Publish or perish
Publish or perish
The story about two major Indonesian book publishers heading
for bankruptcy, tagged onto the bottom right corner of Kompas
daily last Friday, has all the symptoms of a national tragedy of
unimaginable proportions that very few people in this country
seem to realize.
The plight of PT Pustaka Sinar Harapan and PT Grafiti Pustaka
Utama is typical of the entire book publishing industry in
Indonesia.
Since they happened to be the best, if not the largest, in the
industry, one would hate to think what is happening to the
smaller publishing companies.
Recent reports confirmed that most of the 200 or so publishers
in Indonesia are in the doldrums.
These companies, like those in most other sectors, are
struggling for survival under the weight of the economic crisis.
Their fight, however, judging from explanations by executives of
Sinar Harapan and Grafiti, is almost a lost cause.
They have made staff cutbacks and are being forced to make
further layoffs soon because, quite simply, they are not selling
books as regularly as they did.
Sinar Harapan, according to its managing editor Aristides
Katoppo, has only published one title this year. During 1997, it
published 90 titles.
Grafiti has published three titles this year compared to an
average of seven a month in 1997.
Even publishers of school textbooks, with their captive
markets, are feeling the pinch. Soaring printing costs, including
the prices of paper and ink, makes it impossible for any book
publisher to stay afloat.
They are in a catch-22 situation. They cannot raise their
prices too much because that would drive customers away. But they
cannot sustain their losses endlessly lest they close the book on
themselves.
If the nation allows its book publishing industry to collapse,
and this is a real prospect judging by the scant attention given
to its plight, it will leave a long lasting legacy of far-
reaching consequences for the future of the people in this
country.
Books are a major source of cultural as well as intellectual
enrichment in any society. Deprive society of its books, and
cultural development will be as good as dead, while intellectual
life stagnates if it does not decline.
Given the present rapid globalization process, it is simply
too scary to think how this nation can ever hope to survive the
fierce and competitive environment that the next millennium
promises to be.
The Kompas article deserved a bigger headline if only to draw
people's, and the government's attention to the reality that
books are just as important as the supply of basic foodstuffs
which has taken up so much of our attention these past few
months.
Minds need to be fed as much as stomachs.
In times of crisis, it is easy to see why the stomach takes
priority. But this does not mean that the nation should allow its
book publishing industry to perish.
For many years, through this column, we have joined forces
with book publishers and many education experts in calling on the
government to waive the value-added tax on books.
Many countries, even advanced nations, have exempted tax on
books, which they see essentially as a tax on knowledge.
Today, we are once again appealing to the good sense of the
new government, particularly new Minister of Education and
Culture Wiranto Arismunandar, to pay heed to this call.
A little help, any help for that matter, to keep this
country's book publishing industry afloat, could mean the
survival of this nation.