Jakarta court tries man for blasphemy on virginity
Jakarta court tries man for blasphemy on virginity
JAKARTA (JP): The trial began yesterday of a man charged with
blasphemy over his public statement that most girls in South
Sulawesi's Tana Toraja region have lost their virginity.
The man, identified only as KM, 44, had said that "96 percent
of Tana Torajan female school students have lost their virginity
to tourists" and "those girls mostly are not Moslems",
prosecutors Mohammad Yaman and Tony Montana said in the Central
Jakarta District Court.
The prosecutors said the statement, published in Pelita daily
on April 27 and April 28, was an expression of hostility and a
disgrace to the predominantly Christian Tana Torajans.
"The statement was slanderous because it was based merely on
the defendant's own, or other people's opinions which were
scientifically questionable," the prosecutors said.
KM, who is a haj, made the controversial statement at a
seminar on AIDS which was jointly organized by Muhammadiyah, an
influential Moslem socio-educational organization, the University
of Indonesia and the Jakarta Islamic Hospital.
The statement caused an uproar and massive protests from the
Tana Torajan community.
The prosecutors charged the defendant under Article 156(a) of
the Criminal Code on religious blasphemy. It carries a maximum
penalty of five years imprisonment.
In their rebuttal, KM's defense lawyers argued that their
client did not say a single word that could be considered
blasphemous to a religion in Indonesia.
"That the statement was blasphemous to Christians is the
prosecutors' own conclusion," lawyer Patrialis, who led the
defense team, said.
He said the prosecutors' indictment is inaccurate because it
did not cite completely the article of the criminal code under
which the defendant was charged.
"We urge the court to dismiss the case in the name of the
law," he said.
Patrialis said that the prosecutors should have mentioned more
specifically which part of Article 156(a) of the Criminal Code
they used to prosecute his client.
The trial was adjourned to Sept. 25. (26)