Minister of Finance Purbaya to Completely Reshuffle Customs and Tax Officials

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa plans to carry out a massive overhaul of the ranks of officials at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) and the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance in the near future.

Purbaya emphasized that this step was not just a rotation of positions, but a comprehensive change that included the replacement of officials from the central office level to the leadership at strategic ports.

"At the customs, I will give a drastic surprise, maybe in a few days, tomorrow, so I will replace all the officials, besides the Director General, around the Director General, I will change everything, and all the ports? The head of the port is the regional director who oversees the port, I will replace all of them, some of them are big houses," he said at the Indonesia Fiscal Forum 2026, Tuesday, January 27.

He emphasized that improvements would also be carried out from the bottom to the top level, especially in locations that were considered to have problems with problematic companies.

According to him, this step is intended as a strong message for all levels of Customs and Excise to improve performance and professionalism.

He added that human resources at the Customs and Excise have high competence and are able to produce breakthroughs, including the development of artificial intelligence-based technology to detect under invoicing practices in a short time.

"This customs officer is clever if forced, I ask him to make an AI program for the detection of under invoicing, it will be completed in two weeks, so we have hope but need shock therapy so that they work harder," he said.

In addition to Customs and Excise, Purbaya said similar improvements would also be carried out in the taxation sector in the near future.

"Taxes are also the same, we will improve them in the next two weeks, the next week," he said.

On the other hand, Purbaya is optimistic that despite the global economic uncertainty, Indonesia's domestic economy will still grow well thanks to targeted policies and maximum efforts to close the gap in state revenue leakage.

In addition, he also targets a reduction in the budget deficit through improvements to the tax and customs system.

"So I am optimistic about the economy and the stock market this year. You all don't have to wait any longer to invest or expand your business expansion," he said.

He emphasized that the synergy of improvement in the three pillars of state revenue, namely taxes, Customs and Excise, and Non-Tax State Revenues (PNBP) is a must to prevent budget leaks in the future.