New body earnest in their fight to stop piracy

New body earnest in their fight to stop piracy

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Illegal transactions are usually pereformed in
secrecy. But in the case of pirated VCDs, CDs, cassettes and
software, one only needs to look around nearby shopping centers
or sidewalk vendors. It's all out there, and much cheaper and
easier to get than original products.

Such openness puts Indonesia on the hot spot. In line with
agreements with the World Trade Organization (WTO), as of January
this year Indonesia is one of a number of countries that must
comply with the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIP).

For the illegal traders, the consequences of being caught
selling anything which violates copyright law is a prison
sentence of seven years and a fine up to Rp 100 million.

Under the climate of change, a new organization -- the
Indonesian Society Against Piracy and Pornography (MAPPI) -- was
launched on Jan. 24.

The Jakarta Post talked to the society's chairman, Abdul Wahid
Aziz Bisri, who is also chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the
Jami'a Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organization and a cousin of
President Abdurrahman Wahid, at his home on Tuesday.

The following is an excerpt of the interview:

Question: Why was MAPPI set up in the first place?

Answer: We have serious concerns about the rampant violations
of intellectual property rights, not to mention the dirty
conspiracies that go with them. We want to do something to
prevent this from spreading further, as part of our contribution
to the country.

Many people are disadvantaged by this practice. Producers who
work hard, and artists and songwriters who are trying to create
quality work. Many suffer great losses due to piracy but can't do
much about it.

And the greatest loss is suffered by the country. Each year,
Rp 2 trillion in taxes that should be collected from this sector
vanish because of piracy. That's only from those cases that can
be monitored. But I believe it's worth more than just that.

How serious is piracy?

Pirated products can be found anywhere, and so openly. I can
buy pirated cassettes from sidewalk vendors for only Rp 4,500,
and their quality is not so bad.

About pornography: We can buy porn VCDs easily. I have seen
this for myself. Porn VCDs are sold for Rp 10,000 each. If we do
nothing to stop this, what will happen 10 years from now?

On the other side, if we let this piracy continue, our
artistic and cultural life might stop at this point. I mean,
look, the Bimbo group have refused to write any more new songs
because once they are released, they will immediately be pirated
while the group lose their royalty rights. If that is how things
work, why compose songs? There is no need to be creative. If
artists or others think that way and refuse to develop their
creative process for fear of piracy, it is us, as a nation, who
suffer the greatest loss.

People love pirated goods because they are cheap, right?

It's related to people's buying power. People here are not
used to choosing something based on quality, or deciding to buy
good quality products only. Upper-class people might think that
way, but middle to lower-class people prefer to do it the easiest
way. They like buying goods on the roadside, without having to go
to certain stores. These may be among the reasons why pirated
products are flourishing.

What will your organization actually do?

MAPPI will urge and advocate to the community to become more
moral. Stealing, in all shapes and forms, is immoral. We can
enlighten people, and raise their sense of shame before God.
People say that all this piracy occurs due to wrong management or
the wrong concepts. But the fundamental matter is one of
morality. It seems like we no longer feel ashamed of wrongdoing,
including piracy.

It seems really difficult, improving one's morals?

Yes, but in practice, after the advocacy, there will be raids
conducted after we have first learned where the piracy centers
are and where the pirated products are being sold. The pirated
products will then be confiscated and destroyed. These operations
will be in cooperation with the police, since there may be some
arrests.

On the other hand, we know that most traders just receive
pirated products. This time, they will get goods from legal
producers only. In the beginning, it might be hard for them to
sell original products due to the drastic change of price. But it
has to be started.

With these efforts, we're trying to put pressure on the
pirates, who are used to being protected either by the system or
by corrupt police officers.

I was told earlier by a journalist that most pirates are
backed by 'carp fish' (a term used for an influential figure). I
told him that we won't be 'carp fish', but we will be whales. We
have to prepare ourselves ... Protection of human rights and
intellectual property rights is a new form of patriotism because
we are fighting to protect and guarantee people's right to create
something, instead of letting those thieves kill the creativity
of our artists or others.

What do you mean by whale?

All this time, our problem has been because of the long trauma
created by the 32 years of New Order regime. For example, I was
informed by ASIRI (the Association of Indonesian Recording
Companies) that the Pemuda Pancasila youth organization used to
collect Rp 300 per sold cassette from producers, and no one dared
to complain. But, with God's gift of total reform, we should act
independently. There is no reason to fear those described as
tigers who swallow their victims.

Those who are reading this might think that we are
exaggerating, but we'll prove it in the field. We will do
something, seriously, so all people's rights will be protected,
especially intellectual property rights. The artists are entitled
to be rewarded for their hard work. We will not give a chance to
those lazy people, the pirates, to ransack other people's rights.

But with our weak legal system?

Yes, widespread piracy is also due to the absence of strict
laws and legal enforcement. Meanwhile, the piracy of intellectual
property rights is performed by strong and well-organized
syndicates.

But we're going to prepare an advocacy program on the matter
and to fight for the endorsement of a law on the protection of
intellectual property rights. The bill is now with the house and
we hope it will be endorsed soon.

You will work with police officers on the raids, while the
pirates are said to be protected by them. What will happen?

Yes, we will cooperate with security officers during the
operations because we can't take justice into our own hands. We
should uphold the law. We will always be under the command of
officials. If they don't want to act we will remind them.
Besides, we see that the cleaning within the police has been
intensive and many people have put their hope in the good
leadership of the new police chief.

How can you be sure that arrested pirates will not be released
without being prosecuted?

It's back to the mentality of those involved in the
operations. MAPPI will evaluate and monitor officers and those
taking part in the operations. MAPPI is not an organization where
its leaders get together and then issue statements. Rather, we
will be involved in the raids. We will really prepare them. We're
not kidding, we're serious.

How long do you think it will take to combat the piracy of
intellectual property rights here?

If you ask how long, the fight will go on. But we have
targets, both short and long term. For instance, a year for
advocacy, the next year, operations. Maybe they can be done at
the same time. One thing is for sure, there will be no compromise
because it is about one's rights. We will suggest to those
pirates they should feel ashamed, acting like thieves.

But it's impossible to completely eliminate it?

If we can reduce the amount of pirated goods from 100 percent
to only five percent, we can say that it's finished. But to
completely eradicate the problem, ideally we hope to and I'm
certain we can, but it will take a long time.

Could we improve the country's image?

Yes, I believe so. Indonesia is now the second worst country
after China for its record of piracy of intellectual property
rights. So, this matter is strongly related to foreign countries'
trust in us. We have a bad record, that's why we set up MAPPI. In
the end, we hope that our efforts will make our country a trusted
one, and, importantly, one that we can be proud of.