Purbaya Reveals Why Prabowo Cancelled Plan to Dissolve Customs and Excise

Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has revealed that President Prabowo Subianto cancelled the plan to dissolve the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC). The reason is that DJBC is considered to have been able to improve its governance. According to Purbaya, the head of state has given a clear signal not to disband DJBC, after the agency had been threatened with dissolution since late last year if it failed to reform, with a potential replacement by Switzerland’s Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS). “So, it is likely that Customs and Excise will remain,” Purbaya said at his office in Jakarta on Tuesday (21/7/2026). According to Purbaya, President Prabowo has now even commended DJBC for the improvements made, such as strengthening supervision policies 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 improvement from Customs and Excise,” Purbaya stated. “Previously he said dissolve it, now he once said in a cabinet meeting that Customs and Excise can be improved and must be improved. That is a clear signal that there is positive development in Customs and Excise that is recognised by our leader,” he stressed. Purbaya added that Customs and Excise has even developed an artificial intelligence (AI) based system to strengthen supervision of the flow of goods in and out of Indonesia. The system is planned to be operational within the next two weeks. “There is AI software in the field used at the Customs and Excise central office, which is linked to many locations in Indonesia. In two weeks, Mr Djaka (Director General of Customs and Excise) said we can demonstrate to media colleagues to show that we are now more advanced than before,” Purbaya explained. Purbaya considers that this improvement is inseparable from the way he reshuffled the Customs and Excise leadership earlier this year. Now, the top officials at Customs and Excise are relatively better people. “And they know that if they are not good, they will be dissolved. Revenue growth is now over 6%, and now if we look at the markets, illegal goods have decreased significantly, Customs and Excise is actively making arrests of illegal cigarette distribution,” Purbaya said. Customs and Excise, according to Purbaya, no longer simply releases perpetrators of illegal goods distribution after confiscating their goods, but now also temporarily seizes their means of transport, making the cost of distributing illegal goods more expensive in the country. “Now every truck or vehicle that carries out illegal practices is detained until the matter is clear, so that the cost of illegal practices becomes expensive. So now all Customs and Excise offices are full of trucks or cars transporting illegal goods,” he revealed. As information, customs and excise revenue has continued to grow. Up to the first half of 2026, state revenue from customs and excise reached Rp 152 trillion, an increase of 3.4% from the realisation of Rp 147 trillion in the same period last year. The realisation up to the end of June 2026 is equivalent to 45.2% of the state budget target for this year of Rp 335 trillion. By the end of the year, customs and excise revenue is estimated by Purbaya to reach Rp 320.6 trillion, or 95.4% of the target. Although it will not reach the target, it is still higher than last year’s Rp 300.3 trillion.