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TNI general appointment as customs office head raises question
Appointing an active military officer who was implicated in the disappearance of pro-democracy activists in the late 1990s may hurt business actors and investors' confidence at a time when such confidence is already very low, observers have said.
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A sleeve patch featuring the logo of the Finance Ministry's customs and excise directorate general is seen in this stock photo taken on March 13, 2023. (Shutterstock/Wulandari Wulandari)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto will reportedly appoint Lt. Gen. Djaka Budi Utama, a military officer and former member of a special forces team implicated in the abduction of activists, to lead the country’s customs office. This move is seen as part of the President’s growing reliance on military figures to fill key civilian posts.
News about Djaka’s possible appointment as the customs and excise director general at the Finance Ministry emerged after he was summoned by Prabowo for a closed-door meeting at the State Palace on Tuesday.
Djaka came to the meeting with Bimo Wijayanto, who was rumored to be appointed to lead the Finance Ministry’s taxation director general. Bimo graduated from Taruna Nusantara, a military-style elite boarding school established by the Defense Ministry in 1990 in Magelang, Central Java.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Bimo suggested that he and Djaka would soon join the Finance Ministry.
“The President has given clear directives to strengthen the integrity and authority of the ministry’s Taxation and Customs and Excise Directorate Generals in securing state revenues,” Bimo said at the Presidential Palace complex on Tuesday.
Read also: Tarnus graduate, military officer to head tax, customs offices
“He emphasized his commitment to improve Indonesia’s tax system to be more accountable and have more integrity and independence to secure his programs, especially in terms of state revenue.”
