Regretfully, Yahya Waloni Asks The Judge To Delete His Lecture

JAKARTA - The accused of hate speech and blasphemy, Muhammad Yahya Waloni, asked the South Jakarta District Court to cooperate with the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) to delete the content of his video lecture.

Yahya did not want his video lectures containing hate speech and blasphemy against religion to circulate on social media.

"I appeal to the honorable judge, all of my video content is related to the offense and has hurt and has hurt the feelings of my Christian brothers and sisters, please cooperate with Kominfo to be removed," Yahya said when conveying his defense verbally in a virtual hearing of the prosecution, at the South Jakarta District Court, Tuesday, December 28.

Yahya Waloni after being charged by the public prosecutor (JPU) with seven months in prison and a fine of Rp50 million with a subsidiary one month in prison, accepted the prosecutor's demands, and submitted a verbal defense (pleidoi).

In his defense, the Manado-born speaker admitted his actions, regretted it, and promised not to do it again. Ready to undergo all forms of punishment that will be imposed on him.

The man who graduated from S-3 admitted that he made mistakes, uttered hate speech, and contained elements of ethnicity, religion, race, and intergroup (SARA) that were conveyed in religious lectures uploaded on social media, not from him who was raised with proper education.

"After I heard, saw, and was made aware by the Criminal Investigation Agency, I felt that it was not me who spoke, I felt stupid, I felt that I was an uneducated person," he said as reported by Antara.

According to Yahya, the prison became a university that gave him more education about the meaning of diversity and respect for inter-religious adherents.

Yahya admitted that his actions had violated public ethics, Pancasila ethics, violated the ethics of the 1945 Constitution, and even Bhinneka Tunggal Ika.

While imprisoned, Yahya said, he realized one thing, when he became an imam in prison, became a preacher in prison, and led the people in prisons filled with various layers of society with various kinds of diversity and religions. "And they are happy with me, even I just realized the meaning of togetherness, tolerance for diversity, it was precisely the mistakes I made," said Yahya.

Yahya promised that after being released from prison, he would return to being a lecturer who supports government programs and police programs to maintain unity and integrity among religious people in Indonesia.

He also promised not to get involved in politics, not wanting to be contaminated with various political issues. "Because I don't deserve as a preacher to live and be ridden with political interests," said Yahya Waloni.