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)