By: Nurul Ezzaty Mohd Azhari dan Nur Syamila Kamarul Arefin
Photo: Sabri Omar
SERDANG, August 25 – Kuala Lumpur has been named the World Book Capital 2020 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and aims for 1% of books to be published based on the country's total population.
Six resolutions to achieve the publication aim were presented by the Director of the Centre for Corporate Strategy and Relations (PSPK), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Prof. Dato' Dr Abdul Mua'ti @ Zamri Ahmad, at the closing ceremony of the Malaysian Book Expo 2022. These are:
- A total of 37,000 books must be published in a year, based on Malaysia's total population of 37 million.
- University management and administration must consider the publication of academic books and scholarly works in the Malay language by academics as one of the criteria for promotion.
- Scholars at universities need to take responsibility for publishing academic books and scholarly works in Malay, either for specialised readers or the public.
- A Higher Education Writers Club should be established in each university and collaborate with regional universities such as Indonesia.
- Utilising Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a vehicle for distributing books in various mediums such as telenovelas, dramas, and movies.
- Ensuring more publications of creative works as a vehicle for the community to express their feelings towards a development, aside from publications of scholarly and knowledge books.
The resolutions were submitted to the Deputy Director General of Public Service, Dato' Ts. Kamel Mohamad, to be forwarded to the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MoHE) for reference and consideration. - UPM
