New customs chief faces tough job as integrity questioned
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Minister of Finance Boediono officially installed on Friday Eddy Abdurrachman as the new director general of Customs and Excise.
But after the installation ceremony at the Ministry of Finance, Eddy was immediately grilled by journalists, questioning his integrity.
There have been suspicions that Eddy played a role in the smuggling of Mercedes Benz sedans into the country in the middle of last year.
The smuggled cars entered the country via Makassar port, in South Sulawesi, when Eddy was head of the local customs office.
He appealed to the people not to judge him from what he had done in the past, but what he could do to improve the performance of the customs office in the future.
"Don't look into the past, we should look to the future. I'm sure that under my command the performance of the directorate will improve," said Eddy.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a decree late last month appointing Eddy as the new customs chief, replacing Permana Agung, who had been in the post since 1999.
But a source said that Boediono was very unhappy with Megawati's choice, saying that the finance minister had actually favored Anwar Supriadi, a former state minister for administrative reforms.
The customs office is under the finance ministry.
"The ministry had its own candidate, but you know, the decision is based on the assessment made by a team headed by the President," said the source.
He said that the team consisted of State Minister for Administrative Reforms Feisal Tamin, Head of the National Intelligence Agency Hendropriyono, and State Secretary Bambang Kesowo.
Eddy, who started his career at the customs office in 1979, had been accused by many of helping former Jakarta Police chief Sofjan Jacoeb in the smuggling of 11 Mercedes Benz sedans from Singapore into the country.
Moreover, there was a report that Eddy had given some Rp 10 billion (US$1.1 million) to a prominent politician from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI- Perjuangan) to obtain the post.
However, Eddy dismissed the issue saying that he had no connection with politicians from any political parties.
When asked what were his priorities, Eddy said that he would first consolidate his personnel to optimize coordination and communication within the directorate, while a second priority would be a reshuffle of personnel to help clean up the customs office.
"I cannot totally eliminate all the corruption that has infested the directorate. It is an impossible job. What I can do is to reduce such practices," he said.
Meanwhile, Eddy's predecessor, Permana Agung claims he was dismissed due to his tough actions against corruption and smuggling activities via the country's ports.
"Maybe I was so tough in trying to curbing smuggling, that's why many people dislike me," he said.
He made the statement to counter earlier reports quoting businessmen as saying that Permana's dismissal was linked to his failure to curb smuggling in the country, which has seriously threatened local manufacturers.
In a related development, the secretary-general for the ministry of finance, Agus Haryanto, told the Post that to supervise the corruption-infested customs office, the ministry had set up an independent ombudsman team which would be in operation this month.