Video pirates find smooth sailing in Indonesia<\/p>\n
Joko E.H. Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Though no authentic survey has ever been undertaken, it is
\nclear that Indonesia has become a safe haven for video piracy.<\/p>\n
Take a stroll around Glodok in West Jakarta, the Blok M
\nshopping area in South Jakarta or any pedestrian flyovers across
\nmajor thoroughfares, where you will commonly find vendors defy
\nthe scorching sun and lay out scores of pirated VCDs, ranging
\nfrom karaoke, the latest cinema releases and pornographic
\nmaterial.<\/p>\n
The movie crew at Kalyana Shira film production company are
\nangry with "entrepreneurs" who make money by pirating videos, but
\nsadly there is not enough legal enforcement against the
\nproducers.<\/p>\n
Bootlegged VCDs of the company's big-budget film, Ca Bau Kan,
\nare easily available, even while the film is still showing at
\nmovie theaters.<\/p>\n
The film's publicist, Reita Malaon, told The Jakarta Post that
\npiracy has allegedly caused huge losses to the company as it has
\nrobbed them of a huge potential audience.<\/p>\n
"It's difficult to estimate the figure, but we have lost our
\nmiddle-to-lower-income moviegoing market, because they rather buy
\n(bootlegged) VCDs, which are cheaper," she added.<\/p>\n
The film, which cost Rp 5 billion to produce, has, as of late
\nApril, not broken even yet. Reita said the film had only
\nattracted an audience of 200,000 so far.<\/p>\n
Since it is not easy to find how much a local film earns, one
\ncan only estimate it by multiplying the average price for a movie
\nticket by the audience figures.<\/p>\n
The Kalyana Shira film company is so upset they even held a
\ndiscussion early in April at Planet Hollywood Restaurant in South
\nJakarta to find a solution to stop the proliferation of video
\npiracy in the country.<\/p>\n
They invited officials from the Association of Video Importers
\nof Indonesia (ASIREVI) and the Jakarta Police. Unfortunately,
\nnobody from the police showed up.<\/p>\n
Even though it is not fair to blame the movie's unsatisfying
\nperformance at the box office solely on piracy, the illegal
\nactivity has certainly made a significant contribution to it.<\/p>\n
Bootlegged VCD copies of teen drama Ada Apa dengan Cinta?
\n(What's Up with Cinta?) were also in circulation shortly after
\nthe film premiered at theaters.<\/p>\n
Despite some losses due to piracy, the film, which cost Rp 3.7
\nbillion to produce, performed very well at the box office,
\nattracting an audience of 1,650,000 by the end of March and is
\nstill counting.<\/p>\n
Riri Riza, who directed Petualangan Sherina (Sherina's
\nAdventure) and co-produced Ada Apa dengan Cinta? also condemned
\nthe illegal activity.<\/p>\n
"Video piracy actually cons people," Riri told the Post in a
\nrecent telephone interview.<\/p>\n
Riri elaborated that bootlegged VCDs lure people with decent-
\nlooking covers but the picture and sound quality of the pirated
\ncopies were very poor.<\/p>\n
Those who have bought pirated VCD copies of Ada Apa dengan
\nCinta? should feel cheated as the copies do not show the entire
\nfilm.<\/p>\n
It finishes about two thirds of the way through. Some, even
\ninclude ridiculous explanations of what appears in the rest of
\nthe movie!<\/p>\n
This is probably because the person taping the picture
\ndirectly from the movie theater screen using a handheld video
\ncamera ran out of batteries.<\/p>\n
A similar thing also happen to bootlegged VCDs of Ca Bau Kan.
\nSeveral minutes of the movie's beginning is not shown and the
\nrest of the movie is of very poor quality.<\/p>\n
"Those who bought pirated VCDs have caused a loss to
\nthemselves because they aren't able to experience what they could
\nget if they watch films at theaters," director Rizal Mantovani
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Horror hit Jelangkung, which was co-directed by Rizal, was
\nalso pirated on VCDs while the movie was still being shown at
\ntheaters.<\/p>\n
The fact that people still buy poor quality pirated videos is
\na phenomenon in many Asian countries, including Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Ever since the VCD was invented in 1993 by electronics company
\nPhilips, in conjunction with JVC, the format quickly became
\npopular in Asia.<\/p>\n
VCDs are much cheaper to produce and movies are easier to
\nduplicate using this format compared to other formats such as
\nVHS.<\/p>\n
After VCD players began to be massively produced a few years
\nago, more people became able to afford video players, even lower
\nincome earners.<\/p>\n
However, the quality of movies in VCD format is still lower
\nthan those available in other formats.<\/p>\n
VCD resolution is about the same with, often below, Video Home
\nSystem (VHS), which is about 300 horizontal lines. Laser discs
\nprovide 425 lines, but Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) tops the type
\nwith 540 lines of resolution.<\/p>\n
This is why VCDs have taken a long time to become popular in
\ncountries where audiences are more demanding about sound and
\npicture quality, such as the U.S., after DVD was invented by nine
\nbig companies including Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba in September
\n1995.<\/p>\n
However, we are yet to be able to say the same thing about
\nlocal audiences, as pirated VCD vendors such as those in Glodok
\nare still enjoying good business.<\/p>\n
The other factor that makes this country a good place for
\nvideo piracy is that there are limited titles of movies available
\non authorized videos.<\/p>\n
A 26-year-old movie buff, who requested anonymity, told the
\nPost that he often bought pirated VCDs because he could not find
\nauthorized versions of most titles.<\/p>\n
"I watch many kinds of movies, but in this country I can only
\nfind them on pirated VCDs," he said, adding that he was delighted
\nbecause he has just found a bootlegged copy of the controversial
\nJapanese movie Battle Royale.<\/p>\n
"But I will never buy pirated VCDs of Indonesian movies.
\nNever. I want the local film industry to grow and I must support
\nit by not buying bootlegged copies," the film buff added.<\/p>\n
The newly revived local movie industry surely need a helping
\nhand from many parties, including the police. If they can not
\ntotally stop video piracy, at least they should be able to
\nprovide legal protection to locally produced films.<\/p>\n
Reita said that it would be easy for the police to capture the
\nparty responsible for pirating Ca Bau Kan on VCDs if they wanted
\nto.<\/p>\n
"All they have to do is trace the distribution of the pirated
\nVCDs, starting from the retailers," she said.<\/p>\n
However, Reita and other people in the film industry are yet
\nto be satisfied by the police response to this matter.<\/p>\n
When contacted by phone, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton
\nBachrul Alam did not sound enthusiastic about helping the local
\nfilm industry.<\/p>\n
"We have to deal with many other things, not just VCD piracy,"
\nAnton told the Post, adding that the police have arrested some
\nVCD retailers and duplicators.<\/p>\n
Anton also suggested people from the local film industry carry
\nout their own investigations first, including finding the parties
\nwho committed the crime, so that they could then file a report
\nwith the police.<\/p>\n
"Don't just talk about it," Anton added.<\/p>\n
Anton's suggestion certainly sounds like a head-scratcher,
\nbecause investigating a crime is surely the task of the police,
\nisn't it?<\/p>",
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