Nadiem Makarim Ready to Proceed with Corruption Trial Despite Recent Fourth Surgery

Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, has stated that he is prepared to proceed with the continuation of the trial in the alleged corruption case concerning the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM), despite his health not being fully recovered.

The trial took place at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court today, Monday (30/3/2026), with the agenda being the examination of experts by the public prosecutors (JPU).

The presiding judge, Purwanto S Abdullah, inquired about Nadiem’s health condition at the start of the proceedings.

In response, Nadiem revealed that he had undergone his fourth surgery approximately six days before the trial. However, he reported a setback, which may necessitate repeating the procedure from the beginning, with one more surgery still required.

“Thank you, Your Honour. Today, I am ready to face the trial, but about six days ago, I underwent my fourth surgical procedure. It turns out there has been a setback, so I must start over. There is still one more surgical procedure that needs to be done,” Nadiem stated before the panel of judges.

Previously, Nadiem had been hospitalised from Saturday (14/3) to Sunday (29/3), including during the Eid al-Fitr 1447 H celebrations. He confirmed that he had indeed received intensive care during that period.

In this case, Nadiem is charged with corruption related to the Chromebook laptop procurement project while serving as Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. The project is alleged to have caused state losses amounting to Rp2.1 trillion.

Nadiem had previously submitted an exception or objection to the prosecutors’ indictment. However, the panel of judges rejected the exception and decided to proceed with the case to the proof stage.

This continuation of the trial is a crucial part of the legal process to uncover facts related to the alleged corruption in the education technology device procurement project.