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View all search resultsCustoms office vows to ‘get its act together’ amid dissolution threats
The Customs and Excise office has vowed to make necessary changes after President Prabowo Subianto made direct threats to replace it with a private service.
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Customs and Excise Director General Djaka Budhi Utama attends a press conference on the destruction of smuggled goods at the Jakarta Customs and Excise Office on Dec. 3, 2025. (Antara/Bayu Saputra)
T
he Customs and Excise Directorate General has vowed to make necessary changes after President Prabowo Subianto made direct threats to replace it with a private service.
The Finance Ministry’s customs and excise director general, Djaka Budhi Utama, vowed on Wednesday to undertake the necessary reforms to avoid disbandment of the institution he heads and said he had prepared concrete steps to that effect.
“We don’t want the dark history of 1985 to 1995 to happen again to Customs and Excise. Therefore, naturally, Customs and Excise will get its act together to dispel any negative image,” said the customs chief.
The director general was referring to a decade when customs and excise operations in the country were handled by Switzerland-based multinational company Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS).
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa revealed on Friday that Prabowo had given the office an ultimatum to fix its performance and image or be wound up and replaced with SGS services.
“If we fail to fix it, 16,000 Customs and Excise employees will be sent home,” said Purbaya, admitting that the public perception of the office was at its nadir, according to Bisnis.com.
Read also: Prabowo threatens to ‘freeze’ Customs as smuggling cases mount
