Words of a MavericK

Stephen Sing’s face appeared in today’s issue of The Straits Times, 16th Aug 2007. I shall first quote some lines from the article:

“It is necessary…I want Singapore to be like Japan, where anime fans support, not rip off, the artists.” -Stephen Sing on his view on the clampdown of anime

“…others are just saying this to justify their actions, he says, because if it was true, there would be more parallel imports and competition in the market. The lack of such “tells you the real story”… -as written by the journalist, Mr. Chua Hian Hou

Now, for the first quote, he says he wants Singapore to be like Japan. Haha, this is interesting. Why do most Japanese fans (I do not know if it is all) support the original and not download the animes? Simple, because the animes originate from their homeland!!! You dun see Singaporeans downloading local dramas and variety shows, do you? And again, the Japanese do not need fansubs to watch the anime!!! The reason Singapore TV programmes have subbings is to accommodate the different ethnic groups locally.
So, for Singapore to be more like Japan, easy; Just air animes on TV with proper subbings, and I can say that people will no longer have to use the reason (pro-Odex people, whom I like to call them as Odeku, would like to use the term ‘excuse’) of downloading the animes to know if it’s worth buying the original discs.

For the second quote, Stephen Sing has said the downloaders are using the fact of their products being inferior as an excuse (I would like to call it ‘reason’) to justify their actions. Isn’t Odex doing the same? Using the excuse of downloading being illegal to recover their losses in their failed attempt to ‘provide anime entertainment for local fans’, and at the same time, perhaps earning a hefty profit from it (this I do not know, but is likely)…isn’t Odex doing the same?
Also, how does Stephen Sing know that the parallel imports hasn’t increased in Singapore? He seems rather sure indeed…does he have inside information? Perhaps Odex is the reason why we dun see parallel imports on the shelves in Singapore? Have they wiped out their competitors by restricting the imports by the video companies in Singapore? Indeed, there are a lot of questions emerging yet again, from the article.

Sad, and I thought The Straits Times was able to give a more two-sided view on the matter than the article. Guess I was wrong.