Spare textbooks from paper price hikes: IKAPI
Spare textbooks from paper price hikes: IKAPI
JAKARTA (JP): Book publishers have urged the government to
spare school textbooks from recent major hikes in the price of
paper.
The Association of Indonesian Book Publishers (IKAPI) said
yesterday that its members which print school textbooks are
having difficulties fulfilling their orders because of
uncertainties in the supply and price of paper.
The publishers are also running out of time because they must
print the books in time for the new school year, which begins in
July, IKAPI said in a statement.
IKAPI members, realizing their responsibility for supplying
school text books at affordable prices, have been working hard to
cut costs, including using lower quality newsprint.
Their efforts will be useless if the price of paper, the main
raw material of book publishers, continues to soar, it said.
Although most school textbooks are still supplied by
government-owned publishers, private publishing companies are
also involved. They supply supplementary textbooks which are
equally important, it added.
In March, the government announced a nearly 30 percent
increase in the price of newsprint, to be phased in over a six
month period. The price of newsprint is set through negotiations
between representatives of the pulp and paper industry, newspaper
publishers and the government.
The price of other types of paper is not regulated and has
already risen to reflect shortages in domestic supply.
The increase in paper prices has been widely criticized
because it came at a time when the government is campaigning to
encourage the public to read more.
Wahono
Wahono, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, this week
criticized the government's policy of allowing the price of paper
to increase as inconsistent with the campaign. He also pointed
out that the high prices were ironic in a country supposed to be
the world's largest producer of pulp and paper.
Golkar chairman, Harmoko, has announced that the ruling
political organization will ask the government to review its
paper pricing policy because affordable books are essential to
sharpen and improve the intellectual level of Indonesians.
Golkar used its political clout last month to force the
government to rethink its increase of the price of cement.
Responding to widespread criticism, Minister of Industry Tunky
Ariwibowo has promised that the government and pulp and paper
producers will discuss ways of reducing the price hike or
providing special treatment for certain users.
The domestic supply of paper in Indonesia is controlled by two
companies.
IKAPI says its members which supply school textbooks are
increasingly using newsprint rather than the more expensive HVS
and HVO papers in order to keep their costs down.
IKAPI's 462 members need 9,000 tons of newsprint and 2,500
tons of HVS/HVO paper each month.
Meanwhile, Agus Winarno, chairman of the IKAPI chapter in East
Java, proposed that book publishers be charged the same for
newsprint that newspaper publishers pay.
Agus said newspapers pay Rp 1,700 a kilogram while book
publishers are charged Rp 2,500, Antara reported.
This would help IKAPI members carry out their mission to
improve the intelligence level of Indonesians, he said.
The rector of the Bandung Teachers Training Institute, Abdul
Kodir, warned that the increase in paper prices, and the
consequent increase in book prices, would have a negative long
term effect on the country.
He said book prices were already high, which caused
Indonesians to shun reading. The price increases will further
deter people from buying books.
Abdul Kodir proposed that the government subsidize school
textbooks and science books to reverse the trend. (emb)