Explosives easy to obtain: Companies
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Looking for a bomb? With the lack of control exercised by the government over the import and use of explosives, it might not be difficult to obtain this dangerous good.
Experts on explosives said that so far the country had no standard procedure or system for the audit and control of manufactured explosives, imported and distributed by the existing licensed companies.
"Our inventory of explosives has never been audited by the government," Timbul Sitompul, spokesman for state-owned military explosive company PT Pindad, told The Jakarta Post.
Timbul added that manufacturers of explosives were not responsible for the bomb's misuse after it was purchased by a customer. Control should be carried out by the National Police and the Ministry of Defense, he said.
Pindad specializes in providing military explosives for the military. The company, based in Bandung, West Java, manufactures and stores its explosives in Malang, East Java.
The company came under fire when an explosive bearing its name was found at the blast site of the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta in July 2000.
The lack of control over explosives has also been acknowledged by an executive at another state-owned explosive company, PT Dahana, which is allowed to sell explosives to the public.
Dahana, which was established in 1966, once had its inventory audited by a government team in November 2001, but Harry Sampurna, the finance and business development director for the company, said the audit was "unclear" and the results had so far not been unveiled.
"Aside from the audit system, I am concerned about private firms that have been licensed to engage in the explosives business. Some say that the companies don't even have an office, just a telephone and fax machine," said Harry.
An expert on explosives, who asked for anonymity, said that one of these licensed private companies offers to obtain a license to import and distribute explosives for any interested parties.
The expert refused to name the company in question.
The expert further said that given the absence of control by the government, a buyer could ask these suppliers, which do not have an address, to import or even smuggle explosives into the country.
The expert said that until 2001, all imported explosives could be brought into the country without clearing customs since explosives were considered, at that time, a strategic good that was duty free.
The expert said he believed that a lot of explosives and firearms were smuggled into the country by and with the help of licensed private explosives companies until 2001.
The government has granted business licenses to nine firms.
Until 1999, there were only five companies licensed to conduct business in explosives: Pindad and Dahana, PT Multi Nitrotama Kimia, PT Tridaya Esta and PT Armindo Prima.
Industry sources said that Multi Nitrotama was partly owned by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandalaputra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, who is serving time in jail for murder. Multi Nitrotama and Dahana are the only companies in the country which own a license to produce ammonium nitrate-based explosives.
Industry sources said Tridaya Esta was owned by, among others, Soeharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo.
After 1999, the government granted licenses to another four companies, PT Nitro Selulosa, PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur, PT Trivita and PT Asah Karya.