Applause for Ubuntu for being the the best Linux distro since last year according to DistroWatch. Giving out CDs for community is considered not good enough for them so they will also pay for the shipping fee as well. All you need to do to have those Ubuntu Linux CDs is to register, wait, and probably you will have to pay a small amount of money for repackaging on your local post office.

In Indonesia, The condition is not that simple. Although usually people will get the CDs yet they have to go through a hard time. Since the first time Ubuntu announced the Free CD Shipping, many Indonesian Linux enthusiasts have to face problems with Post office officer. Two common excuse that they are using is basically motivated by getting the money out of you pocket. Receipt? Yes, of course you can have a receipt. But it doesn’t mean anything there. Sue? What sue?

The most common made up excuse is by saying that you need to pay some money just because of Customs regulation. You will be required to pay some amount of money from 10 US$ to 100 US$ and they don’t even have a clue which regulation mentioned that amount. They just look and guess and won’t even bother or even shame to ask you for the money. They even will play ignorant when you show them that the CD cost is zero dollar.

The next brilliant thing-If I may say-is having a reasoning the CDs importing should be done by the appointed company. (Complete information about the regulation available in Indonesian only [new industrial regulation about CD importing]). This is quite nonsense as this regulation fully ambiguous and probably was only targeted for commercial CD only. I wonder about those CDs from Amazon.

How Indonesian Linux enthusiasts trick this? They will just say to send back the CDs because they don’t have the money, and if they lucky, the office will give up.

Resources (Indonesian):
Ubuntu,
Customs, and Post Office
Ubuntu
Import regulation
Linux is banned to Indonesia