JAKARTA, Nov 6 — The Indonesian police have named a fourth senior officer as a suspect in the alleged wiretapping of President Prabowo Subianto, as authorities continue to investigate the motives behind a scandal that has exposed a deepening rift between the President and his predecessor Joko Widodo.
The case has piled more pressure on Prabowo, as public discontent grows over his costly populist policies and investor confidence in Indonesia's US$1.5 trillion (RM6.09 trillion) economy weakens.
During a media conference yesterday evening, the police named a senior law enforcement official with the initials SU as the new suspect, and said he served as monitoring chief at Indonesia's Criminal Investigation Agency between 2010 and 2019. Local media later identified him as Slamet Uliandi.
Cybercrime unit director Suhermanto said investigators believe SU, who headed the investigation agency's information and technology unit from 2021 to 2026, gave the go-ahead for the wiretapping.
"When the other two suspects were about to wiretap, they got approval from SU. They also asked his approval before deleting interception records," he said, adding that SU had not yet been detained due to a health condition.
The police arrested three senior officers on Tuesday (November 3), including the former national police chief and Prabowo's chief of staff Listyo Sigit Prabowo, widely known as a Widodo loyalist.
They 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.
Spokesman Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko said that the national police chief has also formed a special team to investigate the case.
Jakarta remained calm yesterday and today despite the deployment of thousands of troops after the wiretapping revelations. Military tents and buses were seen in the capital, along with a small number of soldiers.
Lawmakers are also considering a probe into the eligibility of Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Widoko's son, in what could be the first step toward removing him from office.
