The controversy surrounding Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s blasphemy case has created a huge divide between his supporters and his critics. To his fiercest critics, anybody who supports Ahok must be a non-Muslim (or a hypocrite), while some of Ahok’s supporters think all who stand against him must be Muslim. Of course, neither of these stereotypes is correct.
One Ahok supporter allegedly became a victim of this black-and-white way of thinking on Saturday morning when a group of female Ahok supporters, who call themselves “Gadis Ahok” (Ahok’s Girls) went to a traditional market in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta to promote the incumbent governor’s campaign.
Ela Nofita Sari, a Gadis Ahok member who also wears a hijab, was allegedly confronted by a merchant at the market who questioned her commitment to Islam because she supports a non-Muslim candidate for governor. A video of Ela’s encounter with the man has gone viral after it was posted on Facebook by another Ahok supporter, Harri Baskoro Adiyanto.
The audio in the above video is unclear and out-of-sync, but in another video, Ela explained to other Gadis Ahok members that the man was skeptical of her being a Muslim and accused her of only wearing the hijab as a ploy by Ahok’s campaign to appease Muslim voters. According to Ela, the man repeatedly kept pestering her to recite the Shahada (Muslim profession of faith) as well as to name the foundations of Islam, which she eventually did in a calm manner even though he was filming her using his phone the entire time.
After proving that she is a Muslim, Ela said she told the man that he was impeding her freedom to be a peaceful member of society, which in itself is un-Islamic behavior. She said the man eventually backed away after she urged him to simply not vote for Ahok if he was so against him.
Of course, the actions of that one man do not reflect the views of the majority of Ahok’s opponents, many of whom genuinely believe they are simply defending their faith from attack. But the way he attacked Ela’s religious faith based on her political beliefs it is yet another disturbing example of how hardliners like FPI are spreading intolerance, cloaked in religion, for political gain.
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