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Former Indonesian Christian governor loses blasphemy appeal
Sydney Morning Herald - March 27, 2018
The ruling could prompt a rise in the use of blasphemy laws by conservative Muslims to target liberal Muslims and non-Muslims, according to Human Right Watch Indonesia's Andreas Harsono.
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, widely known as Ahok, was jailed in May last year in a case that grabbed worldwide headlines.
Ahok had served as deputy governor to Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and took over the governorship of Indonesia's largest city in 2014 when Mr Joko was elected president.
A political maverick, Ahok was widely popular with local residents, but became a target for conservative Islamic groups who argued he had blasphemed by suggesting that some Muslims were "deceived" by verse 51 of the fifth chapter of the Koran, which some interpret as prohibiting Muslims from living under the leadership of a non-Muslim.
A spokesman for the Court, Suhadi, confirmed to Fairfax Media the panel of three justices, chaired by Artidjo Alkotsar, had rejected Ahok's request for a judicial review of his sentence. He will now serve the remaining one year and two months of his sentence.
Harsono said that if Indonesia, a majority-Muslim nation of about 260 million people, wanted to protect democratic values, religious freedoms and pluralism then the blasphemy laws should be scrapped.
"This ruling means that the blasphemy laws can be used by conservative Muslim groups for political purposes to target their nemeses, including non-Muslims and liberal Muslims," he said.
"About 76 per cent of all countries in the world do not have or enforce blasphemy laws, but in Indonesia it is being enforced more and more."
Harsono said the laws, which were introduced in 1965, were only used eight times in the 40 years until 2004.
But in the decade after the election of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as president in late 2004, there had been 89 cases brought to court and 89 people jailed for blasphemy. Under his successor Jokowi, another 17 people had been jailed for blasphemy.
"It's what we call a 'rubber law'," Harsono said, referring to the potential for the law's wide application and its subjectivity, "but the problem is, God can't testify in these cases".
University of NSW lecturer Melissa Crouch, an expert in Indonesia's blasphemy laws, said the court's decision to reject a reduction in Ahok's sentence was unsurprising.
"We are clearly seeing in the lead up to local elections this year, and the presidential election next year, that religion is becoming more prominent. Parties are using it to gain voter support," she said.
"It's a difficult situation. Rather than candidates' track record and policies, the overriding concern is religion and religious affiliation."
Both Ahok, a Christian who is also ethnically Chinese, and Jokowi – who is a Muslim – have come under attack from political opponents and conservative religious groups over matters of faith in recent years.
Harsono also pointed out that Buni Yani, the man who selectively edited and distributed the video of Ahok's comments that provoked such outrage and prompted huge anti-Ahok rallies by groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), was subsequently found guilty of spreading hate speech.
Buni was sentenced to one and a half years jail but he is appealing that sentence.
The two largest Islamic organisations in Indonesia, the Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), have previously said they have no problem with a Muslim voting for a non-Muslim.
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