Nadiem Explains Meaning of Chat About Replacing Humans with Software and Coordinating with External Allies
Former Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim explained the meaning of messages in a WhatsApp group about replacing humans with software and building new teams to coordinate with external allies. Nadiem stated that the messages appeared in a WhatsApp group named ‘Edu Org’.
Nadiem Makarim made these statements while serving as a crown witness in an alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management (CDM) at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday, 9 March 2026. The defendants are Mulyatsyah, Director of the Ministry of Education’s Junior Secondary School Directorate in 2020; Sri Wahyuningsih, Director of the Primary School Directorate of the Directorate General of Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Education in 2020-2021; and Ibrahim Arief, alias Ibam, a consultant.
Initially, Nadiem stated that he created the ‘Edu Org’ WhatsApp group before taking office as minister. He said the group was formed when he received word that he would be appointed minister, whilst he had no background in education, but rather in the private sector, technology, and business.
“I formed this group around August, when I first received word that I might be appointed Education Minister. I created it because I had no education background. I only had experience in the private sector, technology, and business. However, I had a great passion for education, but lacked the background,” Nadiem said.
Nadiem stated that the group was created in preparation for his potential appointment as minister. He said the group was renamed ‘Mas Menteri Core Team’ once he was sworn in.
“What I did was prepare for the possibility that this would happen. I created this group by prioritising people with diverse expertise who had a strong likelihood of being motivated to join the team in carrying out an education transformation. This is the context for creating the ‘Edu Org’ group, which was later renamed ‘Mas Menteri Core Team’ when I became minister,” Nadiem said.
The prosecutor also questioned four points in the WhatsApp group chat. The messages contained the following statements:
Remove humans and replace with software
Find internal change agents and empower them
Bring in fresh blood from outside
Build new teams with ministry to coordinate external allies
Nadiem then provided explanations. He said that replacing humans with software aimed at achieving budget and time efficiency through automation systems.
“The first point, ‘remove humans and replace with software’, is about achieving efficiency, both in budget and time. In bureaucracy, there are many manual tasks. For example, there are countless letters and written correspondences that happen, which are actually quite burdensome for all parties but could actually be automated. What I meant by replacing manual tasks with software is automation,” Nadiem said.
“This allows people to focus on things that truly require their energy and work,” Nadiem added.
Nadiem stated that the second point about finding internal change agents and empowering them meant discovering talented people within the Ministry. Then, giving them responsibility in an important project rather than sidelining them.
“The second point, ‘Find internal change agents and empower them’, means finding the best people within the ministry who have been overlooked by leaders for years, who have never received attention because they are honest people, hardworking people but have never been promoted to important positions,” Nadiem said.
“Finding internal agents and empowering them means discovering talented people within the ministry and giving them responsibility in an important project, rather than simply sidelining them,” he continued.
Nadiem stated that the third point was about bringing people from outside who had a passion for education to contribute. He said the fourth point about external allies meant coordinating with external institutions working in education reform.
“The third point, ‘bring in fresh blood from outside’, means bringing in people from outside who have a passion for education and can also contribute. This does not just mean special staff from outside or technology teams, but also civil society organisations. The first programme we launched when I took office as minister was the POP programme, where civil society organisations and various foundations contributed to carrying out school transformations,” Nadiem said.
“And lastly, ‘build new teams within the ministry to coordinate all those external institutions that have been engaged in education reform’,” Nadiem added.
Previously, the indictment hearing for Mulyatsyah, Sri, and Ibam was held on Tuesday, 16 December 2025. The prosecutor charged them with causing state losses of 2.1 trillion rupiah in this case.
The prosecutor stated that the calculation of 2.1 trillion rupiah in state losses came from overpriced Chromebook laptops totalling 1,567,888,662,716.74 rupiah (1.5 trillion). Additionally, from the procurement of unnecessary and non-beneficial CDM systems worth USD 44,054,426 or approximately 621,387,678,730 rupiah (621 billion).