Governor Basuki Parnama is one of the only Christian politicians in Muslim majority Indonesia. Right now he is up for re-election, and some Muslim clerics were telling their people Allah will send them to hell if they vote for him. Governor Parnama responded by quoting the Koran. Never missing an opportunity, Muslim demogagues accused him of “blasphemy” and now over a hundred thousand Muslims are protesting and demanding his imprisonment:
Having concluded their investigations, Indonesian police have now named Jakarta’s ethnic Chinese Christian Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama a suspect in a blasphemy case. The case that has produced virulent protests will now to go trial.
Islamic fundamentalists are now demanding he be arrested and incarcerated, as is normally the case with blasphemy suspects in Indonesia.
As tensions soar, debate swirls around whether the charge is political or religious. Ahok himself is certain he is not guilty of blasphemy. Not wanting to blame Islam, he maintains the charge is purely political and is confident that any testing of the charge will see him acquitted.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s fundamentalist Islamic clerics are certain Ahok has indeed blasphemed, giving them exactly what they were looking for: a means of removing him from the gubernatorial race. (source)
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Police estimate around 200,000 people converged on Jakarta’s main square Friday for noon prayers.
Islamist groups, NGOs, students and ordinary citizens came from Jakarta and other cities and towns outside the capital.
Protesters chanted “jail Ahok,” and called for him to be detained while the blasphemy case is ongoing.
“It’s not about ethnicity or religion,” a protester called Agus told CNN. “It’s only this one person who needs to be brought to trial.”
“It’s a matter of what he has done,” he said.
Supporters of Ahok gathered Friday outside his headquarters to pray for him, according to a statement from the campaign team.
The accusations of blasphemy surround Ahok’s quoting of a Quranic verse in a stump speech.
He is currently standing for re-election as governor, and has faced attacks on his Christian faith, with some opponents claiming that Muslims were forbidden by the Quran to vote for him.
In a speech last month, Ahok quoted a verse from the Muslim holy book and said that people had been “lied to” by those saying they would go to hell for voting for him. There was widespread outrage after an edited video of his speech went viral. (source)
The only reason they are not calling for his execution is because Indonesia doesn’t allow execution on blasphemy charges for now.
Governor Parnama is in Jakarta, which is the capitol of Indonesia. In many other parts of Indonesia, Muslims are pushing for Shariah Law. This is most infamously in Banda Aceh, where public canings for minor crimes are commonplace and Muslim activists are pushing for full-scale implementation of Islamic law like in Saudi Arabia and much of Pakistan:
Muslim woman being caned publicly for dating
Let this be a lesson to all about the deceit of Islam. It will never miss an opportunity to distort or use your words or anybody else’s to promote Islam, as they see themselves at war with the rest of the world. Mohammed himself said, “War is deceit,” and the supporters of Islam will deceive as much as they need to for the “cause of Allah.”