So disillusioned have business people and the general public been with its poor service that many people have accused the customs service of having resorted back to its old bad habits, which in the mid-1980s prompted then president Soeharto to suspend its inspection and clearance authority for imports for 12 years and give that mandate to the Geneva-based SGS surveyor company.

Chairman of the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association Redma Gita Wirawasta last week blamed the utterly poor performance of the customs service mainly for the closing down of dozens of textile and garment producers over the past two years. He even accused many customs officials of colluding with importers to bring in textiles and garments at unbelievably cheap prices.

Chairman of the Association of Designer Garments Nandi Herdiaman amplified Redma’s outcry, pointing out how so many textile products from China could have been sold locally even far below the costs of their materials or less than Rp 50,000 (US$3) a piece.

“This massive contraband trade has been the main reason behind the closing down of 60 percent of our small and mid-size producer members, which laid off thousands of workers,” Herdiaman added.

In mid May, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo summoned Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati to discuss the public outrage over the utterly poor institutional capacity of customs officials in implementing their inspection service on the carry-on goods of inbound travelers and the clearance of other commercial imports through the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Early in May, the former chief of the Yogyakarta customs office, Eko Darmanto, was brought to trial at the Surabaya District Court in East Java on charges of accepting gratuities and committing money laundering involving Rp 37 billion. The chief of the Purwakarta customs office in West Java was also suspended for alleged abuse of authority.