Prosecutor Reveals Alleged Scheme to "Secure" Nadiem's Decision in Chromebook Case

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Public Prosecutor (JPU) Roy Riady has alleged an effort to “secure” the decision of former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Makarim, regarding the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek).

This effort is based on electronic evidence of conversations that, according to the prosecutor, show discussions about Chromebooks had been underway from the start, including on pricing and policy strategies.

“They said, ‘Don’t let the Minister’s decision on 6 May become a problem. How can we ensure it doesn’t?’ So, several schemes were created to make it seem as though the Minister was not involved in it,” said Roy, after the trial hearing on the alleged corruption case of Chromebook procurement at the Jakarta Corruption Court, on Monday (11/5/2026).

He assessed that the conversation showed awareness that the decision was problematic.

The prosecutor also mentioned Nadiem’s statement to the team regarding the use of Chromebooks, even though they were said to be unsuitable for use in Indonesia.

Roy stated that the trial revealed the education digitalisation policy actually involved external parties, not internal ministry officials.

Those external parties were Jurist Tan, Fiona Handayani, and Ibrahim Arief or Ibam.

“The ones involved were outsiders, trusted outsiders like Jurist Tan, Fiona, and Ibam, as well as some others,” said Roy, during a break in the trial.

According to Roy, Nadiem also acknowledged that his leadership style at Kemendikbudristek was similar to that in a technology company.

The prosecutor also highlighted the alleged dominance of external parties within the ministry environment, leading to certain perceptions internally.

“Meanwhile, people in the ministry already regarded someone like Jurist Tan as ‘the real Minister’. People were afraid,” said Roy.

In addition, Roy pointed to the alleged conflict of interest between the Chromebook usage policy and Nadiem’s business relations with Google.

“So this shows there is a correlation, a conflict of interest in how he pushed for the Chromebook education digitalisation procurement because he has business interests with Google,” he said.