T

he National Police will not investigate alleged wiretapping and eavesdropping committed against Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo unless someone reports the case.

A day earlier, Jokowi'€™s party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), claimed that the governor, who has topped every credible poll of potential presidential candidates over the past year, had been a victim of wiretapping.

The governor also confirmed that three bugging devices had been found last December in different parts of his home, including in his bedroom and dining room, where he usually hosts meetings.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto said the police could open an investigation only if the victims or a third party with knowledge of the incident filed a police report.

'€œSo far, the Jakarta Police have not received any report on [the alleged eavesdropping],'€ he said. He added that the police could launch an investigation without anyone having filed a report, but so far the police had no plan to initiate a probe.

According to Agus, investigators were prepared to handle the case should a report be filed.

'€œOur [investigators], who have capability in this area, have taken some steps so that we can process the case swiftly if we receive a report.'€

Separately, Jokowi said that he would not report the listening devices to the police because the eavesdropping was harmless given his relative unimportance.

'€œThe culprit should just wiretap important people. But me? Who am I? What would they want from me? At home I talk about fried rice on one day, sayur lodeh [vegetables in coconut milk] on another, goat satay on a third and so on,'€ Jokowi told reporters on Friday at City Hall.

'€œI'€™m not going to make a big deal out of it by reporting it to the police. I'€™m pretty sure it was nothing important anyway.'€

The governor, however, acknowledged that he had asked for increased security in and outside his home in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

'€œYou can see it yourself,'€ he said, referring to his security detail, which has doubled in number of guards since the start of the year.

He admitted that the reason his official schedule had not been published on the city administration'€™s official news portal beritajakarta.com for the last few weeks was at least partly due to security concerns.

'€œYes, [security] is among the reasons,'€ he said briefly.

Moreover, the governor said he was working with the National Encryption Agency (Lemsaneg) to improve security at the administration'€™s office.

'€œI invited Lemsaneg to come over a few days ago to talk about improving security at City Hall. I want our e-government portals to be well protected,'€ he said, adding that no bugging devices had been found at City Hall.

Jokowi also admitted he was aware that political rivals had attempted to gather information about his past to use as ammunition against him.

'€œSome people even went to [Surakarta, Central Java] to dig up anything on my shortcomings. I'€™m fine with it. I'€™m not an angel, nobody'€™s perfect,'€ he said.

A politician from the National Mandate Party (PAN), Dradjad Wibowo, responded to the news by saying that the PDI-P and Jokowi were making unsubstantiated claims of bugging.

'€œThere is no evidence of either devices or of a possible culprit,'€ the deputy chairman of PAN said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

He also pointed out that the PDI-P had failed to carry out a counterintelligence effort. '€œ[Therefore] it'€™s really difficult to prove the culprit,'€ he said.

Democratic Party secretary-general Ramadhan Pohan alleged that the issue was to attract more attention toward Jokowi. '€œWe just need to understand that he needs to attract the public'€™s attention because of his ambition to run for the presidency,'€ he said as quoted by kompas.com.

Ramadhan told the governor to focus on his work leading Jakarta. '€œI hope that he'€™s going to be fine.'€