BUTTERWORTH: The Home Ministry will study the legal implications of conducting house-to-house raids for pornographic video compact discs (VCD) before embarking on such a move.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the bigger problem at hand was the distributors of such material.
“This idea will have to be studied thoroughly first because we do not wish to pry into a person’s privacy.
“We do not wish to end up facing other problems as a result of it,” he told reporters after opening the Penang Bumiputra Entrepreneurs Exposition 2003 at the Seberang Jaya Expo site yesterday.
He was commenting on news reports yesterday on a Home Ministry proposal to start raiding private residences that were suspected to have pornographic VCDs as its latest measure to curb the distribution of such material.
The ministry’s Central Zone Enforcement Unit chief Mamat Ibrahim said the authorities at the country’s entry points too would carry out thorough searches to nab those smuggling in such VCDs.
Mamat had said that the police would issue search warrants to comb residences that were suspected to have such VCDs, noting that action would only be taken once the officers obtained sufficient and accurate information.
Earlier, when opening the event, Abdullah called on the State Bumiputra Steering Committee’s business arm, JKP Sdn Bhd to look into ways of setting up an agency that could help market the products manufactured by small-scale bumiputra traders.
Abdullah also chided Malay families for not making their businesses viable for their children or relatives to take over after they retired.
“If we want to be successful in our business, we must be able to provide job opportunities to our children, grandchildren or relatives,” he said.
The expo, which ends Sunday, is open from 11am to 11pm.
