World’s oldest man says ready to die

Mbah Gotho, 145 years old, started preparing for death in 1992, aged 122,

and made his gravestone ready

CENTRAL JAVA: An Indonesian man who has emerged from obscurity to claim he is the world’s oldest at an incredible 145 years has revealed he is ready to die now.

According to documentation recognised by Indonesian officials, Mbah Gotho is 145 and was born on 31st December 1870. He has surprisingly outlived all 10 of his siblings as well as his four wives, the last of whom died in 1988.

All of his children have also died, and now he is survived by his grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.

If correct, that makes him significantly older than the verified oldest person in the world ever, a title that belongs to French woman Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122.

The super senior citizen from Sragen, Central Java, Indonesia was interviewed by Liputan 6 television news.

He said he has been through it all and would not mind passing on. 'What I want is to die. My grandchildren are all independent,' he told Liputan 6 on Tuesday.

Suryanto, Mbah Gotho's grandson, said his grandfather has been preparing for his death ever since he was 122, but it never seemed to come. He said: 'The gravestone there was made in 1992. That was 24 years ago.'

In addition, Suryanto said Mbah Gotho's family has already prepared a gravesite for him - near his children's graves.

Staff at the Indonesian records office has confirmed Mbah Gotho's birth date, which is specified on his Indonesian ID card as 31st December 1870.

Whether or not he will ever be listed as the world's oldest man however is open to question, as the paperwork has so far not been independently verified.

If so he will join to others without verifiable records who are purportedly older than Mbah Gotho - 171-year-old James Olofintuyi from Nigeria and 163-year-old Dhaqabo Ebba from Ethiopia.

These days, his grandchildren say Mbah Gotho mostly sits listening to the radio because his eyesight is too poor to watch television. For the past three months, he has had to be spoon-fed and bathed as he has become increasingly frail.

When asked what his secret to longevity is, Mbah Gotho replied: 'the recipe is just patience.'