Articles and notes about Indonesia.
Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who ran the National Police until October 1, 2026, was removed from the palace on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, three days after his arrest with two other police generals on charges of tapping the phones of the president, ministers and journalists. The case is the visible part of a fight for command of the security apparatus of Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Singapore’s parliament on Wednesday passed tougher penalties against companies responsible for forest fires in Indonesia, including curbs on related business dealings, following one of its worst haze episodes. Fines against offenders will increase tenfold.
Spanish energy firm Moeve, majority owned by Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala, said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell its Algerian oil assets to Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina. The deal includes Moeve’s minority stakes in the Rhourde el Khrouf, Bir el Msana and Ourhoud onshore oilfields in Algeria’s Berkine Basin. The company has also agreed to sell its minority stake in Algeria’s Timimoun onshore gas field, a person familiar with the matter said. The sale of its Algerian upstream assets will complete Moeve’s withdrawal from the exploration and production business.
According to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by the Boston Globe, Indonesia's military deployed more than 20,000 troops and personnel to Jakarta as authorities investigate an alleged illegal wiretapping operation targeting the president. The total number of personnel involved reached 20,980, according to Vice Adm. Yayan Sofiyan. Police named Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Ahrie Sonta Nasution and Eko Hadi Santoso as suspects in the case and said they were detained Sunday. There are allegations that the president, Cabinet officials, politicians, journalists, civil society leaders and business executives were subjected to unauthorized surveillance. The suspects are also accused of ordering in late October the deletion of files containing intercepted communications.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto sacked his chief of staff, former National Police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, on Wednesday after his arrest for allegedly wiretapping the president, cabinet ministers, politicians and journalists, in a case in which an internal investigation flagged phone numbers entered illegally into the interception system between 2025 and 2026, unconnected with any official investigation, and in which inspectors general Ahrie Sonta Nasution and Eko Hadi Santoso were also named suspects. Indonesia’s government said the former police chief may have committed “treason” through his alleged role in tapping President Prabowo Subianto’s phone, in acts that endanger state interests and the safety of the country’s leader, according to presidential spokesperson Prasetyo Hadi.
Indonesian police detained three senior police generals suspected of illegally wiretapping President Prabowo Subianto. According to Reuters, in a text published by KTWB, the president’s recently appointed chief of staff, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, is among those detained. According to the police, the three illegally intercepted the phones of the president, state officials, political figures, business people, journalists and organizations between 2025 and this year, and the government says the investigation is at an early stage, with no motive established and no evidence linking the suspects to treason.
Pollution from smoke emitted by months of wildfires across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in the archipelago in September, according to a new study cited by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) — non-fire pollution from power generation, industry and transport caused a further 1,750 deaths in the month, for a total of 5,310 in the country of about 290 million people.
Hundreds of Indonesian security personnel were deployed in Jakarta ahead of student protests against several policies of President Prabowo Subianto and his government’s handling of forest fires, according to the South China Morning Post, in republished Reuters reporting. University of Indonesia students demand the government declare the wildfires in Sumatra and Borneo a national disaster and halt spending on programs such as the free meals scheme.
Indonesia deployed buses fitted with oxygen tanks in a city on Borneo island, where residents are choking on forest-fire haze that shows no sign of letting up. More than 300,000 people in seven provinces were struck by respiratory tract infections from August to October, according to Indonesia’s health ministry, cited by AFP in a report published by Malay Mail.
Indonesia cut natural gas exports to Singapore on Saturday to prioritise domestic demand, amid a dispute between the two countries over air pollution from wildfires across the archipelago, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The cut totals 31 million standard cubic feet per day, with 15 million from Natuna and 16 million from Sumatra, according to SKK Migas chief Djoko Siswanto.
Qatar, Türkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia signed in Doha on Wednesday a memorandum to deepen defence industry cooperation, with joint production, technology transfers and more closely integrated supply chains — and the Qatari Defence Ministry says the “Badr” memorandum targets defence manufacturing, capabilities, technical training and research and development, according to Al Jazeera.
Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia signed in Doha on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding for the joint production of military hardware and expanded cooperation in military training, research and development, according to Middle East Eye. Turkey’s defence ministry said the agreement will be known as the “Badr deal”, a reference to the Battle of Badr in 624, and that it holds significant military and economic importance. Reuters, citing the Turkish ministry, described an agreement to boost defence cooperation and strengthen the four countries’ defensive capabilities.
Indonesia's president, Prabowo, named career diplomat Arrmanatha Nasir as foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle, according to Reuters. Nasir was the ministry's former permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) in New York. The outgoing foreign minister, Sugiono, was appointed human development minister. It is the second change to a top post in his cabinet in less than three weeks.
Wildfires in West Kalimantan province, on Borneo, are among the worst in 11 years under “super-El Niño” conditions driving up temperatures and causing severe droughts, according to Reuters. More than 12.5 million people have been exposed to haze across seven provinces on Borneo and Sumatra, and wildfire-related respiratory cases more than doubled to 113,336 by September 9, from 50,891 on September 1, according to Indonesian health ministry data. The transboundary smog has turned the air unhealthy in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.