Indonesians demand arrest of Christian politician

Originally posted by whodey
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/739087/Muslims-protests-Jakarta-Indonesia-Christian-politician-Koran-blasphemy

Apparently Muslims in Indonesia are protesting that a Christian politician has insulted the Koran and needs to be arrested.

He's the mayor of Jakarta. He cautioned people to beware of people who use scripture to deceive them. In this case he was referring to hardliners - with blatant political motives rather than theological ones (and it may, in fact, have more to do with the mayor's Chinese ethnicity) - claiming that the Koran forbids people from voting for non-Muslim politicians and leaders. If you're genuinely interested in this unfolding story, a very good overview (recorded a fortnight after the demonstration in Jakarta, and about a fortnight ago) is presented as a podcast here:

http://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/talking-indonesia-ahok-race-religion-and-democracy/

Originally posted by FMF
He's the mayor of Jakarta. He cautioned people to beware of people who use scripture to deceive them. In this case he was referring to hardliners - with blatant political motives rather than theological ones (and it may, in fact, have more to do with the mayor's Chinese ethnicity) - claiming that the Koran forbids people from voting for non-Muslim politicians an ...[text shortened]...
http://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/talking-indonesia-ahok-race-religion-and-democracy/

Could he really be arrested?

What percentage of the Islamic population support him being silenced?

Originally posted by whodey

Could he really be arrested?

You should listen to the podcast and/or read some of the articles found at that site.

What percentage of the Islamic population support him being silenced?

I haven't seen a poll specifically looking at opinions about the merits of the blasphemy case against him, but polls relating to the gubernatorial election campaign that he's currently contesting suggest that, while his popularity has taken a hit due to the scandal, he still has strong support (regardless of the professed religion of voters) for his stances on certain issues and his call-a-spade-a-spade and irreverent motormouth style ~ and continues to be in with a good chance in a tight race.

By Jakarta standards, the demonstrations and rallies haven't been particularly big. The actual legal merits of the blasphemy case are unlikely to be as significant (in terms of people's opinions) as are the party political maneuvering going on, the partisanship and identity-assertion of certain hard line groups and factions, the destabilize-the-president subplot, and, of course, the disguised [and undisguised] anti-Chinese Indonesian ethnic prejudice that is in play.