New regulations needed for new world trade era
New regulations needed for new world trade era
JAKARTA (JP): The government is tightening its control over the foreign publications which will begin flowing into the country in larger numbers this year in line with the worldwide trade liberalization measures.
Attorney General Singgih told a press conference last week that the government will particularly search for publications with provocative contents.
Singgih predicted that the number of these publications coming into Indonesia will increase to take advantage of the new General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which came into force as of the new year.
The Attorney General's Office has the power to bar any publication that is deemed not fit for Indonesian readers, ranging from those considered pornographic to those that contain communist teachings.
Speaking at an end of the year press conference on Thursday, Singgih said that another possible impact of the global trade liberalization measures mandated by GATT is the attempt by industrialized countries to dump nuclear and industrial waste in Indonesia.
He said that even before the new GATT, Indonesia seized 214 containers filled with toxic and hazardous waste being dumped by multinational companies.
Another negative impact of free trade, this one coming through increasing number of foreign airlines passing Indonesian air, is air pollution, Singgih said.
Besides air pollution the planes also cause noise pollution, he added.
Indonesia must anticipate the excesses of trade liberalization measures, he explained, adding that the nation would also need a new set of regulations to handle these problems.
He said the rapid economic development which Indonesia has seen in recent years has also made the country a breeding ground for many economic crimes.
In 1994, the Attorney General's office was preoccupied with the handling of the huge scandal at the state Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) and the allegation that a huge textile company had been making fictitious exports to cash in on cheap subsidized loans from the government. Singgih predicted more economic crimes in 1995 and warned that the perpetrators will become more clever.
The Attorney General's Office saved Rp 7.2 billion ($3.2 million) of state wealth that would have been lost through corruption, embezzlement and tax fraud in 1994.
This amount excludes the funds saved from the Bapindo scandal.
Bapindo's total losses are estimated at Rp 1.3 trillion, but the government has confiscated the assets of its perpetrators to recuperate some of it.
Singgih said his office had 117 corruption cases, 155 economic crime cases and 93 narcotics cases between April and October. The office also had 250 civil cases during the same period. (imn)