Glodok overrun with 'hot' VCDs<\/p>\n
By Pandaya<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The ubiquitous VCD vendors in downtown Kota
\ntreat passers by like long lost friends. They try to intercept
\npedestrians and lead them to their rudimentary wooden stalls.<\/p>\n
They show you an array of video compact discs including
\nchildren songs, the latest movies like Tarzan, The Matrix and 8
\nMM, western music and, of course, pornographic VCDs -- the
\nhottest selling discs of all.<\/p>\n
Its no secret that almost all of the discs are pirated. You
\ncan buy them as cheaply as Rp 10,000 (about US$1.5) to Rp 12,000
\neach. Haggling is the most important skill you must bring with
\nyou when visiting this jungle.<\/p>\n
The vendor will usually ask for Rp 17,000 for a movie disc, Rp
\n12,500 for music and Rp 20,000 for pornographic one.<\/p>\n
For the price do not expect high quality. If it is your day,
\nyou may get a disk with clear pictures and crispy sound that will
\nnot suddenly stop in the middle of a hot scene.<\/p>\n
Last week, Benny could not resist the temptation to buy a
\npornographic disc for Rp 10,000 in Glodok. The trader swore the
\nfilm Perempuan Penggoda (Seductive Women) had an \"all-Indonesian
\ncast\", the same cast seen posing stark naked on the cover.<\/p>\n
To his amusement when he watched it at home, he heard no noisy
\nmoans or groans. Instead Kenny G-like sweet sax melodies played
\nin background, from the start to the very end of the three sex
\nscenes.<\/p>\n
\"I like the music which is uninterrupted by the hot groaning
\nand moaning and play it any time to lull me to sleep. No other
\nsex video can serve the same purpose,\" he said, breaking to
\nlaughter.<\/p>\n
The absence of juicy chats and moaning and groaning raises a
\nsuspicion that in fact the actors and actresses are not
\nIndonesian. Who knows, maybe they are Filipino, Malaysian or
\nIndochinese who have very similar physical features to
\nIndonesians.<\/p>\n
A disc trader claimed there is currently a rising demand for
\npornographic movies starring \"Indonesians\".<\/p>\n
It is a jungle out there in Glodok. Vendors occupy more than
\nhalf of Jl. Hayam Wuruk with no intervention from authorities,
\neven though the traders obstruct the busy streets in Jakarta's
\nmost important commercial district.<\/p>\n
For a great many years pornography, pirated video discs and
\ncassettes have been freely traded, despite the government's
\nrepeated stance to the world that it does not tolerate indecency
\nand violation of intellectual property rights.<\/p>\n
The government has not revealed whether the pirated goods are
\nlocally made or imported. Tarzan, for example, has Malaysian
\nsubtitles, suggesting this as a source of origin. Just recently,
\nauthorities at Soekarno-Hatta airport seized thousands of
\npornographic discs, en route to Islamabad, Pakistan.<\/p>\n
The police have occasionally raided the Glodok markets but it
\nis business as usual as soon as the police depart. The latest
\nraid was on Wednesday, in which the police seized some 15,000
\npornographic discs and apprehended 35 vendors.<\/p>\n
West Jakarta police chief Lt. Col. Timur Pradopo vowed that
\nsuch raids would continue until the area is free from the
\npornographic discs, promising the traders would be \"legally
\nprocessed.\"<\/p>\n
The police threatened the vendors with Article 282 of the
\nCriminal Code on social indecency, which carries a maximum
\npenalty of 18 months imprisonment and a fine of Rp 3,000.<\/p>\n
But the colonel's sincerity is yet to be proven because so
\nfar, as traders say, people have not heard of anybody, let alone
\nthe capitalists of the powerful syndicates, being jailed for
\ntrading in pornographic VCDs.<\/p>\n
The unsurprising blitz was apparently in response to growing
\ndemands from Muslim organizations that the government put a stop
\nto the pornography, which has seemed to thrive in the wind of
\npolitical reform.<\/p>\n
West Jakarta deputy police chief Maj. Hengky Kaluara said
\nafter the raid, \"The operation was carried out following public
\nreports about the pornographic discs. We followed up the report.\"<\/p>\n
What if there was no public report on the trading of
\npornography, which has taken place openly all these years?<\/p>\n
On Thursday, just a day after the raid, the street was
\npredictably busy again with the disc businesses. This time
\nthough, no pornographic discs were displayed like paintings, and
\ntraders were still visibly traumatized by the police action.<\/p>\n
\"We had all of our goods confiscated,\" said a 19 year-old
\nvendor who has been in the business for two months. \"We have no
\nidea when we will get them (porn discs) again.\"<\/p>\n
Most of the vendors, he said, sell the discs for someone else.
\nThe traders receive between Rp 2,000 and Rp 3,000 for each disc
\nthey sell. They are aware it is a hot business with a very high
\nrisk factor and therefore few wish to run their own.<\/p>\n
This partly explains why traders are not nervous about being
\narrested or the seizure of their merchandise by police.<\/p>\n
Wednesday's raid did not affect all the vendors. On Thursday,
\nvendors on the ground floor of the sprawling blocks were busy
\nselling porn discs.<\/p>\n
People in the business use a strategy of keeping wholesale
\ncosts down in order to minimize losses in the event of a police
\nraid. They package the discs in small plastic covers instead of
\nthe usual plastic box.<\/p>\n
\"We can't rely on sales of movie and music discs,\" said a
\ntrader on the ground floor of Harco. \"We profit mostly from blue
\nfilms,\" he said while watching people selecting pornographic
\ndiscs.<\/p>\n
Chinatown is probably the center of the pornographic disc
\nindustry. The discs can also be found easily in other shopping
\ncenters like Senen market, Ular market and Menteng, with a higher
\ndegree of secrecy.<\/p>\n
It is no secret that VCD rentals across the city also lease
\npornographic discs to attract customers.<\/p>\n
Luhut MP Pangaribuan, a lawyer, suspects the sale of pirated
\nrecordings and pornographic material continues because the
\nsecurity authorities have become part of the mafia.<\/p>\n
\"The whole legal system doesn't work. I have heard of only one
\ncase of an intellectual property rights perpetrator being taken
\nto court, and it was a long time ago,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Even though the violation of intellectual property rights and
\nthe trade in pornographic materials has now reached an alarming
\nstage, the authorities are doing very little about it, he said.<\/p>\n
Pangaribuan recalled visiting a police commandant in Jakarta
\nwhere he noticed pornographic video cassettes lying around his
\noffice. When he asked why indecency cases were not taken to
\ncourt, the commandant replied that there was no use because the
\ncases would be thrown out.<\/p>\n
Apparently, Glodok will remain a safe haven for piracy and
\npornography businesses. Who else cares?<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/glodok-overrun-with-hot-vcds-1447893297",
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