“I apologize to KH Ma’ruf Amin if I seemed to discredit him [when he testified at the trial] as a witness in his capacity as MUI chairman. I acknowledge that he is a Nahdlatul Ulama [NU] elder. And I respect him just like I respect other NU figures like Gus Dur [Abdurrahman Wahid] and Gus Mus [Ahmad Mustofa Bisri] – figures whom I honor and see as models,” Ahok said in a statement on Wednesday.

During the eighth hearing of his blasphemy trial on Tuesday, Ahok’s legal team accused Ma’ruf of bias when issuing a recommendation on the allegations against Ahok.

According to the team, Ma’ruf had been influenced by Democratic Party patron and former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the issuance of a recommendation in which the council categorized Ahok’s remarks in which he cited a Quranic verse as blasphemous.

(Read also: MUI chairman forgives Ahok, calls on NU members to do the same)

The team claimed that Ma'ruf, who testified as a witness in the hearing, received a phone call from Yudhoyono on Oct. 6. The following day a meeting between NU executives and Democrats-backed Jakarta gubernatorial candidate pair Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni took place at the NU headquarters on Jl. Kramat Raya, Central Jakarta. Ma’ruf attended the meeting.

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