Indonesia names fourth wiretapping suspect as political intrigue deepens

Indonesian police have named a fourth suspect in a scandal focused on the alleged wiretapping of President Prabowo Subianto.

At a news conference late on Thursday, police named a senior law enforcement official with the initials SU as the latest suspect. Three officials were arrested earlier in the week, in a scandal that has exposed a deepening rift between the president and his predecessor – and former ally – Joko Widodo, and sparked security concerns.

Police said that the new suspect served as monitoring chief at Indonesia’s Criminal Investigation Agency between 2010 and 2019. Local media later identified him as Slamet Uliandi.

Investigators alleged that SU, who was the head of the investigation agency’s information and technology unit from 2021 to 2026, gave the go-ahead for the wiretapping.

Cybercrime unit director Suhermanto told a media conference, “When the other two suspects were about to wiretap, they got approval from SU. They also asked his approval before deleting interception records.” Suhermanto added that SU had not yet been detained due to a health condition.

Three senior police officers were arrested on Tuesday, including the former national police chief and Prabowo’s chief of staff, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who is widely known as a Widodo loyalist.

The case has piled more pressure on Prabowo, with public discontent growing over his costly populist policies and weakening investor confidence in Indonesia’s $1.5 trillion economy.

Police are still investigating the motives behind the attempts to intercept Prabowo’s communications, and have so far questioned 13 police officers and five criminal and IT experts.

The national police chief has also formed a special team to investigate the case, spokesperson Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko said.

Jakarta remained calm on Thursday and Friday despite the deployment of thousands of troops in the wake of the wiretapping revelations. Military tents and buses were seen in the capital, as well as a small number of soldiers.

Prabowo took office in 2024 after winning the election in a landslide as the continuity candidate for Widodo. Joko Widodo’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was also elected as Prabowo’s vice president.

Lawmakers are now also considering a probe into the eligibility of Raka in what could be the first step towards removing him from office.