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)