Jakarta book fair opens

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)