Better shipping procedures sought to curb smuggling

Better shipping procedures sought to curb smuggling

JAKARTA (JP): Director General of Customs and Excise Duty
Soehardjo said yesterday that the country's shipping procedures
are still ineffective in curbing illegal exports of rattan and
timber.

Speaking at a hearing with a commission of the House of
Representatives, Soehardjo said that the smuggling of rattan and
timber out of the country often goes undetected due to the
inadequate shipping procedures.

"The inter-island shipping procedures provide loopholes for
cargo ships to easily divert their destinations to overseas," he
told the commission, which is in charge of trade and finance.

"Many cargo ships carrying timber and rattan from Sumatra,
Kalimantan and Irian Jaya were caught diverting to neighboring
countries," he said of ways how smugglers use the loopholes in
the country's shipping procedures.

He explained that a forest concessionaire in Irian Jaya also
recently attempted to smuggle 8,000 cubic meters of logs to Hong
Kong by misusing its shipping document.

The government bans exports of raw timber and rattan to
support local processing industries.

Cargo ships are required to obtain a special travel document
to carry rattan or timber from one island to another. Many of
them, however, misuse the documents and traverse overseas instead
of going to their supposed destination.

Soehardjo told the House members that customs officials
recently intercepted a cargo ship carrying 300 cubic meters of
timber from Pontianak when the freighter was about to enter
Malaysian territory.

"This morning a cargo ship carrying 70 tons of timber was
intercepted in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, when the ship was
about to enter Singapore territory," he said.

Soehardjo said that two other ships, each carrying 200 tons of
rattan and 160 tons of timber, were also earlier caught near
Tanjung Balai.

He acknowledged that the government should impose stronger
measures to curb illegal exports of rattan and timber by, for
example, improving the coordination among related government
agencies in monitoring inter-island shipping activities.

"The reliability of travel documents issued for inter-island
cargo shipments should be also improved," he said, adding that
present travel documents are often falsified.

At the hearing, Soehardjo said his office is now in the
process of modernizing the country's customs administration, as
part of the program in anticipation of the trade globalization
era.

Improving human resources and the automation of customs
procedures are top priorities in the modernization program, he
said.

He told the House commission that customs officials from
members of the Association of South East Asian Nations will meet
in Bali next month to discuss the harmonization of tariffs and
customs procedures of the member countries.(hen)