Defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto under police investigation for alleged treason

Following his official defeat in the April presidential election, as announced by the General Election Commission (KPU) in a surprise move early this morning, Gerindra Chairman Prabowo Subianto’s woes have seemingly been compounded by reports that he has been accused of committing treason against the government.

As picked up by numerous local media outlets, the Jakarta Metro Police, on May 17, issued an investigation warrant against Prabowo after he was reported to the institution for violating Article 107 of the KUHP (Criminal Code), which criminalizes the destabilization of the state’s security or treason by spreading misinformation to the public.

The report was filed by a Dr Suriyanto — whose identity is not known at this point beyond his name — on April 19, just two days after the election. It’s likely, then, that the report was the accuser’s response to Prabowo’s defiant claims that he won the election despite all quick count results pointing to a comfortable victory for Jokowi at the time.

The warrant also states that Prabowo is believed to have conspired treason with Eggi Sudjana, who was also charged with treason earlier this month for his suspected role in attempting to provoke the public into massive protests to deny the outcome of the election.

The fact that the Jakarta Metro Police issued an investigation warrant against Prabowo suggests the police are taking the accusation seriously enough to have officially started an investigation.

Prabowo’s campaign officials acknowledged receiving the warrant early this morning but argue that the former general is immune from accusations of treason.

“Pak Prabowo is protected by law, he can’t be criminalized as a presidential candidate,” BPN Spokesperson Andre Rosiade told CNN Indonesia today.

Andre added that, even though an investigation warrant was issued, Prabowo has not been named a treason suspect. He went on to accuse Jokowi’s government of silencing Prabowo and his allies.

“Imagine, of all the Jokowi people that we reported, we haven’t heard a word about any of them being summoned by the police. We have reported many of them [to the police],” he said.

UPDATE: The Jakarta Metro Police this morning said it has pulled the warrant against Prabowo, saying an investigationis not yet necessary at this stage and called the presidential candidate, “a national figure who must be respected.”