A dark day for Indonesia

Just hours after the Christian governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, was sentenced to jail Tuesday for blasphemy against Islam, thousands of his supporters massed at the Jakarta prison where he was being held. The crowd stayed into the night. Another assembled in front of city hall Wednesday morning to sing in solidarity.

It was a sobering verdict for many in Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country where a syncretic, moderate form of Islam has long held sway. Social media erupted with cries of injustice, anger, disappointment and sadness. The hashtag #saveahok started trending on Twitter, a reference to Mr. Purnama’s popular nickname.

Like the shock that followed the U.S. election, Tuesday’s verdict signalled that something is deeply wrong in Indonesia. And among some it's sparking calls for action.

“Join a political party, start a political movement, do CSR work – it’s not enough to just complain in social media and send flower arrangements, it’s our turn to actually act and do something,” went an email an Indonesian acquaintance circulated just hours after the verdict.

Tuesday’s verdict is different, of course, and can largely been seen as a miscarriage of justice in a country where the independence of the courts has long been in question. But it added to fears highlighted during the election that religious tolerance is under threat amid the growing influence of conservative Islamists.

“He is the governor of Indonesia’s largest city, an ally of the president,” Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono told reporters. “If he can be sent to jail, what could happen to others?” 

Analysts and academics have already begun trying to answer questions about what the case means for politics in Indonesia, what it means for religious tolerance, and for the President, Joko Widodo, a long-time ally of Mr. Purnama. In recent months he's stepped away from the man who once served as his deputy when he was Jakarta's governor, forced to distance himself many say to save his own political future. Following the verdict Tuesday, Mr. Widodo called for respect for the legal process but has offered appallingly little else to indicate support or sympathy for an old friend and effective politician.

It’s hard to know for sure if Ahok would have won the election had the blasphemy charges not existed. He was viewed as a rare clean politician among a sea of self-serving ones, and his efforts to improve the city’s crumbling infrastructure and extend social services to its poor were progressing.

He also considered rude, arrogant and caring only for interests of the middle and upper classes. Critics disapproved of the force and swiftness with which he evicted residents from riverside slums. His efforts to clean up Jakarta’s bureaucracy, while liked by many, also earned him enemies. And, of course, there was the speech he made to constituents last September in which he suggested that his opponents were mis-using a verse in the Koran to dissuade voters from choosing a non-Muslim leader.

Much has been written about what he said, how he said it and how it was widely misinterpreted thanks to an edit video of his remarks that went viral. What matters most perhaps is that the conservative Islamists who had long opposed his leadership of Jakarta saw it as an opening.

In the months that followed, they mobilised hundreds of thousands of people to the streets in protest and pushed for him to face trial for insulting Islam. While Mr. Baswedan appealed to religious sentiments, going so far as to meet with some of the most distasteful Islamists pushing for Ahok’s downfall, Mr. Purnama’s campaign foundered.

He had plenty of accomplishments to highlight. And in surveys the vast majority of respondents said they were pleased with work he had done for the city — even after the blasphemy charges. But if recent elections around the world prove anything, merit alone is not enough to win an election.

That’s what made Ahok’s loss so disappointing for so many. Tuesday’s sentencing to two years in prison -- harsher than the suspended sentence prosecutor's recommended -- adds to the injury. And it's likely to leaving the many minorities feeling increasingly under attack here, wondering further about their place in society.