More manufacturers demand preshipment inspection of imports
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Footwear producers have joined other manufacturer associations in demanding that preshipment inspection be reintroduced for imports to prevent smuggling and underinvoicing practices that have been hurting domestic producers.
Djimanto, secretary-general of the Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo), said in a statement over the weekend that the customs service had failed miserably to perform its basic task of facilitating foreign trade (import and export).
He added that his association had urged Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti to give special attention to the severe damages inflicted on domestic producers by the incompetent and corrupt customs service.
The government has of late come under stronger pressure from most manufacturer associations and foreign chambers of commerce to reintroduce the preshipment inspection of imports due to rampant smuggling, underinvoicing and uncertainty about the clearance of imports.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri was briefed early in December by Amirudin Saud, chairman of the importers association, on how incompetent and highly venal is the customs service.
Dorodjatun announced early this month that the government was considering bold measures to stop smuggling and underinvoicing practices, but no action has thus far been taken.
Most manufacturers, Djimanto pointed out, have suffered from unfair competition from imports that enter the country through either outright physical smuggling or underinvoicing practices.
"The government should act firmly and quickly on these problems to protect domestic producers, which provide employment, earn foreign exchange, satisfy domestic needs and pay taxes to the government," he said.
According to Djimanto, shoes smuggled from China and several other countries have especially hit domestic factories at a time when they are being forced to depend more on the domestic market due to the declining international orders.
"We know that smugglers have been colluding with customs officials to bring in their contraband goods through door-to-door container services. There are even many big stores in Jakarta that sell foreign shoes brought in almost entirely through the collusive door-to-door container services," Djimanto pointed out.
The government, according to him, should not see the customs problems largely from losses in duty and tax revenues even though these losses alone are already disastrously damaging given the huge budget deficit.
"The basic tasks of the customs service is to protect the domestic market from unfair import competition and the nation from drugs and other dangerous materials," he added.
He recalled that even in 1985 when the economic condition was not as critical as it was now the government demonstrated its political courage to take a bold measure by introducing the preshipment inspection of imports to facilitate smoother imports and safeguard duty and tax revenues.
"Then why the government has not acted quickly to take a similarly bold measure now when the economic crisis has made such a system even more imperative to protect domestic producers" is beyond comprehension, he said.
Djimanto pointed out that even the World Trade Organization had stipulated a special agreement that allowed its member countries to introduce preshipment inspections to facilitate smoother imports and protect domestic manufacturers from unfair import competition.