Last victims's remain s given to families

Tiarma Siboro and Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The remains of two victims of the bomb blast outside the Australian Embassy last week were handed over to their families on Tuesday, ending days of speculation that they were involved in the latest terror attack to rock the country.

But the decision by the police to remove the two -- Martinus Sitania and Armansyah Putra -- from the list of suspects did nothing to alleviate the pain suffered by their families.

The two were among the nine innocent people who died in the blast.

Martinus' mother cried hysterically before falling unconscious as her son's remains were handed over. Meanwhile, her tightlipped husband could only shake his head in disbelief as he held the coffin holding the shattered remains of his 29-year-old son.

Dini Kurniash, Martinus' fiancee, shared their grief.

"I still can't believe he has left me so soon. We planned to marry in January next year," Dini said, sobbing.

"He did not even say good-bye to me, but a day before the incident, he told me I would have to eat breakfast alone."

They used to have breakfast and dinner together at Dini's house, which is located near Martinus' house in Bojong Lio village in Depok, West Java.

Martinus had been his family's breadwinner since his father, Yacob Sitania, retired from the Jakarta land transportation company, PT PPD, four years ago.

Known for his quietness, his neighbors recalled him as "a good boy".

Martinus was riding a motorcycle in front of the embassy on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, when the bomb exploded.

"Regi had just met a client whose office in the Sentra Mulia building is close to the embassy," Dini said, referring to her fiance by his nickname.

Sitania's family began to suspect that Martinus was among the blast victims after he had still failed to arrive home by Friday night. It was Martinus' office that informed Sitania's family that he was among the three victims whose body parts had been sent to the Soekanto Police Hospital in East Jakarta.

"If we hadn't seen a piece of human arm with a ring on the finger, we would not have believed that the body parts belonged to Regi," Dini said, referring to Martinus' engagement ring.

The police had suspected that various body parts that had been taken to the police hospital belonged to the bombers.

Later, the police identified one set of body parts as belonging to Suyitno. On Monday, they identified the others as belonging to Martinus and Armansyah, 24.

Martinus will be buried on Wednesday, while the funeral of Armansyah took place hours after his remains were handed over to his family at their home in Cipinang Muara, East Jakarta, on Tuesday.

"He had said that he wanted to spend the whole day on his motorcycle," recalled Sumarni, Armansyah's mother.

Armansyah was riding close to the Daihatsu box van that was carrying the bomb when it exploded.

Armansyah's father, Chairul Rasyid, searched for his son at the Aini Eye Hospital and MMC Hospital, where many of those injured in the blast had been admitted, but to no avail.

The family were still in the dark until Friday morning when a colleague of Armansyah told them that Armansyah's wallet had been found and was being kept by the police.

An employee at a local courier company, PT Bakti Karsa Putra, in Bintaro, Tangerang, Armansyah was described by his friends as "a very straight person who never did anything bad".

Armansyah's uncle, Ramli Ajis, could only take a deep breath. "The truth will out. The truth will show that my nephew was never a bad guy," he told The Jakarta Post.

Armansyah was buried in Rawamangun public cemetery in East Jakarta.

"These terrorists should think what it would be like if it was their loved ones who were killed. How would they feel?" cried Nurkumala, Armansyah's girlfriend.