Qorry Dellaserra of the Working People’s Association said as the blasphemy case had divided Jakartans into two opposing groups, namely pro- and anti-Ahok, voters had forgotten their responsibilities in advocating for the rights of poor people in the city of more than 10 million.

Citing an example, Qorry said voices defending Jakarta’s poor from evictions had lost out to the blasphemy allegations. “We need not only initiatives. Initiatives without real actions are nothing,” she told a discussion on Wednesday evening.

(Read also: Election watchdog partners with 25 universities to combat smear campaigns)

Qorry encouraged participants at the discussion to form an alternative narrative to the blasphemy issue, which she said was a fight between “conservative groups” and “capitalist bureaucrats”.

“There are no programs [from the three Jakarta gubernatorial candidates] that have touched on the substantial matters the poor are facing,” Qorry said.

She added that even labor movements, which had always been at the forefront of defending the rights of the poor, had also become trapped in the issue.

Citing an example, Qorry said participants of a workers’ rally to protest low provincial minimum wages on Dec. 2 last year, which coincided with a mass rally against Ahok’s alleged blasphemy, eventually joined with the anti-Ahok protest.

Leftist media Indoprogress editor Muhammad Ridha said the issue of people’s equal rights in the city should be raised once again to consolidate action among civil society organizations. (ebf)

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