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