INDONESIAN POLICE DESTROY 1.6 MILLION BOOTLEG DISCS

UNCLAS JAKARTA 004413 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR EAP/MTS AND EB/IPE/EAP COMMERCE PLEASE PASS USPTO FOR J. URBAN DEPT PASS USTR FOR KATZ AND GROVES E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: ETRD KIPR PGOV ID SUBJECT: INDONESIAN POLICE DESTROY 1.6 MILLION BOOTLEG DISCS ¶1. The Jakarta Metro police destroyed a significant quantity of drugs, pornography, and bootleg CDs, VCDs, and DVDs at a contraband destruction ceremony on April 5. During the ceremony, the police incinerated more than 750 kilograms of narcotics and 110,000 ecstasy tablets, and burned a large pile of pornographic magazines. A steamroller then crushed more than 100,000 pornographic VCDs or DVDs and 1.5 million bootleg CDs, VCDs, and DVDs. Police estimate the total value of the destroyed discs at Rp. 6.6 billion (USD 728 thousand). ¶2. Jakarta Police Chief Firman Gani presided over the ceremony, which he described as part of a police effort to combat drugs abuse, pornography and rampant optical disk (OD) piracy. In his remarks at the ceremony, Firman Gani acknowledged that OD piracy is a rampant in Indonesia and noted that the international community has listed Indonesia as a "save haven" for IPR pirates. He emphasized that the Jakarta police will continue to seriously implement measures to combat OD piracy. The Jakarta Metro Police seized the bootleg discs from 372 suspects (including a factory owner and wholesale distributor) in raids from October 2005 to March 2006. ¶3. More than 20 representatives of the print and broadcast media attended the ceremony, along with representatives from the Directorate General for Intellectual Property Rights, Ministry of Industry, Attorney General's Office, Indonesian Motion Picture Association, the Recording Companies Association, and several prominent Indonesian recording artists. The trucks that hauled the pirated discs to the destruction site in the Jakarta suburb of Tanggerang were festooned with signs declaring "By Buying Original Cassettes and DVDs, You Help Develop the Country and People by Paying Taxes." ¶4. Comment. The contraband destruction ceremony was an effective public relations vehicle for getting a pro-IPR message out, and we expect it will receive wide media coverage. It follows Indonesian National Police (INP) Chief Sutanto's widely publicized directive to regional INP offices to step up IPR enforcement, and is a sign that the GOI's IPR enforcement campaign remains very active. PASCOE