Nadiem Reveals Colleagues and Family Advised Him Against Accepting Ministerial Post
Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek) for the 2019-2024 period, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, revealed that initially almost everyone advised him not to accept the ministerial mandate. “They said that politics carries many risks and they felt someone like me was too ‘straightforward’ for government,” Nadiem stated while reading his duplik (response to the replication) during a hearing at the Corruption Court in Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday. He added that many also conveyed that people who adhere to straight principles often encounter obstacles in bureaucracy, and without the support of a political party, a minister’s position would be vulnerable from various directions.
He admitted that all the input and warnings were seriously considered, but ultimately, in his conscience, there was one voice that kept calling him to serve. At that time, Nadiem said he was only 35 years old. He was fully aware that this was a very young age to shoulder the leadership responsibility of a ministry. “But what was unexpected for me was the choice of sector,” he said. He mentioned that the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, considered him not for the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, the investment sector, or other fields that might have felt closer to his professional background, but rather for the education sector. Therefore, before accepting the mandate, Nadiem had lengthy discussions with his colleagues and family, many of whom advised him not to accept the position.
Nadiem is one of the defendants in a case of alleged corruption in the education digitalisation programme involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the years 2019-2022. He has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, a fine of Rp1 billion subsidiary to 190 days imprisonment, and a replacement payment of Rp5.67 trillion subsidiary to 9 years imprisonment. In this case, Nadiem Makarim is charged with committing corruption that caused state financial losses amounting to Rp2.18 trillion. The alleged corruption was carried out, among other things, by implementing the procurement of information and communication technology-based learning tools in the form of Chromebook laptops and CDM for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 fiscal years, which did not comply with procurement planning and principles.