Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Let me comment on the the new cigareete banding thing. For the ignorant ones, basically Singaporean government has decided that all cigarettes should have this label around it (Yes EACH stick) to prevent illegal cigarettes from being sold in Singapore. Refer to this website : http://www.customs.gov.sg/topNav/new/SDPC+Cigarette+Marking+Regulation.htm
Now as much as I applaud the government in their attempts in trying to curb the problem of the selling of illegal cigarettes, but I am not exactly sure whether their plans would work. Unlike money, where the process of printing is highly detailed and uses a lot of technology where people can't imitate, this SDPC label is so easy to copy! Maybe the authorities felt that because the label is imprinted on every single stick, the amount of extra work it entails would derail the illegal sellers. I do not agree for the very simple reason that if there is a mass provider for all these illegal cigarettes, then I guess for them, in the long run, copying the label would still earn them a whole lot of cash. Maybe it would be lesser as more work is needed for labelling but at the end of the day, they still earn.
And there is whole thing about catching people who violate the law. Honestly, is the policeman going to see the cigarettes of everyone and say hey, you are smoking an illegal cigar! This possiblity is relatively unlikely.
So in short, I am skeptical about this scheme.
Innocence
9:24 PM
