TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Metropolitan Police have named Delpedro Marhaen, Executive Director of the Lokataru Foundation, and five other individuals as suspects for incitement. Police allege the group incited students, including minors, to commit what the police have labeled "anarchist acts."
The six suspects are Delpedro Marhaen; Lokataru staff member Muzaffar Salim; Gejayan Memanggil activist Syahdan Husein; Riau University (Unri) student Khariq Anhar; and two other individuals identified only by their initials, RAP and FL.
The arrests were carried out by the Jakarta Metropolitan Police’s Anti-Anarchist Law Enforcement Task Force. "We have named six suspects, and they are currently being questioned or are in the process of being questioned," stated Ade Ary Syam Indradi, Head of Public Relations for the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, during a press conference at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Headquarters on Tuesday evening, September 2, 2025.
Protests and Police Investigation
Police claim the investigation into the six suspects began on August 25, 2025, which coincided with the start of a week-long series of demonstrations in Jakarta and other cities.
The protests were initially sparked by controversy over the large allowances for members of the House of Representatives (DPR), though demonstrators also raised several other demands.
The police investigation is based on a report dated August 29, 2025, and the six suspects are accused of committing crimes in several locations, including in front of the Parliament Building and around Gelora Tanah Abang Stadium.
They are suspected of inciting others to commit crimes; recruiting or exploiting children in events that involve violence; leaving children without life protection; and/or distributing electronic information and documents known to contain false information that incited public unrest.
According to police, the suspects’ actions led to hundreds of people joining the demonstrations. Police added that they arrested 337 demonstrators, most of whom were under the age of 18.
Social Media Evidence and Charges
Police claim to have discovered these invitations on social media. They took issue with posts on accounts such as @gejayanmemanggil, @aliansimahasiswapenggugat, @blokpolitikpelajar, and @lokataru_foundation. One of the posts used as evidence was from the @lokataru_foundation account.
The post included a photo with a message for students planning to protest on August 28, 2025. The post also provided a hotline number for students to report any sanctions they received for demonstrating.
The Jakarta Metropolitan Police considered this post and others to be an act of incitement. "There are accounts trying to encourage these children to come to the field, to protest, and to be protected," Ade Ary stated.
Delpedro and the five other suspects were charged under Article 160 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) and/or Article 45A paragraph 3 in conjunction with Article 28 paragraph 3 of Law Number 1 of 2024 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE Law) and/or Article 76H in conjunction with Article 15 in conjunction with Article 87 of Law Number 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection.
Activist Arrests
Police have recently arrested several individuals who are vocal on social, economic, and political issues.
Delpedro was forcibly taken by police on Monday evening, September 1, 2025, at 10:45 p.m. Jakarta time from the Lokataru Foundation office in East Jakarta.
After he arrived at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Headquarters, his colleague, Muzaffar, was also arrested around 1:58 a.m. the following day in the police cafeteria.
On the same day, police reportedly arrested Syahdan Husein in Bali. Syahdan is an active student activist in the Gejayan Memanggil movement and was also named a suspect by the Jakarta Metropolitan Police.
Earlier, the Jakarta Metropolitan Police arrested Riau University student Khariq Anhar. He was arrested by five plainclothes men at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang.
According to the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD), Khariq's arrest was arbitrary, and he was subjected to violence by the police. He was arrested on Friday morning, August 29, 2025, and questioned late into the night at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police's General Criminal Investigation Directorate (Ditreskrimum) building. His questioning coincided with a large-scale demonstration and an act of arson outside the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Headquarters.
The student was reported to the police and charged under the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law for editing and posting a news article on social media. He had edited a screenshot of an article that contained a statement from the President of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), Said Iqbal, regarding a labor demonstration on August 28, 2025.
According to fellow students, Khariq was vocal on various issues of injustice. TAUD stated that Khariq’s actions were a form of satirical criticism. "He offered an alternative sentence that Khariq felt was more appropriate for a labor union leader, hoping that Said Iqbal would read this criticism," TAUD said in a statement on Monday, September 1, 2025.
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