Delpedro Presents Defence Statement: August Demonstrations Born from Breached Justice, Not Incitement
JAKARTA – Delpedro Marhaen Rismansyah, the defendant in a case regarding alleged incitement of the August 2025 demonstrations, explained the root causes of last year’s protests.
He argued that the August demonstrations occurred due to public anxiety and not incitement by activists.
“The demonstrations were born from a sense of justice that had been violated. They were not born from incitement, but from genuine social unrest,” said Delpedro during his defence statement at the continuation of his trial at the Jakarta Central District Court in Kemayoran on Monday, 2 March 2026.
According to Delpedro, the action represented an accumulation of public tensions that had been ongoing for some time and could not be separated from the interference of political elites and state apparatus.
He also referred to trial facts indicating that the August demonstrations initially began as peaceful expressions of opinion.
“It must be emphasised that the August demonstrations were initially a public expression of rejection towards the proposed increase in parliamentary allowances,” he explained.
“When citizens were facing economic pressure, social inequality, and difficult daily lives, the discussion of increasing parliamentary allowances was raised,” Delpedro continued.
Subsequently, public anger intensified when footage circulated showing parliament members dancing.
As a result, the wave of public rejection towards the allowance increase grew stronger.
According to Delpedro, for many citizens, this scene became a symbol of the broken empathy between elites and the people.
“People came (to protest) carrying aspirations and hopes. No one came with the intention to die, no one came with the intention to destroy,” he added.
“The rioting that subsequently occurred cannot simply be attributed as a single fault against me as the defendant,” Delpedro stated firmly.
Furthermore, alleged involvement of police officers in the chaos, the mobilisation of certain groups, and the trampling of an online motorcycle taxi driver who was working to earn a living and subsequently died intensified public anger.