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Indonesian authorities are investigating possible treason after announcing that phone conversations involving President Prabowo Subianto may have been intercepted, BBC World reported.
Several senior figures in Prabowo’s administration have been caught up in the case, including his chief of staff, Listyo Sigit Prabowo. Despite sharing a surname, he is not related to the president.
The investigation is unfolding amid what many see as a widening rift between Prabowo and former president Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, who backed Prabowo’s 2024 presidential campaign.
“Listyo’s position, as we know, is actually very close to Jokowi,” Made Supriatma, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told BBC Indonesian. “So now it’s practically said that they’re going their separate ways.”
Four suspects named in the wiretapping probe
Listyo was arrested on Tuesday along with two senior police officers on suspicion of wiretapping Prabowo. The three men are suspected of entering phone numbers, including the president’s, into the police’s official electronic surveillance system, which enables authorities to intercept communications, without following procedures such as obtaining an investigation warrant or case report.
Authorities said the operation was uncovered last week after a police officer provided a tip. They believe the alleged wiretapping may date back to 2025, when Listyo was national police chief.
A spokesperson for the president told reporters on Wednesday that the case could amount to treason because it involved “sensitive information” that could “endanger the interests and sovereignty of the nation”. Treason in Indonesia is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty, although the country has not executed anyone in a decade.
The spokesperson said the motive for the alleged wiretapping remained unclear. Authorities said the alleged operation also targeted politicians, journalists, representatives of non-governmental organisations and businesspeople.
On Thursday evening, police named a fourth suspect, Slamet Uliandi, from the national police criminal investigation unit. Authorities said he was not detained because he was in poor health after suffering a stroke.
Listyo, who was appointed the president’s chief of staff last month, was dismissed from the position shortly after his arrest.
Indonesia has faced other wiretapping controversies involving its leaders. In 2014, devices were found at Jokowi’s official residence when he was governor of Jakarta. Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri said in 2024 that she had avoided using her personal mobile phone number because she was a wiretapping target.
National police chief Suyudi Ario Seto told reporters on Thursday that the investigation was “purely law enforcement and has nothing to do with rivalries or anything else”.
Wiretapping case adds to Prabowo-Jokowi tensions
Many see the case as the latest blow to the alliance between Prabowo and Jokowi, who led Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Jokowi backed Prabowo ahead of the 2024 election, helping propel him to the presidency. Jokowi’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, became vice president.
Two years later, the alliance appears to be fracturing, although neither side has confirmed a rift. Since taking office, Prabowo has shown little interest in advancing Jokowi’s legacy project to build a new capital, Nusantara. Instead, he has directed much of the state’s resources towards his flagship programme of free school meals nationwide.
In personnel reshuffles over the past year, Prabowo has moved many of Jokowi’s allies into new roles, including long-serving finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
Gibran is also facing uncertainty amid growing controversy over the validity of his high school credentials, a requirement for running for vice president. He faces calls to be disqualified from office on the grounds that he was not eligible as a candidate.
The arrest of Listyo, who rose to the top of the police force under Jokowi and is considered a longtime ally of the former president, has added to tensions between the two leaders.
Asked about the wiretapping case after a court session on Thursday, Jokowi told reporters: “We should all respect the ongoing legal process.”
The scandal comes during a turbulent period for Prabowo’s presidency. His free school meals programme is struggling for funding, parts of Indonesia have recently faced the country’s worst wildfires in a decade, and the national stock market is in crisis amid allegations of widespread market manipulation.
Experts say the developments have diverted attention from challenges Indonesians face, including economic uncertainty and environmental pollution.
In recent months, protesters have taken to the streets over issues including toxic wildfire haze, corruption and the cost of living.
“It’s like we’re living in a country on autopilot,” Nicky Fahrizal, a researcher at Indonesia’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, told BBC Indonesian. “Because the way the government operates proves that it’s not the people’s interests that are being pursued, but rather the interests of individual groups.”
