I cringed when I read the newspaper report intituled "Minister: Significant number of foreign tourists buying pirated goods" wherein Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal was quoted to have said

"Consumer education and awareness raising programmes should not only be directed at developing countries but be adopted by the developed nations for their residents as well. We have evidence to suggest that many of the purchasers of these illegal goods are unaware or pretended ignorance of the fact that they too are breaking the law when we found them to possess such stuff."

Is he living in isolation or does he ever take a stroll to Petaling Street or Chow Kit Road? Or how about some of the Pasar Malams in the Klang Valley? So-called designer watches such as Rolex, Cartier, Dunhill, Tag Heuer and the like as well as designer clothings by Levis, DKNY, Guess etc. are being sold. Woops! I should say, fake goods passing off as the real deal are being sold. In the open! Let's not even start about pirated cds, vcds, dvds and whatever ds you can name. What more, these places are being promoted as shopping havens to our tourists!

Sometimes I wish these politicians just shut their mouth and do the real work of ensuring enforcement is properly carried out. They don't realise how much of a fool they are making themselves to be.


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