The value of books<\/p>\n
It is one of the great paradoxes of life in Indonesia that
\nalthough better learning standards have long been recognized as a
\nbasic necessity for promoting progress, books have always been
\nclassified as luxury items that must be taxed accordingly. This
\nwas true in the years immediately after independence in the late
\n1940s and early 1950s, when the number of higher education
\ninstitutions throughout the country could be counted on the
\nfingers of one hand and academics were looked up to with great
\nreverence. It is still true today, when colleges and universities
\nnumber into the hundreds and university students into the
\nhundreds of thousands.<\/p>\n
For this reason, and particularly in this time of crisis, one
\nshould not be surprised to see imported paperbacks on general
\nsubjects such as art, politics, philosophy or history bearing
\nprice tags of hundreds of thousands of rupiah, or even a million
\nrupiah or more, which is more than many university lecturers make
\nin a month. Books on highly specialized subjects obviously cost a
\nlot more. Locally printed books by Indonesian authors are
\nsignificantly more affordable but even these are too expensive
\nfor many students.<\/p>\n
President B.J. Habibie's concurrence, which he publicly stated
\nat the opening of the 14th congress of the Association of
\nIndonesian Publishers this week, that the 10 percent value-added
\ntax on locally printed books should be abolished, deserves to be
\ncommended. As association chairman Rozali Usman remarked on the
\nsame occasion, throughout the Asia-Pacific region \"it is only our
\nbeloved country that applies a value-added tax on books\". The
\nassociation is campaigning for all taxes on books to be lifted.
\nThis, according to Rozali, is in line with recommendations made
\nby the International Publishers Association in Geneva and the
\nAsia-Pacific Publishers Association in Tokyo, of which his
\nassociation is a member.<\/p>\n
While lifting taxes that have been imposed on locally printed
\nbooks will undoubtedly help bring down their high prices, much
\nmore will have to be done to bring books within reach of most
\nIndonesians, students in particular. There is, for example, the
\nproblem of copyright infringement. Book piracy, as the practice
\nis commonly known, is one of the major problems that is
\ndiscouraging Indonesian authors -- scholars, academics and
\nuniversity lecturers among them -- from publishing their work in
\nbook form.<\/p>\n
Corruption and collusion in the publication of textbooks for
\nschools is another major problem that is hampering progress in
\neducation. As Habibie rightly pointed out, a conducive business
\nclimate must be established for the book publishing industry
\nbecause the sector is of decisive importance in determining the
\nteaching-learning process. Publishers have openly complained that
\nthe contracts to publish school textbooks have so far invariably
\nbeen won by people well-connected to the authorities. Corruption
\nin this sector is believed to be so bad that Indonesian
\nCorruption Watch appealed to the World Bank to stop funding the
\nprocurement of textbooks for junior high schools until the
\nproblem was thoroughly investigated.<\/p>\n
Last but not least, the current economic crisis
\nnotwithstanding, the government would do well to consider
\nreducing the import tax on imported books and look elsewhere for
\nincome. And while it might be true to say that university
\ntextbooks deserve to be given priority in such a tax-reduction
\nprogram, the merits that books carry in terms of the specific
\nneeds of their readers, or users, is difficult to measure.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, it may be difficult under present circumstances to
\ngive books their rightful place in our crisis-ridden society. In
\nthe longer term, however, making books accessible to as many
\nIndonesians as possible must become a major point in our national
\nprogram.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-value-of-books-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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