Nadiem Denies Planning Chromebook Selection from the Start

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Makarim, has denied accusations that he had planned the use of Chromebooks in the trial for the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday (11/5/2026). In the trial, Nadiem emphasised that he actually questioned the reasons for using Chromebooks compared to Windows in the internal communications presented in court. “So, then, what’s the rationale for some PCs? Why some and not all PCs?” Nadiem said, reading out his conversation. According to Nadiem, this question shows that he never directed from the outset that the entire procurement should use Chromebooks. He also quoted his conversation in the internal group, requesting that all arguments related to Chromebooks or PCs be presented in a balanced manner. “Make sure both sides of argument of Chromebook versus PC is there ya,” Nadiem revealed, reading the content of his message again. Nadiem assessed that the prosecutor’s indictment, which claimed he had malicious intent from the beginning, does not align with the facts of the communications that emerged in the trial. “This indictment is not about my opinion. This indictment is about my malicious intent that had already decided on Chrome from the start,” he said. “That is an evil narrative. Because that is truly slander,” he stated. According to Nadiem, the accusation that he had discussed Chromebook procurement before becoming minister was also not proven in the trial. “At that time, all of Indonesia thought that in the WhatsApp group before becoming minister, I had already discussed Chromebook procurement. But there was none,” he said. “And now it is proven in the trial that it never happened and that chat does not exist,” Nadiem claimed. Nadiem admitted that he never intervened in the procurement process or the determination of laptop prices. He also questioned the location of the legal violation attributed to him.