Indonesian prosecutors are seeking an 18-year prison sentence for Gojek founder Nadiem Makarim on corruption charges related to the purchase of Chromebooks during the pandemic while he was Indonesia’s Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek).
The Chromebook computers are alleged to have caused an alleged loss of IDR 2.18 trillion (~RM 489 million) to the country. In addition, Nadiem, who resigned as Gojek CEO in 2019 to take up the post of Mendikbudristek, is also alleged to have increased his personal wealth by IDR 809 billion (RM 183 million) by making Google “the sole controller of Indonesia’s education ecosystem.”
The ministry has determined since 2018 that Chromebooks are not suitable for learning because they require a stable internet connection, which has created problems in rural areas of Indonesia. However, the purchase continued after several meetings between Nadiem and Google Asia Pacific and Google Indonesia representatives in 2020.
Nadiem denied the allegations, saying that the price of the Chromebooks he purchased was on average 10–30% cheaper and that the installation of ChromeOS was free compared to other operating systems. He also admitted that his institution had distributed 1.1 million laptops, 3G modems and projectors to more than 77,000 schools across Indonesia.
Google, on the other hand, issued an official statement denying that they used their relationship with Nadiem to win the contract. Google also stated that the Chromebooks were designed for classroom use and could work offline.
