Indonesia: Import Duties on Goods

It is obvious that since leaving hukumonline.com I have been pretty slack at keeping up-to-date with Indonesian legal developments outside of the specific areas that interest me most. As a result, I missed a Minister of Finance Regulation dated 29 October 2010 (in Indonesian). This regulation deals with the duties payable on goods over a certain value that are brought into Indonesia.

What is interesting about this regulation is that it seems to be targeting passengers and getting them to declare all goods on entry. Yet, the last time I traveled to Indonesia I am sure that I had to fill in a Customs declaration form that listed what I could and could not bring into Indonesia and what values they could be before I had to declare them and pay any duties that were payable on these goods.

Is this a case of gaining on the merry-go-round and then losing on the swing? The government will soon be facing a rather large financial black hole when the Fiscal Tax that Indonesians and other permanent residents paid for leaving Indonesia shores is removed. Is this regulation really a not-so-subtle attempt to fill that hole?

The basic framework for the regulation, No. 188/PMK.04/2010, are Articles 10B(5), 13(2) and 25(3) of the Customs Law (Law No. 10/1995 as amended by Law No. 17/2006) If you contact hukumonline.com they might forward you Indonesian Legal Briefs and Indonesian Law Digests that I wrote on this area many years ago. Generally, ministerial regulations are used to facilitate implementation of provisions in superior laws.

The regulation distinguishes between personal effects and commercial goods. This is done with a view to establishing what duties are payable. Personal effects are defined as any personal goods that do not satisfy the elements of being commercial goods.

In essence, anyone that must declare personal effects or commercial goods that they are importing / bringing into Indonesia are to do so. They have up to 30 days prior to the date of arrival or 60 days from the date of arrival to do so. There are some variations in specific circumstances for these time limits. For passengers of an airline this can be done on the day of arrival.

The regulation stipulates in Article 8 that the duty free limits are USD 250 for individuals and USD 1000 for families. For any value over these limits duty is payable. Additionally, it is permissible to import 200 cigarettes, 25 cigars, 100 grams of tobacco and 1 litre of alcohol. As I recall, this is pretty much as it was when I last landed in Jakarta. The duty free limits for cabin crew and airline staff, presumably on official duties, are less than for other individuals.

The system is continues to be a red line (declaring goods) and green line (nothing to declare). The regulation lists in Article 13 all the goods that must be declared irrespective of value and sets a limit on cash that may be carried. The cash limit is IDR 100 million or the equivalent in foreign currency. Where a Customs Officer has any suspicions about a passenger, then that Customs Officer is entitled to conduct a physical inspection of the passengers personal effects. In the event the physical inspection uncovers goods that have not been declared, then the passenger / owner of those goods is required to pay the duty that is due. Receipts for any duties paid must be provided to the passenger paying them.

As far as I can tell the regulation does not expressly provide exceptions for goods that have been owned for more than 12 months. I will need to go and check associated regulations to determine this (I have not downloaded them onto my current laptop). However, off the top of my head I recall that there exceptions applied to goods that had been owned for more than 12 months.

For example, if you were an Indonesian student going to study in a foreign university and took your laptop with you. When you returned in 12, 18, 24, or 36 months time with the same laptop there was no need to declare this as a personal effect that was subject to duty.

An article from Kompas (in Indonesian) that includes some comments from the Director General of Customs at the Ministry of Finance does not provide any insight on this front. The example provided only suggests that a camera that is valued at USD 300 will be subject to duty on the USD 50 that exceeds the USD 250 duty free limit. Unfortunately, the Director General does not note any exception for second-hand goods or goods that have been owned for more than 12 months.

If I find anything relevant to a better understanding of what is subject to duty, outside of what I have noted here, I will post it as a postscript.

The regulation comes into force on 1 January 2011.

Aburizal Bakrie: Defamed?

Has Singapore come to Indonesia? The way of the Singaporean political elite is to sue their political opposition into oblivion by abusing defamation laws. Perhaps, Aburizal Bakrie has realised that Indonesia defamation laws, both criminal and civil, allow for Indonesian politicians to do the same.

The recent reporting of an alleged meeting between Gayus Tambunan and Aburizal Bakrie in Bali during a recent tennis tournament has struck a chord with the man behind the Sidoarjo mud extrusion. Gayus was the point man on a tax avoidance racket that included a number of Bakrie companies. The racket saw tax obligations lowered and mechanisms put in place to ensure that the government lost any challenges that it made against the assessments.

The racket worked well for a while, but it has seemingly begun to come unstuck. Needless to say there are a few nervous people floating around the circles of the political elite as they wonder just how much Gayus knows and just how big the bucket of crap is that he has to spill. This is particularly so if the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) gets involved. So, it is within this framework that a meeting between Gayus and Aburizal Bakrie appears believable.

And, truth be told there would be plenty of people from all walks of life who would like to see Bakrie come unstuck and get shafted in the most figurative of senses, then again there are probably a few who wouldn't mind seeing that happen in a literal sense either!

But I digress. Aburizal Bakrie has decided that the news organisations that reported this alleged meeting have defamed him. So, he went to the press council to lodge a formal complaint. It is expected that an official complaint to police will be lodged in the near future.

The five media organisations include Kompas, SCTV, Metro TV, Detik.com, and Media Indonesia. Metro TV and Media Indonesia are an interesting choice as as they are the media vehicles of Surya Paloh. Paloh happens to have been a past challenger to Bakrie's dominance in Golkar.

It seems that Bakrie is a little upset that his denials of a meeting ever taking place were not accepted as given. Therefore, Bakrie is of the belief that because his denials were not accepted as the ultimate truth that he has been defamed because the media is guilty of character assassination. The man is on a mission to clean up the media which he believes has degenerated into outlets purveying lies and spin-doctoring the truth to turn the public against him.

It will be interesting to see where this latest crack at criminal and civil defamation laws goes.

(Photo courtesy of Antara)

Indonesia's Most Wanted Malaysian -- Part II

Latest reports are suggesting that the game might be up for Indonesia's most wanted Malaysian, Noordin M. Top.

It is being reported that either Top has been arrested already or is engaged in a firefight with authorities in Central Java. It would be better that he is arrested in terms of gathering more intelligence on the network. Although, I would be guessing that the interrogation is probably not going to be pretty.

Kompas is also reporting that there is a pretty good likelihood that the game is up for Top.

Detik.com is also reporting that there has been related activity in Jatiasih in Bekasi where police have shot and killed two suspects and raided a house where they have found a live bomb and grenades.

Perhaps the net has not only tightened, but it has now closed on Top.

Postscript...

Word on the street and in the press is that Noordin M. Top is no longer living. I do not figure that this is a good time to be wondering about the paradise that is supposedly awaiting him for doing honor to his God by acting in his name.

Postscript II...

Maybe Noordin M Top has not been topped after all. According to this article, Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group, is suggesting that Top is still alive and well. In another piece over at Yosef Ardi's blog, he is quoting sources that are now confirming that Top was not one of those killed in yesterday's raids.

If these reports are true, then more violence is certainly on the cards. Although, the seizure of 500kgs of explosives is likely to slow planning down somewhat for the next attack.

The Buddha Bar -- Jakarta

The Buddha Bar is one that I have heard of and have never had the cause or the inclination to go there. I have friends and colleagues who have trundled by and have given it mixed reviews. By consensus it seems that it caters to the upper end of the market and I am a strictly down town kind of fella. So, the Buddha Bar and me are not a match made in heaven.

However, this is not a post about my watering hole preferences,but rather a musing about what Buddha might think about a group of Buddhists students closing the place down because it allegedly insults their religious sensitivities.

The Jakarta Post is reporting that the Indonesian Buddhists Student Association (Aliansi Mahasiswa Buddhis / AMB) has closed down the Buddha Bar and management has seemingly agreed to this. This does not seem to be a particularly enlightened move on the part of the AMB.

The Buddha Bar is part of a chain of bars owned and operated by George V Hotels and Resorts which is based in France. The groups has Buddha Bars in a number of other locations including London, New York, Cairo, and Beirut, to name but a few.

According to Kompas, the group has recommended that the Tourist Agency of the Government and the Governor become pro-active in the stripping of the groups business license to operate in Jakarta. Presumably, this request should be directed further up the chain so as to ensure that any requisite business licenses are stripped for the whole of Indonesia and not just Jakarta.

It seems that the primary concern of the AMB is that the association of Buddha to a bar is inappropriate, particularly as the Buddha Bar is a place that serves alcohol and allows people to get drunk. I am guessing that the point is that Buddha neither drank alcohol nor got drunk.

The secondary concern relates to the fact that the Buddha Bar is populated with Buddhist symbols and artifacts (I would be guessing that most are cheap imitations as opposed to the real thing - but as I said I have not been to the place and I am not sure that I would know the difference anyway).

It also appears, according to a spokesperson for the AMB, that before the word Buddha can be used in any context there must be written approval from the Directorate General of Buddhist Affairs at the Department of Religion.

The last time I was in a music store checking out a couple of the latest CDs, I noticed that there are a series of music CDs related to the Bar and simply called Buddha Bar I, Buddha Bar II, Buddha Bar III, and I think I saw a Buddha Bar IV as well. I guess once the students successfully close down the Buddha Bar proper then they can turn their collective attention to blockading music stores and demand that the CDs be withdrawn from sale.

Interestingly, the Jakarta Post is reporting that the management of the Buddha Bar has also filed a request for a name change. It is not often that you see Indonesians demand changes that are likely to see them out of a job.

The simple reality here is that the Buddha Bar is part of a chain, a franchise if you will, that will lose its appeal should it be renamed George V Bar (although you might get a bit more patronage from some English folks looking to down a warm pint or two). More to the point the staff that work there had no qualms about joining the establishment in the first place. Because if they did then they should have stuck to their principles at that point in time and refused to take up employment until such time as the owners caved into the yet to be employed employees demands for a name change.

This is at best a case of opportunism by the staff and at worst a misrepresentation in the media of the employee's actual position.

This is clearly a case of students having too much time on their hands and nothing better to do. Let's face it there is a world of poverty and illness out there that needs the idealism of youth much more than the shutting down of a poorly named bar that is providing an income to Indonesians and allowing them to feed themselves and their families.

My understanding of Buddha and Buddhist teachings is that they teach tolerance and understanding. I am guessing Buddha is probably sitting under a tree somewhere taking a break from his enlightened meditations and thinking to himself, chill out, it's just a bar.

My thanks to Lawblogger (one of my readers - I cannot link to a blog because I do not know who he is and whether he even has a blog) for pointing me in this direction.

Eid and Going Home for the Holidays

Jakarta is a much quieter place during the Eid celebration that takes place at the end of the fasting month. It is a much quieter place because the vast majority of residents return back to their home villages in the days before Eid and for a week or so after.

Although Jakarta is much quieter, everywhere else suddenly gets a whole lot less quite and sees a significant spike in traffic and the associated problems.

I read in today's Kompas Newspaper (the photo is from Kompas) that the 267 km trip from Jakarta to Cirebon was taking about 19 hours to complete. For my mind that means that you really must want to go home for the holidays. Apparently, on a 'normal' day this trip would take a leisurely 6 hours. This still seems like a long time to travel less than 300 km all the same.

Suicide In Jakarta

This is not going to be a post that quotes a lot of facts and figures about the suicide rate in Jakarta. I do not claim to be an authority on the subject and neither have I done the research to pretend to have a claim like that. This is more a general commentary on suicide in light of a story I read in today's Kompas Newspaper (page 27).

I would imagine that if you asked most people whether they had thought of suicide or not their answers would be "no". For me this is kind of like asking men whether or not they masturbate. The answer to that question is almost universally no too. Yet, the majority of men lie on this one and I think the majority of people lie on the suicide question as well.

Thinking about suicide does not mean that you are desperate and thinking of figuratively biting the bullet and ending it all then and there. To the contrary, when I think about suicide it is almost always regarding how does one do it. I, personally, have great difficulty in the idea of ingesting something to stop me breathing or putting a shotgun in my mouth and blowing the back of my head out or getting in a car and poisoning myself with carbon monoxide.

The difficulty for me is trying to picture my life being so bad that I would rather be dead. To date I have not been able to do that. I have often thought that people who commit suicide are to a certain degree, cowards. However, as I have aged, I know longer think that suicide is necessarily the easy way out. I can not pretend to understand the pain that must precede a decision to end it all, but I think I would find myself rationalizing that pain against the pain that I would leave behind if I did kill myself.

The story that put me to thinking about this is about two students who gassed themselves at Pantai Karnaval at Taman Impian Jaya Ancol in North Jakarta. The news only relays their death and the manner in which it occurred. Unfortunately, it does not tell their stories. It does not tell us how two young adults in their early 20's reached the decision that they did. How was it that life was so bad that they no longer had the desire to live? At 21 and 22 you have your whole life ahead of you! If it is at a low point or even if it is at the lowest of low points then the only way to go is up! Life will get better.

Anyway, just some personal ramblings from someone who has seen friends choose the ultimate option and still to this day never fully understands why!

An FPI Update

Well, maybe I was a little premature with my comments (then again maybe not -- we will see) about the government not having the testicular fortitude to go after the FPI. However, as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating and not in the baking.

It appears the Coordinating Minister of Politics, Law, and Security Affairs, Widodo Adi Sucipto, is looking at freezing the activities of the FPI through the application of a 1985 law. This law is the Law on Community Organizations (Law No. 8 of 1985). The Law is set for review by the Parliament and a draft bill is currently being prepared.

It is one thing to pay lip service to the idea of upping the ante on the FPI, it is another thing altogether to take concrete steps towards forcefully changing these thug's attitudes through the strict application of the prevailing laws and regulations. The Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia, Hendarman Supandji, has been quick to jump in and say that it is not going to be as easy as just suspending the FPI. There are processes to be followed, such as issuing warnings or reprimands instructing them not to persist in their errant ways of violence and mayhem.

My understanding is that once a reprimand or warning has been issued the FPI would then have to perpetrate some further violence in breach of the reprimand. Then the government would have to go to the Supreme Court and seek an order to suspend the FPI. However, it would not be long after the reprimand before the FPI breached the provisions of the reprimand.

The leader of FPI, Habib Rizieq Shihab (photo courtesy of Kompas), has gone on the record with this:

"We will never allow for the arrest of a single member of our force before the government dissolves Ahmadiyah. We will fight to our last drop of blood."

So, it would be a little naive to think that the FPI will be changing their violent ways anytime soon!

The ball is clearly in the government's court...