Prabowo's huddle with 10 ex-police chiefs signals grip on power, analyst says

Prabowo Subianto hosted ten former chiefs of Indonesia's national police at his Hambalang estate in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday, a gathering police analyst Bambang Rukminto says carried a deliberate message about who holds the reins. According to CNN Indonesia, the ISESS analyst called the meeting a piece of power communication, signaling Prabowo's political control and state authority at a moment when an illegal wiretapping case is rattling the force.

The guest list spanned generations: Roesmanhadi, Roesdihardjo, Suroyo Bimantoro, Da'i Bachtiar, Sutanto, Bambang Hendarso Danuri, Timur Pradopo, Sutarman, Badrodin Haiti and Tito Karnavian. Prabowo was flanked by Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya and TNI commander General Agus Subiyanto. A Presidential Secretariat press release framed the sit-down as a friendly gathering and a cross-generational exchange of views on current issues.

Bambang argued the company Prabowo kept mattered as much as the invitation itself, pointing to the defense minister, the military chief and the BIN intelligence chief in the room. In his reading, the palace no longer treats the wiretapping allegations as a purely internal police conflict but as a problem touching the dignity and security of the state. Investigators' initial accounts say the alleged taps did not stop at the president, reaching ministers, political figures, businesspeople, media and members of the public.

Bambang also aimed a caution at current police chief General Suyudi Ario Seto: the meeting should not be read as the president steering the investigation or deciding who is guilty. He described the lineup of former chiefs as symbolic cover for Suyudi, showing that the legal trouble facing one former police leader is not the same as trouble for the whole institution. Suyudi, he added, is not carrying the problems of the previous leadership alone but walking alongside the president and his predecessors.