Traders demand right to import second-hand clothes<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra<\/p>\n
An official at the Indonesian Secondhand Clothes Traders
\nAssociation (APPBI) estimated on Thursday that some 10,000 large
\nbales of secondhand garments were smuggled each week from
\nneighboring Southeast Asian countries into Tanjung Balai seaport
\nin North Sumatra province.<\/p>\n
Aswan Jaya, the secretary-general of the association, said
\nthat the smuggled clothes were freely traded throughout North
\nSumatra province, causing huge losses to local clothes producers.
\nThey were on sale in Medan city, Simalungun regency, Pematang
\nSiantar regency, Asahan regency and the Tanjung Balai area, as
\nwell as other parts of Sumatra.<\/p>\n
The secondhand garments, normally of better quality than
\nIndonesian produced clothes, came from various Southeast Asia
\ncountries, including Malaysia and Singapore, and even from South
\nKorea and the United States. Besides being distributed and traded
\nthroughout North Sumatra province, the clothes were also traded
\nin Riau province and South Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
According to Aswan, each trader paid between Rp 1 million and
\nRp 4 million per bale of secondhand garments, depending on the
\nquality of the items. Each bale contained some 400 used shirts
\nand 150 pairs of pants.<\/p>\n
People were interested in buying the secondhand garments as
\nthey were very cheap. One pair of pants was going for between Rp
\n10,000 and Rp 20,000, while a shirt was to be had for between Rp
\n5,000 and Rp 10,000. These prices were much lower than those of
\nnew items, which were normally sold for between Rp 30,000 and Rp
\n300,000 each.<\/p>\n
He said that the trading of secondhand garments slowed down
\nbetween 1990 and 1993, as there were rumors that they were
\nsomehow infected with the AIDS virus, and later the SARS virus.<\/p>\n
"But, as there was no evidence that you could be infected by
\nwearing secondhand garments, people have recently started to buy
\nthem again," explained Aswan.<\/p>\n
Aswan said that the smuggling of secondhand garments reached
\nalarming proportions after the central government slapped a ban
\non the import of the secondhand garments in September last year.
\nThe ban was issued to protect the local textile and clothing
\nindustry from a flood of secondhand clothes entering Indonesia
\nfrom other countries.<\/p>\n
As the traders could no longer legally import the secondhand
\ngarments from other countries, they had resorted to smuggling.
\nThey were not frightened of sanctions imposed by the government
\nas law enforcement was still weak. It was, in fact, this lack of
\nlaw enforcement that had allowed smuggling to reach such alarming
\nproportions, said Aswan.<\/p>\n
Some secondhand garment traders complain that in many cases
\ngovernment officials turn a blind eye to the smuggling, although
\nthey admit that in some cases the smugglers have had their
\nmerchandise seized and been prosecuted.<\/p>\n
Aswan suggested that the government revoke the ban so as to
\nput an end to the widespread flouting of the law in the province.<\/p>\n
"The ban has to be lifted so that the trading of secondhand
\ngarments can be carried out legally here," he said, adding that
\nthe ban had badly affected some 2.5 million secondhand garment
\ntraders in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The government, however, has rejected charges that it is not
\nserious about combating the smuggling of secondhand clothes. the
\nBelawan Customs and Excise Office in North Sumatra, for example,
\ndestroyed tens of thousands of smuggled secondhand garments, as
\nwell as pirated VCDs, that were found in seven containers. The
\ncontainers were impounded by Customs last year.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/traders-demand-right-to-import-second-hand-clothes-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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