Sparking an Interest in Reading

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Annual book exhibition the Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF) is held at the Jakarta Convention Center on Sept. 4 to 8. The annual book exhibition, held by the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi) since 1980, was attended by 40 domestic publishers and publishers from 20 countries. They displayed about 5,000 book titles in the exhibition, which will take place until Sunday (8/9/2019).

Indonesia International Book Fair 2019 should be appreciated as an effort to increase people\'s reading interest and reading capacity.

The annual book exhibition held by the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi) since 1980 was originally called the Indonesia Book Fair. Since 2014, it is the Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF), with numerous countries invited as exhibitors.

This year, the IIBF is held at the Jakarta Convention Center from Sept. 4 to 8 and attended by publishers from 21 countries, including 40 from Indonesia.

Book exhibitions must be appreciated these days for taking on a formidable challenge amid the euphoric use of gadgets in all walks of life and by anyone from children to the elderly. With all their advantages, such as being practical, inexpensive and presenting unlimited information in various forms, gadgets can reduce people\'s interest in reading books.

Fortunately, that concern appears to be not entirely true. Gramedia, the largest bookstore chain in Indonesia, reported sales of 34.7 million books in 2018, up from 29.7 million in 2017 and 18.6 million in 2016.

According to National Library records, the number of books published every year fluctuates, which can be a challenge. In 2016, for example, 57,090 titles were published, in 2017, that figure dropped to 47,506 titles, but in 2018, it jumped to 68,290 titles.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Annual book exhibition the Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF) is held at the Jakarta Convention Center on Sept. 4 to 8. The annual book exhibition, held by the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi) since 1980, was attended by 40 domestic publishers and publishers from 20 countries. They displayed about 5,000 book titles in the exhibition, which will take place until Sunday (8/9/2019).

Fiction and children\'s books are still the mainstay at the IIBF this year, according to Ikapi chairwoman Rosidayati Rozalina, but there are also serious efforts in the nonfiction category, including academic works.

Regardless of categories, we must appreciate the book promotion and discounts during the expo, because Indonesia still faces challenges regarding the low reading interest among students. Based on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Indonesian students are weak in their reading skills. As a result, they have difficulty understanding and analyzing serious and information-intensive texts.

Indonesia also still faces a problem of illiteracy, which affects around 3.4 million people from the age of 15-59 years, or 2.06 percent of the population.

Faced with this problem, all parties should work together to increase the interest in reading and the reading capacity of the community. The government is considering cutting taxes for writers and paper. Publishers can reduce the price of books and not only do big exhibitions in Jakarta. While families can play a role by instilling a fondness for reading in their children from an early age, accompanied by concrete examples from the parents.

All parties must realize that reading is not just an academic obligation but an important investment for the future of children and the nation\'s progress.