Suherdjoko, Semarang, Central Java – Around 2,000 people called for the immediate incarceration of non-active Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama during a rally in Semarang, Central Java, on Friday.
Rallying in front of the Central Java Prosecutor's Office on Jl. Pahlawan, the protesters insisted that Ahok was guilty of blasphemy.
Islamic organization Majelis Akhir Zaman chairman Farid Prianggono said Muslims must defend Islam. "[...] Allah says said in the Quran that if you help the religion of Allah, then Allah will help you and strengthen your position on Earth," he said during his oration.
Farid is one of the ustadz (Islamic lecturers) who made a speech and gave a sermon during the rally. Started after the Friday prayer, the rally ran orderly and peacefully. Members of Islamic organizations joined with the Semarang Muslim Forum and ended the rally by holding Asr (afternoon) prayers.
They included the Semarang branch of the Islamic Students Association (HMI), the Central Java branch of the Indonesia Islamic Students (PII) organization, the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI), Pemuda Muhammadiyah, the youth wing of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Islamic organization, and other Muslim components across the province.
The protesters carried posters bearing pictures of Ahok and messages reading "Bring this blasphemy perpetrator to justice" and "Imprison Islam's defamer".
Dozens of police personnel, including police women, secured the rally, which ran in parallel with a mass prayer organized by the National Movement to Safeguard the Indonesian Ulema Council's Fatwa (GNPF-MUI) at Jakarta's National Monument (Monas) Park on Friday. (ebf)