•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

An Indonesian laborer who hoped to be named the world’s tallest man is actually five centimeters shorter than record-holder Sultan Kosen of Turkey, an official said Wednesday.

Suparwono was said to be 2.71 meters tall compared with Kosen’s record height of 2.47 meters. But official measurements taken by Indonesia’s Museum of Records (MURI) in Jakarta found that Suparwono stood at “only” 2.42 meters, easily enough to make him Indonesia’s tallest man but not enough to qualify for the Guinness World Records.

“After our team from the Indonesian Museum of Records measured him lying down and in the standing position, we found that his height was 2.42 meters,” MURI director Ngadri said.

“We had reports this morning including the result of measurements from a hospital which were 2.71 meters. But we have to stick to our measurement.”

Suparwono shot to fame this week after one of his relatives in his home village of Tri Tunggal Jaya, Lampung, invited neighbors to take pictures of him.

Within days he was appearing on television talk shows in Jakarta as the “Giant of Lampung.”

Suparwono said sometimes he felt “proud” of his height, but “it also gives me problems because I can’t live like normal people,” citing the difficulty of fitting into public buses and finding clothes big enough for his frame. “I started to realize my exceptional height when I was 10 years old. At that time, I was already the tallest at my school and in my village.”

Suparwono lives with his parents and earns money doing odd jobs around the village. Lampung Governor Sjachroedin Zainal had earlier promised to give him a “proper job” and make him an ambassador for the province.

Agence France-Presse