Book piracy must be stopped

Not only cassettes are being illegally copied. Book piracy has also been on the rise of late. Several publishers have made this complaint to the news media. PT Blai Pustaka and Gramedia Pustaka Utama are reported to have suffered losses that run into the billions of rupiah because of this activity.

We probably all agree that in order to educate our people, good reading habits should be encouraged. But to do this, much depends on the availability of good reading matter in sufficient numbers and variety. We do not need to remind people of how the Japanese succeeded in making the big leap towards becoming such an advanced and self-sufficient nation. One of the keys to that success is the availability of plenty of books on science and technology in the people's native language.

Given this reality -- and considering the government's available funds, which are limited due to our multifaceted development efforts -- we need entrepreneurs who are willing to try their luck in the publishing business. We also need good and productive writers and translators as well as an adequate network of bookstores spanning our entire country.

In other words, the business of publishing and selling books must be made attractive to our entrepreneurs, writers and translators. Obviously, if the piracy of books is allowed to continue to thrive, this will not happen and publishers may halt their business. If this happens, it is society that will suffer.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta