Former finance minister Mari'e Muhammad used to compare

Former finance minister Mari'e Muhammad used to compare customs and excise officers to mechanics in a workshop. Mechanics will somehow get dirty because of the lubricating oil. It is all right as long as they do not get soaked in this oil, he said.

How is the integrity of customs and excise officers today? Well, more than Muhammad expected before, they are now swimming in lubricating oil.

Presidential Instruction No. 5/1984 clipped much of this agency's authority. This instruction also introduced pre-shipment inspection (PSI) to solve customs problems and at that time PSI was warmly welcomed as the most important self-correction in the governmental sector.

Today the industry and trade ministry and the IMF, among others, have suggested voluntary PSI but the business world has given a mixed reaction. Despite illegal fees, import activities run smoothly.

What about smuggling? PSI, which needs the services of independent surveyors, is believed to minimize smuggling. If it is applied selectively and voluntarily, however, it may not do anything against smuggling. A smuggler will never voluntarily take his goods to a surveyor to be inspected.

If PSI is applied only for certain commodities, smugglers can use the names of other commodities when completing import declarations. So, PSI can only be effective to prevent smuggling if it is mandatory for all commodities.

The hurdles are the law and the fees. The present law on customs affairs must first be amended to make PSI mandatory. As the surveyors will ask for a contract with the government, there must be a tax mechanism allowing the government to collect the fees from businessmen. These problems must first be addressed before PSI is reinstated.

-- Business Indonesia, Jakarta