On September 4, 2025, Indonesian authorities sent shockwaves through both the tech and political worlds by arresting Nadiem Anwar Makarim, the celebrated co-founder of Gojek and former minister of education and culture. The arrest, made public by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), marks a dramatic turn in a corruption saga tied to the government’s ambitious effort to digitize education during the COVID-19 pandemic—a project now under fire for alleged graft, questionable procurement decisions, and disappointing results in Indonesia’s most remote schools.
According to The Business Times, the AGO’s spokesperson Anang Supriatna stated, “Based on our investigation and the evidence gathered, we have named a new suspect with the initials NAM (Nadiem Anwar Makarim).” The news quickly reverberated across Jakarta and beyond, as television images showed Makarim, 41, in handcuffs and a detainee’s red vest, being led away from the prosecutor’s office. Before being placed into a detention vehicle, Makarim addressed a crowd, declaring, “I didn’t do anything, the truth will come out. God will reveal the truth! For me, throughout my life, integrity is number one, honesty is number one. May God protect me.” (Associated Press)
The case centers on the Education Ministry’s procurement of 1.2 million Google Chromebook laptops, valued at around 10 trillion rupiah (roughly $784 million Singapore dollars or $563 million US dollars), during Makarim’s tenure from 2019 to 2022. The laptops were meant to support a government push for the ‘digitalization of schools’—a policy designed to bridge the digital divide for students forced into remote learning by the pandemic. Yet, as Devdiscourse reported, the project’s focus on Chromebooks quickly drew criticism. Many questioned why the ministry opted for Chromebooks over the recommended Windows devices, especially given the limited internet access in Indonesia’s far-flung regions. Investigators now allege that vendors sold the laptops to the government at inflated prices, and that the procurement process itself may have been manipulated.
“The project aimed to digitize remote-area schools during the COVID-19 pandemic but faced criticism for prioritizing Chromebooks, which were ineffective in areas with limited internet access,” Devdiscourse noted. The AGO’s director of investigation, Nurcahyo Jungkung Madyo, explained that the project was worth 9.3 trillion rupiah, with estimated state losses of about 1.9 trillion rupiah—roughly $115 million US dollars. The scale of the alleged losses, and the involvement of such a high-profile figure, have made the case headline news across Indonesia.
Makarim, who co-founded Gojek in 2010 (some sources cite 2015 as the launch year) and stepped down in 2019 to join President Joko Widodo’s cabinet, was once hailed as a symbol of Indonesia’s tech-driven future. Under his leadership, Gojek secured $1.3 billion in funding from major global investors like Alphabet’s Google, JD.com, and Tencent, and later merged with Tokopedia in 2021 to create GoTo—now one of Indonesia’s largest tech companies. GoTo has since clarified that Makarim has had no affiliation with the group since 2019.
But the government’s school laptop project, initiated under Makarim’s watch, is now under intense scrutiny. Prosecutors have named four other suspects in the case, including Ibrahim Arief, a former vice-president at e-commerce platforms Bukalapak and Ovo, who later served as chief technology officer of GovTech Edu—the agency overseeing the ministry’s digital initiatives. Arief is currently under city arrest due to health reasons, meaning he must remain within his city of residence. Other high-profile witnesses summoned for questioning include Andre Soelistyo, former GoTo CEO; Melissa Siska Juminto, former Tokopedia president and current head of e-commerce at ByteDance Indonesia; and a partner manager from Google’s Indonesia office.
Investigators allege that Makarim, in his role as education minister, favored Google Chromebooks despite the ministry’s own research team advising against the product. The team reportedly found Chromebooks to be ineffective in regions lacking reliable internet connectivity—a significant issue in many remote Indonesian provinces. Nonetheless, Makarim pressed ahead with the procurement, and by 2023, he claimed that 97% of over one million laptops had been delivered to 77,000 schools. “Makarim claimed the Chromebook program was successful, with 97% of over 1 million laptops delivered to 77,000 schools by 2023,” Associated Press reported. Yet, critics highlight that the project’s real-world impact fell far short of its lofty goals.
The arrest of Makarim is just the latest in a string of high-profile corruption cases to hit Indonesia’s burgeoning tech sector. Earlier this year, authorities charged Gibran Huzaifah, founder of unicorn eFishery, with financial report manipulation and embezzlement. The cases have prompted soul-searching about the intersection of technology, politics, and public accountability in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
For many Indonesians, the allegations against Makarim are particularly jarring. He was widely seen as a reform-minded technocrat, brought into government to modernize the education sector and help steer the country through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. Yet, as the details of the Chromebook procurement emerge, questions loom over how such a large-scale project could have gone so awry—and why warnings from within the ministry appear to have been ignored.
Supporters of Makarim argue that he is being unfairly targeted, pointing to his public insistence on integrity and his record of delivering on ambitious programs. Some have suggested that the investigation is politically motivated, or that Makarim is being made a scapegoat for systemic issues that predate his tenure. Detractors, meanwhile, argue that the case is a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked power, conflicts of interest, and the risks of importing Silicon Valley-style disruption into government procurement without proper oversight.
The broader context is hard to ignore. Indonesia’s rapid digital transformation, accelerated by the pandemic, has brought both enormous opportunities and new vulnerabilities. The education sector, in particular, has been at the center of this change, with millions of students and teachers forced to adapt to remote learning almost overnight. The government’s push to provide digital devices was, on paper, a bold response to a national emergency. But as the Chromebook scandal shows, the execution of such projects can be fraught with pitfalls—from technical mismatches to procurement irregularities and, ultimately, to allegations of outright corruption.
As the investigation continues, all eyes are on the AGO and the courts. The outcome of the case will not only determine Makarim’s fate but may also set a precedent for how Indonesia handles corruption in its fast-evolving tech sector. For now, the story stands as a stark reminder that even the most well-intentioned reforms can go astray—and that the quest for digital progress must be matched by unwavering accountability and transparency.
With the dust far from settled, Indonesia’s tech and education communities are left to grapple with the fallout, hoping that the lessons from this saga will shape a more resilient and responsible future.