Buni Yani’s post also hurt city's residents: Ahok

JAKARTA. The Jakarta Police said Wednesday that Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama had told them in a questioning session that the Facebook post of Buni Yani had not only hurt him, but also the city and all of its residents.

In the questioning session held in October, Ahok claimed Buni’s post was a misrepresentation of what he had actually said in his speech, which had led to him being named a blasphemy suspect, Adj. Sr. Comr. Nova Irone Surentu, one of the police investigators, said in a hearing to respond to Buni’s pretrial motion on Wednesday.

Ahok told the police that with many people now considering him a blasphemer, his life has been threatened, and a man once promised to give Rp 1 billion (US$75,274) to anybody who could kill him.

 “[Ahok] also feels that Jakarta and its residents were threatened by the demonstration on Nov. 4, 2016,” Nova said, referring to the mass rally to demand the immediate arrest of Ahok.

Buni filed the pretrial motion to challenge the police’s decision to name him a suspect of inciting religious and ethnic hatred with the Facebook post. He previously claimed that he was just a victim of "criminalization" because he made the post to encourage discussion among his Facebook friends. (Safrin La Batu)