No bribery in PSKD

My attention was drawn, belatedly, to a letter written by Mr. Dennis Vargas titled Begging PSKD Mandiri (The Jakarta Post, April 14, 2001). Mr. Vargas' child was not immediately accepted but was put on a waiting list instead. He implied that a suitable bribe could have solved his problem. Rather than being offended, I was extremely pleased by his letter: if people are now willing to bribe our school officials to get a child enrolled then we must be doing right at our Mandiri school.

In the last two years our school has become popular since it is, in the words of Mr. Vargas, "a national-plus school with good teaching quality and reasonable fees". In addition, its location on Jl. Sam Ratulangi makes it easily reachable from many points, in consequence, a waiting list for new enrollments became unavoidable.

Unfortunately, many parents on the acceptance list wait until the very last minute to make up their mind so that those further down on the list are facing a rather frustrating and annoying waiting period. Recognizing this problem we are making extra efforts to improve the system.

Pleasing as it is to our ego that Mr. Vargas implied that we have so many applicants that a bribe is needed, his insinuation is far off the mark. Our school association -- Perkumpulan Sekolah Kristen Djakarta (PSKD), i.e. the Djakarta Christian School Association -- runs 22 schools, two campgrounds and a health clinic. It is our way of demonstrating Christian principles in the education world by establishing affordable and quality schools for the inhabitants of Jakarta and its surroundings without any regard to economic, social, racial or religious origins.

The PSKD runs "elite" schools such as the Mandiri schools or SMA III PSKD on Jl. Kwini, and also runs schools in the economically challenged areas of Jakarta. In the PSKD vocational school in North Jakarta every single student is subsidized by about Rp 150,000 a month. We try to provide a PSKD school for any family budget. In existence since 1942 and under different names since the late 19th century, the PSKD has become a Jakarta institution. Nowadays nobody pays much attention or even knows that it is a Christian school. To many Jakartans, PSKD is no longer an acronym but just one word. Such public acceptance would not be possible if we played bribery games as Mr. Vargas implied.

And the banner in front of the school that he labels as false advertising? Oh, don't read too much into it. It is just one of those Jakarta school traditions: at the beginning of the year you put up a huge banner to cheer up the front yard and also to show off -- the bigger and more eye-catching, the better.

TOENGGOEL P. SIAGIAN

Secretary of the Board

and Executive Director

PSKD, Jakarta