The Entry Of Buni Yani To The Ummat Party Is Considered Beneficial For Amien Rais

The Ummat Party logo (Photo: Capture the YouTube official screen of Amien Rais)

JAKARTA - A former convict for the spread of hate speech, Buni Yani joined as a cadre of the Ummat Party. This party is created by Amien Rais.

Buni Yani's entry into the Ummat Party was considered beneficial for Amien Rais as the founder of the party in the form of a shield and golden star.

A political observer from Al-Azhar University, Ujang Komarudin, assessed that Buni Yani's entry would increase the number of supporters of the Ummat Party.

"I see that Buni Yani has many supporters, including 212 line up. Perhaps, the target of the Ummat Party will take the support of Buni Yani's sympathizers", Ujang told VOI, Friday, March 5.

Ujang admitted that Buni Yani had a weakness, namely his status as a former convict. However, this did not harm Amien Rais because the legal case against Buni Yani was not an act of corruption.

"The crime is not corruption, only hate speech for fighting Ahok. So, Amien Rais feels that joining Buni Yani does not harm the Ummat Party", he explained.

As previously reported, Buni Yani said that at first, he asked Amien Rais for advice to contribute to saving the nation after leaving prison. Finally, Buni Yani decided to join the Ummat Party.

"Insyaallah we support the Ummat Party. Hopefully, one day will be blessed by Allah and become a record of our charity and in the afterlife. This is the trail we have fought to uphold truth and justice on this earth", said Buni on Youtube Terminal Amien Rais.

Buni Yani asked Amien Rais whether he was needed to contribute to the Ummat Party. Amien Rais welcomed him warmly. "Really needed, really. The straight-line", replied Amien Rais.

Buni Yani was convicted in a case of spreading hate speech that contained elements of ethnicity, religion, race, and between groups (SARA). The judge sentenced Buni Yani to Article 32 Paragraph 1 and Article 28 Paragraph 2 of the ITE Law, namely making hate speech and editing the video content of Ahok's speech in the Thousand Islands.

Buni Yani was sentenced to 18 months or 1.5 years in prison. He was proven to have committed hate speech by editing the video content of the speech of former DKI Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahja Purnama (Ahok) and was sentenced to be lighter than the prosecutor's demands, namely 2 years in prison and a fine of IDR 100 million, subsidiary to 3 months in prison.

The case began when Buni cut the video of the Governor of DKI Ahok's speech to 30 seconds on October 6, 2016. He also added a caption to the upload on his social media.

Even though the original video of Ahok's speech lasted 1 hour 48 minutes 33 seconds. The snippet of the speech was spread on social media by Buni Yani by editing it so that it provoked the masses to take to the streets to imprison Ahok as a blasphemer.