Fitria Chusna Farisa, Danu Damarjati, Jakarta – The case of the alleged wiretapping of President Prabowo Subianto by former National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo is said to be closely related to political events between the Hambalang camp or Prabowo's circle and the "Solo gang" aka former President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's circle.
This view of the latest political and legal dynamics was conveyed by Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a professor of political science at the Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta Islamic State University (UIN), during Kompas.com's Gaspol! podcast program on Wednesday November 4.
He suspects that the wiretapping of Prabowo could have stemmed from the rift between Jokowi and Prabowo that emerged last year.
"From the official statement from the Kabareskrim [Criminal Investigation Bureau Chief], the wiretapping of Pak [Mr] Prabowo or other figures was done in 2025-2026. So, the question is why 2025? Why not from the start [of Prabowo's presidency]? My guess is indeed when [relations] began to heat up between Pak Jokowi and Pak Prabowo in 2025, maybe there is be rivalry too", said Muhtadi in the Gaspol! podcast.
According to Muhtadi, the fact of Listyo Sigit's closeness to Jokowi cannot be denied. For a long time, he has been referred to as one of Jokowi's people.
The two have a long history of closeness, starting when Listyo Sigit was the Solo Police Chief in 2011 and Jokowi was the mayor of Solo. Listyo Sigit then became Jokowi's aide in 2014-2016.
His career flourished during the Jokowi presidency until it took off when he became National Police Chief in early 2021, which continued until 2026 under the Prabowo regime.
Feeling that he had Prabowo's trust, Listyo Sigit then wiretapped the president.
"This action was something that I think was probably due to his overconfidence, he was also too confident in being trusted by Pak Prabowo, so he did that (wiretapping)", said Muhtadi.
According to Muhtadi, this incident stemmed from the accumulation of disappointment by Jokowi towards Prabowo and Prabowo towards Jokowi. He suspects that this political drama is just the beginning.
"The incident that occurred yesterday was only the first chapter of a larger political escalation process in the future between these two figures", said the Executive Director of Indonesian Political Indicator.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Gaspol! Kasus Listyo Sigit Terkait Retaknya Sirkel Hambalang dan Solo?".]
