Jakarta’s Christian governor was yesterday jailed for two years after being found guilty of blasphemy, in a shock decision that has stoked concerns over rising religious intolerance in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Islamic hardliners outside the Jakarta court shouted “God is the greatest” as news came through that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama would be sent to prison for insulting Islam, a surprisingly harsh punishment after prosecutors recommended only probation.
Purnama, Jakarta’s first non-Muslim governor in half a century and its first ethnic Chinese leader, looked calm when the verdict was announced and said he would appeal, as some of his supporters in court burst into tears.
Photo: Reuters
He was immediately transferred to jail and authorities said his deputy would take over running Jakarta for the final few months of his term.
Hundreds of his supporters descended on the prison shouting “Free Ahok” — Purnama’s nickname — and shook the gate of the facility.
The 50-year-old was hauled into court last year to face trial on charges of insulting the Koran while campaigning for re-election, after the blasphemy accusations sparked a series of mass protests in Jakarta spearheaded by radical groups and encouraged by his rivals.
Yesterday’s jail sentence and his loss last month to a Muslim challenger in the Jakarta vote, which he had once been favorite to win, has fueled fears that hardliners are growing increasingly influential and that the nation’s much-vaunted tolerant brand of Islam is under threat.
“It’s another big step in the slow decline of religious freedom in Indonesia,” Human Rights Watch Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said after Purnama was jailed. “If someone of that political stature can be charged and sent to prison, what will happen to others?”
Indonesia, 90 percent of whose 255 million people are Muslim, has a long tradition of pluralistic values and is home to substantial populations of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, but there has been a rise in attacks on minorities.
The five-judge panel at the Jakarta court found Purnama guilty of blasphemy after a months-long trial, in a case criticized as politically motivated.
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 as judges typically follow the recommendation of prosecutors — in this case, they had proposed two years probation.
Analysts said the shock verdict could be a result of Purnama’s political rivals putting pressure on the nation’s notoriously corrupt judiciary to remove him from power as soon as possible.
Despite the trial, Purnama retained a loyal following in Jakarta due to his determination to clean up the traffic-clogged and polluted city, and his supporters rallied outside the court and the prison.
“Ahok is innocent and he doesn’t deserve this — he has done good things for us and the city,” said Sari Puji Astuti, 47, as she fought back tears.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique