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Photo Credit: Holidify
By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright February 2023
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) labels Petaling Street as a hotspot for counterfeit consumer goods such as handbags, sunglasses, clothes, shoes, watches, etc.
In response to USTR, the Kuala Lumpur Hawkers and Petty Traders Association stated that the American report was inaccurate and that it was exaggerated because hardly 10% to 20% of vendors in the market actually sell counterfeit or fake goods.
In fact, "the bustling and booming Petaling Street area is known for its variety of chic and cool bars including hip cafes that don’t seem to last six months."
Actually, if you were to visit the area now you will be able to see more trendy restaurants and cafes popular with the young who prefer branded clothes and accessories that are not all counterfeit, enjoy Asian fusion cuisines and drink authentic lattes and aperitif, watch live coverage of English Premier League from the UK or Oscar Award right from Hollywood.
On the other hand, the USTR report entitled "2022 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy" also claims that a total of 33 physical markets and 39 online markets are spread within 18 countries in Southeast Asia including, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. It asserted that local authorities are ‘not proactive when it comes to enforcement activity without right holders’ initiative.’
However, in a report from 2022 by Malay Mail mentions that a total of RM94.7 million counterfeit items have been seized.
Maybe at one time, MyChinaTown which we now frequent to try various fusion cuisines in chic cafes and trendy restaurants did sell pirated goods in abundance. But locals do not visit the place for cheap pirated goods anymore. Probably a more discerning public and changing consumer tastes have made Petaling Street less popular with locals for its counterfeits. That's probably why the place is now full of new restaurants and cafes similar to what you would see in downtown Bangkok, Penang and Singapore where old buildings are converted into eateries for the young and trendy.
On our way to the cafes and restaurants at Petaling Street recently, we noticed that many Bangladeshis who have taken over from local traders were manning the pirated goods stalls haggling more with foreign tourists than local patrons.
For locals, besides cafes and restaurants, we visit Petaling Street for flowers for special occasions, authentic handicrafts or decorative materials for special holidays during Chinese New Year, Hari Raya or Christmas. We were even willing to accompany a visitor from Bali to Petaling Street to buy decorative lights for her villas in Seminyak last Christmas.
As for me I am there not for pirated goods but more for vegetarian dishes at Hungry Tapir or an early weekend breakfast at Mingle Cafe or Pandan Republic. At night we have tried Crane, Wildflowers and even a Korean Barbecue.
Petaling Street is more than just a place for counterfeit goods.
Petaling Street Market
- Address: Jalan Petaling, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
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Mihar Dias is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
