Religion,
power and politics in Indonesia
Although official results are not out until
May, early counts were enough for Anies Baswedan, a Muslim, to give a victory
speech as Jakarta's governor-elect.
He then headed to the largest mosque in
Indonesia to pray alongside the leader of the controversial vigilante group,
the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
His opponent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known
widely as Ahok, and a Christian of Chinese descent, is back in court today to
face trial for blasphemy.
During the campaign Anies Baswedan met a
number of times with FPI - the group leading the mass protest movement calling
for Mr Purnama to be jailed for allegedly insulting Islam. The group's leader
Rizieq Shihab, has been jailed twice before for inciting violence.
He told his followers to vote only for a
Muslim and mosques connected to his group threatened to refuse funerals to
families who didn't obey.
Indonesian youths in a heavily Islamic neighbourhood pray
in the main street after quick count results showed their favoured candidate
decisively ahead of the incumbent on April 19, 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
counts showed Mr Purnama
had likely lost the governorship
Until now the group's main activities have
been raids on those it believes are committing "sin and vice" -
prostitutes, alcohol sellers and people selling food during fasting hours in
the holy month of Ramadan - but in leading the calls for Mr Purnama to be
jailed, the group has raised its political profile and increased its support
base.
"The main reason people voted for
Anies is because he was from the same faith as them, he was viewed as fighting
for Islam," says political scientist Dr Hamdi Muluk from the University of
Indonesia.
"People voted for Ahok because of his
track record, his image as a clean politician who was not corrupt and that he
was a firm leader."
Despite having the world's largest Muslim
majority, Indonesia respects six official religions. And its national motto:
"Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" means unity in diversity.
Anies Baswedan is a respected academic and
a former university rector, who studied in the US under a Fulbright
scholarship, and before the campaign he was widely known to be a moderate
Muslim.
In his victory speech, he insisted that he
is committed to diversity and unity.
"We aim to make Jakarta the most
religiously harmonious province in Indonesia," he said. But many analysts
believe that could be difficult given the groups that he has aligned himself
with during this campaign.
"It was a dirty campaign, it's a
campaign based on religion," says Andreas Harsono, a researcher with Human
Rights Watch.
"It has hurt many people particularly
the minority groups. It's bad news for religious tolerance in Indonesia. He has
made many promises to these hardline groups about enforcing so-called Islamic
codes of social behaviour in Jakarta."
New Jakarta?
During the campaign Anies Baswedan and his
running mate Sandiaga Uno talked about creating Islamic-friendly nightlife,
inspired by Dubai, to replace the current scene that they say involves too many
drugs and prostitution.
But allaying fears that had been voiced
during the bitter campaign Sandiaga Uno told the BBC that they will not enforce
elements of Sharia law across Jakarta.
"I believe in the Islamic economic
system but we will not enforce Islamic law across Jakarta. That is not
something we can do."
While a divided Jakarta tries to come to
terms with the results, Mr Purnama is back in court on Thursday fighting to
stay out of jail.
Jakarta's incumbent governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama
gestures shortly before speaking to journalists in Jakarta, Indonesia, 19 April
2017.
He is on trial for insulting Islam when he
questioned a Koranic verse that has been used by some conservative clerics in
this election to mean Muslims shouldn't vote for a Christian.
Over the last 12 years in Indonesia no one
charged with blasphemy has been acquitted and Mr Harsono thinks Mr Purnama will
also be jailed.
"This will be a very bad message that
the blasphemy law can be easily politicised and easily manipulated in order to
send your enemies, anyone you don't like, to prison."
Mr Purnama was widely accepted, even by his
critics, to be one of the most effective administrators this sprawling
mega-city has ever had.
And before the blasphemy charges he was
predicted to win the election by a landslide.
When asked what he has learnt from the
campaign he laughed and said: "Watch what you say and don't get angry in
public."
He also told his supporters not to worry
too much and referred also to God.
"Power is something that God gives and
takes away," he said.
"No one can achieve it without God's
will. So no one should dwell too much on it. Don't be sad. God always knows
best."
But his supporters took to social media to
express their disappointment.
"The lessons of popularism are stark:
too much power in the hands of ignorance." Another said: "We have
fallen in love with a governor we can't have."
