornered him and called the police.

This despite the fact that he's 1.69m tall and does not walk with a limp. Mas Selamat is 1.58m tall and walks with a limp.

Mr Halim was waiting for his wife and children outside Khatib MRT Station. He was dressed in a shirt with a collar and bermudas.

He recalled: 'A man approached me somewhat cautiously and asked for the time. I knew at once what was on his mind.'

As the man talked, Mr Halim noticed he was also gesturing to his friend, who stood about three arms' length behind them.

He said: 'It was clear that the man's friend was about to make a call.'

While Mr Halim tried to explain the misunderstanding, he realised that the man's other friends had positioned themselves at three different spots.

Two others came forward and one asked him bluntly: 'So, are you Mas Selamat?'

Just as Mr Halim produced his identity card to prove his innocence, his wife and children arrived.

He recalled: 'At the same time, two police officers also approached us. They were very professional and after verifying my particulars, we could go off.'

While Mr Halim appreciated the group's alertness, he admitted that he was also frustrated by the unfortunate resemblance.

He said: 'It's so awkward that I'm wondering if I should go for plastic surgery.'

Mr Halim refused to be photographed.

'We've been inconvenienced by the whole issue, I don't want it to get worse with more Singaporeans being 'alerted' to my face,' he said.

'It will upset my children further if people decide to put my photo side by side with the wanted man.'

One of the men who confronted him, 35-year-old retail manager Wylie Wee, said: 'We were quite shocked when we first saw him at the station.

'We thought, hey, that is Mas Selamat. But because we were not too certain, we observed him for a while.

'We noticed that other passers-by also did a double-take when they saw him.

'It turned out to be a misunderstanding. Well, the good thing is, we've now made another friend.'

A day after the incident, Mr Halim, his wife and his second son went shopping at Mustafa Centre and the stares continued.

His son overheard a woman mention 'Mas Selamat' to her companion when they were at the cashier.

The boy said: 'I knew without turning around that they were talking about my father.

'I was so 'malu' (embarrassed) and angry.'

He had to endure the same thing in school too.

The son said: 'Even schoolmates who see my father when he drops us off at school have told us that he looks like the wanted man.

'But my parents have told us not to be too upset and to explain it nicely to ourfriends.'

The boys have learnt to offer their schoolmates this reasoning: 'Our father has been around even before Mas Selamat escaped from the detention centre.'

Last Thursday, The New Paper had reported that the public had called the police after spotting Mr Md Iqbal Hussain near Mustafa Centre.

Mr Md Iqbal, 28, who walks with a limp, is from Bangladesh and is here to seek treatment for elephantiasis.

After the tip-off, the police conducted a door-to-door search for him at a block of flats in St George's Lane where he was staying with a Singaporean friend.