Ahok Judicial Review Not Related to Presidential Candidacy

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Basuki Tjahaja Network founder Jack Lapian guarantees that there is no political motive driving Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) in filing for a judicial review. Jack also denied rumors suggesting that Ahok intends to enter the 2019 Presidential Election.

“I heard it directly from Ahok’s most trusted person, he will extremely reluctant to run for president,” he said February 27. According to Jack, Ahok’s judicial review is purely a legal effort.

As previously reported, Ahok filed an application for a judicial review into his two-year sentencing to the Supreme Court on February 2.

Read: Ahok Victim of Hate Politics Amnesty International Says

The assessment hearing of Ahok’s judicial review has been held at the North Jakarta District Court since Monday, February 26. North Jakarta district court Judge Mulyadi passed Ahok’s file to the Supreme Court.

Secretary-General of the Muslim’s Forum (FUI) Muhammad Gatot Sentono suspects that there is a hidden agenda behind Ahok’s judicial review. He suspects that it would be a way for Ahok to run as a candidate in the 2019 Presidential Election.

Gatot views that Ahok would not bear the status of a convict if the Judicial Review gets granted. “Ahok would freely walk to the [Presidential Palace]. He would run for President or Vice President in 2019,” said Sentono in Central Jakarta on Saturday, February 24.

M Rosseno Aji