Purbaya Says Customs and Excise Will Not Be Dissolved After Performance Improves
Jakarta (ANTARA) — Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has assessed that the performance of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) has shown significant improvement.
Because of this, according to him, President Prabowo Subianto will keep Customs in place, so the proposal to dissolve the agency and replace its function with Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) will not proceed.
“Pak Prabowo has seen that there has been significant improvement at Customs. If previously he said it should be disbanded, now he has said at one of the cabinet meetings that Customs can be fixed and must be fixed. That is a clear signal that there is positive development at Customs recognised by our leadership. So most likely Customs will remain,” Purbaya said at a press conference on the July 2026 edition of the APBN KiTa state budget report in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Purbaya said the improvement had been carried out through an organisational overhaul and the placement of a number of new officials in strategic positions.
“Customs’ progress is now very good. We have reshuffled the staff there, and those now at the top of the leadership are relatively better people. And they know that if they do not perform well, they will be disbanded — that is what matters,” he said.
As is known, customs and excise receipts up to June 2026 were recorded at Rp152 trillion, growing 3.4 per cent year on year (yoy).
According to Purbaya, the performance improvement is also reflected in the declining circulation of smuggled goods, including imported second-hand clothing, and the intensified crackdown on illegal cigarettes.
In this regard, Customs has also changed its approach to enforcement of customs violations in order to create a greater deterrent effect.
Where previously only illegal goods were seized while vehicles and their drivers were released, vehicles used to transport illegal goods will now also be held until the examination process is declared complete.
According to the Finance Minister, this measure aims to increase the costs or risks that perpetrators must bear, so that smuggling is no longer cheap.
“Every truck or vehicle involved in illegal practices is held first until it is absolutely clear. I make sure it is fully held so that the cost of carrying out illegal practices becomes expensive. So now at every Customs office across Indonesia, they are probably full of trucks or cars that were transporting those illegal goods,” he continued.
In addition, Customs has also begun applying artificial intelligence (AI) technology for surveillance at ports in order to improve the effectiveness of monitoring.