Customs service subterfuge<\/p>\n
Many might be amazed at reading newspaper stories for two
\nconsecutive days this week about the successes of the customs
\nservice in foiling smuggling attempts through Jakarta's Tanjung
\nPriok port and at seeing the pictures of Customs and Excise
\nDirector General Permana Agung proudly flaunting his contraband
\ncatch.<\/p>\n
How impressive the customs service's performance seemed to be.
\nPermana invited journalists and news photographers to a press
\nbriefing on Monday when he disclosed the foiling of an attempt to
\nsmuggle three containerloads of textiles from China, thereby
\npreventing the state from losing Rp 367 million (US$35,000) in
\nduty and tax revenues. Permana proudly smiled to the news
\nphotographers as he inspected the fabrics taken from the
\ncontainers, which had been held up by customs officials at the
\nport from the previous Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He again invited reporters and photographers to another
\npublic-relations event on Tuesday when he unveiled the
\ninterception by customs officers of an attempt to smuggle 11
\ncontainerloads of textiles, electronic goods, engines and car
\ncomponents and, amazingly, even light aircraft. This success, he
\nclaimed, had prevented state losses of around Rp 600 million.<\/p>\n
So impressed have some of the reporters been by the customs
\nofficers' performance that a number of newspapers even headlined
\nthe pictures of the seized light aircraft on Wednesday. We only
\nwish, however, that these events fully represented the standard
\nprofessional conduct of the customs service.<\/p>\n
However, given the unceasing fierce criticism of the customs
\nservice by importers, industrialists and even Cabinet ministers
\nsince last for what they see as the gross incompetence and
\nvenality of customs officers, we must not let ourselves be fooled
\nby the customs service's deceptive publicity stunts.<\/p>\n
it is sad to note that instead of starting to substantially
\nreform itself, the customs service has resorted to public-
\nrelations gimmicks as a subterfuge to cosmetically redress its
\nbattered image.<\/p>\n
In fact, the same day Permana was flaunting his success in
\nJakarta, three political factions at the local legislature in
\nCirebon, West Java, were threatening to storm and occupy the
\ncustoms office at Cirebon port for its failure to account for the
\ndisappearance from its custody of 14 containers full of luxury
\nvehicles such as Mercedes Benz cars, Jaguars and Land Cruisers,
\nas well as electronic goods worth about Rp 21 billion.<\/p>\n
The smuggling of the containers through Cirebon port was
\nfoiled in late January not by the customs service but by local
\nport officials who got suspicious about their import documents.
\nLocal customs officials, who were alerted to these suspicious
\nimports, immediately took over the case and Permana rushed from
\nJakarta to Cirebon to show off his officers' success to local
\nreporters.<\/p>\n
However, a team of local legislators who inspected the port in
\nthe first week of this month were shocked to discover that the
\ncontainers had disappeared from the customs compound. They were
\nlater told by some customs officers that the containers had been
\nmoved to the warehouse of a local businessman, identified as
\nJohny, at the recommendation of the port authorities. But Cirebon
\nport officials disclaimed any role in the scam, saying that the
\nsmuggled goods had been under the full custodianship of the
\ncustoms service ever since their seizure. The local police
\npromised to investigate the case but said not much could be done
\nuntil the Cirebon customs chief returned from his haj pilgrimage
\nto Mecca.<\/p>\n
Given the large number of documents that have to be verified
\nand signatures that have to be obtained for the release of the
\ngoods from the customs compound, one cannot help but feel
\nflabbergasted by the scam at Cirebon port. The successes flaunted
\nby Permana this week certainly pale into insignificance compared
\nto the scandal in Cirebon.<\/p>\n
This serves only to justify the wave of criticism of the
\ncorrupt customs service that has been directed at it since last
\nyear. From early November until the first week of this month,
\nhardly a week passed by without two or three newspapers carrying
\nstories, based on officials' or businesspeople's comments, about
\nalleged collusion between customs officers and certain importers
\nto illegally bring in foreign goods to the country.<\/p>\n
A study by the Economic and Social Research Institute of the
\nUniversity of Indonesia last year concluded that the
\nundervaluation of imports had inflicted an estimated $1.2 billion
\nin losses to the state in 2000 as importers failed to fully pay
\nduty and other import-related taxes.<\/p>\n
Executives of the Indonesian Importers' Association met with
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri in early December for the
\nexpress purpose of urging firm action to deal with the corrupt
\nand incompetent customs service by reintroducing pre-shipment
\ninspection of imports as was the case from 1985 to 1997. Must
\nthings worsen to a critical stage before the government decides
\nto reform the customs service?<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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