MTDCA deputy secretary general Daud Bin Tahar said that this latest campaign would include support from industry players like software industry watchdog Business Software Alliance (BSA) and software giant Microsoft Malaysia.
According to Daud, Sikap Tulen IT Mall is about creating the best possible environment for the buying and selling of genuine IT products, as well as promoting honesty with customers.
BSA chair of Malaysia committee Roland Chua said: "The joint efforts by the MDTCA and the BSA have continued to bear fruit as proven by the lower piracy rate recorded by Malaysia which was reported in the Annual BSA/IDC Global Software Piracy Study in May 2008."
Chua confirmed that since the introduction of Ops Tulen in 2002, and subsequently Sikap Tulen in 2007, PC software piracy in Malaysia now stands at its lowest ever at 59 percent.
Microsoft Corporation associate general counsel for worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting, David Finn, said, "MDTCA's approach in focusing anti-counterfeit efforts on IT Malls and IT stores in shopping complexes will take the anti-piracy campaign to the next level and curb the issue at the root of the matter."
Much work ahead
KL mall Plaza Low Yat and Low Yat City's area manager, Patrick Honan, said the mall has committed to being the first IT mall in Malaysia to support the Sikap Tulen IT Mall campaign.
Honan said, "Software piracy remains an issue that we have been actively and seriously campaigning against; the severity of which is written in our tenancy agreement whereby retailers who knowingly sell counterfeit software may face a review of their tenancy contract as well as being prevented in taking up future promotional space. That is how committed we are in this fight."
BSA's Chua said, "In a recent study on the IT competitiveness of 66 economies around the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the study placed Malaysia as the 36th most competitive country on the list. As a country that is gearing up for developed nation status, we simply have to do much better. Add to that the economic challenges that exists globally today, it is now imperative for us to improve on our country's overall business environment, IT infrastructure, human capital, legal environment, R&D environment, and support for IT industry development."