Chromebook procurement scandal

The Chromebook procurement scandal or Chromebookgate is an corruption case under ongoing investigation by 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 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 uneffective, 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 laptop manufacturers PT Bangga Technology Indonesia (Advan Digital), PT Tera Data Indonesia (Axioo), and PT Zyrexindo Mandiri Buana (Zyrex); office electronics provider PT Evercoss Technology Indonesia (Evercoss) and PT Supertone (SPC).^[6]

Currently, 40 witnesses surrounding the scandal have been examined by Kejagung.^[7] Among them in early June 2025, 2 (later 3)^[8] of them were the special staffs under then-minister Nadiem Makarim.^[9] They also ransacked 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 flashdisk, and other documents. It is believed that their real names are Fiona Handayani, who once served as an analyst from McKinsey & Company and a staff of the vice 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 headquarters of GoTo (PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk., of which also owns Gojek) at Jakarta, was later ransacked by Kejagung on 8 July, obtaining documents, letters, and flashdisks.^[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 people as suspects in this scandal: Sri Wahyuningsih (served as Primary School Director at the Preschool, Primary, and Secondary Education Directorate General between 2020 and 2021), Mulyatsyah (served as Junior Secondary School Director at Kemendikbudristek in 2020), Ibrahim Arief (served as the Individual Consultant at School Resources Management Technological Infrastructure Repairment Planning), and Jurist Tan. Two of them have been arrested at the detention house, except Jurist, because he was abroad at that time, Ibrahim who has been placed under city arrest due to a heart disease.^[20]

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.^[21] Political analyst Hendri Satrio remarked on his Twitter (X) account that "even devils are angry" on the scandal.^[22] 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, not listed on Public Procurement Plan Information System.^[23]

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.^[24] 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.^[25] He also acknowledged that his institution had distributed 1.1 million laptops, 3G modems, and projectors into more than 77,000 schools throughout Indonesia.^[26]

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.^[27] In 2021, long before the scandal surfaced to the public, politician Djoko Edhi Abdurrahman connected the scandal with Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who acquired 51% stakes in PT Zyrexindo Mandiri Buana TBK (ZYRX). The company then received from Kemendikbudristek, a procurement contract of 165,000 laptops worth IDR 700 billion.^[28]

See also

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