Indonesian Customs Agency Clarifies Buzzer Issues

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Nirwala Dwi Heryanto, Director of Communications and Guidance for Customs and Excise Service Users, has opened up about the recent issue surrounding his agency's efforts to polish its image by soliciting cooperation to one of the local TikTokers, Bima alias @awbimax.

In his press release, Nirwala said that the Customs and Excise Directorate General had never contacted or offered a partnership to the young man, who is studying in Australia. “We have never asked any particular agency to collaborate with the person concerned,” he said on Monday, May 6.

Nirwala claimed that his agency did not hire buzzers to discredit public opinion. However, he admitted that he had worked with several influencers to educate the public about customs and excise services with the objective of maximizing the reach of the publicity and simplifying the information.

“Like other organizations that understand the crucial role of social media and influencers in disseminating and simplifying information, we are also optimizing the use of these features,” Nirwala stressed.

Previously, Bima shared a screenshot on its TikTok account of a message from one of the agencies hired by the Customs Agency. The agency offered a partnership to create campaign videos, for which he charged Rp100 million per video. He said he had no intention of falsifying the testimonials on the Customs services made up by the agency.

Bima expressed his suspicion that Customs and Excise DG’s action in hiring social media influencers was aimed at cleaning up its image, which has recently come under public scrutiny.

After his post went viral, the founder of the Bima Foundation revealed that the DG requested him to delete the post. But he declined, saying he did not want to be labeled as a hoax peddler.

NOVALI PANJI NUGROHO

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