DULMATIN'S FAMILY WAITING FOR HIS BODY

Pemalang, March 10 (ANTARA) - The family of Dulmatin, one of the terrorists killed in Pamulang on Tuesday. is waiting for his body for burial at his home village in Pemalang, Central Java.

"If it is indeed Dulmatin, we will accept his body for burial at the public cemetery," Dulmatin's stepfather, Jazuli Arwan, said here on Wednesday.

He said until now, the family in Pemalang was not sure if the one killed in Pamulang was really Joko Pitono (Dulmatin).

He said the family would accept whatever would come and did not care much about the news.

"We have heard news about his death many times before and therefore we did not take the reports this time not too seriously," he said.

He said until now the family had not yet received any formal information from the police regarding Dulmatin's death and therefore all family members kept working as usual.

"We keep doing our business of selling goods and only once in a while watch television to see if the one killed is really Dulmatin. We are not yet sure because we have not received a formal notice from the police," he said.

Jazuli said the family did not know the exact activities of Dulmatin after the first Bali bombings in 2002. "We have not been in contact since 2002," he said.

He said before the first Bali bombings Dulmatin alias Joko Pitono worked as a farmer and a motorbike trade middleman.

He said his activities however were not known by the family after the arrival of some of his friends.

"I once met with two of them, who are later known as Imam Samudra and Muklas (executed for terrorism). We once even prayed together with them," he said.

He said although Dulmatin left his family for a long time he remained responsible and financed his family with the harvests from his family's farm.

Dulmatin has a wife and six children with the oldest aged 14 and the youngest aged 9.

A teacher from SMAN I, a state senior high school in Pemalang where Dulmatin used to study said that Dulamatin was very good at mathematics and Islam.
Dumatin's nephew Ms Mufatin said Dulmatin was a polite person and very religous. "So until now we are not sure if he is really the one who carried out bombings in a number of places," she said.

Farida, a villager of Petarukan where Dulmatin's family live, said that villegers would not complain if his body would be buried in the village's cemetary.

"I knew exactly his behavior and activities while he was in Kebo Ijo (Dulmatin's home village). So, go ahead if he would be buried in the village's cemetary. I believe other villagers would not object either," she said.