New decrees on sugar seen as ineffective
New decrees on sugar seen as ineffective
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Newly issued presidential decrees on sugar are ineffective as
they only address limited aspects of the real problem contained
in the trade regulations for the commodity, observers have noted.
Bustanul Arifin of the Institute for Development of Economics
and Finance said that the two decrees had little, if any, effect
on strengthening the country's sugar.
"The decrees are merely a temporary solution to the problem;
they don't seem to have any teeth in trying to improve our sugar
industry," said Bustanul during a seminar here on trade
regulations on agricultural commodities.
On Monday, President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued
Presidential Decree No.57/2004 on the inclusion of sugar in the
list of supervised goods and Presidential Decree No.58/2004 on
dealing with illegally imported sugar.
The decrees state in essence that there will be more
restrictions on the importation of sugar and that smuggled sugar
will be seized by the state and auctioned off.
The issuance of the two decrees came amid concern that current
trade regulations on sugar are not comprehensive and contain
loopholes that leave open ways for smugglers to bring in cheaper
sugar from overseas.
The concern followed the discovery of around 73,000 tons of
imported sugar that was later deemed to be illegal as its
importation violated the regulations.
Bustanul said that the thrust of current trade regulations
favored the country's farmers, but their implementation benefited
certain parties in the bureaucracy, as they received fees along
the way.
Director of the development study center at Bogor Institute of
Agriculture Bayu Krisnamurti concurred with Bustanul, adding that
the decrees should have addressed more comprehensively the wider
situation that prompted the smuggling of agricultural
commodities.
"There need to be presidential decrees that stipulate and
regulate the restructuring of the industry ... the improvement of
distribution as well as research and development on agricultural
products, including sugar," said Bayu.
Bustanul was also skeptical about the government's plan to
auction off the 73,000 tons of illegal sugar next year, saying
that the move was too risky.
"Who can guarantee that the illegal sugar won't enter the
(domestic) market before being auctioned off? Even the police say
they can't prevent it. It's risky because if the sugar entered
the market, it would severely endanger our farmers," he
explained, suggesting that the government reexport the sugar
instead.
Meanwhile, President Megawati Soekarnoputri said during a
ceremony attended by thousands of sugarcane farmers in Bantul,
Yogyakarta that the new decrees were part of government efforts
to help boost productivity and achieve self-sufficiency in sugar
production in 2007.