WhatsApp Group Name Changed to 'Mas Menteri Core Team' Revealed by Nadiem
The WhatsApp group name ‘Mas Menteri Core Team’ has become the focus of attention in a corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebooks that has ensnared former Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nadiem Makarim. The group name was reportedly changed after Nadiem assumed office as minister.
Nadiem Makarim denied creating the WhatsApp group ‘Mas Menteri Core Team’ before becoming minister. Nadiem stated that the group he created was called ‘Edu Org’.
This was stated by Nadiem Makarim whilst serving as a crown witness in the case of alleged corruption in the procurement of Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management (CDM) at the Jakarta Pusat Corruption Court on Tuesday, 10 March. The defendants in this hearing are Mulyatsyah as Director of SMP Kemendikbudristek 2020, Sri Wahyuningsih as Director of Elementary Schools in the Directorate General of Early Childhood Education, Primary and Secondary Education for 2020-2021, and Ibrahim Arief, alias Ibam, as a consultant.
“In August 2019, before you assumed office as minister, did you form a WhatsApp group named Mas Menteri Core Team?” the prosecutor asked.
“That’s not correct,” Nadiem replied.
“Or did you join that group?” the prosecutor asked.
“That’s not correct. I created the group, but it was named Edu Org,” Nadiem answered.
Nadiem stated that the ‘Edu Org’ group name changed only after he was inaugurated as Education Minister. As context, Nadiem is also a defendant in this case but is being tried in a separate file.
“The Edu Org group changed its name when I was inaugurated as minister. The same group became ‘Mas Menteri Core Team’. That’s according to my recollection,” Nadiem said.
During this hearing, Nadiem also stated that the Chromebook and CDM programme was designed for regions with electricity access, internet access and adequate capacity. He stated that the programme was not intended for disadvantaged, frontier or remote regions, known as 3T regions.
“However, looking at the criteria presented on 6 May, it is very clear from the previous court proceedings that the target of this laptop procurement was only for regions with electricity access, internet access, which had not previously received laptops, and had adequate capacity. If I am not mistaken, the capacity referred to was a sufficient number of students so that the school buildings were large and could serve surrounding schools during the Assessment of Competency Mapping (AKM), if I’m not mistaken, that was the reason,” Nadiem said.
“So the question, Mr Prosecutor, is what I want to try to answer, that these considerations were discussed, but what is interesting is that in the 6 May meeting, I was never informed that this programme was for 3T regions. And it turns out that through the court proceedings, all witnesses also stated that the target of this programme was not 3T regions but rather schools that had internet and electricity access,” Nadiem added.
Nadiem Makarim also explained the meaning of a chat in the WhatsApp group about replacing humans with software and building new teams to coordinate with external allies. Nadiem stated that the message was in the WhatsApp group named ‘Edu Org’.
Initially, Nadiem claimed to have created the ‘Edu Org’ WhatsApp group before assuming office as minister. He stated that the group was created when he received word that he would be appointed as minister, whilst he had no background in education, but rather in the private sector, technology and business.
“This group was formed around August, when I first received word that I might be appointed as Education Minister. Yes. So I created the group because I did not have an education background. I only had a background in the private sector, in technology and in business. But I have a very great passion for education. But I do not have the background,” Nadiem said.
Nadiem stated that the group was created as preparation in case he did indeed become minister. He stated that the group was renamed ‘Mas Menteri Core Team’ when he was inaugurated.
“So what I did was to prepare in case this would happen, I created this group by prioritising people from various fields of expertise who had a good chance of being motivated to join the team in carrying out an education transformation. That is the context of the creation of the Edu Org group which later changed its name to Mas Menteri Core Team when I became minister,” Nadiem said.
The prosecutor also asked about four points in the WhatsApp group chat. The message 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 an explanation. Nadiem stated that replacing humans with software was aimed at achieving efficiency in budget and time through automation systems.
“Point one is remove humans and replace with software. The purpose here is efficiency in both budget and time. There is very much work in the bureaucracy that is manual, for example, like now as a defendant, there are many letters and correspondence that happen which is really burdensome for everyone and which could actually be automated. What I mean by replacing manual tasks with software is automation,” Nadiem said.
“So that people can focus on things that truly require energy and effort,” Nadiem added.
Nadiem stated that the second point about finding internal change agents and empowering them meant finding talented people within the ministry and giving them responsibility in an important project rather than sidelining them.
“Point two, Find internal change agents and empower them means finding the best people within the ministry who have been ignored by leaders for years, who have never received attention because they are honest people, they work hard but have never been promoted to important positions,” Nadiem said.