Governor jailed for blasphemy
Jakarta’s top politician gets two-year prison term but will appeal against it
JAKARTA // Jakarta’s Christian governor was jailed for two years yesterday after being convicted of blasphemy.
The decision has stoked concerns over rising religious intolerance in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
Muslim hardliners outside the Jakarta court shouted “God is greatest” as news came through that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama would be sent to prison for insulting Islam, a surprisingly harsh punishment after prosecutors had recommended only probation. Purnama, Jakarta’s first non-Muslim governor for half a century and its first ethnic Chinese leader, looked calm when the verdict was announced and said he would appeal against it, as some of his supporters in court burst into tears. He was immediately transferred to jail and authorities said his deputy would manage Jakarta for the final few months of his term. Hundreds of Purnama’s supporters descended on the prison shouting “Free Ahok” – Purnama’s nickname – and shook the prison’s gate.
Purnama, 50, was hauled into court last year to face trial on charges of insulting the Quran while campaigning for re-election, after the blasphemy accusations sparked a series of mass protests in Jakarta led by radical groups and encouraged by his political rivals.
Yesterday’s jail sentence and Purnama’s loss last month to a Muslim challenger in the Jakarta vote, which he had once been favourite to win, has fuelled fears that hardliners are growing increasingly influential and that Indonesia’s much-vaunted tolerant brand of Islam is under threat.
“It’s another big step in the slow decline of religious free- dom in Indonesia,” said Andreas Harsono, Human Rights Watch’s researcher for Indonesia, after Purnama was jailed. The United Nations’ human rights office voiced concern and urged Indonesia to review its blasphemy laws, while the European Union called on Jakarta to uphold its “long-stand- ing tradition of tolerance and pluralism”. Indonesia – Muslims make up 90 per cent of its 255 million population – has a long tradition of pluralistic values and is home to substantial populations of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists. But there has been an increase in attacks on minorities in recent years.
The five- judge panel at the Jakarta court convicted Purnama of blasphemy after a months-long trial.
In announcing the verdict, presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto said Purnama was “convincingly guilty of committing blasphemy and is sentenced to two years in prison” and ordered him to be detained.
Blasphemy carries a maximum jail term of five years in Indonesia but the sentence was a surprise because judges typically follow the recommendation of prosecutors, who in this case had proposed two years’ probation.
Analysts said the shock verdict could be a result of Purnama’s political rivals putting pressure on the notoriously corrupt judiciary to remove him from power as soon as possible.
President Joko Widodo, an ally of the governor, urged people to respect the court’s decision but said that “we must also respect the move by Basuki Tjahaja Purnama to file an appeal”.