When Nadiem Questions Expert Witness on the Reasonableness of Chromebook Prices
An IT expert from Bhayangkara Jakarta Raya University, Mujiono, was presented by the public prosecutor (JPU) at the trial for the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) today. The defendant, former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim, posed several questions regarding laptop prices.
Nadiem raised these questions during the hearing held at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday (6/4/2026). Nadiem initially asked whether the laptop industry is competitive or not.
“Now, I want to ask whether the laptop industry is a competitive industry or not?” asked Nadiem.
“As far as I know, yes, it is competitive because there are many players,” replied Mujiono.
“So what are the factors that make an industry competitive, sir? Many players, what else, sir?” asked Nadiem.
“Many players, demand, and so on. If there is a lot of demand, it is certainly more competitive,” replied Mujiono.
Nadiem then asked whether the price differences for laptops in Indonesia are transparent. Mujiono answered that, based on his experience, the price differences for laptops in Indonesia are transparent.
“Is the laptop industry in Indonesia or worldwide an industry where price transparency is high, meaning everyone can look up the price of a laptop or gadget, yes or no?” asked Nadiem.
“Mostly, in my experience, it is like that. So we can know the retail price of laptops like that,” replied Mujiono.
“So it’s very easy to find prices in the market, sir, because there are online sales and so on. I just want to ask you about that because we are also confused why the calculation of fair prices does not consider market prices,” said Nadiem in response to Mujiono’s answer.
Previously, Mujiono was also asked about the reasonableness of the Rp 6 million Chromebook price. He assessed that the Chromebook price was excessive.
“Expert witness, from the perspective of the reasonableness of the price presented in the manifest, is Rp 6 million reasonable according to the expert?” asked the prosecutor.
“Well, perhaps I should explain a bit first. Chromebook is actually a term for the operating system. So the hardware can be from brands like Asus, Acer, HP, and others. Now, why can it be cheap, in quotes? Because what’s stored in the laptop is very little. So the software is very simple, perhaps only needing a browser. Meanwhile, the Chromebook operating system is small, why small? Because the communication is then with the cloud,” replied Mujiono.
“If I look at websites now, I mean the position in 2025-2026, it was between Rp 3 and Rp 4 million with the note of an 11-inch display, 32 GB storage, processor type N4000 or N4020. So from e-commerce sites, the 12-inch display one is Rp 1,850,000, the 32 GB storage one is Rp 1,750,000. So assuming the price is Rp 6 million, there is already an excess,” he continued.
In this case, Nadiem Makarim is charged with corruption related to the procurement of Chromebook laptops during his tenure as Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. The project is said to have caused a state loss of Rp 2.1 trillion.
Nadiem has filed an exception. The judge rejected the exception and requested that the trial proceed to the proof stage.