Few accused of blasphemy walk free
Now for some literal oppression and violence:
A court in Indonesia has sentenced the capital’s Christian governor to two years in prison for blasphemy against Islam, in a decision that has cheered Muslim conservatives and crushed the hopes of advocates of a more pluralistic and tolerant path for their nation.
Jakarta Gov. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, nicknamed “Ahok”, had not been expected to do time in jail, as prosecutors had sought only a suspended sentence.
But in Indonesia, few accused of blasphemy walk free. Reuters reports that Ahok was taken to a prison in east Jakarta where, according to his lawyer Tommy Sihotang, he would remain “despite his appeal process unless a higher court suspended it.”
There was no “blasphemy.” Even if you accept the concept of “blasphemy” there was none.
The blasphemy charges relate to comments Ahok made last September. He told a group of fishermen that politicians who tell them that the Quran forbids voting for non-Muslims are lying to them.
“As governor, as a public officer,” Judge Abdul Rosyad said Tuesday “the defendant should have known that religion is a sensitive issue so he should have avoided talking about religion.”
But he was talking about politicians lying about religion. That’s also labeled “blasphemy”?
Critics see Ahok’s fate as tied to a prolonged decline in religious tolerance in Indonesia. With that decline, Harsono says, has come “a rise of conservative forces which use Islam to advocate their political interests.”
The nation’s main clerical group, the Indonesian Ulema Council, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, last October accusing Ahok of blasphemy. Prosecutors later cited the fatwa in their indictment of Ahok. Critics point out that religious edicts have no bearing on Indonesia’s laws.
Islamist groups orchestrated several mass protests against Ahok that convulsed the capital’s streets. On Monday, Jokowi named the pan-Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir as being behind the protests and ordered their local arm disbanded.
Ahok’s sentence bodes ill for Jokowi, whose term as president will end in 2019. “Jokowi is very likely,” Harsono predicts, to be “accused of being the ally of a blasphemer.”
Indonesia used to be cited as an example of a majority-Muslim nation that was relatively moderate and liberal.
So did Turkey.
There’s definitely more than ‘blasphemy’ involved. Ahok is an ethnic Chinese, a member of a group which has been the victim of vicious pogroms, the most recent in the 1960s, and of course he’s a Kuffar. Many Muslims will not tolerate being ruled by a non-Muslim.
Yes, Indonesia and Turkey have been Islamic apologists’ favourite examples of tolerance and moderation, however the ‘tolerance and moderation’ has often been rather precarious for non-Muslims and indeed, for minority Muslim sects. Indonesia’s human rights record is absolutely appalling, particularly in East Timor and West Papua. Australia led a UN peace keeping force into East Timor in the 90s to prevent the Indonesian government-sponsored ‘militias’ from massacring the East Timorese after they voted for independence.
It’s ridiculous to cite examples of ‘tolerant Islam’ in the West where Muslims are a minority, the real test is when Muslims are the majority and then they fail the test every time. Islam is incompatible with liberal democracy.
Over and over again we are encountering more and more stories like this. They just refuse to stop. It will not be surprising if this seemingly impacted rottenness brings down the human race long before global warming has a chance to do its worst.