Reasons Why the Digital Generation Needs the Depth of Books

There is a certain silence that can only be found between the pages of a book. Not an empty silence, but a full one, filled with voices that are not heard by the ears but are very real to the mind. It is there that letters work in their quietest yet most powerful way: opening horizons, calming the noise in the head, and transforming a cramped space in the corner of a room into a boundless universe. Every 23 April, the world pauses for a moment to commemorate that simple yet increasingly rare thing. World Book and Copyright Day is not merely a ceremonial commemoration that comes and goes without a trace. It is a reminder that in a world moving ever faster, there is something that requires slowness, meticulousness, and patience to be fully enjoyed. For Indonesia, this moment carries even greater weight than just a global agenda to be followed. It is a mirror reflecting something unfinished: building a nation that is truly literate. Not just in the sense of being able to read, but in the sense of being able to think critically, feel empathy through narratives, and understand the world through rich and diverse texts. Hafidz Muksin, Head of the Language Development and Cultivation Agency of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, formulates this challenge into three main points of attention: the role of literacy as the foundation of the nation’s character, the importance of equitable availability of reading access, and language transformation as the key to enhancing the competitiveness of Indonesian human resources. These three things sound like policy document items. But if read more deeply, they are actually statements about something very human: that a nation cannot grow to maturity if its citizens are not accustomed to sitting, being quiet, and reading. “A quality book-based reading literacy foundation becomes the basis for literacy in Indonesia,” said Hafidz. “Literacy is the linguistic and literary foundation embodied in the medium of books.” However, a foundation cannot be built on uneven ground. And in Indonesia, that unevenness is real and serious. There are children in the outermost, underdeveloped, and remote areas who have never held a proper book, a book that is not just full of words, but also full of a world that invites them to enter and explore.