Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama - Veronica Tan (JP)

Former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama officially ended on Wednesday his 20-year marriage with Veronica Tan without much drama after the North Jakarta District Court granted his divorce petition.

Ahok filed the petition to the court on Jan. 5 and demanded the custody rights of their three children over an allegation of infidelity on Veronica’s part.

“We have decided the marriage bond will be cut off with all the legal consequences,” presiding judge Sutaji told the court.

The judges also granted Ahok custody of the former couple’s youngest children, Nathania Berniece Zhong, 17, and Daud Albeener Purnama, 9.

Their first child, Nicholas Sean Purnama, 19, will determine his own custody status because he is over 17 years old.

“We are happy with the judges’ decisions [to grant the divorce] and to grant custody rights to Ahok to take care of two of his children,” Ahok’s lawyer Fify Lety Indra, who is also his sister, told reporters after the final
hearing.

Judge Ronald Salnofri Bya said that even though the births of their three children were proof of a loving marriage, Ahok had noticed changes in Veronica’s behavior and so the relationship turned sour.

“When one of the couple’s children, Nicholas, was sick, the defendant insisted on going to a choir instead of taking care of him,” he said while reading the plaintiff’s petition.

“That was when Ahok felt that there was something wrong in their marriage,” he added.

Ronald said the plaintiff had obtained evidence of Veronica’s alleged infidelity in the form of her correspondence with a man named Julianto Tio.

Veronica allegedly tried to hide the identity of Julianto by writing his contact name as “Medan Elang” on her phone, he said.

He said Veronica and Tio often spoke to each other in Hokkien, which Ahok could not understand.

Ahok, through a priest as a mediator, had tried to persuade Veronica to cut ties with Julianto. The former couple’s children had also attempted to persuade their mother to cut ties with Julianto but to no avail, prompting Ahok to file the divorce petition, he said.

The judges said they found adequate proof of Veronica’s infidelity and that she had neglected her duties as a wife by having an affair with Julianto.

The decision to file for a divorce, Fify said, was difficult for Ahok, who made up his mind to go through the legal process after seven years of suspicion.

Fify added that Ahok’s relatives had not been aware about a possible divorce until he decided to tell his siblings.

“Nobody wants to get married only to get divorced after,” Fify said.

Sutaji said that because the former governor was still serving his two-year prison term at the Mobile Brigade Command detention center (Mako Brimob) in Depok, West Java, Veronica would take care of the children before transferring two of them to Ahok once he was released.

According to the court, Veronica, who was absent from all hearings, was not appointed a lawyer to represent her. As such, she is obliged to pay Rp 476,000 (US$33.32) in legal fees.

Meanwhile, according to Nathania’s Instagram account, Veronica was seen on vacation abroad along with her two youngest children.

Nathania posted a photo of herself, her mother Veronica and her younger brother Daud on her Instagram account @nata.decoco17 on Tuesday with the location tagged to London. (ami)

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