KUALA LUMPUR: A social activist has called for greater action in nurturing the reading culture among the people in the country.
Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said apart from the ministries responsible overseeing matters related to the public education system, stakeholders in the book industry have to strengthen their role in transforming Malaysia into a reading nation.
Although Lee acknowledged that the existing education system encourages children to read, he said there must be enough emphasis given in school curriculums to sustain the reading habit later in life.
"If not, what else can schools do to encourage children to read and re-read literary works in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Tamil and other ethnic languages?
"For starters, schools can set reading goals and targets and reward those who have finished reading the maximum number of selected work within a stipulated period of time.
"Schools can also include in their daily timetables, a period just for reading. How about creating reading nooks throughout the school, where pupils can escape from the world, and sit and read their favourite books," he said in a statement today.
He also proposed reading challenges to be regularly conducted in order develop reading stamina and increase reading diversity.
All authors, publishers and stakeholders in the book industry, he said, also need to play their respective roles by producing quality books and further strengthen the publishing industry and promote the reading culture.
This, he said is timely given the fact that Malaysia is currently near the bottom of a list of countries where the number of new book titles are published every year.
Lee added that there is no dearth of reading materials in the country.
"Every right-thinking Malaysian agrees that the development of a country depends on its people who are knowledgeable, positive-minded, hardworking, and competitive.
"And the best way to acquire such skills and attributes is through the development of a reading culture. All Malaysians, without exception, must therefore actively promote a life-long culture of reading.
"A reading culture is a prerequisite for education, social interaction, for making the right choices in life, for social behaviour, for the economy, and for the arts and culture, and digital technology.
"And reading makes a thinking society."