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JAKARTA, Indonesia – Thousands of Muslim hardliners protested in Jakarta Friday, October 14, demanding the Indonesian capital’s Christian governor be executed for allegedly insulting Islam, as he faces an increasingly tight election race.
Demonstrators wearing white Islamic robes and skullcaps rallied outside city hall in the capital of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, waving banners that read: “The blasphemer must be prosecuted.”
Police spokesman Awi Setiyono said about 5,000 people attended the protest.
The protest was triggered by accusations Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known by his nickname Ahok, insulted Islam by criticizing opponents who used Koranic references to attack him ahead of the February polls.
“Ahok must be executed. According to Islamic teaching, he must be killed,” Emed Muhammad, a hardline opponent of the governor, told the cheering protesters.
“Jakarta is now being governed by an infidel, but Indonesia has the biggest Muslim population.”
Others from the crowd also yelled, “We want a Muslim governor. Burn Ahok!”
The leaders of the demonstration also entered the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department during the demonstration to speak to the police, to demand they investigate the case.
The Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI), which led the protests, vowed the crowd will return and take to the streets again if the police don’t investigate Ahok immediately.
Earlier, Ahok apologized saying he had no intention to insult Islam but his apology apparently failed to quell the anger among some hardline Muslims.
On October 13, Ahok said that he is ready to face an investigation by the National Police’s criminal investigation unit over alleged blasphemy.
Blasphemy?
Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed around city hall to ensure the rally did not get out of hand.
“We want the government, especially the president, not to interfere the investigation on this religious defamation done by Ahok, because Ahok was debasing Al-Quran and even the clerks,” Awit Masyhuri, secretary general of FPI, told Rappler.
Another protester, Goben, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, said “the statement Ahok made could hurt Muslims,” emphasizing that Ahok should face the music for what he did.
In his controversial remarks last month, Ahok told a crowd they had been “deceived” by his opponents who used a Koranic verse to try to put them off voting for a Christian.
“You are being fooled,” he said.
Ahok, Jakarta’s second Christian governor and the first from Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese community, has won huge popularity with his no-nonsense style and determination to clean up Jakarta, an overcrowded, disorganized and polluted metropolis.
But his tough-talking style, unusual for a politician in Indonesia, has alienated some and he has also faced constant opposition from hardline Islamic groups, who protested for weeks when he became governor two years ago.
Ahok still remains the favorite to win the election but the race has heated up in recent weeks with two other candidates, the son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a popular ex-education minister, declaring they will run.
He became Jakarta governor in November, 2014, but was not elected to the post. He was deputy governor and automatically became governor after incumbent Joko Widodo was elected Indonesian president. – Rappler.com/with reports from Zachary Lee
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