‘Laptopgate’ Will the AGO go beyond scapegoating

A Rp 9.9 trillion (US$610 million) corruption scandal involving the procurement of school laptops by the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry from 2019 to 2022, under the leadership of Nadiem Makarim, has captured national attention.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has launched an investigation and investigators have questioned 28 witnesses to date, but so far it has focused on only three of Nadiem’s former expert staffers: Fiona Handayani, Jurist Tan, and Ibrahim Arief. The three staffers have had their homes searched and property seized, including electronic devices and documents.

The critical question, however, is whether the AGO is prepared to pursue high-level officials within the ministry, even the former minister himself. The focus on low-level staffers raises questions because such employees typically have no power to make final decisions, merely serving in an advisory capacity. Any involvement with policy on their part would have required the minister’s sign-off.

Nadiem has publicly denied any involvement in the scandal. “I am ready to cooperate and support law enforcement authorities by providing statements or clarification if needed,” the former minister said.

He has defended the program, saying that over 97 percent of the funds were used to distribute 1.1 million Chromebooks to 77,000 schools. He also justified the choice of laptop, citing their lower cost and free software compared to more expensive Windows laptops.

However, the AGO and critics question the reasoning behind the exclusive procurement of Chromebooks. The trials the ministry conducted from 2018 to 2019 had shown Chromebooks to be ineffective in many remote and rural areas due to limited internet access. Despite these findings, the ministry pushed ahead with the procurement, raising concerns about potential ulterior motives.

Adding to the suspicion is how the procurement specification appeared tailored for six local firms as the only vendors capable of supplying the Chromebooks while also meeting the domestic content rule. These six companies were awarded a Rp 700 billion government contract to provide 165,000 laptops: Acer Manufacturing Indonesia, PT Bangga Technology Indonesia, PT Evercoss Technology Indonesia, PT Supertone, PT Tera Data Indonesia, and PT Zyrexindo Mandiri Buana.

Further fueling the scandal are past revelations concerning former coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister Luhut Pandjaitan. In 2021, he faced a controversy over conflict of interest when it came to light that he held majority shares in Zyrexindo Mandiri Buana.

Nadiem, a cofounder of super app Gojek, had a contentious tenure as education minister. Appointed by then-president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the Ivy League graduate was often seen as an idealist who was out of touch, with little experience in the education sector.

The education ministry was among the biggest spenders of the state budget even before a constitutional amendment in 2009 mandated a 20 percent budget allocation for the sector. In a study of trends across graft cases between 2016 and 2021, Indonesia Corruption Watch found that education ranked among the top five most corrupt sectors, totaling 240 graft cases that caused Rp 1.6 trillion in state losses over the period.

While Nadiem's background as a successful entrepreneur and net worth of nearly Rp 5 trillion suggest he would have had little incentive to seek illicit gains, the culture of corruption embedded in the bureaucracy has left many skeptical. The question now is whether the AGO is willing to carry out an impartial investigation that goes beyond seeking scapegoats among low-level employees to indict the real mastermind behind the corrupt deal.