Delpedro Activist Terrorised While Speaking at SMI Political School
Activist from the Lokataru Foundation, Delpedro Marhaen, is suspected of experiencing terror while serving as a speaker at the Social Movement Institute’s social movement school in Yogyakarta on 2-3 May. The school discussed civil struggles amid the narrowing of democratic spaces and state repression.
Delpedro is a former political prisoner from the August 2025 demonstrations who was freed after the Central Jakarta District Court judges declared him not guilty along with three others on Friday, 6 March 2025. Delpedro was a defendant accused of inciting people to take to the streets during the August 2025 demonstration wave.
The activist spoke alongside lecturer from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Amalinda Savirani, 2025 Chair of the Gadjah Mada University Student Executive Board, Tiyo Ardianto, writer and sociologist Okky Madasari, and SMI activist Muhammad Fakhrurrozi or Paul. The SMI social movement school is part of political education for students and young activists.
Delpedro said the terror against him involved stalking by unknown individuals while he was at his accommodation, the event location, and after the event. There were three unknown people using one car and one motorbike who followed Delpedro on Sunday afternoon, 3 May 2026.
“During the journey, these unknown people kept following,” said Delpedro on Tuesday, 5 May 2026.
Two people riding in the car, said Delpedro, were seen monitoring at a cafe near the accommodation. There were also those who stalked the car driven by an SMI activist returning to the SMI office.
In addition, the accommodation manager provided information that two people had asked about Delpedro’s whereabouts at the accommodation. Besides asking, the two individuals waited for Delpedro. “SMI activists who helped guard said the two went back and forth around the accommodation and the cafe,” said Delpedro.
After leaving Yogyakarta, Delpedro headed to the Magelang District Court to attend the verdict hearing for three activists charged with incitement in the August 2025 demonstrations. While attending the trial until it concluded, Delpedro felt he saw several unknown people documenting his face by taking photos.
SMI founder Eko Prasetyo said that besides Delpedro, SMI activists and one female participant who attended the school experienced terror through WhatsApp messages. The female participant suddenly received threatening WhatsApp messages. The content was: don’t join the discussion with provocateurs, remember you are being monitored. In addition, the participant’s phone was hacked. “She was scared, her body was shaking, and she experienced sleep disturbances,” said Eko.
Threatening messages from the same number also targeted SMI activists. The message read: don’t act like heroes if you want that woman to be safe. So that you are deterred and don’t hold provocative events. Wait a moment longer. Remember.
Eko showed photos of three people with sturdy builds who were monitoring Delpedro and the terrorist messages. The identity of the terrorists did not appear in searches of the number via the Getcontact app.
Eko suspects the series of events is still related to SMI’s activities that often criticise the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic government. Despite frequent terror and intimidation, he emphasised that his organisation will not stop holding political schools.
Head of the Public Information Bureau or Karopenmas of the Police Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, did not respond to Tempo’s confirmation via WhatsApp messages.