Yusril: Tapping the President Is a Serious Matter for the State

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the alleged tapping of President Prabowo Subianto by former National Police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo was a serious matter. He said surveillance of a head of state was no trivial issue.

“Imagine a president being intercepted and tapped. Imagine ministers being tapped, while we do not even know why the surveillance was carried out. This is not a simple matter; it is a serious issue for a state,” Yusril told reporters at the Coordinating Ministry for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections office in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Tuesday (3 November 2026).

Yusril said the government would review the incident. The review, he said, would involve multiple stakeholders, including Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Dudung Abdurachman and the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN).

“Going forward, of course we will conduct a review. Apart from the National Police, we also have what used to be called the State Cryptography Agency—I forget the new name—the National Cyber and Crypto Agency, or BSSN. It has the expertise to handle issues like this,” Yusril said.

“The government will certainly coordinate on this, particularly our ministry, together with the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, to examine and evaluate the matter. Many state institutions are authorised to conduct surveillance and have equipment for doing so, provided it is used lawfully and under specific procedures,” he said.

The National Police have named three people as suspects in an alleged case of illegal surveillance, electronic data deletion and unauthorised access. The suspects are identified by the initials LSP, ASN and EH, National Police Criminal Investigation Agency chief Commissioner General Asep Safrudin said at a press conference at police headquarters in Jakarta on Tuesday (3 November).

Sigit, a former National Police chief, is among the suspects. The others are National Police Legal Division chief Inspector General Ahrie Sonta (AHN) and Inspector General Eko Hadi Santoso (EH). One of the alleged targets was President Prabowo Subianto.

“They are suspected of illegally tapping the telephone number of the President of the Republic of Indonesia,” Asep said.

The suspects are also alleged to have tapped other political figures, as well as journalists and businesspeople.

The alleged illegal surveillance took place between 2025 and 2026, investigators say. It was allegedly unrelated to law enforcement, and the suspects are accused of deleting log records in October 2026.