Highway robbery?

Highway robbery?

On Jan. 17, 2000, The Jakarta Post reported that the Jakarta
City Administration has just spent Rp 1.2 billion to buy 60
German-made Melcher tear-gas pistols for its public order units.
Rp 20 million per gun seemed like a lot, so I went to the
Internet, where the most expensive Melcher I could find cost
roughly the rupiah equivalent of Rp 6 million; mid-range Melchers
were closer to Rp 4 million.

The news report did mention that the price per gun includes
Police Department license and training. Might that explain the
high mark-up on the guns? Is it cynical to think that there might
be kickbacks lurking in the shadows of this deal? Does any
official care enough to investigate and retrieve any money that
might have gone into private pockets during this transaction?

This procurement perversion is another outrage perpetrated by
notorious Jakarta officials upon the people. By my math, the
amount spent on those guns could have paid the annual salaries of
at least 200 of the "brutal" persons the tear gas is destined to
disable, some of whom may have been driven to street crime in the
first place by economic desperation.

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra