TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The smuggling of fuel oil on the waters of the Riau archipelago has become worse than ever. The arrest of tens of illegal ships by the regional police and the Riau customs directorate-general in the past two years show how serious this crime has become.

But the attitude of the law enforcers to this trillion-rupiah illegal business is very worrying. So far, investigation on the 'pissing ships' the terminology for ships illegally transferring fuel oil has never been concluded satisfactorily. The main perpetrator, as well as the smuggling network and their 'protectors', have rarely been exposed. Only the minor players on the ground, like the ships' captains and the crew, have been arrested and tried.

The latest arrest in Batam should have been an opportunity for the police to prove their seriousness, given that the Financial Transactions Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK) provided them with a shocking revelation: one city employee's Rp1.3 trillion bank account. She is suspected of having links with a smuggling group operating since 2008.

At first the police looked like they worked rapidly to arrest the B-III grade female employee of the Batam administration. Her brother, who is suspected of being the brains of the business, is a senior Pertamina oversight official and two members of the TNI Navy, have also been arrested. The gang's method of operation was also revealed. The fuel oil, it turns out, is suctioned out of their ships and sold overseas.

It seems the police not only arrested them rapidly, they also released them in no time at all. Two of the naval officers arrested were returned to their units. The police reportedly also released a TNI (Indonesian Military) official in a separate operation on another ship. Clearly, those actions dissipate any hope of ever exposing this smuggling racket. The protectors of this abominable crime are now unlikely to be revealed.

The PPATK chairman had actually warned that smuggling in Batam involved crime syndicates. They are suspected of controlling intra-nation oil and natural gas business networks, operating with well-planned strategies. But the police, far from ever touching the syndicates' top dogs, seem incapable of taking action against the perpetrators they manage to arrest.

The military's own tribunal is often cited as an excuse which render the police incapable, even though there has been plenty of proof that these tribunals are not transparent. The trial of the Special Forces member who shot dead the Cebongan inmates is a case in point. It would be commendable if the TNI chief commander or the Navy chief takes the initiative to enforce justice on their members who are found to be guilty of crimes. At the very least, they are expected to push for a joint investigation on this massive smuggling.

To be sure, the main motivation for the uncontrolled smuggling of fuel oil in Indonesia is the local price of fuel, which is far below global prices. It is not surprising therefore that much of the subsidized fuel is smuggled out to foreign ships in the waters of the Malacca Strait. Profits of the illegal transactions going into the bank accounts of Batam employees, for example, can reach Rp800 million to Rp1 billion each day. In fact, the illicit ships can 'piss out' close to 800 tons of oil per day.

The surest step to eradicate this smuggling would be to raise fuel prices domestically. But the smuggling cannot be allowed to continue. Law enforcers must defend our waters so we cannot easily be entered by smugglers, not join forces with them. We are certain that the Navy will never accept their patriotic slogan, "over the seas we will win" to be replaced by "over the seas we will take the winnings". (*)