Oh dear, we have lost RM225 million in revenue between January 2000 to April 2007, due to the "pirated" sale of imitation goods sold in the country. Can you believe that...so laments ( surprised !) the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal !!( here)
Now that you have read the link, for arguement's sake divide that amount by 5 or 25% and you get 45 or roughly RM45 million which has been shoved/pushed into/lined to grease somebody's hands to look the other way...and this I assume is the going percentage or "kopi duit" paid to authorities all over the country by the smugglers or their "taikos" to bring in the much sought-after contraband goods and encourage a hive of smuggling of goods (hence tax-unpaid_. Hey,... this is just a consevative figure !...but I'm sure you're doing some adding or subtracting in you head...right ? Or are you telling me the many ' Entry' and 'Exit' points in Malaysia are absolutely corrupt -free ?
As there is such a high tax on tobacco and liquer, it will still be cheaper to pay a fraction to the actual cost to bring them in and still reap huge profits...as based against the actual market price...right ? And here the good Minister is launching a campaign to "educate" traders and appeals for their cooperations in curbing this unhealthy activity !...he..he...he...(aiiya !!..it should read" the government servants manning the entry points to this country" lah....Mr. Minister !)
So all these years, we in Malaysia did not know of the 'contrabrand' trade in Petaling Street, or popularly known as PS Boutique, (blessings, face-lift and beautification of the entire street by city-hall ) notorious for selling very popular brand names in clothings, handbags, shoes along with VCD and DVD and not to mention classic watches ! And now cigerettes contribute more then 50% of the smuggled goods make-up....hellooooo Mr. Minister... 'wakey-wakey' from your deep slumber lah..( read my earlier post here lah !)
Don't...(with an astonished blink of the eye,).. say there is rampant sale of pirated goods being sold here in Malaysia NOW...it has always been here and we'd be bleeding pretenders and fakes ourselves if we continue to live in this mode of denial ! Stop it...stop pretending like this is news to you, Mr. Minister...you knew and we ALL know it....so lets just move on, okay....! afterall who benefits from all this corruption...hhuh ? if not the crooked trade-profiteers it would be some crony of the administration...no ?
Sit anywhere to eat in the country today and you'd have peddlers (mostly cheap-labour foreigners employed/engaged by local employers) approaching you to parade their wares..be it DVD'c, torchlights, hand-phones or pens..and business has been so good here in the Klang Valley that these 'businesses' even occupy up-market and expensive plazas and shop-lots to exihibit their wide range of contrabrand goods ! Ready market for the Middle Easterners, Europeans and heck..... the WORLD lah !
We should be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under (dubious) records for the most number of pirated goods displayed under one roof- see Petaling Street ! Heh...heh...heh..how about that ? No more "Malaysia Boleh" ....it's.... "Malaysia Bangun-lah" !
3 comments:
bangun? who should bangun? hehe....
a lot of things in this country... 'sam jiu' la... know what i mean?
Pirates are here to stay, man.
Mr Fish,
There are two kinds of pirates in the DVD business. The first kind is the one that sells a disc to you for RM10. The second is the one that sells you a disc for 10 times that price. If you buy from the first pirate, he takes your RM10; if you buy from the second pirate, you get cheated RM100.
Who do you buy from, Pirate No 1 or Pirate No 2?
If you use your brains to vote, you can use your brains on this one.
p.s. My latest disc is Spidy 3. I hear it's showing in the movies!
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