The "Fitsa Hats"meme started when Indonesia's Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama commented about it after his alleged blasphemy trial.
During a press conference, the Governor mentioned that the police investigation stated that the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) Jakarta branch secretary Novel Chaidir Hasan Bamukmin was a former employee of "Fitsa Hats", instead of Pizza Hut.
He assumed that Novel might have been ashamed of having worked for an American franchise, as it was owned by a kafir (non-Muslim). Ahok suggested that Novel deliberately changed the name, given how often he had said that Muslims should not be led by non-Muslims.
When asked about the misspelling, Novel replied that he did not read the report thoroughly. However, Ahok said Novel had signed the page, concluding that he have read all the clauses.
In less than 24 hours after the news, the "Fitsa Hats" meme went viral and topped the local trending topic on Twitter. Some netizens have even started spamming Twitter accounts which displays Pizza Hut's advertisement, with the "Fitsa Hats" hashtag.
According to Novel, the meme, as well as Ahok's joke, is an insult. In his defense, he said that he did not personally write his personal profile for the court's documentation, and that a police officer did. He said it was late at night when he signed off on the document, which is why he missed that typo. Later, he went in person to Jakarta Metro Police Headquarters to file a report against Ahok accusing him of defamation for instigating the Fitsa Hats memes.
"I'm now getting bullied in various ways, including with these memes. This is an insult to ulemas (Islamic clerics)."
