Recent Indonesian history would probably be very different if Buni Yani had never posted an infamously misleading video clip, showing then Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama referencing Al-Maidah 51 from the Quran in a speech, to his Facebook account on Oct 6, 2016.
Ahok probably wouldn’t have lost this year’s Jakarta gubernatorial election, he certainly wouldn’t have been sentenced to two years in jail for the alleged blasphemy in that speech, and Buni Yani wouldn’t be facing his own two-year prison sentence for spreading the video.
About a week after Ahok was charged by the police with insulting Islam during that infamous speech he gave to fishermen on Jakarta’s Pramuka Island in September, police charged Buni Yani, a university lecturer who spread a short clip of the speech along with an inaccurate transcript of Ahok’s words, for “spreading religious hatred” under Indonesia’s Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE).
Buni Yani’s trial started in May, shortly after the conclusion of Ahok’s blasphemy trial. Having reached the sentencing hearings today, government prosecutors have demanded that Buni Yani receive a two-year sentence as well.
“We ask the judges to impose a two-year sentence and a fine of Rp 100 million or 3 months of additional confinement,” prosecutor Andi M Taufik said at the trial today as quoted by Detik.
You might be wondering how the government could have charged Buni Yani with spreading hatred when the video he shared directly led to Ahok’s blasphemy conviction. But police argued that Buni Yani has intentionally spread misinformation since his transcript of Ahok’s speech was missing some key words making it seem like Ahok said the Quran itself deceives people, where in actuality Ahok said that people use the Quran to deceive others in the full version of his speech.
Buni Yani and his lawyers requested two weeks to prepare their defense statement but the judges in the case gave them until next Tuesday.
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