Zaky Pawas & Dessy Sagita – The Jakarta Police have defended the now-controversial arrest of two men selling iPads, saying the pair was selling a large number of devices without proper permits.
Police had come under fire over the weekend after news of the arrest broke, with lawmakers and commentators accusing them of being heavy-handed as it appeared the men had only tried to resell used units.
But Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharudin Djafar insisted on Sunday that the men – Dian Yudha, 42, and Randy, 29 – were arrested on Nov. 24 for trying to sell up to eight iPads.
Undercover policemen had contacted the two, pretending to be buyers, after spotting an advertisement on online forum Kaskus. Baharudin said Randy admitted he had sold 12 other iPads before the arrest.
The two men told police they bought the tablets in Singapore but were not able to produce customs papers. "A person is allowed to bring in goods from overseas if they're worth less than $500 and for personal use, not for sale. Otherwise, the goods must be declared and tax must be paid," he said.
Baharudin also said the arrest was made as part of a police drive to crack down on the so-called "gray market," in which electronics are smuggled in o Indonesia and resold.
"When the iPad was gaining popularity in 2010, it was sold here illegally. The police's special investigation unit was looking into the circulation of illegally sold iPads in the country with the hope of unearthing who was importing the items," he said.
At the time, the Trade Ministry and the directorate general of Post and Telecommunications of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology had yet to issue a permit for the iPad to be sold in the country.
"A requirement for imported goods to be sold in Indonesia is that an Indonesian-language user manual has to be provided," the police spokesman said.
Dian and Randy were charged with illegal sales of electronic devices and imported goods without an Indonesian-language manual and are being tried at the Central Jakarta District Court. If convicted, they could face up to five years in prison, police said. However, the user manual requirements apparently are not common knowledge.
Andi Siregar, an employee of EMAX at Plaza Semanggi, an authorized reseller of Apple products, said the store had already sold its entire stock of iPads without any Indonesian-language manual. He said such a manual was only available for the iPhone, and that the iPad came with an English-language manual.
Andi said EMAX provided valuable assistance, though. "We never let the customer get confused, even if they don't speak English. We always assist them, better than a user manual could do," he said.