Violation of Project Competition, KPPU Asked to Investigate Alleged Lockout of the Kemendikbud Chromebook Market

The Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) (KPPU RI document)

JAKARTA - Indonesian Audit Watch (IAW) highlighted a new fact revealed in the Corruption Court (Tipikor) trial regarding the Chromebook procurement project at the Ministry of Education. The fact is the existence of a protest message from global technology company Microsoft against regulations that are considered to lock the choice of operating system in the project worth trillions of rupiah.

IAW Founding Secretary Iskandar Sitorus said the objection was revealed from the testimony of a witness from the Cabinet Secretariat (Setkab) who admitted to receiving and forwarding a complaint from Microsoft regarding the Ministry of Education and Culture Decree Number 5 of 2021.

According to Iskandar, the regulation is considered to direct the use of Google's Chrome OS-based devices, thus narrowing the space for competition from other technologies.

"The Setkab workers have followed the procedures by forwarding the message to the relevant ministries. However, the warning message from the high line seems to be submerged in the bureaucratic routine. The project worth Rp. 17.42 trillion is still running," said Iskandar, Friday, January 30.

He assessed that the objections from global companies should be an alarm for the government to evaluate the policy before the project continues. According to him, when the warning signal reaches the palace circle, there should be corrective steps to prevent potential waste of state budget.

Iskandar explained that in the practice of enforcing competition law, complaints from business actors often become the initial entry point for uncovering alleged violations. He said that the Competition Oversight Commission (KPPU) often had difficulty obtaining sufficient initial evidence to initiate an investigation on its own initiative.

"In the case of Chromebooks, the initial evidence actually came up at the trial. This could be a strong entry point for the KPPU to assess whether there are practices that lead to market lock-in," he said.

IAW assessed that if the regulation explicitly directs all procurement to one technology ecosystem, it has the potential to violate Article 22 of Law Number 5 of 1999 concerning Prohibition of Monopoly Practices and Unhealthy Business Competition.

Apart from the aspect of business competition, IAW also highlights the findings of the Financial Audit Agency (BPK). Based on a number of audit reports over a decade, BPK has repeatedly noted that there are technology devices that are not optimally utilized.

In the Chromebook project, hundreds of thousands of laptop units are reportedly unused, especially in areas with limited internet infrastructure, so cloud-based devices are difficult to use.

"What the BPK found and reported was a state loss. People's money turned into idle assets that did not benefit," said Iskandar.

IAW also reminded the current government to ensure that public policies are formulated transparently and do not favor the interests of certain corporations. According to him, unhealthy business competition risks harming the country as well as society.

"If public policy is 'locked' to benefit one ecosystem alone, while competitors feel the need to appeal to the highest level of government, it is a serious signal. The state must ensure that rules are made for the benefit of the people, not corporations," said Iskandar.