Jurnalisme Global

Daniel Vieri Fernando / 2016-022-061

Ahok, Jakarta's former governor, released after jail term

for blasphemy
Jakarta’s former governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, best known as “Ahok”, has been
released from prison after serving out his controversial two-year sentence for insulting
Islam.The Indonesian politician was controversially jailed in May 2017 after a court
found him guilty of blasphemy for a comment he made while campaigning for re-
election.Last year a movie documenting his life, “A Man Called Ahok” was released in
Indonesian cinemas, igniting rumours he plans to resume his political career upon his
release.He walked free from the high-security Mako Brimob detention facility in Depok,
West Java, early Thursday morning after receiving more than three months’ in
remissions.

Ahok – who in a recent letter from prison asked his supporters to refer to him by his
initials “BTP” rather than his Chinese nickname – was met by outside the prison
by supporters clad in red, blue and white shirts, chanting “BTP, BTP, BTP”.

The jailing of the former governor – who an anomaly in Indonesian politics as a

minority Christian and Chinese – was widely condemned by rights groups, with critics
saying the sentence was a blow to religious tolerance and free speech, while others
suggested the Indonesian judiciary had succumbed to mob rule.Doctored footage of
Ahok’s comments – which made it appear he had directly insulted the Qur’an rather
than the conservative Islamic clerics citing it – spread quickly in 2017, sparking huge
Islamist-inspired political protests that have had a lasting impact on the politics of the
world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

Often considered abrasive, in an interview with the Guardian he once jokingly referred
to himself as the “Godfather of Jakarta”. During his time in prison Ahok has kept a low
profile.