Former Director of SMP Kemendikbudristek Allegedly Carried Out Nadiem's Instructions

Jakarta, VIVA – New facts emerged in the ongoing trial of the case of alleged corruption in the procurement of Chromebook laptops within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek). The defendant Mulyatsah, former Director of SMP Kemendikbudristek, revealed the chronology of changing device specifications from the Windows operating system to ChromeOS, which subsequently dragged him into legal proceedings. In the trial, Mulyatsah admitted executing the instructions of the leadership at the time, namely former Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim. The Prosecutor, Roy Riady, said the facts revealed in the trial show policy directives from the ministry’s leadership regarding the use of Chromebook devices. The prosecutor disclosed that the incident began on 5 June 2020, a day after Mulyatsah was sworn in as SMP Director and Sri Wahyuningsih as SD Director. In a Zoom meeting attended by echelon I and II officials of the Ministry, Nadiem was said to have stated the need to accelerate ICT device procurement for education by using Chrome Device Management. ‘After congratulating the newly sworn-in officials, in that meeting it was stated that there is a need to accelerate ICT procurement using Chromebooks,’ said Prosecutor Roy Riady, quoted on Friday 6 March 2026. After the meeting, Mulyatsah said he sought further instruction on the steps to be taken. In the evening, he went to the residence of Hamid Muhamad, who at that time served as Acting Director General PAUD, Dikdas, and Dikmen. According to the prosecutor, in that meeting Mulyatsah was instructed to implement the use of Chromebooks as discussed in the previous meeting. ‘Responded by Hamid Muhamad, just carry out the Minister Nadiem’s orders using Chromebook,’ Roy quoted the testimony. Based on that instruction, Mulyatsah then signed a technical review document that changed device specifications from a general operating system to ChromeOS. The change was subsequently included in the Implementation Guidelines (Juklak) for the use of the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) for the procurement of ICT devices in schools. However, problems arose when the investigative process began. Investigators pointed to provisions in Permendikbud Number 11 of 2020 on Operational Guidelines for the Physical Regular Special Allocation Fund in the Education sector. ‘In the written rules, Permendikbud 11/2020 actually specifies the Windows operating system, not ChromeOS,’ Roy said.