Two institutional disputes are converging in Jakarta, but neither is settled. President Prabowo Subianto has dismissed his chief of staff after police detained three senior officers suspected of illegally intercepting communications. Separately, political parties are weighing possible parliamentary action after court decisions questioned the documentation used to establish Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s school qualifications. The arrests have not established criminal guilt, and the court decisions have not removed the vice president. Those distinctions are central to what happens next.
The personnel decision followed detention, not the other way around
President Prabowo Subianto dismissed his newly appointed chief of staff, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, on November 4 as investigators pursued allegations of unlawful surveillance. Indonesia’s state news agency ANTARA reported State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi’s confirmation that a presidential decree had been signed that morning. Lieutenant General Ariyo Windutomo, the head of the Presidential Secretariat, was named acting chief of staff. The dismissal was a personnel decision, not a judicial finding that Listyo had committed a crime.
The chronology is important. Police detained Listyo and two other senior police officers on November 3, according to AP and Reuters. Reuters’s November 5 report refers back to that arrest while describing a new political debate over Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s eligibility. Treating the detention as a new November 5 development would distort the sequence in which the scandal unfolded.
Sources: Indonesian parties weigh parliamentary inquiry into vice president’s education credentials · Troops deployed in Indonesia as president sacks aide accused of wiretapping · Prabowo dismisses Listyo, names Ariyo as Presidential Chief of Staff · Indonesia detains 3 police generals suspected of wiretapping President Prabowo
What police allege about the interception system
According to the police account reported by AP, the other suspects were National Police Legal Division chief Ahrie Sonta Nasution and senior police instructor Eko Hadi Santoso. Investigators suspect the group of using the police’s Lawful Interception Management System to monitor telephone numbers without the required authorization. Targets allegedly included the president, officials, politicians, journalists, community groups and businesspeople. The alleged activity ran from 2025 into 2026; Reuters put its beginning in early 2025.
Police said they questioned ten witnesses and three experts, and seized eleven phones, an iPad and four flash drives. Investigators also allege that electronic interception records were ordered deleted to conceal evidence. These are details of an active criminal investigation, not proof that every named target was actually intercepted or that the officers acted under any particular political instruction. Authorities have not publicly established a motive.
Sources: Troops deployed in Indonesia as president sacks aide accused of wiretapping · Indonesia detains 3 police generals suspected of wiretapping President Prabowo
A sharp dispute over the word treason
Prasetyo, speaking for the presidency, said the alleged conduct could endanger state interests and the safety of the leadership and characterized it in terms suggesting treason. The allegation is consequential, especially because the president himself is said to have been a target. But the public description from the presidential palace does not determine what offenses investigators can substantiate.
Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra gave a narrower legal account on November 3. In remarks reported by ANTARA, he said investigators had found no indication of treason and that the charges concerned unlawful surveillance and interception under criminal and electronic-information laws. These official positions should not be collapsed into a statement that treason has already been charged or proved.
Sources: Troops deployed in Indonesia as president sacks aide accused of wiretapping · Prabowo dismisses Listyo, names Ariyo as Presidential Chief of Staff · Indonesia detains 3 police generals suspected of wiretapping President Prabowo · Illegal wiretapping case shows no indication of treason: Minister
Two rulings, two different legal consequences
A separate challenge has raised questions over Vice President Gibran’s education credentials. On October 6, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court said the evidence before it did not convincingly demonstrate a foreign diploma or certificate sufficient to establish completion of the legally required senior-high-school level. The court did not disqualify or remove Gibran. It dismissed the petition for lack of standing and explained that the dispute could not simply be reopened as an election-results challenge after the 2024 inauguration.
The Supreme Court addressed a different administrative matter. According to ANTARA’s report of case 742 K/TUN/2026, it granted an appeal challenging the education-equivalency certificate used in connection with Gibran’s candidacy; other Indonesian reporting said the certificate was annulled. That ruling concerned the legal status of a document, not a completed removal of the vice president. Any consequence for the office itself requires separate constitutional and political steps.
Sources: Indonesian parties weigh parliamentary inquiry into vice president’s education credentials · Court Finds No Evidence of VP Gibran’s High School Education · MA kabulkan kasasi terkait surat keterangan penyetaraan SMA Gibran
What parliamentary parties are considering
On November 5, Reuters reported that three parties within Prabowo’s coalition and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle outside it were exploring ways for parliament to respond to the court decisions. Their potential tools included seeking an explanation from the government, conducting an inquiry or investigation, and issuing a formal parliamentary position on alleged legal or constitutional violations. The options are under discussion, not adopted measures.
A Prosperous Justice Party official, Muhammad Kholid, said parties were consulting over the alternatives. The National Awakening Party described the options as under serious consideration, while a Golkar lawmaker regarded a formal parliamentary position as the most relevant response. Reuters explicitly reported that none of the parties it contacted proposed impeachment at this stage. Although parliamentary mechanisms could form part of a later constitutional process, describing an impeachment as underway would be premature.
Sources: Indonesian parties weigh parliamentary inquiry into vice president’s education credentials
What remains unknown and what happens next
The overlap between the surveillance investigation and the education dispute has intensified scrutiny of relations between Prabowo and his predecessor Joko Widodo, Gibran’s father. Listyo was regarded as close to Widodo, according to Reuters. That political background helps explain why the cases are being discussed together, but it does not prove that Widodo ordered unlawful interception or that the two disputes form a single operation. Neither the investigations nor the parliamentary consultations have established such a link.
The immediate next tests are procedural: what evidence police disclose, which charges prosecutors pursue, how the judicial decisions are implemented, and whether parliamentary leaders formally invoke any of the available inquiry powers. Indonesia is facing serious allegations and competing institutional responses. For now, the confirmed events are detention, dismissal and court rulings; responsibility for surveillance and the political consequences of the diploma dispute remain unresolved.
Sources: Indonesian parties weigh parliamentary inquiry into vice president’s education credentials · Troops deployed in Indonesia as president sacks aide accused of wiretapping · Court Finds No Evidence of VP Gibran’s High School Education · Illegal wiretapping case shows no indication of treason: Minister
