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'Book piracy brings down civilization': Yogyakarta publishers demand crack down
Because the country is ignoring the issue, book piracy and its sales are done openly.
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Author Agus Noor shows pirated books. (JP/Bambang Muryanto)
T
he Yogyakarta Publisher Consortium (KPJ) is asking President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to order law enforcement officials to severely crack down on book piracy, fearing it may "bring down the Indonesian civilization".
“If book piracy is left alone then our civilization will die. Writers will not produce any works and publishers will stop publishing books because of the difficult process and high costs,” writer and owner of Gading publisher, Hairus Salim, told reporters on Sunday.
The KPJ, comprising 12 publishers, has announced its open struggle against book piracy at the Books & Music Festival “Mocosik” in the Jogja Expo Center (JEC).
Previously, accompanied by a lawyer from the Yogyakarta Indonesia Advocate Society (IKADIN), they reported practices of book piracy to the Yogyakarta Police on Wednesday.
He added that because the country was ignoring the issue, book piracy and its sales were done openly.
In Yogyakarta, pirated books are being sold in the open in book “shopping centers” and other kiosks.
“This is embarrassing. Before, pirated booksellers were doing it behind closed doors,” Hairus said.
