Indonesia's security forces plan to tap phones to monitor dissidents calls and pull the plug on conversations that are deemed political, a newspaper said on Friday.

The armed forces, worried about the spread of unrest amid soaring food prices, had backed a police plan to access cellular networks and "silence calls which were political in nature", the Jakarta Post said. "Investigations and efforts to preserve security are two reasons why police investigators have the authority to tap telephone calls," the newspaper quoted the armed forces spokesman as saying.

Indonesia, facing its worst economic crisis in decades, is cracking down on unrest which has seen scattered riots and demonstrations across the country. The newspaper said 152 demonstrators faced a mass trial on Thursday after a recent protest against price hikes in Jakarta. President Suharto Thursday renewed his charge that certain groups were trying to use the economic crisis to undermine the government.