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‘Ahok should not make fuss about my personal background’: FPI leader
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It's personal -- Islam Defenders Front (FPI) secretary-general of the Jakarta chapter Novel Bamukmin makes a press statement on his police report filed against Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama on Jan. 5. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
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slam Defenders Front (FPI) secretary-general of the Jakarta chapter Novel Bamukmin said Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama should have focused on his blasphemy charge instead of making unnecessary comments, including on his personal background.
Novel made the statement after he filed a report to the police against the non-active governor over alleged defamation.
“[Working at Pizza Hut] is my personal background, something he should not make a fuss about. Why should he make a comment about it?” Novel said at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Thursday.
He referred to a growing popular meme called “Fitsa Hats”, which came from Ahok’s comments during a press conference after his fourth blasphemy hearing at the North Jakarta District Court on Tuesday evening.
(Read also: Ahok unfazed by 'Fitsa Hats' police report)
During the press conference, Ahok said, Novel stated in the latter’s investigation document that he was a former employee of “Fitsa Hats", instead of Pizza Hut, from 1992 to 1995. The document was composed on his status as one of the witnesses who reported Ahok to the police over alleged blasphemy related to his speech in Thousand Islands on Sept. 27. With three other witnesses, Novel testified in Ahok’s fourth hearing on Tuesday.
Such a misspelling likely happened by intention, in which Novel attempted to cover the name of the restaurant for being ashamed to have worked in a company owned by an “infidel”, Ahok said in the press conference.
Novel, the advocate team head for the National Movement to Safeguard the Indonesian Ulema Council's Fatwa (GNPF-MUI), an organization that initiated a large scale protest against Ahok on Dec. 2, reported Ahok’s statement to the police on Thursday, saying it was defamatory. (ebf)
