Permana has tough fight against vested interests
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Director General of Customs and Excise Permana Agung has encountered great difficulties in his attempts to reform his directorate. Internal and external pressures from vested interest groups have been the main obstacles holding back his reform program, he said in an interview with The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The following is an excerpt of the interview.
What are the main functions of the directorate general of Customs and Excise?
The directorate has five primary functions according to the law. First, to protect society from harmful goods such as drugs. The directorate has managed to curb 14 attempts to smuggle drugs and eight suspects have been sentenced to death. They were all backed up by international drug dealers; that's why I carry a gun on me (points to his pocket) for my defense.
Second, to protect local industries from an influx of smuggled goods. Third, to carry out more than 100 instructions from other agencies, such as firearms checks for the police and the Ministry of Defense, drug checks for the Ministry of Health, pornographic VCDs and books for the Ministry of Education, and so on.
Fourth, to curb smugglers. We recently managed to stop 14 ships loaded with fuel about to be smuggled to other countries. The ships belong to a very important person, but I don't care: I have to uphold the law.
Fifth, despite the four onerous tasks above, we are still asked by the country to contribute Rp 34 billion per year from excise charges.
Do your staff understand well these five functions?
They understand these functions but the problem is that there are still many corrupt personnel. This is worsened by external vested interests. I have to face that all. Imagine if I didn't have support from the public and political support from the government; how could I handle it all?
There have already been 11 attempts to unseat me.
What are the main obstacles to reforming your personnel?
There are so many obstacles but the welfare of personnel should also be taken into account. How can we ask them to work harder if their stomachs are empty? The results of personnel reform cannot be seen in an instant. They have been involved in such (corrupt) practices for over 30 years now. But that doesn't mean I'm only sitting on my hands doing nothing. In Tanjung Priok (port), for instance, I have taken stern measures against more than 200 personnel. But there is resistance from the inside, so I have to be careful, moving step by step.
But do you have the authority to replace bad officials?
No, I don't. For example, I have asked approval from the finance ministry for the replacement of almost all the high- ranking officials. But what happened? I simply got people different to those I had proposed. Just imagine how hard it is to work! What if those (new) officials have their own agenda or have been co-opted by vested political interests? Believe me, personnel adjustment is the most sensitive issue in this directorate. I'm always getting phone calls from influential politicians, even over the replacement of low-ranking officials. The extent of the intervention is insidious.
Moreover, it is not easy to fire a corrupt official. If I only shifted them around, they could make trouble in their new post.
Furthermore, there is now an attempt by politicians to turn this directorate into their cash cow for (financing their campaigns in) the general election 2004. They are targeting the position of director general. Believe me, right now I have great difficulty in trusting people. There are so many vested interests around here. And the most dangerous pressure is internal.
My main weapon to deal with such (a problem) is the establishment of an ethics code committee, which is one of the reforms proposed by the International Monetary Fund. The committee will consist of representatives from the National Ombudsman Committee, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), Internal Audit and the secretary-general of the Ministry of Finance as stakeholders, and others from within the directorate. I may have limited ability to fire corrupt personnel as it's not easy for a state employee to be dismissed. There are so many regulations and processes to go through. But with the committee, the dismissal of (corrupt) personnel could be uncomplicated and fast.
How will you improve the image of the customs office
That's indeed a difficult task as this directorate has long been known for its corruption -- that's a fact. I have to clean up all the personnel and restrict their opportunities for corruption. We must first clean up high-ranking personnel, which means having to start from the top. I have to make sure that high-ranking officials are clean, but that's difficult as I don't have full authority for that. The problem is so complex!
How come smugglers are rarely taken to court?
The duty of the directorate is only to curb smuggling, detain smugglers and investigate them, based on our capacity as an investigator of state employees. After concluding an investigation, the dossier should be submitted to the district attorney's office, after which it becomes that office's responsibility.