JAKARTA - The Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019-2024 period, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, claims that the procurement of Chromebooks has actually saved the state's finances worth Rp3.9 trillion.
Because, he said, the Ministry of Education and Culture's policy to choose the absolutely free operating system Chrome has saved budget expenditures.
"This savings figure is actually far above the suspected state losses in the Chromebook case," said Nadiem in a trial at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court, Tuesday, June 2, reported by ANTARA.
He explained that when the procurement team presented their recommendations to him, it was estimated that the cost of the school package if all the laptops had the Windows operating system would cost a total of Rp. 148 million per school, while the combination of the Chrome and Windows operating systems would cost Rp. 98 million per school.
If found guilty, Nadiem questioned, does it mean that the state thinks that the Ministry of Education and Culture should choose a more expensive option.
For this reason, he assessed that there was an irony in the alleged Chromebook case, namely the demand for a total main criminal and sub-sentence of 27 years and 6 months in prison for him for a policy that had saved trillions of state budgets.
More shockingly, he said, there was the fact that the decision to choose the Chrome operating system was not a ministerial decision.
This is because, said Nadiem, he never signed any documents related to the procurement of Chromebook laptops under the Ministry of Education and Culture.
"Although I agree with the decision of the technical team who have saved so much budget, this authority is absolutely at their level," he said.
According to him, he was associated with the policy only because the team invited him to attend a meeting via Zoom on May 6, 2020.
At that time there was a recommendation for a combination of the Windows and Chrome operating systems, which was eventually changed back at the technical team level to 100 percent Chrome operating systems.
The change, he continued, was made without Nadiem's knowledge so that legally the state administration, the move was not a ministerial decision.
In addition, he argues that in this case, there is no causality between the policy and the state's losses.
"Even if there is a state loss based on 'mark up' or the cost of laptops, the selection of a free operating system is unlikely to cause the cost of the laptop. It actually reduces the price," he added.
Nadiem is one of the defendants in the case of alleged corruption in the education digitization program in the form of the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) in the Ministry of Education and Culture environment in 2019-2022.
Previously, he was charged with a prison sentence of 18 years, a fine of Rp1 billion, 190 days in prison, and a substitute fine of Rp5.67 trillion, 9 years in prison.
In that case, Nadiem was charged with corruption that caused losses to state finances worth IDR 2.18 trillion.
The corruption was allegedly carried out, among others, by carrying out the procurement of learning facilities based on information and communication technology with Chromebook laptops and CDM in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 budget years, which were not in accordance with the procurement planning and procurement principles.
The founder of one of the technology companies was charged with committing the act together with three other defendants in a different trial, namely Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, Mulyatsyah and Sri Wahyuningsih as well as Jurist Tan, who is currently still at large.
In detail, the losses caused by the state include Rp1.56 trillion related to the education digitization program at the Ministry of Education and Culture, as well as 44.05 million US dollars or the equivalent of Rp621.39 billion due to the procurement of CDM that is not necessary and not useful in the education digitization program.
With this act, Nadiem is suspected of having received money amounting to IDR 809.59 billion originating from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) through PT Gojek Indonesia.
It is stated that most of PT AKAB's money comes from Google's investment of US$786.99 million.
This can be seen from Nadiem's wealth which is recorded in the State-level Wealth Report (LHKPN) in 2022, namely there is an acquisition of property in the form of securities worth IDR 5.59 trillion.
For his actions, the former Minister of Education and Culture was threatened with a criminal penalty as stipulated in Article 2 paragraph (1) or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of Corruption as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001 jo. Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.
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