Indonesia jails ex-minister Nadiem Makarim over school laptop case

Indonesia’s Central Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced former education minister Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison over a school laptop procurement case, handing down one of the country’s most closely watched graft verdicts against a former cabinet figure. The court also imposed a 1 billion rupiah fine and ordered 809.6 billion rupiah in restitution, with an additional prison term if the money is not paid.

Prosecutors had pushed for an 18-year sentence in a case tied to pandemic-era Chromebook purchases for schools. The programme was linked to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology’s digitalisation drive and was meant to distribute about 1.2 million Chromebooks, especially to underdeveloped and remote regions. Reports put the procurement value at roughly Rp 9.3 trillion to Rp 9.9 trillion, placing the case among the largest corruption probes to touch Indonesia’s education sector in years.

Nadiem, the co-founder of ride-hailing and payments giant Gojek, denied wrongdoing and said the laptop programme was intended to support education during the Covid-19 crisis. Reuters reported that he also argued the case was politically motivated, a claim echoed by some academics and rights activists as the prosecution moved through court. His conviction has intensified scrutiny of how Indonesia handles corruption cases involving well-known reform-era figures with strong public profiles.

The prosecution has been framed inside Indonesia as a test of whether no one is beyond reach, even a minister who came to office with a reputation for digital-era innovation and private-sector success. At the same time, the political overtones surrounding the case have raised questions over whether anti-graft enforcement is being applied cleanly or whether high-profile prosecutions can still be read through the lens of factional power. Under President Prabowo Subianto, the verdict is likely to feed wider debate over governance, investor confidence and the credibility of state institutions.

The wider investigation has not stopped with Nadiem. Reporting around the case says at least four other suspects were named, including Ibrahim Arief, a former Bukalapak vice-president who later served as a consultant to the education ministry. The case now stands as a major corruption trial with implications that reach beyond one former minister and into Indonesia’s broader promise of accountability.