Jusuf Kalla Tracks Editor and Distributor of Edited Sermon Video at UGM
Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated that his team is tracking the editor and distributor of a video containing excerpts from his sermon at the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Mosque. He has mobilised an Information Technology (IT) team.
“(Tracking?) Yes, there is a team tracking it. An expert team,” said JK, as Jusuf Kalla is known, at the JS Luwansa Hotel, South Jakarta, on Tuesday, 21 April 2026.
JK has asked the IT team to investigate the first party that edited and cut the video of his UGM sermon. He also requested the IT team to track the distributor of the video. “Who started inserting that sentence? The 50-second one. Who circulated it?” he said.
In addition, JK has asked the police to find out who created and distributed the video. JK does not want to speculate on who the perpetrator behind the video distribution is.
This morning, JK invited several figures from the Malino I and Malino II Agreements to the JS Luwansa Hotel, South Jakarta, on Tuesday, 21 April 2026. JK wants to provide clarification on the content of his UGM sermon from some time ago. “I invited the gentlemen, friends from Ambon and Poso, to give us all understanding,” he said.
On 5 March 2026, JK touched on the Poso and Ambon conflicts during a sermon at the UGM Mosque. JK’s sermon resulted in a police report by the Indonesian Christian Youth Movement (GAMKI). GAMKI accused JK of blaspheming Christian teachings. They took issue with the phrase ‘syahid’.
Previously, the Central Board of the Indonesian Christian Youth Movement (DPP GAMKI) and several other organisations reported the former vice president, Jusuf Kalla, to the Metro Jaya Regional Police regarding his sermon at the Gadjah Mada University Mosque in March 2026. Their reports were registered under numbers LP/B/2547/IV/2026/SPKT/POLDA METRO JAYA, LP/B/2546/IV/2026/SPKT/POLDA METRO JAYA, and LP/B/2550/2026/SPKT/POLDA METRO JAYA, dated 12 April 2026.
GAMKI General Chairman Sahat Martin assessed that JK’s statements in that forum caused controversy and unrest. “We reported it to the Metro Jaya Regional Police so that these statements, which have caused uproar in society and on social media, can be directed and then resolved legally,” he stated in a written release on Monday, 13 April 2026.
General Chairman of the Central Board of Catholic Youth Stefanus Asat Gusma assessed that the sentence uttered by JK in that forum was not in accordance with Christian and Catholic teachings. His side took issue with the phrase ‘syahid’ used by JK regarding conflicts that touched on religion, including in Poso and Ambon.
According to Stefanus, his religious teachings do not recognise violence or murder against fellow humans. “Our hope, as national figures, that Mr JK responds to this well, at least by giving an open statement, apologising, and clarifying everything,” he said.
JK denied that. He said the content of his sermon at the Gadjah Mada University Mosque in March 2026 about the Poso and Ambon conflicts was not intended to offend Muslims or Christians. “It was just one or two minutes that I spoke about religious conflicts, including Ambon-Poso. I did not talk about dogma,” he said at his residence in South Jakarta on Saturday, 18 April 2026.
JK stated that in the sermon, he did not intend to corner any religion. According to him, both Islam and Christianity do not teach violence. However, in the context of the Poso and Ambon conflicts, the parties mutually used religious legitimacy to justify violence. “No religious teaching justifies killing each other, that is what I conveyed,” he said.
Furthermore, JK said the use of the term syahid in his sermon at that time was intended to suit the audience in the mosque. He compared it to the term martyr in Christian teachings. Both terms, according to him, have the same meaning, namely dying for defending religion.
JK stated that his statements in the sermon were intended to remind that religion should not be used as a tool for conflict. He described the brutality of the violence that occurred in Poso and Ambon at that time. “There were 7,000 people who died in three years, that was due to conflicts that dragged religion into it,” he said.