The censorship of TV programmes is getting stricter and narrower in Malaysia thus contributing to the deterioration of our TV programmes. In those days, I remember the censorship allowed light kissing scenes and the like.

But these days, even light kissing and light swearing are not allowed. Sometimes to my amazement, some scenes are unnecessarily and pettily censored to the point that it affects the storyline of the programmes.

We expected that things would be better with ratings such as U, 18 SX, 18 SG, etc. But the problem is, the programmes labeled 18 SX or 18 SG are still being ridiculously censored to the point that I have to sit back and ponder, what's the point of the rating system anyway? Was it just to fool the audiences or to impress someone else?

The rating system in Malaysia is irrelevant. Why label when the movies or programme would eventually go under heavy censorship?

For instance, I watched 'Late Night' with Dave Letterman almost every night. One episode had a photo that Dave Letterman was showing - of Halle Berry kissing Adrian Brody - replaced by a photo of Queen Latifah hugging Adrian Brody. The censors are not making any sense at all. Is the censorship board suggesting that all Malaysians above 18 are not allowed to view a kissing photo showed by Dave Letterman?

Another example was the TV-drama ED where they censored the last important kissing scene. The story ended with both the actor and actress walking away from the scene. From my understanding, the kissing scene was important in concluding the whole premise of that episode. After spending about one hour watching the drama, I still did could not grasp the story.

If kissing scenes are not supposed to be shown, then why was TV3 allowed to air such a scene in their 'Disney Kid Movie: Model Behavior', aired on June 3, 2003 at 9am? Isn't that ironic? Does this mean that Malaysian kids are allowed to watch such scenes while their fellow adults are barred from watching them?

And of course, there are other petty censorship every now and then despite the programme rating system. The question is, are we fooled or are we just being ignorant? As far as I'm concerned, no one actually talks about the credibility and quality of our rating system.

No matter what the government implements, whether a rating system or censorship policy, our tv programming will continually to deteriorate. We don't have to think hard to know the core factors behind the increasing demand of pirated VCDs.

As a rational consumer, we not only look for relatively lower prices but also maximum satisfaction of products and services. If television - with ridiculous censorship and misleading rating system - fails to provide us satisfaction, then as a rational consumer, I would turn to VCDs which are uncensored and, best of all, cheap.

Pirated VCDs will return to our pasar malam or Petaling Street because of the high demand, unless the government is willing to amend its censorship policy and revamp its programme rating system.