TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (BTP), also known as Ahok, revealed the beginning of his jail time at Mako Brimob detention center. He said he was annoyed by everyone after the court sentenced him to two years in prison over blasphemy.

During the detention, the former governor of Jakarta decided to pour his feelings and wrote all activities in a diary book.

“Of course I was angry. Why did the state bow to the mass pressure? I think it was a joke. Suddenly I was thrown into jail. Never in the history of this republic was there an active governor thrown into jail, except he was caught in a sting operation or a thief. I could not accept it,” said Ahok as quoted from Majalah Tempo's February 15, 2020 edition.

The chief commissioner of state-run oil and gas firm Pertamina said he felt like a political prisoner as his movements were monitored constantly, including the movement of his visitors.

“Every time my visitor came, all their details such as their car plate numbers were recorded. My every move was watched. I could feel them, you see. I was treated like a political prisoner,” he told Tempo.

However, Basuki said his anger lasted for fourteen days. “I used to wake up at 2 a.m. I felt my chest tightened, my entire body was hot. I thought I was really stressed out. I tried to find the cause and realized then that I had pent-up anger. I finally prayed, asking for strength to forgive. When I finally let go of my anger, I never woke up again in the middle of the night.”

Today, February 17, Ahok is set to launch his book entitled Panggil Saya BTP in the Ngobrol Tempo talk show to be held at Tempo headquarters. The event will be broadcast live on all Tempo social media accounts and through Tempo TV accessible via Genflix.

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