via IWOC:
General Situation in Indonesia
On September 16, 2025, 14 individuals were arrested by the Bali Police on charges of vandalizing buildings and vehicles in the area of the Bali Police Headquarters and the Bali Regional Representative Council during the August 30 demonstration.
Since September, 288 people have been arrested for the August uprising in Surabaya, East Java. Some of whom have been released in poor condition, since the police tortured them badly for three days. This leaves around 80 people remaining imprisoned in Surabaya, including approximately 30 accused anarchists there. This week, some of them will undergo their first trial. The case in Surabaya is particularly sad because many of those arrested are ordinary people, such as workers or online motorcycle taxi drivers who happened to be in the vicinity of the riots. Some were simply watching the riots but were then arrested sporadically. Although they were eventually released in a battered state, some of their property, such as their cell phones, was not returned by the police/ Motorcycle taxi drivers did not even get back the motorcycles they used to make a living.
In addition, the police continue to arrest anyone proven to have been involved in the August demonstrations, especially students and activists in various cities. This time, they involved infiltrators in the Movement to map out arrest targets. As a result, many people are paranoid and suspicious of each other.
This also reveals the fact that power is fragile and unstable, as the political crisis that already existed within the state’s power structure was exacerbated by the impact of last August’s riots. The ruling elites, divided into two major blocs, blame each other and strengthen their respective forces. As a result, various new repressive laws, such as the revision of the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP) that expands the authority of the police, have been passed in the interests of power and to quell potential threats. This explains why sporadic arrests of civilians continue to this day. On January 2, 2026, the KUHAP law will kick in, this will give the police more leeway to arrest people without solid evidence upfront (especially in the early ‘inquiry’ phase before a crime’s fully confirmed). Critics are saying it will lead to more arbitrary arrests and police overreach, like more searches and detentions without any strong checks. It is suspected that this law will be used to crackdown on the remaining anarchists and non-conformers. There’s considerable hostility building against the repressive law change.
On December 23, 2025, an individualist anarchist was arrested in Makassar, his name is Amal. Amal is being held at the police station in Makassar until January 12, 2026. He is accused of burning down a police station in Makassar five years ago. It’s through an investigation based on information from a suspected informant/infiltrator, according to the files. Amal was arrested at his home. An hour later, the police raided a discussion forum on the environmental crisis held in a collective space called “Munisipal Kongsi Dagang”. The name of the event was ‘Prelude to a Disaster’. The pretext was a drug raid, but in fact they were taken to be witnesses against Amal and later released.
Update of the prisoner’s conditions in the ‘Chaos Star network’ case:
As of December 23, 2025, there are only two anarchist prisoners from “Chaos Star” remaining in the West Java Regional Police detention center: Eat (Reyhard Rumbayan) and Dena a.k.a Apip a.k.a Scoobydoomz.
Dena was recently arrested on November 20 by Densus 88 in Bali (Special anti-terrorism/anti-Makar squad. Makar is an Indonesia term meaning to overthrow the state). The arrested comrades were sent to the West Java Regional Police Headquarters as the focal point of the investigation into the “Chaos Star” group. Meanwhile, the other 42 prisoners have been transferred to the prosecutor’s detention facility (Kebon Waru prison) in preparation for their court hearings. 24 of them have already begun their trials, including:
M. Subhan Abdul Ghoni
Eli Yana
Muhammad Vanza Alfarizy
Very Kurnia Kusuma
Muhammad Rifa Aditya
Joy Erlando
Muhammad Jalaludin
Jatnika Alan Ramdhani
Ariel Octa Dwiyan
Angga Friansyah
Putra Rizwan Annas
Wanda Abdul Rahman
Wawan Hermawan
Reyhan Fauzan Akbar
Arfa Febrianto
Rizal Zhafran
Muhibuddin
Muhammad Zaki
Arya Yudha
Rifa Rahnabilla
Marshall Andy Kaswara
Yusuf Miraj
Deni Ruhiyat
Rizky Fauzi
All of them were accused of assaulting police officers and committing violence in public under Articles 170 (violence in public), 214 (collective resistance), and 406 (destruction of another person’s property) of the Indonesian Criminal Code. Most of these prisoners are ordinary people who have no connection to anarchist-individualists/nihilists, victims of arbitrary arrests by the police and trials without access to their own lawyers.
Send solidarity post to the anarchist detainees in Kebon Waru prison, English language or Bahasa Indonesian:
[Name]
JI. Jakarta No.42-44,
Kebonwaru, Kec. Batununggal,
Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat
Indonesia
Write to Eat and Dena*
[Name]
Jl. Soekarno Hatta No.748,
Cimenerang, Kec. Gedebage,
Kota Bandung,
Jawa Barat 40292,
Indonesia
Palang Hitam/Anarchist Black Cross
We urgently need financial solidarity to continue prisoner support activities and to secure commercial lawyers for the defendants. Please contact IWOC, Dark Nights or recognized long-running ABC groups to donate.
* Since this article was published Dena and Eat will have been moved prisons. Their current location is unknown at present.