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.
Ahok's prosecutors promise to play fair
Change Size
Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama sits in the defendant's chair at the start of his hearing at the North Jakarta District Court in Jakarta, Dec. 13. Ahok is accused of making blasphemous remarks about a passage in the Quran that has been interpreted as prohibiting Muslims from accepting non-Muslims as leaders. (AP/Tatan Syuflana, Pool)
P
rosecutors have promised to act objectively in their handling of the blasphemy case implicating Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama despite the large-scale public movement urging for Ahok to be arrested and imprisoned.
"There is no intervention in this case. We are only focusing on examining the case dossier. The law shall be enforced for the law's sake and it shall not be affected by crowds," Prosecutor Ali Mukartono said after the first hearing of the trial at the North Jakarta District Court on Tuesday.
Ali said that prosecutors were not affected by the protests in front of the court.
Reading the defense’s objection note, Ahok's lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi said the legal process had been tainted by public pressure seen in two massive rallies in the last three months organized by conservative Muslim groups
Trimoelja said the “trial by the mob” situation had pressured police and prosecutors to accelerate Ahok's legal process without considering prevailing laws.
Responding to the lawyer's statement, Ali said the prosecutors had only carried out their duty in accordance with the law.
“We allow the lawyers to convey their point of view. For us, if the case dossier has fulfilled the formal and material requirements in accordance with the law, we shall deliver the case to the court," he said.
The police named Ahok a blasphemy suspect on Nov. 16, less than two weeks after thousands of Muslims hit the streets to urge the authorities to prosecute Ahok on Nov. 4. (jun)
