I was talking to my host family tonight over dinner, and mentioned that I had heard people in Indonesia have to pay if they want to join the military or police here. And it’s not cheap! This makes no sense to me,,, and of course there’s no standardization in bribes here. They know of one family who sold part of their land to afford the $6,500 (65million Rupiah) “entrance fee” into the Army,,, so their son could have a job. He got lousy grades in high school, so college was out of the question.

Isn’t the point of a job to get paid? And from what I hear, wages there are pretty low. Soldiers & policemen still look for 2nd & 3rd jobs, or ways to add to their monthly salaries, just to get by. Whew.

If this isn’t the full picture of entrance into the Indonesian armed forces and police, it’s at least a public perception.