Posted on April 5, 2011, Tuesday, Borneo Post
KUCHING: Reading contributes not only to an individual’s well-being, self-development and progress but also towards the nation and world.
The reading habit and a wider dissemination of books are signs of progress within a country, State Library’s acting chief executive officer Japri Bujang Masli shared with the participants of ‘Bicara Orang Muda (BOM)’ programme yesterday.
He noted that people do read in general, either blogs and online articles on the Internet, emails, books or newspapers, but a person’s seriousness and commitment in reading to acquire knowledge could be improved.
“Each person has his or her own liking and subject of reading. But there are still a lot of effort to be made to improve the reading habit and create a life-long learning culture,” he emphasised yesterday.
Reading is a must for socioeconomic improvement and intellectual development of a country, which help to create a high income nation, he added.
“It is hard to determine if Malaysians have poor reading habit because everyone does read. The matter now is their seriousness in reading and how far they are willing to practice this life-long learning which can be useful in their careers too,” said Japri.
More than 30 people attended the programme which aims to give a platform to literature writers to give their views and share knowledge on creative writing.
Other speakers included Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) lecturer Syahrul Nizam Junaini, and Persatuan Karyawan Sastera Sarawak (Perkasa) head Ja’afar Hamdan, as well as officer from Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Sarawak Branch, Awang Zaidel Jamil.
