Economy Business

Ministers: Smuggling Rife on Borders with Singapore
Thursday, 21 April, 2005 | 14:00 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Batam Island:Fuel smuggling has become rife on the borders of Indonesia and Singapore and several ships have already been apprehended.

“There are two routes that are often used for smuggling. One of these is Nipah island and Karimun Bay. The other route is international waters,” said Purnomo Yusgiantoro, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, on Batam on Sunday (17/04).

According to Yusgiantoro, during these three months three ships have already been apprehended in Karimun Bay.

In February, the Indonesian Navy seized the ship Lyonese with 178,000 liters of diesel in Batam and the ship MT Jayanegara with 270,000 liters of diesel.

Yusgiantoro said he suspected that smuggling cases have been taking place at Nipah Island all this time because from 6pm onwards, no ships are allowed to approach Singapore so they therefore docked at Nipah.

“There is the possibility that smuggling took place during docking,” stated Yusgiantoro.

Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa said that starting from January 1, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has allowed ships to dock at Nipah.

“Therefore, we must prepare ourselves,” said Radjasa.
The Indonesian government has planned to strengthen patrols in nearby areas.

In addition, 20 lighthouses are to be built at a total investment of Rp40 billion.

“We will also establish technical executing unit to manage these facilities,” said Radjasa.

The transport minister said he hoped that within this year, he would propose this new structure to the State Minister for Administrative Reform.

“I don’t think there will be any problems,” said Radjasa.

Yusgiantoro was as yet unable able to confirm the amount of losses resulting from fuel smuggling.

“The losses from each ship apprehended have reached around Rp500 million,” he said.

Yusgiantoro said he assumed that between 10 and 20 percent of fuel had been smuggled. (Muhamad Fasabeni-Tempo News Room)