TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has slammed the North Jakarta District Court’s decision to sentence inactive Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok to two years in jail for blasphemy. It sees that Ahok’s remark on a Quranic verse made last year had been manipulated for political purposes in Jakarta election.
"The verdict will tarnish Indonesia's reputation as a tolerant nation," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Bivitri Susanti, a law expert with the Indonesian Centre of Law and Policies Studies, also sees pressing issues in the verdict. The blasphemy charge under article 156 and 156 (a) of the Criminal Code, among others, should be scrapped from the national law, she said. “In my opinion, the use of the articles [to charge Ahok], is a part of the problem itself,” she said yesterday.
Ahok has been found guilty of blasphemy over his speech on the Seribu Islands last year. Presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto used article 156 (a) to convict Ahok and sent him to two years’ jail for blasphemy.
President Joko Widido in a written statement said that legal proceedings have been carried out in a respectful manner. “The most important thing is to have confidence in the existing legal mechanisms,” he said.
He added that the government could not interfere in the legal process.
Former Constitutional Court (MK) chief justice Mahfud MD believed that the government did not meddle in the trial. He said that the government has set a good precedent for law enforcement.
Criminal law expert at the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) Mudzakir said that two year’s imprisonment is a minimum sentence issued by judges in blasphemy cases. He pointed to the example of the verdict in Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) trial.
Separately, the North Jakarta District Court spokesman Hasoloan Sianturi said that the five judges unanimously found Ahok guilty. “I heard that there were no dissenting [voices],” he said.
MAYA AYU | IRSYAN H | ADITYA BUDIMAN | LARISSA HUDA
