He was the governor of the Indonesian province of Papua for two periods: 1988–1993 and 2006–2011.

He wants to protect the province's forests, and has made plans to declare a moratorium on log exports and recommended that no new logging concessions be granted to timber companies.

Suebu appeared on Time magazine's list of Heroes of the Environment October 2007.

Suebu obtained a Bachelor of Laws at Cenderawasih University in 1988.

He was the chairman of Irian Jaya KNPI (Indonesian Youth National Committee) in 1974 and 1975, speaker of Irian Jaya Legislative Assembly (1987–1988), adviser to the Minister for Research and Technology, a member of Congress (1997–2002) and Indonesian ambassador to Mexico, Honduras and Panama (1999–2002).