Economists call for better customs services

Economists call for better customs services

JAKARTA (JP): Economist Anwar Nasution has suggested the
Directorate General of Customs and Excise win people's trust by
providing better services than state-owned PT Surveyor Indonesia.

Anwar, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said the
business sector was still traumatized by the past corrupt
practices of customs services.

"Businesspeople or those using customs services should now
give the customs office a chance to prove it can provide better
services," said Anwar as quoted by Antara last week.

Sharing Anwar's opinion, economist I Nyoman Moena said the
customs office should well prepare its personnel to resume on-
arrival inspections of imports starting April 1.

However, he questioned the readiness of the customs office to
simultaneously enforce the on-arrival inspections of imports in
over 125 ports across the country.

Technically, the customs office has the capacity to enforce
the customs law by April 1, as mandated by the government.
However, it needs time to reform the mental attitude of its
personnel to resume such a big task.

The government stripped the customs office of its inspection
authority in mid-1985 due to corrupt personnel. It assigned
Geneva-based Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) to inspect
imports at points of loading.

In 1991, the government appointed PT Surveyor Indonesia to
take over inspections from SGS. Since then SGS has been acting as
subcontractor to Surveyor Indonesia.

Anwar said the government assigned SGS and later Surveyor
Indonesia because it wanted to eliminate corruption at customs
services and to all-out boost Indonesia's non-oil exports. And it
bore fruit.

With such a move, Anwar said, the government had successfully
reduced corruption at the customs office and also collusion
between importers and customs officials.

Moreover, the government also successfully improved
Indonesia's non-oil exports, most of which were dependent on
imported inputs. Non-oil exports grew from US$6.1 billion in the
1985/1986 fiscal year to $31.7 billion in 1994/1995 fiscal year.

In addition, the government's revenue from import duty
increased dramatically from merely $1.6 billion in 1986 to $5.9
billion in 1994.

Therefore, Anwar argued that the use of foreign firms'
services, like that of SGS, should not be viewed as a less
nationalistic way of doing business because it had contributed
significantly to the country's economy.

He suggested the customs office learned from the way Surveyor
Indonesia and SGS provided services. Thus, the customs office
would be able to convince market forces that it could provide
even better services.

The customs office should also cast aside its past corrupt
habits in order to enforce the customs law efficiently, Anwar
said.

A number of parties, especially importers, have voiced doubt
about the quality of customs services after April 1, considering
the government does not pay customs officials high salaries.

Anwar, however, suggested that people give the customs office
a change to prove it can provide good services, even though the
salaries of personnel remained the same.

He also welcomed the customs office's plan to incorporate
electronic data interchange (EDI) in its customs clearance
system.

The EDI would help the customs office provide fast document
processing services to importers and also help reduce physical
contact between importers and customs officials, thus reducing
possible collusion and bribery.

However, Anwar said, the implementation of EDI should not
burden small importers and freight forwarders. It should take
into account their financial constraints. (rid)