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Rule of mob triumphant
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On camera: Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat address the press during a campaign session at Rumah Lembang in Jakarta on Wednesday. Ahok was named a suspect in a blasphemy case. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
T
he race to City Hall has become more challenging for incumbent candidate Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama after the National Police decided to charge him with blasphemy on Wednesday, less than three months before voting day.
It is uncommon for the police to investigate a regional head candidate during an election season.
Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said police chief circulars issued in 2013 and 2015 actually compelled the force to postpone any criminal investigation implicating an election candidate until the election was over to prevent politicians from using the police as a political weapon.
However, he said he decided to ignore the circulars, given the sensitivity of Ahok’s case. “Considering the highly sensitive nature of the case, I had even ordered the head of the [National Police’s] Criminal Investigation Department [Bareskrim] to begin investigating this case before Oct. 21,” the police chief said, referring to Bareskrim head Comr. Gen. Ari Dono.
The police have faced strong public pressure to resolve the blasphemy case implicating the governor, who has apologized for offending Muslims, but has insisted he did not intend to insult the Quran when he said that some people had been using verse Al-Maidah 51 as a political tool against him.
Tito promised to decide whether Ahok was named a blasphemy suspect within two weeks after thousands of conservative Muslims took to the streets of Jakarta on Nov. 4 to demand his prosecution. The rally, which was the largest in years, was spearheaded by the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI).
True to the promised time frame, the police announced on Wednesday that they would charge Ahok with blasphemy.
Ahok is facing multiple charges under Article 156 (a) on blasphemy of the Criminal Code, which contains a maximum sentence of five years behind bars, and Article 28, point (2) of the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law on promoting hate speech, which carries a maximum six years of imprisonment.
Ari said on Wednesday that the decision was made after learning the outcome of a closed-door case screening session on Tuesday, which involved 17 expert witnesses brought by the police. Ahok and Muslim groups that reported the embattled governor in October.
In total, investigators heard testimonies from 29 witnesses, including eye witnesses Suhari and Suyandi, who were present when Ahok made his comment in Thousands Islands regency, as well as 39 expert witnesses from various fields of study, ranging from criminal law and psychology to linguistics, during the preliminary investigation of the case.
Ari acknowledged that, during the case screening, there had been stark differences of opinion among the 21 investigators handling the case concerning whether to name Ahok a suspect, which he said resulted from the contrasting opinions of experts invited to the session. “However, the majority of investigators agreed that the case had to be continued and brought to court,” Ari told a press conference at the police headquarters in South Jakarta.
Tito said Ahok would not be detained due to his cooperative manner during the preliminary investigation of the case but added that he was barred from traveling abroad.
The police’s decision, while welcomed by some Muslim groups, has been seen as controversial by some human rights activists.
The decision was seemingly made to accommodate public pressure and reduce escalating political tension in the country, Setara Institute vice chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who is Ahok’s former superior in Jakarta, has been courting Muslim leaders to prevent another large-scale rally in Jakarta, which he believes could be used by “political actors” to destabilize the state.
Rumors have been circulating that Muslim groups will stage another rally on Nov. 25, apparently to heap more pressure on the police to expedite the case investigation.
Ari, however, brushed off speculation that the police had bowed to pressure in naming Ahok a suspect in the blasphemy case, saying that the decision was fully based on evidence gathered during the preliminary investigation.
The evidence, he said, included the unedited version of the video of Ahok referring to the Quranic verse handed over by the Jakarta Communications and Information Agency.
Ahok’s lawyer Sirra Prayuna has confirmed that his client would not file a pretrial motion to challenge his suspect status, saying that the incumbent had accepted the decision made by the police.
Sirra said Ahok’s legal team would focus on preparing their pledge for the case, while Ahok would continue to campaign with his running mate Djarot Syaiful Hidayat, who is the incumbent deputy governor.
“We don’t want to prolong the dispute,” Sirra told a press conference at Ahok’s campaign team headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.
Sirra, however, criticized the lack of stern action taken by the Jakarta Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to deal with backlash Ahok and Djarot had faced on the campaign trail.
