I am shocked by the shooting of a suspected pirated VCD trader and a innocent bystander. VCD piracy is a crime but the enforcement against it seems to be just as menacing if not more. But the Malaysian government's overzealous crackdown on movie VCD piracy is hypocritical.

It appears that only pirating movies is a crime while pirating everything else is acceptable. The government's hard stance on movie piracy only materialised quite recently. Suddenly, pirating movies is a major crime on the same level as drug trafficking.

However, when it comes to only audio CDs, the law is not enforced. Neither is pirating computer software considered a crime worth preventing. A pirated Windows XP is what you get when you buy a new PC from certain computer shops.

And of course, Malaysians are famous for their 'photostating'. Photocopying shops are everywhere.

Malaysians have scant regard for intellectual property rights as books are photocopied from cover to cover. Worst of all, many of these books are written by Malaysians and have been printed by local publishers such as Penerbitan Fajar Bakti etc. For some reason, printed matter piracy gets scant attention from the authorities.

So there you have it - the logic of Malaysian law enforcement. Copy and pirate anything you like but not VCDs. You may get shot.