RI to host meeting for Malay writers

JAKARTA: Indonesia will host a conference of Malay writers in December, the organizing committee announced here on Thursday.

The conference, to be held in the West Sumatran capital of Padang, will bring together some 800 writers from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.

To be held alongside the 1997 conference of Indonesian writers, the Malay writers' conference will discuss the development of literature in the participating countries.

An organizing committee official, A.A. Navis, said the conference would be titled Malay Literature in the Technological Development of the 21st Century.

Navis, one of Indonesia's most prominent writers, said the conference would be a forum for writers from the three countries to exchange ideas on literary matters.

It is also intended to strengthen the ties among writers in the three neighboring countries, he added. (09)