Sugar smuggling rampant across Malaysian border
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PONTIANAK - West Kalimantan police have recorded 41 cases of sugar smuggling from Malaysia, totalling 35 tons of sugar, due to many "rat holes" along the border.
Despite security patrols along the border between Indonesia and Malaysia, sugar smuggling from Malaysia to West Kalimantan police is still rampant due to many “rat holes” along the border, according to local police.
West Kalimantan police spokesman Adj. Comr. Cucu Safiyudin said Wednesday that police officers had recently foiled an attempt to smuggle sugar from Malaysia to Sambas regency in the province.
Officers from the Sambas police general crimes unit reportedly stopped a truck transporting sugar from Malaysia on May 23 as it was moving along a road in Sebedang village, Sebawi district.
Cucu said police had detained the driver and confiscated the truck as well as five tons of sugar.
West Kalimantan Police recorded 108 cases of sugar smuggling from Malaysia to the province in 2015, with sugar weighing a total of 84.9 tons brought into the country, packed in 700 bags.
As of May this year, police have recorded 41 similar cases, with a total of 35 tons of sugar smuggled across the border, also in 700 bags.
Economist Maran estimated sugar consumption in all of West Kalimantan’s 14 regencies and municipalities at 6,000 tons a month, an amount far greater than the sugar recorded by the police in the foiled smuggling attempts.
Malaysian sugar is sold at 10,000 rupiah (0.73 cents) per kilogram, lower than the domestic sugar at 12,000 rupiah (0.87 cents) per kg.
“With a margin of 2,000 rupiah (0.14 cents) per kg, the sellers of smuggled sugar can earn a lot of money. This margin is the main driver for people to smuggle sugar,” said Maran, a lecturer with the Widya Dharma School of Economics in Pontianak.
Meanwhile, many customers apparently opt to buy the Malaysian sugar for economic reasons and allocate the savings for other purchases.
Although many people chose to buy the Malaysian sugar, some were also concerned about its quality, said Maran, adding that they were hoping for the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) to assess the quality of the smuggled commodity to find out whether it met the Indonesian National Standard (SNI).
Consumers apparently became particularly concerned about the quality of smuggled sugar following reports that the Malaysian product was actually intended for industrial purposes rather than for household consumption.
“There must be a laboratory assessment to assess whether the sugar is safe for consumption or not. The agency should then announce the results to the public,” Maran added.
