Losing shine, ground work and halal-or-not
A bag of random stories.
I am kicking off the week with a wrap of three stories:
Indonesia loses its shine as Nadiem Makarim’s prison sentence spooks anyone with money in the archipelago.
Brahmal takes the CTOS chair at time when the company’s share price is low.
Maybank loves Foodie, but it isn’t a sign of confidence in new media.
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The biggest story last week had to be Nadiem Makarim’s prison sentence.
The former education minister was convicted over a 9.9 trillion rupiah (about US$600 million) programme to buy Chromebook laptops for schools.
The court found he abused his authority and steered the procurement toward Google’s ChromeOS, putting the state loss at around US$130 million.
Prosecutors noted that Google had invested in his Gojek, though Nadiem left the company in 2019 to become minister.
The judges didn’t find he pocketed a cent, but convicted him of abusing his authority and causing what they called “state losses.”
Nadiem is appealing.
The 10-year term rocked even Malaysia’s faithful tech community, with many believing he is a victim of political persecution.