Why turn blind eye to software piracy? IT IS an open secret among Singaporeans that places such as Sim Lim Square are dens of rampant software, music and video piracy. Any casual visitor to these places will have little difficulty locating vendors hawking their illegal wares blatantly. It saddens me that retailers offering genuine software, like Challenger at Sim Lim Square, receive few customers, whereas neighbouring stores are often packed with eager buyers browsing through racks of pirated materials. The Singapore section at the Business Software Alliance website (www.bsa.org/singapore/) describes the tremendous challenges posed to legal software retailers in Singapore by piracy, which, according to statistics at the site, accounted for 52 per cent of local business software usage in 1998. This is twice as high as the rate in the United States. The recent amendments to the Copyright Act have hardly deterred the continuing proliferation of pirated materials. In fact, it is evident that the pirates have become even bolder in recent years, as the presence of a pirated-software store at Peninsula Plaza -- facing Funan Centre, perhaps the last stronghold of legal software in Singapore -- demonstrates clearly. One reason cited commonly for buying pirated software instead of the genuine items is that prices for the latter are, typically, beyond the reach of most home computer users, particularly groups such as students. On the other hand, software-makers and retailers often complain that they have to keep prices high precisely because of profit losses due to piracy. This is a Catch-22 situation that has no easy solution. But, surely, there can be no legal or moral justification for law-abiding retailers to be put at a disadvantage because of greedy people with far fewer scruples, particularly in a relatively prosperous nation like ours. Why should Golden Village have to resort to pleading with cinema-goers not to buy pirated video compact discs when such VCDs should not be easily available in the first place? Attempts to cajole the public with advertising campaigns have to be complemented with concrete enforcement measures targeted at the suppliers of these materials. Unfortunately, the occasional police raids on the pirates are token gestures, at best. The pirates are well-known for the precautionary measures they take. It is said that some even provide compensation for frontline staff who are jailed or fined as a consequence of these raids, which have become almost routine in the life of this unlawful industry. Despite a number of high-profile anti-piracy cases, the illicit business at Sim Lim Square continues as usual. Stronger and broader action has to be initiated in order to be effective. It would appear that the Government is, largely, turning a blind eye to this problem of weak enforcement. Why do we hardly, if ever, hear Cabinet ministers speak out on this matter at length? If only the Government could tackle the issue with the same zeal and relentlessness it devotes to the fight against illegal drugs. This problem has been simmering beneath the surface for far too long. Perhaps one of our priorities in the new century of information technology should be to resolve finally this legal, economic and moral injustice. KELVIN LIM CHENHAO