TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Basuki Tjahaja Purnama or Ahok made a shocking statement amid public support for him to return to politics. The former Jakarta governor said he could not resume his career as a politician.

”My political career has actually ended. The majority of religious people have labeled me as defaming [a religion],” he said during a speech at Roosseno Award IX-2019 held at Roosseno Plaza, South Jakarta, Monday, July 22.

He stopped short of detailing the majority group he mentioned. Ahok, who now prefers to be called BTP, said there was a party who abused the Quran to keep the public from voting him in the 2017 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election. He was then declared guilty by the court and served two years at Mako Brimob Prison.

BTP, who was accompanied by his wife, received an award for his hard work, integrity, and creativity for the public. His former deputy governor, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, also attended the event.

Ahok also recalled several middle-class people, especially mothers, had vented their anger towards him because he divorced Veronica Tan and married Puput Nastiti Devi a day after he was freed from jail on January 25, 2019.

“So, it’s eventually ended. When I was at church, all people seem to look at me like I was a lost person,” Ahok said.

LANI DIANA WIJAYA