Key facts
- Police chief Suyudi Ario Seto said the wiretap inquiry is law enforcement and unrelated to rivalries, without elaborating.
- Three senior police officers were arrested Tuesday, including former police chief and Prabowo chief of staff Listyo Sigit Prabowo.
- Prabowo sacked Listyo the day after the arrests. Neither the government nor police have disclosed the motives for the wiretapping.
- Lawmakers from PDI-P and three coalition parties are considering a parliamentary inquiry into Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka's eligibility.
- Former president Joko Widodo told reporters he respected the legal process. The vice president's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Indonesian police chief Suyudi Ario Seto said on Thursday, November 5, 2026, that a police inquiry into the wiretapping of President Prabowo Subianto's phone was a matter for law enforcement, according to a Reuters report. "We assure you that this is purely law enforcement and has nothing to do with rivalries or anything else," Suyudi told reporters, adding without elaboration that the arrests must serve as a lesson for the police.
Three senior police officers were arrested on Tuesday, including former national police chief and Prabowo's chief of staff, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, for allegedly tapping the phones of Prabowo and other politicians, journalists, civil society organizations, government officials and business people since 2025. Prabowo sacked Listyo the next day. Neither the government nor police investigators have disclosed the motives behind the wiretapping.
After details of the scandal emerged, several lawmakers said on Thursday they were considering a parliamentary inquiry into Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka's eligibility to serve, following questions about his election credentials. Parties have begun discussions on invoking parliament's right to hold an inquiry, said Hasto Kristiyanto, a senior official with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the largest party in parliament and the only one outside Prabowo's coalition. Three other parties, all within the coalition, were also considering an inquiry, party officials said.
They are following up on Constitutional Court and Supreme Court rulings that Gibran's foreign senior high school credentials did not meet domestic legal requirements for vice-presidential candidates and had been improperly accepted by election officials in 2024. The vice president's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Jokowi told reporters on Thursday he respected the legal process. Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a senior visiting fellow at Singapore's Yusof Ishak Institute, said the inquiry process would likely lead to Gibran's impeachment and that it looked increasingly unlikely Jokowi and Prabowo would mend their relationship. The report said public discontent over costly populist policies has grown and investor confidence in Indonesia's $1.5 trillion economy has weakened.