TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Campaign team calls on Jakartans to monitor legal process of Ahok's case
Change Size
Staying confident: Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama (on the stage, second right) listens to complaints conveyed by Jakarta residents in an event at his campaign team's headquarters Rumah Lembang in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Nov.16. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A.)
T
he campaign team of incumbent gubernatorial candidate Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has urged all residents of Jakarta to watch the legal process of his blasphemy case closely, which will be settled in court soon.
Campaign team secretary TB Ace Hasan Syadzily said his team was aware that Ahok’s naming as a blasphemy suspect would lead to people stigmatizing Ahok as guilty, even though his trial had yet to take place.
Ace was optimistic that once Jakartans witnessed Ahok’s trial, they would understand that the non-active governor had never intended to commit blasphemy.
“We want all residents to monitor Ahok's trials. With an open trial, it will be prove that Ahok has never intended to insult the Quran or religion [Islam],” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Ahok was accused of committing blasphemy after he cited a Quranic verse in a speech to local residents of Thousand Islands regency on Sept.27.
Ace said Ahok’s campaign team would explain to all Jakartans during its campaign activities that the incumbent governor was not yet guilty although he had been named a suspect.
He said all voters needed to consider Ahok’s performance in developing Jakarta during next year’s Jakarta gubernatorial election instead of making a fuss about blasphemy-related issues. “We will focus on telling residents about Ahok's good work performances,” Ace said. (ebf)
