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)