Mizan publishing house launches first e-book in Indonesia
By Ahmad Junaidi
JAKARTA (JP): For the computer-literate, reading a book may soon go out of fashion. Now, you can read it on your PC or down load it from the Internet to your pocket computer and read it any time you wish.
Mizan, a Bandung-based publishing house specializing in Islamic books, has become the first to have launched an e-book. The book, titled Wasiat Sufi Imam Khomeini kepada Putranya Ahmad Khomenei (Testament of Sufi Imam Khomeini to his son Ahmad Khomenei), was launched two weeks ago.
Mizan officials claim that in less than one week, more than 2,000 readers had downloaded the e-book.
"We are pleased that our first e-book has received much public appreciation. Of course, we cannot compare it with other e-books released abroad, but for us it's pleasing," Mizan's promotion manager Gangsar Sukrisno told The Jakarta Post.
Mizan is considering launching another e-book once it is sure the public like such books. But for now it will concentrate on the second part of the first e-book. The first part which has already been released was only the first 90 pages of a total of 200 pages. The rest will be completed in a week or two.
Gangsar said the launching of the e-book aimed only at encouraging the establishment of an e-book reader community rather than seeking profit.
"It has no commercial interest. It's purely an idealistic project," Gangsar said.
Mizan has spent Rp 10 million (almost US$1,000) for the first e-book, including the translation fee.
If you are interested in reading the book, you can just download it from www.ekuator.com. It's all free of charge.
Ekuator Indonesian book gallery is a local online bookstore which provides books at discounted prices and information on new books.
In the future downloading an e-book here may no longer be free of charge. "In the future we may ask readers to compensate us for the advertising costs," Gangsar said.
On the Internet, readers might be asked to pay US$1 to read a novel authored by Stephen King, for example. Or the publishers may put some advertisements in the e-book pages.
Could e-books really compete with printed books (p-books) in the future? Mizan has already anticipated the possibility.
"The e-books have their own 'community' and so do p-books. It's like television stations which can never kill radio stations," Gangsar said.
One criteria of an e-book, according to Gangsar is that it should be light and easy reading.
If you have a personal digital assistant (PDA), reading an e- book would be easier because the content can be copied onto it and you can read it wherever or whenever you like.
Book on Khomeini
Why has Mizan chosen the book on Khomeini for its first e- book?
Gangsar said the book, which was first published in Iran in 1992, met the main criteria: light. But some (Muslim) people who have read it say the book is weighty and they say its e-version is just as weighty.
Yamani, the editor and translator of the book who currently studies philosophy at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, insists that the e-book is light and enjoyable.
The e-book shows the picture of Khomeini on the first page.
In its introduction (60 pages), the book discusses the history of the late Iranian spiritual leader who overthrew King Mohamad Reza Pahlevi in a revolution in 1981.
The e-book which is written in poetic language mostly contains Khomeini's philosophical thought in the form of advice to his son Ahmad to learn and obey the Koran.
The choice of Khomeini triggers suspicion that Mizan is trying to promote a Syiite denomination of Islam in Indonesia, whose people are predominantly Sunni.
Gangsar denied the allegation. "We have not published books about Iran since in the middle of the 1990's," he said explaining the reason for the choice.
Mizan has published translations of books by or about Iran's intellectuals, such as Murtadlo Muntahari, Ali Syariati as well as books of general interest.