Indonesia wiretapping scandal Prabowo deepened on Wednesday, as President Prabowo Subianto dismissed his chief of staff, former national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who became a suspect in a wiretapping affair targeting the head of state and senior officials, according to multiple reports. Three police generals have been arrested in connection with the allegations, and a presidential spokesman described facts that could constitute treason, according to a world round-up.
The scandal is one of the biggest crises to hit the Indonesian police, and it tests Mr Prabowo’s alliance with his predecessor, Joko Widodo, according to the same round-up. Reports of additional troop deployments in Jakarta suggest the authorities are treating the situation as a significant security concern, and an Indonesian official reportedly described the alleged surveillance of the president as conduct that could amount to treason.
A surveillance affair at the top of the state
The core allegation — that senior security officials unlawfully surveilled the president himself — strikes at the chain of command in a country where the police and military have historically wielded significant political influence. Mr Prabowo’s decision to sack his own chief of staff, a former police chief he had brought into the palace, signals that the president is treating the affair as a direct threat to his authority rather than a bureaucratic dispute.
What remains unclear is the scope of the surveillance, who ordered it and what it captured. Reports on Wednesday described the affair as a political surveillance scandal, but the identities of all those surveilled, the duration of the operation and the evidence behind the arrests have not been publicly detailed. Treat the treason characterisation as an official’s description, not a charge, until prosecutors confirm charges.
Regional and economic ripples
Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and a pivotal regional power, and a crisis inside its security establishment carries weight beyond Jakarta. The scandal arrives alongside separate pressures — fires ravaging South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan, with flood risks rising in fire-hit regions, according to The Straits Times — that are already stretching the government’s crisis-management capacity. How Mr Prabowo handles the police crisis will shape confidence in his administration’s stability in the months ahead.
