Nadiem Makarim – the co-founder of Indonesia’s leading app for rides and more purposes, Gojek – is facing a decade behind bars due to corruption, as he is accused of illicitly gaining from the Indonesian government’s decision to invest in Google Chromebook laptops for the schools there, bringing a whopping $125 million in state losses. Here’s the scoop from RSF.
$125 million in state losses
An Indonesian court yesteday ruled that Gojek’s Makarim, who was also a former education minister, is guilty of corruption charges, sentencing him to 10 years in prison.
The 41-year-old denies the allegations, and protested his innocence, saying the case against him is politically-motivated, which is why academicians, teachers, and rights activists supported him.
However, financial experts believe it is clear the court’s verdict can further undermine and affect the confidence of investors in Indonesia, worsening further since the value of the rupiah and stocks have badly slumped this year after cuts to outlooks from credit ratings agencies on unpredictable policy-making and governance conceerns.
For index providers, Indonesia is currently Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, but they are mulling over downgrading them due to market transparency concerns.
Makarim served as the education minister of Indonesia from 2019 to 2024 under the previous administration of Joko Widodo, due to the illegal purchase of Google Chromebook laptops for Indonesian schools that caused losses for the state amounting to $125 million! The current president of Indonesia is businessman Prabowo Subianto.
“I was sentenced with facts that don’t make any sense,” Makarim told ridesharing media, including the RSF team, crying and saying he could not pay the amount ordered by the judges. “The judges couldn’t even look me in the eye.”
He is being asked to summon around $56,000 in fines and return over $45 million the judges stated was an amount he personally gained from the deal. Reports stated if he is unable to pay the amount, he would be sentenced five more years, outside the 10 years.
Aside from finding Makarim guilty of corruption, he is also facing abuse of authority and of causing state losses accusations.
Who is Makarim?
Makarim holds both businesses and Indonesian politics in his hand. Aside from being the co-founder of Gojek – a leading Southeast Asian on-demand technology platform that functions as a “super app,” which operations in areas like Indonesia and Vietnam, offering users access to dozens of daily services like ride-hailing, food delivery, logistics, and digital payments – he is the sole minister of education, culture, research, and technology of Indonesia, serving from 2021 to 2024. Gojek is Indonesia’s first startup valued at over US$10 billion.
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