Prosecutors Grill Nadiem on Jurist Tan as 'Shadow Minister' Who Instilled Fear in Directorate General

Public prosecutors grilled former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim about the figure of a ‘shadow minister’. The prosecutors asked whether Nadiem was aware that his special staff at the time, Jurist Tan, was referred to as a shadow minister to the extent that it instilled fear in the Directorate General. That question was posed to Nadiem during the trial examining the defendant at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday (11/5/2026). The prosecutors initially mentioned that the presence of the shadow minister caused fear within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology at that time. “Have you ever heard who this shadow minister is?” the prosecutor asked. “No, I haven’t,” Nadiem replied. “I’ll tell you. Jurist Tan is known as the shadow minister. There was even fear in the ministry, in a follow-up during your time leading as minister,” the prosecutor explained. The prosecutor then stated that the shadow minister made it difficult for a Directorate General head to meet the minister. The prosecutor also mentioned that the Directorate General in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology at that time was afraid of Jurist Tan. “Even a Directorate General head was not bold with the shadow minister named Jurist Tan. It even became a fact in the trial that you once said, ‘Are Jurist Tan’s words your words?’ Something like that,” the prosecutor said. Nadiem then responded. He said that he indeed brought in several special staff to assist his duties as minister. “Allow me to clarify. These are all different things being mixed together. As minister, I entered with several special staff who were specific in their respective fields because of their competence, because of their integrity. People like Mas Nino, Pak Iwan, Jurist Tan, and also Fiona, and others, they are SKM (Special Staff to the Minister). Some of these SKM later became Directorate General heads, like Pak Iwan who is a witness here. Besides that, all the Directorate General heads I appointed came from within the ministry,” he said. He stated that the Directorate General heads in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology at that time mostly came from internal ministry sources and were approved by the President in accordance with regulations. He said the officials in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology were the best people. “So they were chosen by me and approved by Mr President, based on their track record within the ministry. That’s what is meant by the best people in the ministry being appointed and given the opportunity to lead,” he said. He mentioned that people handling education digitalisation in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology were paid through a contract scheme with one of the state-owned enterprises. He noted that education digitalisation was a directive from the 7th President Joko Widodo to him. “Why are people with… uh… technology knowledge… uh… brought in to assist in the ministry in the digitalisation programme? Because this is a mandate I received from Mr President. In two coordination meetings outside of the change from national exams to national assessments. The President in the coordination meeting decided that education digitalisation is a necessity. And the Ministry of Education, Culture must create application platforms that schools can use to improve efficiency,” he said. For information, Jurist Tan is also a suspect in this case. However, he has not been tried because he is still at large. Jurist Tan’s name has also appeared several times in the trial.