TEMPO Magazine, No. 29/III/March 25 - 31, 2003
Ambon: A Phantom Force
Gang leader Berthy has retracted a statement implicating the military in the sectarian
conflict in Ambon.
BERTHY Loupatty, leader of the notorious Cowok Keren gang in Ambon, was
incensed. Pointing a blue pen at presiding judge Arwan Byrin of the North Jakarta
District Court, he shouted in anger: "They beat me and forced me to sign a blank
piece of paper!" Berthy was replying to a question by the judge whether he had signed
the police report implicating him in a series of violence in Ambon. He named Adj.
Insp. J.H. Latuheru, of the Maluku Police, as the officer who forced him to sign the
report. Latuheru denied the charge. Berthy, 36, appeared before the court on Thursday
as a witness in the trial of his colleague Boyke Laturette.
Berthy and Boyke were among 19 defendants on trial for alleged involvement in the
sectarian conflict in Ambon from 1999 to 2002 that left at least 1,200 people dead.
Berthy was a key suspect. Tight security was in force during his appearance in the
court. Police officers were startled and set to draw their guns when Berthy shouted in
the face of Latuheru. He continued yelling as security officers dragged him out of the
courtroom.
Berthy and Boyke were specifically charged with planning the attack on the village of
Soya on April 28 last year, killing 12 people and destroying dozens of houses and a
church. The Soya attack added to the long list of violence in which Berthy, born Abner
Wemy Loupatty, was alleged to have been involved.
Is Berthy guilty as charged? To the surprise of the audience Berthy retracted a
statement given in the police report. He said he was beaten and forced by his
interrogators to sign the report. Police denied Berthy's allegations, saying the report
was based on statements by members of his gang in Kudamati, Berthy's stronghold
in Ambon. Berthy, known on the island as "The King of Hooligans", dismissed the
police claim. "`My men were also beaten and forced by the police to sign the report,"
he told TEMPO in the court's detention room (see Berthy Loupatty: "Kopassus? They
often asked me to get things done").
By retracting his statement in the police report, Berthy changed the whole picture
about military involvement in the conflict. The report quoted Berthy's statement
implicating members of Kopassus, the army special forces, in a number of cases of
violence in Ambon.
Berthy's police-appointed lawyer Christian Rahayaan told the court in January that
Kopassus was behind the recurrent violence in Ambon. Those involved, he said, were
not individuals but Kopassus as an institution. Christian said Berthy received
"directives" from Kopassus before engaging in a violent act in Ambon.
Christian cited as an exmpale Berthy's attack on the villages of Porto and Haria and
the sinking of the motor vessel California. He said Berthy told him that the speedboats
used to attack the villages were provided by Kopassus. Christian said that Kopassus,
by its action, aimed at keeping the conflict alive and that Berthy was paid Rp.500,000
for the attack on Porto and Haria.
Berthy, for his part, disowned Christian's allegations. He said he never appointed
Christian as his lawyer. "Who is he? A phantom lawyer?" he asked. Kopassus
commanding general Maj. Gen. Sriyanto Muntasram also denied Christian's
allegations. "These allegations are lies and a slander," he told Bernarda Rurit of
TEMPO News Room. He said that when bombs exploded on Jalan Yan Fais, Haria,
Manggadua, and Salobar, his men were still out at sea on their way to Ambon.
Sriyanto said the California sank on December 11, 2001, while his men arrived in
Ambon only on January 1, 2002.
In June 2002 the government set up an independent team of investigators to look into
charges of Kopassus involvement in the Ambon conflict. The team, set up by order of
President Megawati Sukarnoputri, was headed by I Wayan Karya, a senior official at
the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political &Security Affairs. Earlier, the
Indonesian Military Police had carried out their own investigation and found no
evidence of Kopassus involvement in the conflict.
Despite Berthy's retracting his statements in the police report, the government team
would continue investigation to determine whether or not Kopassus was involved in the
conflict.
Berthy's lawyer Hotman Sitorus has made an issue of the police report. He said his
client had been forced to sign the report. Hotman also questioned Berthy's continued
detention by the police. He said the Maluku Police had in a letter dated March 14
ordered Berthy's release from detention. "Why then did they continue to detain him at
the police headquarters?" he asked.
Prosecutor Dj. S. Simamora refuted Sitorus's allegations. "How could Berthy have
signed a blank piece of paper while the signatures were found at both the opening and
the end of the sentences in the report," he said displaying Berthy's signatures on the
report.
Why did Berthy retract his statement and thereby absolve Kopassus of any role in the
Ambon violence? That's a question for the court to answer.
Edy Budiyarso
Copyright @ tempointeraktif
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