Open To The Discourse Of The Minister Of Finance To Freeze Customs And Excise, Commission XI Of The House Of Representatives Asks To Calculate Profits Of Loss

Chairman of Commission XI DPR RI Mukhamad Misbakhun. (DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Chairman of Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Mukhamad Misbakhun, emphasized that the plan to freeze the Directorate General of Customs and Excise is entirely under the authority of the Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadives.

"So, we must know to whom we obey, obey, to the President, to the Minister of Finance, because Customs and Excise is in the full authority of the Minister of Finance," he said after the Annual Meeting of Bank Indonesia (PTBI), at the BI Complex, Central Jakarta, Friday 28 November.

He reminded that the one-year opportunity given must be used by Customs and Excise to clean up so as not to lead to a takeover of functions by Swiss company Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS).

"Take advantage of this one year as best as possible, follow all the directions so that what is a concern for the community, what is the threat conveyed by the Minister of Finance does not materialize," he said.

On the other hand, Misbakhun asked Purbaya to consider comprehensively the discourse of the freezing.

He reminded that every decision must be calculated carefully, especially regarding its impact on the efforts of the government and the DPR in strengthening sovereignty and national economic independence.

"So, if the minister takes the decision, please consider it well, profit and loss. Fortunately and disadvantage, because after all this time we have wanted to build sovereignty, want to build independence," he explained.

Furthermore, Misbakhun expressed his belief that there are still many Customs and Excise employees with high integrity.

"I am sure that many Customs and Excise employees, the ranks in Customs and Excise who are good people must become motorbikes, the movement on how Customs and Excise can be trusted again by all Indonesian people, so as to gain the trust of the Minister of Finance and gain the trust of the President," he said.

Previously, Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa stated that the Directorate General of Customs and Excise was at risk of being frozen due to unsatisfactory performance, both by state leaders and by the public.

This situation arose after various problems emerged to the public, including the absence of supervision at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) airport and the case of the entry of 250 tons of illegal rice through Sabang, Aceh.

"We will clean it up. So Customs and Excise, I have called them, we have an internal meeting. We discuss it with them, I say this, the Customs image is not good in the media, in the community, in our highest leadership. So we have to fix it," he told the media crew, Thursday, November 27.

Purbaya said that he had asked President Prabowo Subianto to give one year to make improvements.

"I told them, I have asked the President for one year not to be disturbed first, give me time to improve Customs and Excise, because of serious threats," he said.

According to him, the government has also opened an option to submit customs and excise functions to a private Swiss company, Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), as it was in the New Order era.

For information at the time, President Soeharto had frozen the Directorate General of Customs and Excise in 1985 due to rampant extortion and smuggling, and the condition lasted until 1995.

"If Customs and Excise cannot improve their performance and the public is still dissatisfied, Customs can be frozen, replaced with SGS. Like in the past," he said.

He emphasized that Customs and Excise employees already understand the risks, so they are now more eager to make improvements, one of the steps is to increase digitization in all Customs offices to prevent irregularities.

"Now the progress is quite good. I think next year it will be safe, meaning Customs will be able to work well and professionally," he said.

He reminded that there is a possibility that the Directorate General of Customs and Excise is frozen, which could have an impact on 16,000 employees.

"Because of this I said, if we fail to improve, then 16 thousand Customs employees will be laid off. Customs and Excise people are smart and ready to change the situation," he explained.