The four activists, the group’s Medan chairman Khairil Amri and members identified only as JG, NZ, WRP, were arrested between Oct. 9 and Monday for allegedly spreading information that propagated hatred and hostility based on tribal affiliations, religion, race or societal groups (SARA).

In Thursday’s press conference, National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Argo Yuwono said police detectives had discovered conversations in a WhatsApp group of which the four were members, as evidence that the activists had conspired to incite riots.

For instance, JG allegedly said in one of the conversations that members should create a scenario similar to the 1998 May riots that exploded in Jakarta nearing the downfall of Soeharto’s regime, the police claimed.

The riots resulted in nearly 1,200 deaths, with dozens of reported cases of rape and sexual violence against Chinese-Indonesian women, looting of malls and grocery stores and hundreds of buildings, shop-houses and houses set on fire.

“[JG] said ‘make the scenario like 1998’, ‘looting shops and houses of Chinese’ and ‘include thugs in the looting’,” Argo said on Thursday.

According to the police, Khairil allegedly instructed the people in the group to “gather witnesses to pelt the House of Representatives members and police officers" and to send pictures of rocks and the House’s building with the caption “guaranteed as a complete nest of thieves and demons”.

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