No tax on knowledge<\/p>\n
\"Education is crucial to ensuring Indonesia's ability to
\nsurvive in an era of international competition in the next
\ncentury.\" There is no denying the truth of this statement made by
\nPresident Soeharto in a seminar on education in Magelang, Central
\nJava, the other day.<\/p>\n
It does seem a bit ironic that at the same time as the head of
\nstate is acknowledging the importance of education, intellectuals
\nand publishers here are crying out against and fighting the
\nperiodic raising of the prices of newsprint, which started last
\nmonth. That the price hikes for newsprint will increase book
\nprices, and undoubtedly have a significant impact on education,
\nis beyond question.<\/p>\n
As some educators have pointed out, the rise in book prices
\nwill surely threaten the reading habits of our children, which in
\nthe last several years have been deteriorating to such an extent
\nthat many intellectuals have raised the alarm about the
\npossibility that coming generations will be progressively less
\n\"literate\" and \"creative\".<\/p>\n
The growing influence of television on our children over the
\nlast several years is alarming enough because, as many educators
\nhave warned, television tends to make children more \"passive\". On
\nthe other hand, it is commonly believed that books will
\nfacilitate imagination and creativity, thus having a more
\npositive influence.<\/p>\n
Hence, one can imagine what may happen if the book prices go
\nhigher and even higher, which can be expected if the current
\npolicy of adjusting the newsprint price every three months
\nprevails. Surely, we will suddenly find out that books belong
\namong luxury goods, which millions of our lower income people
\ncould not possibly afford.<\/p>\n
Another irony is that the newsprint price hike has not caused
\nas major a public outcry as occurred when the cement price went
\nup a few months back. The concerned people now lashing out at the
\nnewsprint price hikes are mostly publishers, educators and
\nintellectuals, who are well aware of the policy's overall impact.<\/p>\n
And it is obvious that the government is not as jumpy as when
\nthe cement price increased. The ruling political group, Golkar,
\nhas yet to set up a special team to study the newsprint price
\nrises, and there has been no \"order\" yet from anyone high up to
\nlower the newsprint price.<\/p>\n
We suspect that the perception that newsprint is of lower
\nstrategic status than cement in terms of national development is
\nbehind all of this.<\/p>\n
We are of the opinion that if the current notion regarding
\nnewsprint as something unimportant continues, then we are in the
\ndanger of falling into cultural and educational impoverishment.
\nIn the long run this will be much more dangerous than failing to
\nreach the construction target set for housing. For without proper
\neducation we will certainly never reach the dream of becoming a
\njust and prosperous society as our Constitution stipulates.<\/p>\n
Another thing, for the last several years we have repeatedly
\nannounced with fanfare that we will turn ourselves into an
\nindustrial country by the next decade and in line with that we
\nwill \"seize\" the necessary knowledge from developed countries in
\norder to master science and technology. But, while we acknowledge
\nthe importance of education and human resources in reaching those
\ngoals, we seem to forget to adjust and synchronize our policy to
\nachieving those ultimate targets.<\/p>\n
The fact that we regard \"newsprint as less important than
\ncement\", for instance, is a reflection of faulty logic. Hence, we
\nshould remember and follow the policy of \"no tax on knowledge\"
\nthat many developed countries and some developing countries
\nexercise.<\/p>\n
We understand that in the present age of economic
\nliberalization, everything will be determined by the market. But,
\nbecause we are far behind those developed countries in many
\nfields, if we really want to catch up with their educational
\nstandards, we will have to take drastic measures. For example, we
\nshould not only exempt materials, which may help to improve our
\neducation, including newsprint and import books, from taxes, but
\nalso should provide subsidies and other necessary encouragement.<\/p>\n
More than a hundred years ago, the noted English poet, Alfred,
\nLord Tennyson, once said \"Show me your books and then I'll tell
\nyou who you are.\" We are afraid that if nothing is done to halt
\nthe rising of the newsprint price, then many of us will have no
\nbooks to show. It is very hard to imagine, what kind of nation we
\nwill be then.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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