January 28, 2026 | 12:02 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former Special Staff to the Indonesian ex-Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim, Fiona Handayani, admitted to receiving a salary of Rp50 million per month while serving as the minister's special staff. Fiona made this admission while testifying in the follow-up trial of the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday, January 27, 2026.
During the trial, the public prosecutor directly questioned Fiona's income during her tenure. Chief Public Prosecutor Roy Riady asked, "How much is your salary?" Fiona replied, "My take-home pay is Rp50 million per month." The prosecutor reconfirmed, "Rp50 million per month?" Fiona replied briefly, "Yes."
Fiona explained that this income came from several components. She mentioned one of them was a performance allowance (tukin) of approximately Rp27 million per month. "The rest comes from..." Fiona said before the prosecutor stopped her explanation.
Fiona then added that this income was also related to her role as the minister's special staff in other capacities. "Furthermore, there are additional charges, namely in my capacity as a special staff member to the minister and in my other capacity as a supervisory board member," she said.
The prosecutor briefly touched on whether this amount was net or gross income. Fiona dismissed the notion. "No, it's not like that," she said. The prosecutor then concluded the discussion regarding the income.
Information regarding the salary of the special staff to the minister emerged during the examination of witnesses against the three defendants. The examination also highlighted Fiona's role and authority in various meetings and coordination related to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology's priority programs.
In this case, former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim, along with three other defendants, Ibrahim Arief, Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, were charged with causing state financial losses of Rp2.1 trillion in a corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology during the 2019–2022 period. The prosecutor alleged that the defendants carried out procurement that did not comply with the planning and violated procurement principles.
In detail, the state losses include the high price of Chromebooks amounting to Rp1.56 trillion and the procurement of unnecessary and useless CDMs worth US$44.05 million, equivalent to Rp621.39 billion, for the education digitalization program.
For these actions, prosecutors suspect Nadiem Makarim of receiving Rp809.59 billion from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) through a US$786.99 million Google investment. Prosecutors have charged Nadiem under Article 2 paragraph (1) or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Eradication Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1 of the Criminal Code.
Read: Chromebook Graft Case: Nadiem Denies Meeting Google
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