OPINION

Ahok case spreads hate

News, Editorial, Published on 15/05/2017

» The combination of a guilty verdict followed by a two-year jail sentence is the worst court judgement in a long time. The man on the receiving end is the governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known by his nickname, Ahok. He was convicted of blasphemy, one of most nebulous of thought crimes. The verdict makes Indonesia directly exposed to imminent violence of the most destructive kind. And the hatred the court promoted will spread through the region.