// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
What to know about the presidential wiretapping scandal rocking Indonesia
President Prabowo Subianto is believed to be one of the targets of an alleged wiretapping operation
Authorities are investigating possible treason in Indonesia after a bombshell announcement this week that President Prabowo Subianto's phone conversations might have been spied on.
Several senior figures of Prabowo's administration have been embroiled in the wiretapping scandal, including his chief of staff Listyo Sigit Prabowo - who is not related to the president despite his name.
It is unfolding against what many have interpreted as a widening rift between Prabowo and his predecessor, Joko Widodo - otherwise know as Jokowi - who had thrown his support behind Prabowo's 2024 presidential campaign.
"Listyo's position, as we know, is actually very close to Jokowi," Made Supriatma, a visiting fellow at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told BBC Indonesian.
"So now it's practically said that they're going their separate ways."
Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the president's chief of staff, was arrested on Tuesday along with two senior police officers for allegedly wiretapping President Prabowo.
The three men are suspected of keying phone numbers, including Prabowo's, into the police's official electronic surveillance system - which allows authorities to intercept communications - without following proper procedures, such as obtaining an investigation warrant or case report.
Authorities say the operation was discovered last week after a tip-off from a police officer. But they believe the alleged wiretapping stretches back to 2025, when Listyo was serving as the national police chief.
This could amount to treason, as it involved "sensitive information" that could "endanger the interests and sovereignty of the nation", a spokesperson for the president told reporters on Wednesday.