President Prabowo Subianto dismissed his chief of staff, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, on Wednesday, a day after police announced Listyo’s arrest over wiretapping allegations. Listyo, who led the Indonesian National Police for five years before becoming chief of staff last month, is accused of illegally wiretapping phones belonging to several high-profile individuals, including the president and cabinet ministers, during his time as police chief and with the help of two other serving officers. Two other senior police officers were also arrested, including Ahrie Sonta Nasution, head of the national police legal division, according to local media, and the suspects are accused of ordering the deletion of files containing intercepted communications last month.
Presidential spokesperson Prasetyo Hadi said the surveillance was carried out by certain rogue individuals and that the government views it as an act tending towards treason that endangers state interests and the safety of the head of state, while the national police’s top detective, Asep Safrudin, said the operation had no legal basis. The senior minister for legal affairs, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said the motive has not yet been determined. Also on Wednesday the military deployed more than 20,000 soldiers in Jakarta; the armed forces did not say whether the deployment was linked to the arrests and described troop movements as standard procedure.