'I Worked for Fitsa Hats': Court Testimony of FPI Witness Becomes First Hit Meme of 2017

Edo Karensa & Lenny Tristia Tambun
January 4, 2017 | 3:02 pm
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Jakarta Governor Ahok at his blasphemy trial in January. (Antara Photo/Dharma Wijayanto)
Jakarta Governor Ahok at his blasphemy trial in January. (Antara Photo/Dharma Wijayanto)

Jakarta. The fourth session of the ongoing blasphemy hearing against Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama on Tuesday (03/01) may have been closed to the public, but this did not stop netizens taking on a member of the Islamic Defenders Front, or FPI, for his bizarre intentional misspelling of fast-food chain Pizza Hut.

Ahok highlighted some points from Tuesday's trial session to reporters after the eight-hour hearing in the auditorium of the Ministry of Agriculture in South Jakarta.

He said Novel Chaidir Hasan Bamukmin, a witness in the case and secretary general of the FPI's Jakarta chapter, claimed to have worked for "Fitsa Hats" from 1992 to 1995 in an official police report.

Novel later conceded that the establishment was indeed United States-based Pizza Hut, prompting Ahok to speculate that he had deliberately changed the name in an effort to obscure having worked for a non-Muslim-led company.

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"He changed the phrasing of Pizza Hut and I laughed at that. He was asked [by the judges to explain it] and later confessed to changing that part. However, he signed that report," Ahok said after the hearing.

"I thought he felt embarrassed since he has a viewpoint which doesn't allow him to be led by an infidel, or someone of a different faith," he said.

"Fitsa Hats" quickly spread as a meme on Facebook and Twitter.

Pandji Pragiwaksono, comedian and spokesman for gubernatorial candidates Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno, posted to his Twitter acount "'Fitsa Hats' might as well be a new brand. It's catchy."

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