WAIfm.com

By Churchill Edward
Source: The Borneo Post

Activities widespread in Sri Aman, Kapit, Betong and Bau

KUCHING: Home Ministry’s Film Censorship and Publication Control Unit (FCPCU) Sarawak fears that music piracy, which appears to be rampant in rural areas, will kill off the Dayak music industry.

FCPCU enforcement senior officer Colin Wayner James said such activity was mostly done for personal consumption or in private in villages and longhouses and has also been taken for granted by rural folks.

“But whatever the manner and for whatever purpose, the activity is still piracy and therefore wrong in the eye of the law,” Colin told The Borneo Post’s sister paper Utusan Borneo yesterday.

“The unit conducted a dialogue session on May 12 in Sibu and received feedback from Iban music industry players.They blamed people burning (duplicating) contents of various Iban tunes in DVDs and VCDs for adversely affecting their income.

“If piracy persists and also when there is no enforcement, there is a possibility that the Dayak music industry will soon perish,” he said.

Such piracy was widespread in Sri Aman, Kapit, Betong and Bau, he said adding, illegal duplication had been made much easier with the ready availability of the computer.

He conceded that such activity, especially those done in private homes, was quite difficult to enforce, let alone combat.

“This is especially true when they are doing it for personal use and in private,” he said, which explained why the enforcers could not simply book the “offenders”.

“Of course it would be easier to book vendors at the five-foot-way because they are doing sales of pirated VCDs and DVDs in the open,” he pointed out.

On another matter, Colin said offences involving sale of VCDs and DVDs containing pornographic materials and those without censorship pass or ‘B’ Certificate in the state, was under control following regular operations conducted by the state FCPCU, police and enforcers of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

From January until May this year, the FCPCU had arrested a total of 26 persons suspected to be linked to sales of VCDs and DVDs containing pornographic materials (blue film) and those without “B” Certificate, he said, adding that in 2007 a total of 87 persons were arrested for the same offences.

He disclosed that so far this year, the Unit had seized a total of 11,722 units of offending VCDs and DVDs. The whole of last year they seized a total of 25, 947 units of such items, he added. He further said the unit had settled or closed seven cases this year and that a total of 18 cases were closed last year.

“With the increase in the number of enforcers recently, we hope to intensify our enforcement activities and in the end eradicate the piracy menace,” he promised.

According to him, the cost of reproducing pirated copies in neighbouring countries is much cheaper than doing so in Malaysia and that was why they preferred to smuggle in the contraband and distribute them here.

Offenders possessing VCDs and DVDs without the ‘B’ Certificate face the maximum penalty of RM30,000 fine and/or three years in jail upon conviction under Section 18 (4) of the Film Censorship Act 2002. Those possessing ‘blue film’ - an offence under Section 5 of the same Act – face the maximum penalty of RM50,000 and/or five years’ imprisonment upon conviction, Colin said.