I

mpatient with the very slow progress in the eradication of the rampant smuggling of textiles and used clothes, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo visited the customs and excise directorate general on Friday, ordering the office and other state law enforcers to do more to curb illegal imports.

The President visited the office in East Jakarta following the recent confiscation of four containers containing illegally imported fabrics worth nearly Rp 14 billion (US$1 million) by law enforcement officers. Jokowi said he had designed his own monitoring system to check the progress of his instruction.

'€œI'€™ve ordered the National Police chief and the AGO to support the customs and excise office [in curbing illegal imports],'€ Jokowi said on Friday while inspecting the result of a recent antismuggling operation also involving the police.

Last week at the Presidential Palace, Jokowi held a meeting with a number of representatives from the Indonesian Textile Association (API), who told him that illegal imports had severely harmed the domestic industry.

They called on the President to take firm action against illegally transported textiles and clothing, including second-hand apparel. According to the Palace, Jokowi has received a report that domestic production of textiles and related products have seen a decline between 30 to 60 percent as a result of illegal imports.

The President also revealed that he had met with representatives from other business associations who had voiced similar complaints.

Earlier this week, Jokowi ordered a limited Cabinet meeting to step up efforts to monitor and enforce the law on illegal imports and to revive domestic industry. He ordered the establishment of an integrated database system as the main solution to root out smuggled goods, mainly textiles, apparel, footwear, cosmetics, electronics and rice.

Following the meeting, customs and excise director general Heru Pambudi said that his office had prepared two strategies to clamp down on smuggling, including by strengthening cooperation with law enforcement officers. The focus is on the east coast of Sumatra, where smuggling of textiles and related products (TPT) is particularly widespread.

'€œI am pleased that my instruction has been carried out,'€ the President said.

According to Heru, the recently seized four containers of fabrics represented around Rp 2.3 billion in state losses, as the suspected smugglers had paid no import duties.

Other than textiles, smuggled clothing has recently come into the spotlight. The government has called on local consumers to stop buying used clothes from overseas; used garments are generally delivered illegally to the country from South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, where they fall into the waste category.

Domestic consumption of clothing in the market of 250 million people reached Rp 154.3 trillion last year, of which Rp 93.35 trillion was supplied by local producers and Rp 48.02 trillion from imports, according to Trade Ministry data cited by API recently. The number, however, showed a gap of Rp 10.95 trillion derived from unknown imports.

'€œWe will pursue legal action against all smugglers,'€ Heru promised.