Coordination lax in explosives' supervision
Coordination lax in explosives' supervision
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Ministry of Defense, which is authorized to issue licenses
for local companies to import, manufacture and sell explosives,
said on Tuesday that it could not fully exercise its supervisory
role over the business due to a lack of coordination with the
police.
Under Presidential Decree No. 125/1999, the ministry is
charged with issuing licenses for companies to operate in the
explosives business, while daily supervision of the licensed
companies' operations is the responsibility of the Indonesian
Military (TNI) and the police.
Under the prevailing regulations, the military can buy the
explosives itself, but civilians must first get permission from
the police before doing so.
"We can't oversee how the police do their job as they are not
subordinate to us hierarchically," Brig. Gen. F.X. Hadi Waluyo,
the ministry's director of technology and industry, said in an
exclusive interview on Tuesday.
Hadi said the government had, in fact, set strict requirements
for the purchase of explosives by civilians.
Under the current regulations, the buyer is required to obtain
approval from at least six government offices, including the
local subdistrict head, district police head, regent and
governor, before applying to National Police Headquarters for a
permit to buy explosives.
But, he said, the ministry had been informed that the police
had issued licenses for a number of small firms to act as
middlemen to shorten the licensing process.
"We are really concerned about this situation as there is no
legal basis for the police to issue such licenses," he said.
The Jakarta Post has been pushing the police for days to
explain their supervision mechanisms for explosives' sales, but
to no avail thus far.
To date, the ministry has issued business licenses to nine
companies to engage in the explosives business, namely state-
owned PT Pindad and PT Dahana, PT Multi Nitrotama Kimia, PT
Tridaya Esta, PT Armindo Utama, PT Pupuk Kaltim, PT Inti Celulose
Utama Indonesia, PT Trifita Perkasa and PT Asa Karya Multi
Pratama.
It is in the process of issuing a license to another company,
PT Pani, to manufacture ammonium nitrate-based explosives and
detonators.
Public concern over the explosives business has been on the
rise following numerous bomb attacks in the country over the past
several years. Police data shows that there have been 66 bomb
attacks across the country since 1998.
Calls for tighter control over the explosives business have
been increasing following the Bali bomb blast that killed more
than 190 people more than three weeks ago.
Hadi admitted that there was no system for the ministry to
audit the explosives business.
"There are no audits. We only receive their (explosives
companies) monthly and annual reports on their activities," said
Hadi.
Based on a ministerial decree, the ministry set up a team in
2000 to examine the explosives' stocks and facilities of all the
licensed companies. The team consists of representatives from the
ministry, the police, the military, the Ministry of Finance, the
Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Office of the State Minister
for the Environment, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of
Communications and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
However, the team has yet to reveal the results of its
inspections.