By Ananda Teresia and Stefanno Sulaiman
JAKARTA, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Indonesia will tighten controls on state surveillance equipment and consider sweeps of its presidential palace for bugging devices, a minister said on Monday, following last week’s discovery of illegal wiretaps on the president, top officials and more.
The wiretapping scandal led to the arrest of four senior police officers accused of unauthorised monitoring of phones, among them a former national police chief who had recently been appointed President Prabowo Subianto’s chief of staff.
The government had said that the wiretapping scandal pointed to treason. An investigation is underway and no formal charges have yet been announced.
Asked if authorities would sweep the presidential palace for covert electronic devices, senior minister for legal affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra said “it is something we will consider as an anticipation measure”.
“The government is also taking steps to ensure that, in the future, the wiretapping equipment held by certain agencies is not misused,” he told reporters.
The scandal comes at a time when Prabowo faces growing public pressure over his costly social programmes and his administration battles to restore investor confidence in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy after a series of setbacks that have caused havoc for its stock market and currency this year.
It has also put the spotlight on growing political tension in Indonesia and a rift between Prabowo and the influential two-term predecessor who once backed him, Joko Widodo.
Authorities have yet to reveal the full extent of the illegal wiretapping, which they say started after Prabowo took office in late 2024.
Among those monitored were business people, journalists, activists and political figures, whose identities have not been disclosed. It is not clear how many people were targeted.
Former police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who is no relation to the president, is widely seen as a loyalist of Widodo. Listyo was reassigned recently to the post of presidential chief of staff but then sacked last week following his arrest over the alleged wiretapping.
Prabowo held a meeting on Sunday with 10 former police chiefs that included discussion on the wiretapping scandal, deputy house speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad separately told reporters.
Minister Yusril said that the investigation came after the national police received a tip, which its new chief investigated then reported to Prabowo.
“Following this report, an investigation was launched, and it has become apparent where the wiretapping devices were located,” Yusril said, without elaborating.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia and Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Martin Petty)
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