Customs service subterfuge

Customs service subterfuge

Many might be amazed at reading newspaper stories for two consecutive days this week about the successes of the customs service in foiling smuggling attempts through Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port and at seeing the pictures of Customs and Excise Director General Permana Agung proudly flaunting his contraband catch.

How impressive the customs service's performance seemed to be. Permana invited journalists and news photographers to a press briefing on Monday when he disclosed the foiling of an attempt to smuggle three containerloads of textiles from China, thereby preventing the state from losing Rp 367 million (US$35,000) in duty and tax revenues. Permana proudly smiled to the news photographers as he inspected the fabrics taken from the containers, which had been held up by customs officials at the port from the previous Wednesday.

He again invited reporters and photographers to another public-relations event on Tuesday when he unveiled the interception by customs officers of an attempt to smuggle 11 containerloads of textiles, electronic goods, engines and car components and, amazingly, even light aircraft. This success, he claimed, had prevented state losses of around Rp 600 million.

So impressed have some of the reporters been by the customs officers' performance that a number of newspapers even headlined the pictures of the seized light aircraft on Wednesday. We only wish, however, that these events fully represented the standard professional conduct of the customs service.

However, given the unceasing fierce criticism of the customs service by importers, industrialists and even Cabinet ministers since last for what they see as the gross incompetence and venality of customs officers, we must not let ourselves be fooled by the customs service's deceptive publicity stunts.

it is sad to note that instead of starting to substantially reform itself, the customs service has resorted to public- relations gimmicks as a subterfuge to cosmetically redress its battered image.

In fact, the same day Permana was flaunting his success in Jakarta, three political factions at the local legislature in Cirebon, West Java, were threatening to storm and occupy the customs office at Cirebon port for its failure to account for the disappearance from its custody of 14 containers full of luxury vehicles such as Mercedes Benz cars, Jaguars and Land Cruisers, as well as electronic goods worth about Rp 21 billion.

The smuggling of the containers through Cirebon port was foiled in late January not by the customs service but by local port officials who got suspicious about their import documents. Local customs officials, who were alerted to these suspicious imports, immediately took over the case and Permana rushed from Jakarta to Cirebon to show off his officers' success to local reporters.

However, a team of local legislators who inspected the port in the first week of this month were shocked to discover that the containers had disappeared from the customs compound. They were later told by some customs officers that the containers had been moved to the warehouse of a local businessman, identified as Johny, at the recommendation of the port authorities. But Cirebon port officials disclaimed any role in the scam, saying that the smuggled goods had been under the full custodianship of the customs service ever since their seizure. The local police promised to investigate the case but said not much could be done until the Cirebon customs chief returned from his haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Given the large number of documents that have to be verified and signatures that have to be obtained for the release of the goods from the customs compound, one cannot help but feel flabbergasted by the scam at Cirebon port. The successes flaunted by Permana this week certainly pale into insignificance compared to the scandal in Cirebon.

This serves only to justify the wave of criticism of the corrupt customs service that has been directed at it since last year. From early November until the first week of this month, hardly a week passed by without two or three newspapers carrying stories, based on officials' or businesspeople's comments, about alleged collusion between customs officers and certain importers to illegally bring in foreign goods to the country.

A study by the Economic and Social Research Institute of the University of Indonesia last year concluded that the undervaluation of imports had inflicted an estimated $1.2 billion in losses to the state in 2000 as importers failed to fully pay duty and other import-related taxes.

Executives of the Indonesian Importers' Association met with President Megawati Soekarnoputri in early December for the express purpose of urging firm action to deal with the corrupt and incompetent customs service by reintroducing pre-shipment inspection of imports as was the case from 1985 to 1997. Must things worsen to a critical stage before the government decides to reform the customs service?