By Jakarta Globe on February 20, 2014.
Jakarta. Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) members conducting a sweep of Governor Joko Widodo’s official residence allegedly discovered listening devices spread throughout the home in the second spying attempt on a prominent member of the opposition party, an official revealed on Thursday.
Three devices were found in the governor’s official residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta, in December of last year, PDI-P secretary general Tjahjo Kumolo said on Thursday. The spy equipment, which could allegedly listen-in on Joko’s private conversations, was found in his bedroom, living room and dining room — the governor’s preferred meeting room in the house.
“We searched Jokowi’s house, there were three spying devices,” Tjahjo told the Indonesian news paper Kompas. “It feels like someone is trying to intimidate us.”
The party’s chair Megawati Sukarnoputri has reportedly been under surveillance for some time, Tjahjo said. A man was once found snooping around the former Indonesian president’s home, he explained.
“Someone was once caught inside Mega’s house… and he claimed to only want to pee — that’s ridiculous,” he told kompas.com.
Neither Joko nor Megawati expressed concern at the findings. The popular Jakarta governor made light of the alleged spying attempt, joking that his conversations at home were often about mundane things.
“What can be [learned by] wiretapping me?” Joko said. “I only talk about light issues with my wife at home, like food and [other] ordinary things.”
Joko declined to speculate as to who would want to spy on him. He told reporters that he would rather not discuss the wiretapping allegations.
“Actually, I don’t want to talk about this,” Joko said. “Concerning this matter: I don’t want to think about it [very] seriously.”
The governor said he had no plans on increasing security at his official residence.
“I already clean my house every day,” Joko said.
Senior party member Pramono Anung said he spoke with Megawati about spying attempts, but the chairwoman remained unfazed.
“I called Mega, I told her that we’re probably being wiretapped,” Pramono said. “But she said… ‘Let it be Pram, it’s alright to be wiretapped.’”
Pramono, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, said the wiretapping was allegedly an attempt to gather dirt on the opposition party ahead of this year’s election. He called spying an example of dirty politics and said the nation’s political spectrum should be free of unfair tactics like this.
[Read More: Jakarta Listening Devices]
We find that there are many more news reports on bugging and eavesdropping discoveries when they involved government entities, politicians or international incidents. Corporate finds, on the other hand, are usually dealt with in-house and kept out of the press as much as possible. Just because you aren’t reading about it, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening though. Consider that residences are a very appealing target for eavesdroppers and corporate spies. Executive homes are often left unsecure, or certainly with less security than the corporate office, yet confidential meetings, phone calls, and discussions are often held there.