“Yudhoyono had never asked MUI to issue any recommendation addressed to Ahok about his alleged blasphemy. It’s defamation intentionally made by Ahok’s team to distract the public’s attention from his blasphemy case,” Democratic Party deputy secretary-general Didi Irawadi Syamsuddin said Wednesday.

Didi called into question Ahok’s team’s move to link the MUI recommendation with Yudhoyono, whose eldest son Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono is competing with the incumbent candidate in the Jakarta gubernatorial election.

Didi said Ahok’s team should provide facts and concrete evidence. “If it’s only a baseless accusation, there should be a legal consequence."

(Read also: Ahok camp says it will not report MUI over alleged bias)

During Ahok’s trial hearing on Tuesday, his legal defense team accused MUI chairman Ma'ruf Amin of having been influenced by Yudhoyono in the issuance of its recommendation, in which the council categorized one of Ahok’s speeches that cited a Quranic verse as “blasphemous”.

In the hearing, Ahok legal team member Humphrey Djemat claimed Ma’ruf received a phone call from Yudhoyono on Oct. 6, who he said demanded the MUI chairman "issue an edict" declaring Ahok’s speech to be blasphemous. Maruf denied all of the accusations during the hearing.

Ahok said that there were too many lies in the hearing and threatened to legally report Ma’ruf to show that there was evidence of Yudhoyono’s phone call to the MUI leader.

In his statement, Didi also lambasted Ahok, who he said was rude to Ma’ruf, a noted religious figure. (ebf)

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