What makes a firecracker illegal? We ask a seller at a Ramadhan bazaar

Raya is coming along again, and you know what that means: random firecracker explosions in the middle of the night while you’re trying to recover from a day’s worth of open house food.

But besides loud sounds and pretty lights, Raya season usually also comes with its fair share of firecracker mishaps, whether it’s some unfortunate kid getting his fingers blown off, or more major incidents involving big booms (like the one that happened recently at the Sentul police headquarters case store).

It’s understandable then, that the authorities are cracking down hard on illegal firecrackers, with some raids even netting hauls which were on drug kingpin levels. And the penalties are pretty stiff too: 7 years’ prison, an RM10,000 fine, or both. So, naturally, we did the Cilisos thing, and headed to a Ramadhan bazaar to see how easy it was to obtain illegal firecrackers from there, and gain some info on the local pyrotechnics scene.

While we were unfortunate on our first trip to a nearby bazaar (since there was already a swarm of cops carrying away bags of contraband firecrackers), our second bazaar visit was quite fruitful, and we were even lucky enough to speak to a cheery chap selling them (at the first stall we checked, no less) to get the juice on the local firecracker market. For the sake of this article, we’ll just call him Syafiq, because in his own words:

“It’s not like you know my real name anyway!” – Syafiq (?)

Yes, we know, a level of sass even Cilibos was proud of. But the thing that impressed us when we got there was…

 

The seller was fully licensed, and the permit was on display

Though we won’t show his permit here for obvious reasons, he did have it, so just trust us, bro. In fact, all three sellers we saw at that bazaar had licenses.

But to give you some perspective, imagine if a person was selling fully licensed cigarettes, but was also peddling weed under the table. Yeah, this guy was doing the firecracker equivalent of that. Of course, the naughty stuff was not for display, though he was gracious enough to show us his haram wares which were kept in the boot of his car:

@alimat842 #888shots #mercunraya2022 #fypシ ♬ Gratatata – DJ Cantik

Note: the above Tiktok is not of the ones from Syafiq’s boot, but are of the same type he showed us (illegal).

But what is the distinction between legal and illegal firecrackers? The law is kinda vague on that, and says that the Ministry may prohibit explosives that either cause ‘danger or annoyance to the public’ (See Section 4, Explosives Act 1957). Which is, well, pretty much all of them in some way? Yet the cops have announced that there are only two types of allowed firecrackers, namely, the classic Pop-Pop snappers, and Happy Boom.

So we asked Syafiq why some are legal and some are not, and as it turns out…

 

The government’s guidelines on firecrackers are actually quite confusing

So from what we gather, firecrackers are usually made illegal due to two factors: type, or size/quantity of explosives. Possibly the most notorious firecracker that has been made illegal due to its type is the infamous mercun bola (RM70 per set), which has claimed many a kid’s fingers:

Syafiq explained why these little beads of death were made illegal, while a lot of those nuclear warheads fancy rocket types were not:

“The mercun bola explodes on the ground. The rockets explode in the air.” – Syafiq

Ah, ok, that makes a lot of sense. Add to that the fact that you have to hold the mercun bola while lighting the fuse, and you understand why people lose their fingers over these things; it’s essentially a mini hand grenade. On the other hand, the legal firecrackers are deemed ‘safe’ by the Home Ministry (MOHA), as they do not contain ‘flammable material which could pose a danger’. And according to Syafiq, the legal types also cannot exceed a certain threshold size and explosive content. However, the exact parameters for those aren’t clear; the MOHA has the power to ban or unban fireworks at any time, and the ‘allowed’ list has changed from time to time, which makes things even more confusing.

But there’s more. Remember that part about Pop-Pop and Happy Boom being the only two types of firecrackers allowed for sale? Turns out, there’s many different types of Happy Boom, and not all of them are legal. In fact, some vendors will actually disguise illegal firecrackers with fake Happy Boom packaging:

“Happy Boom is more like a brand. There are legal types and there are illegal types too.” – Syafiq

We were able to see the different varieties in Syafiq’s latest list of the 40 types of firecrackers allowed for sale by the government:

In fact, much to our amazement, Syafiq had a whole brochure of products, which included both the legal and illegal stuff. Some of these could even go for up to almost RM2,000 per set. And yes, in these modern times, you can pay for these via QR code transfer. Long live the internet.

 

Syafiq also says that the country of origin may also play a role in getting licensed; according to him, most of the legal ones tend to be made in China, while the Thai ones are mostly illegal. Regardless of where they come from, each of the legal types have a designation code (ADN xxx), which is displayed on the labels. However, legal firecrackers can also become illegal if the person selling them is not properly licensed, unlike Syafiq.

Ok, so that settles the legal side of things. Kind of. But it also got us thinking, since these things are kinda niche, what’s the demand like for firecrackers, and how do sellers market their products? Well, the answer is that there’s actually no need for them to advertise, since…

 

Tiktok firecracker enthusiasts post content that gets the public hooked

Yes, much like pretty much everything nowadays, there’s quite a vibrant pyrotechnics community on Tiktok, and the latest products are displayed there, with some even going viral. Which, of course, is good for anyone selling them:

“Blame Tiktok. Anything that goes viral there, people will buy more of. Some even buy up to 10 sets (spending over RM1,000) after seeing it on Tiktok.” – Syafiq

As an example, Syafiq showed us a Tiktok from user @fazlyzuki121, which garnered a staggering 1.9 million views:

@fazlyzuki121 Merdeka 300 Pyro 3 in 1..#fypシ #fireworks #ramadan #Mercun ♬ bunyi asal – Fazlyzuki (TANGO)

As for the pricing, Syafiq claims to be one of the lower-priced sellers; he claims that a RM200 model at his stall can go for as high as RM500 in Danau Kota, though these prices tend to rise quickly the closer to Raya it gets:

“These things rise in value quicker than gold when it comes close to Raya.” – Syafiq

At the end of our chat, we thanked Syafiq for his time and purchased a legal set of firecrackers off of him. Here’s a pic of our purchase, as well as one of some other legal wares Syafiq had on display:

 

 

These things are still explosive, so enjoy yourselves this Raya, but handle with care

Sure, it’s fun to blow stuff up and see the pretty lights, but do keep in mind that there’s a reason firecrackers are so tightly controlled by the authorities: they go boom, and sometimes they take a finger or three off as well. So yeah, party hard, but party safe too. And try not to do it too late in the night; some of us are getting old.

But with that being said, since we went all the way to buy our firecrackers, it would be a waste if we didn’t use them, right? So expect a video to go up sometime this weekend. Also stay tuned for a follow-up on this story when CNY comes around, since we’re planning a comparison article. But until then, Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin, and do keep your fingers intact.

For more on firecracker legislation, click here. For the infamous 1991 Bright Sparklers Fireworks disaster which leveled the town of Sungai Buloh and led to the banning of firecrackers in Malaysia, click here.