Defeated Jakarta governor jailed two years for blasphemy

Jakarta

A YEAR ago, Jakarta's governor Basuki Purnama was riding high in the polls, a shoo-in for re-election and a close ally of his mentor President Joko Widodo.

Now, he is behind bars following a ruling that damages the country's record for religious tolerance, upends the administration's reform agenda and sets the stage for a drawn-out campaign for president at the elections in two years.

In a shock ruling, a five-judge panel in a South Jakarta court said Mr Purnama, better known as Ahok, was found "to have legitimately and convincingly conducted a criminal act of blasphemy".

Mr Purnama, a Christian of ethnic Chinese descent, was immediately detained to serve a two-year prison sentence.

As Indonesia's most important and wealthiest city, Jakarta is the country's economic engine room. And after a heated and religiously charged campaign to elect the city's governor, expectations of a cooling-down period were …