Jakarta book fair opens

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Book Fair 1996, held to promote reading and September's "book-reading month", was officially opened on Saturday by the Jakarta governor's wife, Mrs. Surjadi Soedirdja, at the Senayan indoor stadium.

The organizing committee's chairperson, Kartini Nurdin, said that branches of the Indonesian Publishers Association, Malaysian publishers, the British Council, book importers and distributors, magazine publishers and producers of book-related products were participating in this year's fair. "They make up the 67 display stands," she said.

A committee member, Aris Buntarman, said that approximately 4,000 titles were on display at this year's book fair.

"I hope the Fair will one day be as big as those in Frankfurt, Singapore, Sydney and Taipei. And, therefore, I really hope the government can fully support an event like this by providing a permanent fair site and a fixed annual schedule," he said.

The fair, which is scheduled to end on Aug. 4, features various programs including book summary writing programs, book launches, seminars, a meet the authors program and free consultation on the Internet.

Khalid Diah, a Malaysian book publisher, told The Jakarta Post that its stand displayed about 160 titles which were mostly Malaysian literature.

"We really hope that through this fair we can promote Malaysian books to Indonesian people," he said. "Besides, we are also looking for local agents here to help promote Malaysian books."

Mochtar Lubis, a notable man of literature and a senior journalist, told the Post that he greatly appreciated the book fair because it would promote reading in Indonesia. He added that similar fairs should be held in other towns besides Jakarta.(26)