CONTENTS OF NATIONAL BOOK POLICY SHOULD BE REVIEWED, MUHYIDDIN

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 (Bernama) -- The contents of the National Book Policy
should be reviewed to suit the higher literacy rate in the country now, said
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, said the review would further
improve the policy which was approved by the Cabinet in 1985 as the national
literacy rate for those above the age of 15 was 93.2 per cent according to the
Statistics Department's data for 2008.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Report 2007/2008 showed that
Malaysia's literacy rate was lagging behind the developed countries such as
Japan, Britain, the United States (US), Australia and Germany which had a high
literacy rate of 99 per cent, he said at the launching of the Kuala Lumpur
International Book Fair 2009, at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), here
Saturday.

Muhyiddin's speech text was read by Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka
Siong who later opened the book fair.

Muhyiddin said: "However, the statistics on the literacy rate is not
significant to the Malaysian reading habit which is still low and limited to
selected reading materials."

For the 10-year-old and above group, out of the 85 per cent of Malaysians
who read, only three per cent read books while 77 per cent read only the
newspapers, three per cent read magazines and 1.6 per cent read comics, said
Muhyiddin.

For the Americans, 53 per cent read fiction books while 43 per cent read
non-fictions, he said.

"The comparison above showed that Malaysians still prefer to go for light
reading while people in the developed nations preferred to read books," he said.

He said the objective of the National Book Policy was to ensure that
Malaysians developed a strong reading habit and opting for quality reading
materials.

As such, government agencies, whether under the Education Ministry or other
ministries must intensify activities to develop a reading culture with a
comprehensive planning policy as well as a clear and effective programme
structure, he said.

He said competition from the information technology which provided the
internet medium as reading materials was also posing a strong challenge to the
publishing industry.

"As such, those who are involved in the publishing business such as writers,
translators, editors, type-setters and illustrators must look back at the
aspects of training, education, and skills improvement in efforts to lead the
country's book industry," he said.

Muhyiddin said the book industry should also be widened to the other states
instead of focusing only on the Klang Valley.

Currently, 45 per cent of the bookshops are located in the Klang Valley
while 20 per cent are in the north such as Perak and Penang and 10 per cent in
southern state of Johor.

The Book Fair, which will run for 10 days, is targeting for 2.5 million
visitors compared with 2.2 million last year, and there are 663 display booths
for 190 local and foreign companies. In addition, a national conference on
academic publication is also being held.
-- BERNAMA