BPKP Auditor's Story of Discovering School Without Electricity While Overseeing Chromebook Project

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Auditor from the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) and Chairman of the State Loss Calculation Team for the Chromebook Case, Dedy Nurmawan Susilo, recounted that there was a school without electricity supply, necessitating the use of a truck battery to power the lights.

Dedy shared this during his testimony as an expert witness in the continuation of the trial for the alleged corruption case in the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.

“I went to a school, and there was one using a battery, ladies and gentlemen. Perhaps in Jakarta or Java, we wouldn’t find it, but in the regions, there are schools using truck batteries, ladies and gentlemen, just for lighting,” Dedy stated during the trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court, on Thursday (2/4/2026).

One aspect that remains uneven is the electricity and internet network.

Dedy discovered this school operating with battery power during sampling for the Chromebook procurement case.

At that time, Dedy and his team were working in Lampung and South Sumatra.

He did not specifically name the school that still lacked electricity.

“We even went to the location not by car but by motorbike because we wanted to see the overall conditions there,” Dedy said.

“I found one using a truck battery, and in my heart, I felt quite moved; this is part of Indonesia, these are our fellow citizens too, but their school is still like this,” he added.

This discovery occurred while Dedy was visiting schools that received Chromebooks from the procurement during Nadiem Makarim’s era.

He mentioned that some schools were afraid to use the government-provided items for fear of damaging them.

“On average, there’s fear of damage. If used continuously, it might break, and then we’ll get scolded and so on. There are many factors,” he explained.

Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim is accused of causing a state financial loss of Rp 2.1 trillion in the alleged corruption case of Chromebook laptop procurement.