JAKARTA: Former education minister and Gojek founder Nadiem Makarim was sentenced on Tuesday (June 30) to 10 years in prison over a school laptop procurement programme launched during the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing to a close one of Indonesia’s most highly-publicised corruption trials.
Nadiem was also fined 1 billion rupiah (US$56,000) and ordered to pay 809.6 billion rupiah (US$45 million) in restitution, with an additional five-year prison term if he fails to repay the amount.
The verdict marks a dramatic reversal for the Harvard-educated technology entrepreneur once held up as a symbol of a new generation of Indonesian leaders.
Reading out the ruling, chief judge Purwanto said the Jakarta Corruption Court had found Nadiem guilty because “the manner and purpose by which the policy was taken were proven to contain an abuse of authority intended to unlawfully benefit certain parties”.
The judges found that he had “consciously and intentionally directed the Chromebook procurement policy” and that his actions were motivated by a desire “to strengthen the strategic business relationship between Google and the corporation he founded”.
This, the panel of five judges said, was “a highly reprehensible motive because it was contrary to the oath of office of a minister”.
Before joining former president Joko Widodo’s cabinet in 2019 as education minister, the 41-year-old founded Gojek, a business specialising in courier delivery and motorcycle taxi services.
He expanded it into a super app offering services ranging from food delivery to a digital payments platform called GoPay. It became Indonesia’s first unicorn start-up and by 2019 was valued at about US$10 billion.
In that same year, he was recruited to bring a technology-driven approach to government. However, years later, the very digitalisation intiative that became a hallmark of his tenure formed the basis of the corruption charges brought against him in January 2026.
At the centre of the case was a programme to procure about 1.1 million Chromebook laptops between 2020 and 2022, when schools across Indonesia were forced to switch to online learning during the pandemic.
Prosecutors had sought an 18-year prison sentence, a 1 billion rupiah fine (US$56,000) and 5.6 trillion rupiah in restitution. They alleged the procurement caused about 2.18 trillion rupiah in state losses and that Nadiem personally benefited by around 809 billion rupiah through transactions involving PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB), Gojek’s parent company.
They also alleged that Google’s investment in the company influenced the Chromebook procurement, an allegation that Nadiem rejected. Google has not been indicted.
Nadiem denied the allegations throughout the trial, asserting they were unfounded. He and his defence team presented their plea in early June 2026, requesting a full acquittal.
The Attorney-General’s Office said ministry studies conducted in 2018 before Nadiem became minister had found that Chromebook laptops would be ineffective in remote and rural areas without reliable internet access.
Prosecutors also cited an August 2019 group chat that they said showed discussions about a Chromebook-focused digitalisation plan before Nadiem’s formal appointment to the cabinet.
Nadiem and his legal team argued that the programme was carried out in good faith to keep education running during one of the most disruptive periods in Indonesia’s recent history.
They maintained that he received no money from the procurement and said about 97 per cent of the 1.1 million Chromebooks had been delivered to 77,000 schools by 2023.
The case drew unusual public attention, with dozens of Gojek drivers attending the hearings to show solidarity and moral support. Once, Nadiem arrived wearing a Gojek driver jacket before changing into a blue batik shirt.
Court sessions were livestreamed and drew calls on social media for public watch parties, while the court received amicus curiae, or “friends of the court”, briefs supporting Nadiem’s case.
He also comes from a prominent Indonesian family. His father, Nono Anwar Makarim, is a prominent lawyer, while his maternal grandfather was an Indonesian independence fighter.
As the trial entered its final stages, Nadiem sought to cast the case as more than a dispute over procurement decisions.
In a defence plea delivered before the verdict on June 23, he argued that the proceedings would shape how young Indonesians viewed public service and whether professionals from outside politics would still be willing to enter government.
Addressing the judges, he said: “Youth across all of Indonesia, and the diaspora in every corner of the world, await your answer to the question echoing in their hearts: ‘Is this country still safe for us to serve?’”
On the eve of sentencing, Nadiem thanked supporters in a post on a LinkedIn account managed by his legal team, and said he still believed in the judicial process despite months of legal proceedings.
“After five months on trial, I still believe in justice,” he wrote. - The Straits Times/ANN
