Once Threatened with Dissolution, Customs Chief Claims Performance Has Improved

Director General of Customs and Excise Djaka Budhi Utama has emphasised that the institution is continuously undertaking reforms to improve the quality of service, supervision, and enforcement in the customs and excise sector. According to Djaka, these improvement efforts are beginning to show results through more intensive supervision and enforcement against various smuggling practices and violations that could harm state revenue. “What is certain is that Customs and Excise has tried to improve itself,” Djaka told reporters at Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta, on Tuesday (11/8/2026). He assessed that the public can now directly see the steps taken by the agency to strengthen oversight of the circulation of illegal goods and other customs violations. “Hopefully, with the support of the community, we will continue to upgrade Customs and Excise going forward to make it even better,” he stated.

The performance of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise had previously come under the spotlight of President Prabowo Subianto. At the end of last year, Prabowo issued a stern warning that the institution had to show real improvement within a year or risk being dissolved and replaced by the independent surveillance firm Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS). However, following a series of reform measures, the discourse of dissolution is considered to have subsided. Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said the President now sees positive developments within the agency, particularly in strengthening supervision and enforcement against the circulation of illegal goods. “If we look at the appreciation or the President’s speech to Customs and Excise, Mr Prabowo has seen significant improvements from Bea Cukai,” Purbaya said on a separate occasion. He noted that the change in the President’s stance signals that the reform efforts by the agency are beginning to bear fruit. “Previously he said dissolve it, now he has said in a cabinet meeting that Customs and Excise can be fixed and must be fixed. That is a clear signal that there are positive developments in Customs and Excise that are recognised by our leader,” he added.