Christian Governor Of Jakarta Jailed In Blasphemy Trial

Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has been found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison.

In November 2016, Ahok quoted a verse from the Quran to prove to his supporters that there were no restrictions on Muslims voting for a non-Muslim politician. Enraged by this, Islamic groups accused Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent, of committing blasphemy and called for a trial against him for mocking verses of the Quran.

Pandering to the Islamists, the government ordered an investigation against Ahok, and he was tried for blasphemy. The trial was adjourned a week before the gubernatorial election.

Contesting as the incumbent, Ahok lost last month's election to challenger Anies Baswedan, who had received an endorsement from several radical Islamist groups including Islamic Defenders Front and its leader Habib Rizieq Shihab. Baswedan had presented himself as an “Islamic candidate” and mobilised the support of the city's Muslim population. Eighty-five per cent of the registered voters in Jakarta are Muslims.

The campaign was marred by ugly incidents, including the case of a deceased elderly woman, who had voted for Ahok, being denied a Muslim burial. A Facebook post by an Islamic activist, which said it would be religiously permissible to gang-rape any woman voting for Ahok, has stirred up a controversy.

Indonesia has also been witnessing large anti-LGBT protests calling for the criminalisation of homosexual sex, and frenzied protests have been whipped up over allegations of blasphemy.

The rise of fundamentalism in Indonesia, perhaps the only Muslim-majority country known to practice relative tolerance to other faiths, has observers worried.