Green-togged terror victims named suspects
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Tangerang/Depok
Ciputat Police named two women who had previously filed reports to the police on the mysterious half-man, half-beast kolor hijau (green underwear) rapist as suspects for making false statements that could cause public disquiet.
"Saripah has been a suspect since yesterday and Rosadah was declared a suspect today. They both made false reports that could cause public disquiet. We haven't arrested them though," said the Ciputat Police chief Adj. Comr. Zulfan on Sunday.
"We will charge them under Article 220 of the Criminal Code. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 16 months.
According to Zulfan, Saripah had admitted during questioning that she made up her story of an attempt being made to rape her due to the economic problems she faced and to try to get public attention. The police have yet to ascertain why Rosadah made a similar false complaint.
"We did not believe their reports from the start. We even invited ulemas to tell them that there was no such thing as the kolor hijau creature. We suspect that somebody put them up to it," he said.
Adrianus Meliala, a criminologist with the University of Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post that the police might have good grounds for declaring the two women suspects.
"However, they must not do this just as an emergency measure to calm down the public or to stop the rumors spreading," he said.
Saripah, who lives in Ciputat, reported to police late on Saturday that the creature had tried to rape her on Friday evening. On Friday, Rosadah, who also lives in Ciputat, had reported an attempted rape by the kolor hijau creature to the police.
The police later took Rosadah to the Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta for examination. The examining doctors found that the scratches on Rosadah had not been made by human nails.
Rosadah claimed she had been sleeping with her husband, Syarif Jamin, and their eight-year-old daughter when she awoke to find "a strange creature trying to tear my dress and scratch me with his claws".
"The creature was about 160 centimeters tall, bald, with a flat face, a nose like a pig's snout, pointy ears, a paunch and hairy skin," she recalled on Saturday, adding that the beast was wearing green underwear.
An assault by the mysterious creature was also reported on Friday night by Sumiyati, 34, a resident of Pancoran Mas, Depok.
Sumiyati reported to the police that she found a half-pig, half-man creature wearing green underwear on top of her. She tried to fight him off before fainting. She is still being questioned by police.
The activities of the mysterious Kolor Hijau creature were first reported in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi, last November. Since then, fear of the green-togged terror has spread far and wide.
Many people believe that creature is actually a man who is involved in a ritual that requires him to rape 100 women to complete his black magic powers. He always somehow manages to escape angry residents.
The fear is palpable in many homes in Ciputat, Pasar Minggu and Kalibata, as well as Depok. Many houses in these areas have yellow bamboo sticks, lontar (palmyra palm) leaves and kelor leaves above their doors. Locals believe that these three items have the power to counter black magic.