'Universities complicit in book piracy activities'

Wed, 15 Oct 2003, 00:00 WIB | Source: JP

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Chairman of the Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI)
Makfudin Wirya Atmaja complained on Tuesday about rampant piracy
at hundreds of universities across the country and blamed it on
the lack of morality among people and poor efforts to curb the
crime.

According to Makfudin, at least three of his books on
management science had been copied by most university libraries
and sold to students at very low prices.

The lecturer on management theories at the Center for
Management Development (PPM) also said that businesses that did
the photocopying of books should held accountable in the piracy
and indeed "they can also be accused of violating Law No. 19/2002
on copyrights."

"I was surprised when I once visited the library of a popular
state university in Jakarta and found out that some books have
been copied and sold to students.

"If only about 1,000 students at the campus buy such pirated
copies each year, how about other students at other universities
nationwide?," he asked, while trying to count the number of
students from the country's 45 state universities and 1,846
private universities.

Considering that expensive retail prices have fueled the
production of pirated books, Makfudin said that IKAPI was seeking
ways to lower the prices of original books amid increases in the
cost of paper and various taxes.

Meanwhile, IKAPI deputy chairman on copyright and piracy
affairs Ricky Tobing urged for rigid enforcement of the new
copyright law to prevent piracy, which has caused the industry to
suffer great losses.

He said a number of local and international publishers had
been forced to cease business here or moved to other countries
due to the legal uncertainty in Indonesia.

Ricky was referring to local publishers Djambatan, Pradnya
Paramita and Dian Rakyat and Singapore-based Thomson Learning and
South Western Publishing. The five publishers either went
bankrupt or moved abroad last year.

There are no exact figures on the losses suffered by the
publishing industry in this country, but IKAPI made a striking
revelation.

"In a raid on the Pisangan Timur area in East Jakarta late on
Friday night, a publisher and the police confiscated 1,907
pirated books worth Rp 10 billion. The books were ready to be
circulated, while thousands of others were still in the process
of being copied," Ricky said.

It was the fourth raid they have conducted along with the
police this year. Even though he praised the police for the
cooperation, Ricky, nevertheless expressed pessimism, because the
legal process of the previous cases "remain suspended even at
this point."

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