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View all search resultsWiretap scandal threatens Prabowo-Jokowi alliance
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President Prabowo Subianto (center) talks with Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (right) and former President Joko Widodo on Aug. 17 before the ceremony commemorating the 8st anniversary of Indonesia’s independence at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta. The theme of Indonesia’s 8st Independence Day is “Sovereign, Just and Prosperous Indonesia.” (Antara/Bayu Pratama S)
T
he arrest of a senior official with close ties to former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo over alleged wiretapping targeting President Prabowo Subianto has put their political alliance under growing strain, raising the prospect of a wider confrontation between the two figures.
Prabowo dismissed his presidential chief of staff, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, on Wednesday, a day after police announced his arrest over allegations that he and two senior police officers had unlawfully wiretapped the phones of several high-profile figures, including the president and cabinet ministers.
The alleged surveillance took place between last year and this year, when Listyo served as National Police chief, a position he assumed in 2021 under Jokowi and retained under Prabowo before being appointed presidential chief of staff in a Cabinet reshuffle last month.
Government officials have described the alleged surveillance as potentially amounting to “treason”, citing threats to the president's security and national interests.
State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi said the wiretapping could endanger Prabowo’s safety, while Coordinating Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra suggested it could have been intended to “incapacitate” the President and prevent him from exercising his powers.
Read also: Three police generals named in plot to bug Prabowo
Listyo’s close ties to Jokowi have fueled speculation that the case could become a flashpoint in the increasingly strained relationship between the former president and Prabowo, who has sought to consolidate his authority and assert his independence since their 2024 election alliance, in which he ran alongside Jokowi’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
