MPR Deputy Speaker Rejects Calls for Scrapping of Blasphemy Law
11 May 2017 13:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) deputy speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid has rejected growing calls for scrapping blasphemy law following the guilty verdict against inactive Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok.
Hidayat said that he and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) do not agree with the plan.
“We from PKS will be the first to reject the scrapping of the article [156a of the Criminal Code on blasphemy],” Hidayat said yesterday, May 10, in Jakarta.
According to him, even with the blasphemy law, there are still individuals who disrespect religions.
He feared that the scrapping of the law would encourage more acts of intolerance against religious followers.
Hidayat Nur Wahid also pointed to Indonesia’s long history with the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). He said that the party was anti-religion and God. He said that the removal of the law will allow the PKI re-establish itself.
LARISSA HUDA