September 8, 2025
JAKARTA – Arrests of activists and social media users for posting content on social media that the police allege incited a string of protests and riots in Jakarta and other regions has raised concerns of criminalization of the public’s freedom of expression.
Over the week, the police have arrested more than 40 people as part of their effort to seek “provocateurs” behind the riots in Jakarta last week, which broke out amid public protests against lawmakers’ lavish perks.
The protests escalated in intensity and scale, spreading nationwide, after 21-year-old ride-hailing (ojol) driver Affan Kurniawan was run over on Aug. 28 by a police vehicle and died of his wounds. At least 10 people, including Affan, have been killed, with more than 1,000 people injured as of Thursday, according to figures compiled by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).
Of the dozens arrested, at least 11 people were detained for their social media posts that police allege incited protests and riots.
Among them was Laras Faizati Khairunninsa, a communications officer for an organization affiliated with the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta. The National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) cybercrime directorate accused Laras of “inciting hatred toward certain individuals and groups as well as inciting mass action” through posts and videos on her social media account.
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During a press briefing on Wednesday, cybercrime director Brig. Gen. Himawan Bayu Aji showed screenshots of Laras’ Instagram story in which she said her office is “right next to the National Police headquarters”, while calling for people to “please burn this building down and get them all”.
“The suspect [allegedly] uploaded the content from a location close to the National Police headquarters, a vital national site, which potentially posed a threat [to the institution],” Himawan was quoted as saying by Antara on Wednesday.
‘Anti-democratic’
Laras’ arrest came shortly after the Jakarta Police apprehended six people for allegedly encouraging people, including underaged students, to “carry out anarchic actions” during protests on Aug. 25 and 28 through their social media accounts, said Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Ade Ary Syam Indradi as quoted by Tempo.co.
Among the arrested individuals were rights group Lokataru Foundation director Delpedro Marhaen and staff Muzaffar Salim as well as Syahdan Husein of online movement Gejayan Memanggil (Gejayan calling) that helped organize student-led protests in Yogyakarta.
The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) was also affected online, with the group unable to access its TikTok account since Thursday afternoon and got a notification that the account had been “permanently banned”.
LBH Jakarta’s last post on TikTok was about a solidarity call for the people to keep each other safe and secure amid the recent string of protests and riots.
For years, online activism has fueled protests and further real-life activism in Indonesia.
In 2019, the #ReformasiDikorupsi hashtag amplified calls for the public to join the street protests against the weakening of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The most recent example would be the Indonesia Gelap (Dark Indonesia) movement triggered by President Prabowo Subianto’s decision to reallocate trillions of rupiahs of administrative costs to populist programs such as the free nutritious meal program.
The arrests against Laras and other activists were seen as an act of criminalization and an “anti-democratic” move towards people’s rights to freedom of expression, according to Indonesian Legal Aid Association (PBHI) secretary-general Julius Ibrani.
Nenden Sekar Arum, executive director of digital rights group Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet), considered the arrests a widespread crackdown on anyone critical on the internet against the government.
She further warned these incidents indicated a worrying trajectory where anyone could be targeted over their social media posts.
“People would naturally censor themselves more instead of criticizing the government in the form of memes, sarcasm, satire or other means of online expression,” Nenden said on Thursday.
Independent probing
Dimas Bagus Arya, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), questioned the prosecutorial conduct of the arrests, as the police did not go through preliminary processes such as questioning them as witnesses before naming them as suspects in the case.
Kontras and other rights groups are currently advocating for the suspects’ detention to be suspended. They are also preparing legal assistance for their pretrials should the police do not release them soon.
Jakarta Police spokesperson Ade was not immediately available for further comments.
Read also: Student protesters meet ministers, given no concrete concessions
Several rights activists, including Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid called for the National Police to form a joint fact-finding team to look for potential provocateurs behind some of the riots last week.
The fact-finding team, which should comprise community leaders and experts, could work better to look for perpetrators who damaged a number of public facilities in Jakarta and set ablaze government buildings in other regions.
Acknowledging some of looting and riots as organic driven by angry mobs, Usman alleged some others might be orchestrated by certain parties.
“This is why the police should be showing us,” he said, “the people who actually instigated the riots and damaged public facilities.”