put the ‘pirates’ in jail

damn! i wanted to post this yesterday. had completed it and when i clicked on the ‘publish’ button, don’t know why all of a sudden, the page cannot load. i thought if i hit the ‘back’ button on the browser, i could get back the page where i made the post, with my posts intact but argh! no! cannot go back! then it’s already past 2.00am, so i can’t re-write what i had written. i know… i should have use notepad or something to write and not directly on blogger post page but since the post was on the spur of the moment, i did not think of opening notepad.

ok i was going to talk about the mandatory jail sentence for illegal VCD pedlers proposed by the domestic, trade and consumers affairs ministry.

apparently, datuk shafie suggedted this proposal after hearing what our deputy PM, datuk seri najib had to say. he said jailing them (the VCD producers, distributors, pedlers) would put the fear in them. and datuk shafie then said that imposing fine on them will mean nothing much to them since they are so rich arleady, profiting from their illegal business, so the best way is to jail them, then they’ll feel the pinch.

hmm… will it really work, i wonder. it sound like a good idea… BUT the authorities must make sure it is not a case of ‘cakap tak serupa bikin’, that is, the law may be passed but there will be no enforcement. we all know how bolehland authorities are famous for that, don’t we.

this fight against VCD piracy had been going on for a long time already and yet we still see the VCD pirates mushrooming. so what went wrong? were the authorities too lax? or is something more sinister than that, as some people suggest in a hush hush manner, dare i say it out?… something to do with money and a certain kind of drink… ah.. you get the idea.

the authorities are always seen targetting the roadside VCD pedlers, i.e. small time VCD pedlers. i wonder did they check on VCD/DVD shops in shopping complexes? sure the shops display and sell originals but what goes on behind closed door, we won’t know.

i have an australian friend who likes to come to penang to buy DVD because he said they are so cheap here. i thought he meant originals since originals are still cheaper than those originals in australia. however, one day i was shocked when he took me to his ‘regular’ DVD shop in a shopping complex (not going to name the complex), a reputable known company. the boss of the shop on seeing him, look sheepishly around the shop for a while, then took him (together with me) to the back of his shop into a tiny little room, where there are lots and lots of VCD/DVD on sale – pirated ones!!

ah! see? legal VCD/DVD shops do horde pirated VCD/DVD but does the authorities think of that and try raiding the shop? i guess they can’t do it unless there is a complaint. me? nah, i’m too chicken. beside, like my australian friend, and perhaps many of you (sorry if i generalis), i’m sure, i prefer to buy pirated VCD/DVD since they are cheap, appropriate for someone not so rich like me. ahem. well, the quality is not bad either. er… it’s not that i want to support piracy but the ori (hey the short form of original sounds cooler!) are so expensive, how could i afford?
you know, music CDs are especially very expensive. sometime back i bought the bee gees’ hits compilation CD (2 of ’em), ori ones and it cost me about RM80. then later on i found out my friend bought the same from the pasar malam at only RM12. i mean for songs we don’t listen to it often, so why spent so much on them eh?

if the gomen wants to eliminate VCD/DVS piracy all together, they should then consider lowering the price of ori VCD/DVD. if people can afford to buy something that is better (or supposedly to be better) and legal, i’m sure they don’t mind buying them.