Crisis Center warns of rising smuggling activities

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Crisis Center, a unit under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said on Tuesday that smuggling of overseas products into the country had significantly intensified during the past couple of weeks due to laxity on the part of related authorities.

Chief executive of the Crisis Center Sofjan Wanandi said on Tuesday that the authorities were reluctant to carry out the joint agreement made with the center to fight smuggling and undervaluation practices.

"The customs office and the police have no will to curb smuggling although the center has provided them with a list of suspected companies to be investigated," grumbled Sofjan.

The center has yet to announce the volume of the smuggled goods as they are still waiting for the year-end reports made by industry associations.

The joint agreement was made between the National Police, the Directorate of Customs and Excise, the Directorate of Taxation and the center in mid October this year to demonstrate the government's seriousness in fighting smuggling and undervaluation.

The agreement was also part of the center's function in drawing up solutions and providing information for the authorities in settling various problems faced by the business sector.

In the first stage, the center had submitted to the authorities a list of 15 companies to be investigated over suspicions of smuggling and tax fraud which the center had gathered based on information provided by the business associations.

Several of the 15 companies are reputable firms engaged in the distribution of garments and electronic goods.

The investigation is supposed to first focus on textile, garment and electronics companies as such industries were the worst affected by the smuggling practices.

After the signing of the agreement, Sofjan said that he had heard from his men in Singapore that plans to send smuggled goods into Indonesia were initially suspended in the island state, due to fear that there would be stern action resulting from the above agreement.

The illegal goods were subsequently kept in Singapore, waiting for the right moment, otherwise known as the "green light", to be smuggled into Indonesia.

Sofjan said that most of the goods in Singapore were garments and textiles. The goods were initially to be sold in Indonesia ahead of Idul Fitri.

However, during the past two weeks, smugglers have been encouraged to bring in their illegal goods as no action was seen after the signing of the agreement. In addition, the customs office has been seen as slackening its control prior to the holiday season.

"The agreement was just empty words as there was no action at all afterwards which then encouraged recalcitrant companies to release their goods and smuggle them into the country," said Sofjan.

Sofjan added that the police had not investigated the smuggling practices as they claimed they were busy with the investigation into the Bali bomb blast.

As for the customs office, Sofjan said that the problem lay with the inaction of high-ranking officials in the directorate.

"Frankly speaking, businessmen at the Crisis Center are currently frustrated as no stern measures have been taken by the authorities. All they do is just meet and talk, there has been no action," said Sofjan.