Indonesian MPs urge police chief to charge Prabowo wiretapping case suspects with treason

JAKARTA -- Indonesian MPs have strongly urged National Police chief Suyudi Ario Seto to press treason charges against the four police generals alleged to be involved in an illegal wiretapping scheme targeting President Prabowo Subianto.The calls came during a Nov 12 parliamentary hearing on the matter held by the Parliament’s Commission III, which oversees law enforcement, human rights and security affairs.“Commission III asserts that the acts of wiretapping or the deletion of electronic data committed by the suspects constitute the crime of treason,” Commission III chair Habiburokhman said at the conclusion of the hearing.“Consequently, Commission III urges that the National Police Chief and his subordinates charge the suspects with treason and continue to investigate the potential involvement of other parties.”The case first came to light on Nov 4 after the National Police announced that three police generals, including former National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, had been arrested for allegedly wiretapping Prabowo since 2025. An additional police general has since been named a suspect.The four suspects have been charged under the Criminal Code and the Electronic Information and Transactions Law with illegal wiretapping, unauthorised access to another person’s computer and unauthorised deletion of electronic information.In the days after the arrests, several government officials, including State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi and Coordinating Minister for Legal Affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra, have suggested that the suspects’ actions could amount to attempts to overthrow the government.However, police have yet to charge any of the suspects with treason articles.‘No need to hesitate’At the start of the hearing, Suyudi gave an account on how the four suspects allegedly conducted the wiretapping scheme and how it was discovered, providing more details than had been previously made public.“General LSP, who served as the National Police chief during the period in question, is suspected to have issued orders and specified targets for wiretapping, both verbally or via WhatsApp, to the Head of the Monitoring Division AS, and also acted as the recipient of the final results or end user of the wiretapping,” Suyudi said, referring to the initials of Listyo and fellow suspect Ahrie Sonta.He added that police were also currently investigating allegations of criminal conspiracy as well as treason, but did not yet have enough evidence to charge the suspects.MPs from various parties conveyed their support for the police in its investigation, but a few expressed confusion at why treason charges had not been pressed already, given that one of the wiretapping targets was the head of state.Nazaruddin Dek Gam, an Acehnese MP from the National Mandate Party (PAN), even harked back to the conflict between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government between 1976 and 2005 to make his point“Back in Aceh, sir, during the conflict, even just chatting in a coffee shop about the government’s shortcomings could get us accused of treason,” Nazaruddin said.“In this case, where there has been clear wiretapping of the head of state, there’s no need to hesitate, sir. Just charge them with treason.”Agreeing, Safaruddin, an MP from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said: “Wiretapping the president already constitutes preparation for ousting the president.”He also cast doubt on whether Listyo was truly the “end user” of the wiretaps. “Who is the real beneficiary? Pak Listyo Sigit was the police chief, he has nothing to do with politics or political parties.”The hearing was, however, cut short after MPs were called away by parliamentary leadership to formally receive Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s resignation letter.Because of this, Suyudi did not have time to address most of the questions and remarks from MPs, but he said he would take all their suggestions into account.“We have quite a challenging task ahead of us, and we are currently piecing together the puzzle pieces and clues and evidence related to the crime of treason,” he said.“We are not going to hesitate. We will take firm action, while ensuring that our investigative efforts remain professional, procedural, proportional, and ethical.”