Chromebook procurement scandal

The Chromebook procurement scandal or Chromebookgate is an Indonesian corruption case under ongoing investigation by the Attorney General's Office of Indonesia (Kejagung) since 20 May 2025.^[1] The scandal involves the procurement of Chromebook laptops worth IDR 9.9 trillion ($601 million) by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) and its predecessor Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud), between 2019 and 2023.^[2]

Background

Chromebooks at a Staples retail store, 2020

According to Harli Siregar, the head of legal information centre (Kapuspenkum) at Kejagung, the case began in 2020 when Kemendikbudristek designed the budget for procurement of technological devices for Minimal Competence Assessment (AKM). The technical team originally recommended them to use Microsoft Windows operating system, but instead they later changed to Chromebook for unclear reasons. He also put forward that the state budget of IDR 9.98 trillion included IDR 3.58 trillion specially allocated for the procurement, and IDR 6.39 trillion from specially-allocated funds (DAK).^[3] However, back in 2019, Communication and Technology Centre (Pustekom) at Kemendikbud conducted trials on Chromebooks, and concluded that its use would be ineffective, since it requires internet connection, while its access remained not widespread throughout Indonesia.^[4][2]

Investigation

The head of legal information centre at Kejagung, Harli Siregar, alleged that there was an evil conspiracy in this case,^[2] and some laptops may have been distributed into local schools.^[1] He also stated that Kejagung has sent a letter of notification of investigation commencement (SPDP) to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).^[5] Kejagung later revealed that there are five vendors involved in this scandal, the names include local consumer electronic and laptop manufacturers Advan Digital, Axioo, Zyrex; and office electronics providers Evercoss and PT Supertone (SPC Indonesia).^[6]

Currently, 40 witnesses surrounding the scandal have been examined by the Attorney General’s Office.^[7] Among them in early June 2025, 2 (later 3)^[8] of them were the special staffs under then-education minister Nadiem Makarim.^[9] They also raided two apartment rooms owned by both former staffs, each located at Kuningan Place and The Orchard Satrio @ Ciputra World 2, successfully confiscating various documents as well as electronics,^[10] including 4 smartphones, 2 laptops, 15 agenda books, a USB flash drive, and other supporting documents as evidence. It is believed that their real names are Fiona Handayani, who once served as an analyst from McKinsey & Company and a staff of deputy governor of Jakarta, and Jurist Tan, who involved during the early development of Gojek.^[11]

Former special staff Ibrahim Arief arrived at Kejagung headquarters, Gedung Bundar at 10 a.m. on 12 June, since he was to be questioned as a witness in the scandal.^[12] However, his attorney, Indra Haposan Sihombing denied the previous special staff status.^[13] Ibrahim was later forcibly brought into the building again on 15 July.^[14] Meanwhile, Jurist Tan requested to delay the investigation on him, from its original schedule on 11 June by 6 days.^[15]

On 23 June, Nadiem arrived there in order to be investigated by Kejagung,^[16] and he was additionally prevented for travelling overseas for 6 months.^[17] The Jakarta headquarters of Gojek parent company GoTo was later raided by Kejagung officials on 8 July, confiscating documents, letters, and USB flash drives.^[18] It was followed by the interrogations of Andre Soelistyo, the former CEO of GoTo, on 14 July, and Melissa Siska Juminto, a stockholder at GoTo, on the next day.^[19]

On 16 July, Kejagung initially named four individuals as suspects in this scandal: Sri Wahyuningsih (who served as the Primary School Director at the Directorate General of Preschool, Primary, and Secondary Education from 2020 to 2021), Mulyatsyah (who served as the Junior Secondary School Director at Kemendikbudristek in 2020), Ibrahim Arief (who was the Individual Consultant for School Resources Management Technological Infrastructure Repair Planning), and Jurist Tan. Two of them have been arrested and are currently in detention; however, Jurist is abroad at this time, while Ibrahim has been placed under city arrest due to a heart condition.^[20]

On 4 September, Nadiem was arrested and subsequently named as a suspect for his involvement in the scandal. He was sent into the Salemba Detention Centre for 20 days.^[21]

Reactions

The Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Fajar Riza Ul Haq, stated that his institution will respect the investigation process by Kejagung surrounding the case. He also noted that the program has been ended during Nadiem's leadership.^[22] Political analyst Hendri Satrio remarked on his Twitter (X) account that "even devils are angry" on the scandal.^[23] Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) found various oddities in the scandal, including being not urgent during the COVID-19 pandemic, violating the Presidential Regulation Number 123 of 2020, and not listed on Public Procurement Plan Information System.^[24]

In response to the scandal, former education and culture minister at the time, Nadiem Makarim, accompanied by lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea and two other law experts, arrived at a press conference at Nusantara Foyer Room, The Darmawangsa in Jakarta on 10 June 2025.^[25] He claimed that the prices of individual Chromebooks are 10–30% cheaper at average, and the installation of ChromeOS is free compared to other operating systems.^[26] He also acknowledged that his institution had distributed 1.1 million laptops, 3G modems, and projectors into more than 77,000 schools throughout Indonesia.^[27]

The Financial and Construction Supervision Agency (BPKP) claimed that it has notified numerous recommendations to Kemendikbudristek between 2023 and 2024 regarding the program, including target accuracy, term, specification, and amount of laptops.^[28] In 2021, long before the scandal surfaced to the public, politician Djoko Edhi Abdurrahman connected the scandal with Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who owns a 51% share in Zyrex. The company then received from Kemendikbudristek, a procurement contract of 165,000 laptops worth IDR 700 billion.^[29]

See also

• 2025 Pertamina corruption case, another corruption case under ongoing investigation since February 2025