New customs chief faces tough job as integrity questioned

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.