REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Basuki Tjahaja Purnama's (Ahok) legal advisor, Humphrey Djemat, accused the Minister of Religious Affairs to disturb the situation at the cooling-off period by commenting on Ahok's statement regarding chosing a leader. Previously, Ahok remarked that chosing someone based on religious beliefs was against constitution. Ahok said it minutes after he got back his seat in the City Hall on Saturday (Feb 11).

Through his Twitter account, Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said, "We are a religious nation who enact religion as a reference in behave. Selecting candidates of governor based on religious beliefs did not violate the constitution."  

Humphrey insisted context of Ahok's statement was as candidate of Jakarta gubernatorial election. "The context was to avoid ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations (SARA) which is against the constitution," he said in a statement on Sunday (Feb 12). 

Beside that, Humphrey said the statement was conveyed before the cooling-off period. "In the other hand, Religious Affairs Minister stated his opinion in the cooling-off period and it could lead to an interpretation of a form of campaign against certain candidates," he asserted.

Humphrey then linked Lukman status as politician from a United Development Party (PPP) led by Romahurmuziy who supported candidate number one in Jakarta gubernatorial election. He said that a minister should be neutral. "We could imagine if government officials give a statement that support one of candidate in the cooling-off period. That's not allowed, it violated the law."

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