Ex-Jakarta governor Ahok: out of jail … and into arms of ex-wife’s bodyguard
- Having spent nearly two years in prison on a blasphemy charge after angering hardline Muslim 212 Movement, life is looking up for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama
- The ethnic Chinese Christian, 52, is to marry policewoman Puput Nastiti Devi, 21, and star in a new YouTube channel bearing his initials, BTP
After spending close to two years in jail for blasphemy, Jakarta’s former governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama walked free on Thursday into a new job – and possibly a second marriage.
His spokesman Sakti Budiono said Ahok, as he is popularly known, had left a paramilitary police prison outside the capital with members of his family, avoiding waiting supporters and media.
Reports say the ethnic Chinese Christian, 52, plans to become a consultant to local governments, helping them to navigate the country’s electronic budgeting system, and wed his girlfriend, a 21-year-old policewoman named Puput Nastiti Devi.
Puput is reportedly his ex-wife’s bodyguard from the time he served as governor.
Ahok divorced Veronica Tan after a 20-year marriage in April last year, after a Jakarta court found there was adequate evidence of infidelity by his Tan. The couple have three children and the court has granted Ahok custody of the second and third children, who are below the country’s legal age of 17.