No joke: Governor Ahok criticized for serving beer to guests at home

Is serving legally obtained booze to guests in the privacy of your own home illegal in Indonesia? Of course it isn’t – we’re not one of these ultra conservative countries, after all (not yet at least). But when you’re the governor of a city of 10 million, you’re bound to have a few haters who are ready to scrutinize and criticize every little thing you do.

Last Friday, Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama hosted several social media influencers at his home in Penjaringan, North Jakarta. Instead of digging into their discussion, some people on social media chose to highlight the fact that Ahok served *gasp* SEVEN CANS OF BEER to his guests.

Bukan Teman Ahok (“not friends of Ahok”, presumably intended to be the antithesis to political group Teman Ahok) posted the photo above and several more on Facebook over the past few days. The photos are being used as ammunition to criticize Ahok, with many people on Facebook speculating that Ahok and his buddies got hammered on Friday evening… from a couple of cans of beer.

Either these people don’t know how alcohol works, or they’re super lightweights by experience.

In any case, Ahok today didn’t shy away when asked about Friday evening.

“You want wine, beer, syrup, juice – my fridge is full. So if you want beer or anything else, please come visit me at home,” Ahok said, as quoted by Kompas.

However, Ahok said he doesn’t want his guests to drink too much.

“If you get drunk, I’ll smack you. If you just drink one bottle or one can, go ahead,” he said.

We don’t know about you, but Ahok sounds to us like the perfectly hospitable and responsible host.

We wish this story was a joke. It’s really sad that many of Ahok’s critics don’t focus on legitimate criticism of the governor’s leadership or policies. Whether it’s his religion or the fact that he served beer to guests, Ahok will always receive infantile criticism from equally childish haters. At least these people’s views aren’t the reflection of the majority of the people of Jakarta, many of whom have already given their support to Ahok’s independent reelection run in 2017.