Permana has tough fight against vested interests

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.