The DBP/Dawama marriage - comment

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.

Innovative insults

If you are tired of the same old insults, you may try some creative ones we found in Wired.com, mined from ‘Green’s Dictionary of Slang, a 6,200-page lexicon spanning more than half a millennium’. You probably know and have used the term oxygen thief for someone who is completely useless. How about flaba-flaba? Guess the sound says it all. What do you call these? Onomatopoeias?

There are others in the category like Shabberoon n. A shabby person from 1650-1700 or Gollumpus n. A large, loutish, uncoordinated person from 1750-1800 with are quite easy to guess meanings of, as would Beef-witted adj. Stupid, simple. But, we don’t quite get Chafe-litter n. An impudent, cheeky person (1550-1600); Lerrycometwang n. A fool, a simpleton (1600-1650); or Crow mcgee adj. No good, unreal, false (1900-1950). We love Sir Posthumous Hobby n. An obsessive dandy (1650-1700); and Demi-rep n. A woman of doubtful reputation (1700-1750); though we have no idea of the origins of these term. Does Abrahamer n. A tramp, have anything to do with Abraham, or is Fhawkner n. A thief who steals poultry related to Faulkner or to the word fowl?

An abstractionist n. is a pickpocket. Sounds like an artist. And why is Cakey-pannum fencer n. A street-seller of pastries, an insult? Don’t quite get that.

In Malay, kayu (timber) is a useful word to describe someone who is clueless. What if one comes across a room full of clueless people? We like the term rainforest for that: an entire forest of hardwood timber. One only has to walk into some government offices, banks or call to complain about your broadband to understand what that means. Variations of the term include sawmill and lumber yard. Other useful permutations include blur central or like sotong (cuttlefish).

Wired.com

Dawama sues DBP

From The Malaysian Insider (TMI): Publishing firm Dawama Sdn Bhd is suing Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) and its director-general for defamation, following claims that the latter suggested on a radio show on 21 April 2011 that the company was mismanaged.

Dawama currently holds a 12-year contract to print and market DBP’s books and magazines until 2014.

At the end of July 2011, Dawama Sdn Bhd had asked all 400 staff to take no-pay leave before the start of Ramadan due to financial difficulties. It complained that DBP had caused the crisis in July when it took over the publication of textbooks for the 2012 school year without notice, and handed over printing and marketing rights to a third party, and appointed its own printer.

On 4 August, another TMI reported: “Dawama workers no-pay leave letters have been rescinded and they remain employees, said Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S.Subramaniam today. The minister explained that Dawama after discussion with Manpower Department director-general, Datuk Sheikh Yahya Shaikh has backed down from the no-pay leave enforced since Monday and will pay each worker for 12 days per month until its dispute with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) is resolved.

The Malaysian Insider

Frankfurt notes

From Publishing Perspectives

"Start making everything you have as sharable and findable as possible; then people can talk about it. Then, if you are really awesome they may have a conversation with you.” Mitch Joel, keynote speaker at Tools of Change Frankfurt conference. Publishers Need to Engage With the Mobile Consumer.

... the rapidly aging population should present publishers with opportunities to sell to “those book-loving baby boomers who finally have the time to read.” Nielsen Reports Print Book Sales in Decline.

“We found out that the car manufacturers are in a similar situation as us,” explained Frankfurt Book Fair Director Juergen Boos. “As we go from print to digital publishing, the auto industry is experience similar disruption as they move from the petrol to electronic engine. We want to learn from their transformation, from their problem solving processes.” Driving Into the Future.

“There is an increasingly diverse media out there—things like Angry Birds.” Global Ranking: International CEO Panel at Frankfurt.

“Some years back I unthinkingly gave my support to the removal of all restrictions on the retail pricing of books. It was in retrospect a dreadful mistake. At one stroke the British publishing industry delivered itself into the hands of the mass-marketeers—and a death blow to the beleaguered independent bookseller.” Le Carré: Death Blow to Indie Booksellers.

His experience with foreign publishers has taught him that, “it’s better to go with small publishers who are truly dedicated.” Icelandic Author Sjón on Myths and Crackpot Theories.

“Man is a narrative animal.” Icelandic Author Sjón on Myths and Crackpot Theories.

News roundup

Toasters, coffee machines and vacuum cleaners are all perfectly good things to buy on Amazon, the general manager of Toronto-based Kobo told us yesterday when we sat down with him for a product demo of the company’s latest e-reader tablet, but not books. Kobo GM: Why Buy Books From Amazon?

The corner bookstore is supposed to go extinct once Amazon takes over the world. If Borders — and even mighty Barnes & Noble's — couldn't fight off the behemoth, how would the lowly local shop even stand a chance? Used Book Stores Are In A Great Position To Benefit From The E-book Apocalypse.

Self-published authors frequently take the hit for poorly edited and badly formatted e-books. But the truth is, many of them are more careful about proofing their work than traditional publishers seem to be. Why Are E-books Filled With Errors?

Old people read faster than normal on an iPad, even though most claim to prefer 'real books', a study shows. German researchers discovered that people of different ages could read just as well from iPads and Kindles as they do from traditional books. In fact, old people read even faster using the the iPad as it made reading easier than both the Kindle and traditional book. Elderly people 'read iPads three times faster than normal books’.

Every book counts. Malaysia’s Silverfish Books.