Rally over Jakarta governor

JAKARTA: Undeterred by the arrest of hardline protest leaders, tens of thousands of Muslims marched in Indonesia’s capital yesterday, calling for the jailing of the city’s minority Christian governor.

Following Friday prayers, the protesters marched from Istiqlal Mosque in central Jakarta to the nearby presidential palace, which was under heavy police guard.

Protests against governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama have snowballed since September when he was accused of blaspheming the Koran and subsequently charged. His trial is still under way. The turnout for yesterday’s protest was relatively small compared with the hundreds of thousands who answered the call of hardline Islamic groups to flood central Jakarta for demonstrations in November, December and February.

Earlier yesterday, Indonesian police said they had arrested Muhammad alKhaththath, the leader of the Muslim Peoples Forum umbrella group, and several other activists for suspected treason. “We are not cowed by the arrest of our leaders,” said a protester who identified himself as Wahyudi. “We’ll keep fighting for the dignity of Islam. There’s no room for kafir to lead in this nation.”

The blasphemy case and the ease with which hard-liners attracted huge numbers of people to protest against Mr Purnama have undermined Indonesia’s reputation for practising a moderate form of Islam and shaken the secular government as well as mainstream Muslim groups. Blasphemy is a criminal offence in Indonesia, punishable by up to five years in prison. Mr Purnama will compete in a runoff election for governor next week against a former cabinet minister backed by conservative Muslim clerics.

A Jakarta police spokesman said activists were arrested yesterday.