Mutia sorry she missed celebration

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Many had hoped and prayed for the recovery of Mutia Rahmani Amalia, a third year student of SMU 70 state high school, who was seriously injured in the blast outside the Australian Embassy on Jl. Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Sept. 9.

And, after her initial days in intensive care at Medistra Hospital in South Jakarta, there were indications that the 16- year-old girl would get better. However, her condition deteriorated and she died at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore on Sunday.

"I had no idea that it would end like this," Mutia's mother, Sulisita Prasiwi, 42, said on Monday.

Sulisita or Sita, who is a teacher at Perguruan Cikini high school in Central Jakarta, calmly anticipated the arrival of the body of Mutia -- who was the eldest of three -- and her husband from Singapore.

Mutia's body was scheduled to arrive at Halim Perdanakusumah Airport in East Jakarta at around 11:30 p.m. on Monday in an airplane chartered by the Australian Embassy in Indonesia.

She will be buried at Tanah Kusir cemetery in South Jakarta on Tuesday morning.

Although she held back tears, relatives and friends commented on Sita's deep grief.

"Mutia never wanted to be a burden to us. She wanted us to be happy. When we visited her in hospital, she apologized, saying she was sorry if she had been a burden,

"She wanted me to give her belongings to the needy, and asked me to pay fidyah (compensation) for her, for the days that she skipped fasting," Sita said.

During her hospitalization, Mutia had distracted herself by thinking about her final exams at school. "She was eager to go back to school," her mother added.

Mutia, whose long black hair had been cut short in hospital, was a highly capable student, who topped her class in second year. She was also a regular teenager who enjoyed the company of her friends.

"Oh, she loved vanilla bubble drinks and she liked Josh Hartnett very much," said her closest friends, Cicik Zehan and Nishita Lalitya, after visiting the house of Mutia's grandmother in Karet Kuningan, South Jakarta.

"She loved history -- she was an outstanding history student. If she talked with the teacher, their conversation went over our heads," Nishita said.

The two recalled that Sept. 9 was the last day of the first series of final exams.

"The three of us had planned to celebrate by strolling around Blok M Plaza and buying vanilla bubble drinks," Cicik said.

But Mutia changed her mind. She told her friends that she would visit her grandmother in Karet Kuningan and boarded a minibus headed to Jl. Rasuna Said. She was about to get off the bus at the Perbanas stop when the bomb exploded. She fell headfirst onto the asphalt road. Her left leg was wedged in the minibus door, her skull was fractured.

She was immediately taken to the nearby Aini Eye Hospital before being transferred to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM).

After days in RSCM, the Australian Embassy advised her family to transfer her to Medistra Hospital. She spent about a month there and underwent cranial surgery.

"When I saw her on Sept. 23, she was really well. She was eager to be at our school's annual arts and entertainment show on Oct. 5," Nishita said.

"Mutia apologized to us because she canceled the plan to buy the vanilla bubble drink," she added, with tears in her eyes.