Only the most special of occasions calls for tumpeng (the cone-shaped yellow rice dish reserved for ceremonies in Indonesia). For Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s political opponents, the former governor being sentenced to prison for blasphemy was one such occasion.
Following Ahok’s verdict on Tuesday, the above photo, which shows a group of people celebrating Ahok’s imprisonment, went viral on social media. The jubilant people in the group are seen standing behind a dining table holding the victory sign, while a handwritten sign on the table says, “Selamat Ahok di penjara” (Congrats, Ahok is jailed).
Boy Sadikin, who was once fancied to be Ahok’s vice governor before Djarot Saiful Hidayat took the position, and Jakarta Councilman Prabowo Soenirman from the Gerindra Party can be seen in the photo. Both men officially backed Ahok’s rival Anies Baswedan’s campaign in the recently concluded Jakarta election. The rest of the people in the photo were identified as volunteers for Anies’ election campaign.
After the photo became viral online and caused outrage for its distasteful nature, Prabowo verified its authenticity and didn’t even try to hide their elation over Ahok being jailed.
“At first we were invited to a celebration for Anies’ victory,” Prabowo told Kompas yesterday.
“I took part in that photo, and it’s obvious that the outcome of the blasphemy case was one of the justifications for it.”
Prabowo added that the people in the photo represented the delight of Jakarta citizens who had been “wronged” by Ahok while he was governor, such as those who were evicted from slum areas and fishermen who oppose the Jakarta Bay reclamation project.
And perhaps, the photo also represents the delight of the majority of City Council members, who, with Ahok gone, will likely face far less scrutiny over future discrepancies in the Regional Budget. We saw some suspicious dealings between the City Council and the Jakarta Administration with the budget even when Ahok was only away for a few months on a legally mandated leave, so it seems there’s little stopping them now with Ahok gone.
We can only hope that Anies will exercise the same high level of transparency and drive to fight corruption in Jakarta as Ahok did, even if it displeases his political backers.
