Former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has officially divorced Veronica Tan and won custody over their two underage children — the first legal victory for Ahok in a while, albeit a bittersweet one.
The North Jakarta District Court this morning finalized the divorce, which was filed by Ahok due to Veronica Tan’s alleged infidelity.
“The marriage between the plaintiff and the defendant, as legalized in a marriage certificate dated September 17, 1997, is void due to divorce,” said Judge Sutadji, as quoted by Detik.
During their 20-year marriage, Ahok and Veronica raised three children, two of whom are still underage. The court granted Ahok custody of the two youngest children, despite him still being behind bars for blasphemy, meaning that the children will likely be cared for by relatives until Ahok’s sentence is finished next year.
Neither Ahok nor Veronica Tan attended any of the divorce hearing’s sessions.
This is the first time a court has sided with Ahok since his blasphemy conviction in May 2017. Since then, he tried to file a judicial review against the contentious conviction, only to be controversially denied by the Supreme Court last month.