So,
Dawama Sdn Bhd is taking government publisher Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka
(DBP) and its director-general to court for defamation, following claims
that the latter suggested on a radio show on 21 April 2011 that the
company was being mismanaged. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Malaysia (or literally, the Malaysian Hall for Language and Literature), was established (in 1956) to promote the use of the national language in the country. Somewhere along the way it became a sort of a language police to regulate (and, ostensibly, to protect) the national language. Then, they went into translation and into publishing (not sure which came first) selling books at incredibly low prices ‘for the benefit of the people’. For a long time DBP was the Malaysian publishing industry, period.
Dawama was formed in October 1999 and, in September 2002, it signed a 12-year privatisation contract to print and market DBP’s books and magazines, ostensibly to strengthen DBP marketing. Earlier this year, both parties started accusing the other of breach of contract. Now, the courts will decide.
So, what went wrong?
In the absence of transparency, one can only speculate, and many do. Fact: DBP was set up to promote and facilitate the use of the national language. Fine. Second, it assumed a policing role. Many would argue that no language police anywhere in the world have succeeded in stalling natural evolution and progression. But, never mind. Then translation. It is arguable that the cost of translation would be too prohibitive for the private sector, and some sort of Government intervention would be beneficial, but one has only to visit Jakarta to see how dismally DBP has failed in this respect. Finally, and most controversially, publishing.
It started with literary journals and magazines, then general books and, eventually, school text books. One could argue that this made books cheap for the public. Yes, so cheap that it killed competition and the industry. It can be speculated (and argued) that with money (and time) being no object, and fuelled by hubris and incompetence, what incentive was there for the inevitable not to happened, for DBP to choke on its own bureaucracy. Rumours ran rife: manuscripts were not read, writers were not paid, retailers could no longer obtain their titles, creative staff was replaced with clerks and managers, and sales disappeared. (At Silverfish, we, have been trying to buy DBP books without success for years.)
So, now there is a lawsuit pending. It will be a soap opera, but will it solve anything? Probably not. Not until a thorough examination of DBP is undertaken, to root out the empire builders and go back to basics. And, stop competing with the private sector in publishing: if you are not going to be help, get out of the way. The Malay publishing industry deserves better.
But then, this is Malaysia. If a private company follows a policy for five years and sees no progress or returns, it makes drastic changes and heads roll. If a government organisation fails in a policy after fifty years, the whining starts: oh, fifty years is too short, its too early to say, let’s do it for another fifty.
In Frankfurt last year, I met a gentleman from the Presses Nationales Haiti who was trying to explain his ‘new’ venture, at a seminar organised by the Invitation Programme: to publish books cheaply and distributor it directly to the people. One of the participants asked, “How will the private publishers and bookshops survive then?” There was some huffing and puffing, but no answers. It sounded very DBP.
I hope he’s reading this. Good luck to you.
