Bomber’s Father Says Son Was ‘Normal Kid’

The father of one of three young men who blew themselves up at Bali restaurants last month held a news conference and said his son was a “normal kid.”

Mat Sukarto, 58, said his 23-year-old son Misno -- the sixth of seven children -- dropped out of junior high and left the family’s home in central Java soon after. His last job was selling chicken porridge. In August, Misno told his father he was leaving Java to seek construction work elsewhere in Indonesia.

Sukarto said Misno “wasn’t especially religious and neither am I. He was a normal kid.”

When his son left in August, Sukarto said, “I remember thinking he had no real problems.... The only thing that was missing was that he was not married.” Now, he said, “I feel like I have been beaten up. If only I knew ... of his plans, I would have tried to prevent them.”