Suherdjoko, Pemalang – The body of Joko Pitono, better known as Dulmatin, who was shot dead during the recent police raid on a terrorist cell, was buried in Pemalang on Friday while relatives denied the deceased was a terrorist.
The funeral was held at the Dowo cemetery in Loning village, Petarukan district, Pemalang, Central Java.
Dulmatin, who was believed behind the first Bali bombing in 2002, was shot dead on Tuesday along with two accomplices at the Multiplus Internet cafe in Pamulang, South Tangerang, Banten Province. Dulmatin's body arrived 3:20 a.m. Friday at his parents' home in Petarukan subdistrict in Pemalang before being buried at 8:20 a.m.
Hundreds of well-wishers, some having already waiting at the house since Thursday, greeted and carried Dulmatin's body to his grave, 4 kilometers away after a prayer service was held at a mosque.
The sympathizers, most of whom came from Pekalongan, Batang, Surakarta, and Banyuwangi in East Java, called out "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) along the journey to the cemetery. Young mourners put up a banner on the tent in front of Dulmatin's parents' house, reading "Amar bin Usman Sofi, not a terrorist but a mujaheed [warrior]".
Dulmatin's father, Usman Sofi's grave is in Pelutan village, 3 kilometers from the Dowo cemetery.
After the funeral, family spokesman Ustadz Sahid Ahmad Sungkar said Dulmatin's family denied that late Dulmatin was a terrorist. Despite their objection, Sungkar said the family would not file a lawsuit against the National Police in connection with his killing.
"Dulmatin's death is God's will. It is up to God to decide whether it was right or wrong."
Sungkar, the chairman of the Islamic Defenders Front consultative council of the Pekalongan branch, said Dulmatin's relatives were resigned to his death. "Istiada, Dulmatin's wife, is ready to bring up the children and put them through school."
In Padang, West Sumatra, academics were quoted by Antara as criticizing the police's handling of terror suspects.
"It always ends up in death. It happens when terror suspects used short-barrel guns were facing police personnel carrying long-barrel guns. It gives the impression that the police are not professional," said Prof. Dr. Duski Samad, a dean of Imam Bonjol State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN), on Friday.
The police should respect the public religious and justice sentiments, said Duski, a prominent Muslim scholar in West Sumatra. One could relate the raid to the planned visit of US President Barack Obama, he said.
The Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) has urged Indonesian Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri to stop making statements that the police were forced to resort to a fatal shooting because terrorist suspects attempted a fight.
"I wonder why they always had to shoot them dead. Why weren't they arrested alive?" IPW Presidium Neta S Pane said as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Thursday.
When the national police was led by Dai Bachtiar, terror suspects were rarely shot dead, unlike at present, the police's special anti-terror Detachment 88 unit often shoots suspected terrorists dead, he said. "The police should have arrested them alive so that we could hear their testimony at court."