The political intrigue surrounding Jakarta Governor “Ahok” Basuki Tjahaja Purnama’s ongoing blasphemy trial is getting more intense by the day, with a stunning accusation from Ahok’s lawyer that former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman to issue the blasphemy fatwa that led to the criminal charges and massive protests against the governor being hotly contested by both sides.
Some have even compared the real-life political drama to the fantasy TV show “Game of Thrones”. And that analogy became a little more appropriate yesterday after an anti-blasphemy group accused Ahok’s side of employing magic to attack the public prosecutors.
The accusation comes from Syamsu Hilal of the Forum Against Defamation of Religion (FAPA), who made the accusation yesterday while speaking to reporters at the PP Muhammadiyah building in Menteng yesterday.
“We note that there is one person who always sits behind the witness, always. And there are two more [an old man and an old woman],” Syamsu said as quoted by Jawa Pos News Network.
Syamsu said that he suspected the three people he mentioned were attacking the public prosecutors with black magic.
The reason for his suspicion of sorcery? Syamsu said he noticed that the lawyers for the prosecution always seem to be sleepy during the trial sessions recently.
“We are not afraid, but this [black magic] is interfering with the prosecutors and judges” Syamsu said.
Given their concerns, Syamsu said that his group had deployed an “expert” (presumably an expert in magical warfare) named Ustaz Sahal to ward off the sleepy spell attack at the last session of Ahok’s trial on Tuesday.
The FAPA representative said that the presence of Ustaz Sahal seemed to have done the trick, as the prosecutors were not as sleepy as usual he said.
Perhaps magic might also explain how Ahok’s lawyers got proof of SBY’s alleged call asking MUI for the blasphemy fatwa? Given theirs and the government’s categorical denials of wiretapping, it seems as good an alternative explanation as any (and one that might actually hold up in an Indonesian courtroom).
