Kota Buku (The Malaysian Book City)

Newly appointed General Manager (Pengurus Kanan) of Perbadanan Kota Buku, Encik Razin Abdul Rahman, insists that the function of Kota Buku is to facilitate the growth of private publishers in Malaysia and to not compete with them. Kota Buku’s aim is to oversee  and support the growth of the entire book industry in the country regardless of language. Towards this end, and as its first project,  Kota Buku will organise a monthly three-day-long, Pekan Sari Buku, the first one beginning on 23 March 2012, at Lanai Tuanku Abdul Rahman.  All publishers (traditional, fringe or self), be it in Bahasa, English, Mandarin or Tamil, are welcomed to participate. (The Kota Buku website is still under construction; so those interested in more information should contact the Kota Buku office, Tel:603-83217011, or email razinabdrahman@yahoo.com

Razin says, Kota Buku is looking at several other projects to support the publishing industry including the development of children’s literature, R&D of e-books for use in schools, digitisation of contemporary and classical Malaysian literature with print-on-demand (POD) and digital download possibilities, and others. Towards this end, Razin is willing to listen to all ideas and suggestions.

The idea for the Kota Buku has been up in the air for a while, and it has finally materialised as Perbadanan Kota Buku (Kota Buku) in July 2011. Its chairman is Tan Sri Dr Asiah Abu Samah (formerly DG of the Ministry of Education) and on 3 Jan 2012, Razin Abd Rahman (formerly with ITNM) was appointed as its GM. (He could be appointed the CEO, soon.)

Kota Buku will work with publishers, writers, graphic designers, illustrators and distributors to promote book-related activities.

A six-storey building on Jalan Raja Laut will become its headquarters in two to three years. The building is planned as a place for activities and research. But Razin also sees many activities happening at public venues and not necessarily inside buildings. The Kota Buku is a nationwide endeavour.

Currently, the Kota Buku office is in Cyberjaya, but will move to the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka premises in Kuala Lumpur. Razin is currently seeking to employ multi-racial staff for his budding organisation. (Email above)

Razin’s sincerity is not in question but, as he admits, as much as he would like to be politically agnostic, he cannot ignore the minefields. It would be interesting to see how he negotiates them, what with Faisal Tehrani’s latest book being banned by Jakim, and Pa Samad becoming a poster boy for certain politically incorrect causes (as some would see it).

Kiddy porn?

When a newspaper reporter called me yesterday to ask me for my opinion about a ‘banned’ children’s book, I initially declined comment because I didn’t know which book it was, since I don’t read ‘dead-tree’ newspapers. But, she persisted. I said I couldn’t speak for other bookshops, but I gave her my opinion on the arbitrariness of censorship in the country (depending on who’s in charge, etc) and the censorship by harassment (a favourite ploy). I still didn’t know which book she was talking about.

This morning, reading the online news on my iPad, I discovered that the book in question is Where Did I Come From by Peter Mayle, with illustrations by Arthur Robbins.  I remember that book; I (and my wife) bought it for our son when he was five because we were too squeamish to approach the subject. That was 27 years ago! I believe he still has the book somewhere. He is now 32, happily married with two lovely daughters. As far as I know he has not become a serial killer (or rapist) or any other type of criminal but, whether, he'd want to pass the book on to his girls is up to him and his spouse. (As grandparents, me and my wife will stay out of the decision.)

What is interesting is that, after least twenty seven years, after thousands of copies have been sold, after an entire generation of Malaysians have died, after a whole new one has come been born, it takes only one person to complain for the Ministry to jump.

Boy, talk about spectacular! This deserves kompang, bunga mawar and fireworks at the Lake Gardens, and a special award for the Minister. There must be a world record in there somewhere. This is the stuff of legends. Minister finds ‘dirty’ book in public after 27 years and bans it. Thre is a great message in there too: if you deal in smut, or pirated DVDs, or whatever, it will take the government 27 years to get you, but when they do you will be dead -- literally. In the meantime, do not call any government department; they will all be attending kursus.

Those who want to look at those naked pictures that got the complainant's knickers in a knot, try Google. Warning: you will be with confronted full frontal nudity and male/female genetalia as you have never seen before, all disguised as cartoons!

Another prominent book to be banned in recent times is Sebongkah Batu Di Kuala Berang by Faisal Tehrani. According to rumours the ban is from JAKIM, apparently, for daring to suggest that Islam in Malaysia was brought by Shia' clerics (but this is not confirmed)

Malaysia fails media trust barometer

I first read this story in the Malay Mail and, as an indication of how much I trust the Malaysian media, I had to look at the primary source. This is from the website: "The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer shows an overall decline in trust globally, with steep declines in the levels of trust in government and business. Government is now the least trusted institution–trailing business, media, and NGOs. Business experienced fewer and generally less severe declines in trust, but has its own hurdles to clear – notably that CEO credibility declined 38 percent, its biggest drop in Barometer history. For the fifth year in a row, NGOs are the most trusted institution."

The Edelman survey of 1000 participants in each country has, certainly, has come up with some strange results. That the majority in Malaysia (a newcomer to the survey) do not trust the media is not news, but I was surprised that 47% still do! What is surprising that in Singapore, 65% trust the media (an increase from 59% last year) and in Indonesia, 80% do (a decrease from 86% last year). What is even more surprising is that in China 79% trust their media, 1% less than 2011. (I guess the cynic would say that they still dare not speak the truth for fear of being reported; censorship works at all levels.) Still, Malaysia is in the red zone with Argentina, Australia, much of Europe, Japan, Korea, Russia and the USA. (We are in good company, it appears.) Canada and Italy are in the orange 'kumsi kumsa' range, while in the media in India, Brazil and Mexico are the most trusted.

The institution that is considered most untrustworthy is the Goverment. Even in that aspect, I was surprised to see that 49% of the respondents trust the Government of Malaysia to do the right thing, and only 24% do not trust them to tell the truth. In the case of businesses only 9% of Malaysians think they don't tell the truth. Boy, are we a naive bunch. We get what we deserve. Generally though, the NGOs come out looking quite good; they are trusted in most countries.

Beruas: one step closer to the Commonwealth Prize

The Beruas Prophecy "has made it through the first stage of the judging process for the Commonwealth Book Prize for best first book ..." said the email from the Commonwealth Foundation in London. The short list will be announced in May, the email said further.

The rules have changed this year. In previous years, there would be a Best Book and a Best First Book. This year there is only the Best First Book. Last year, books were shortlisted by regions and awarded the prize for the region with the winners going in for the final shortlist. We have no idea how it is going to happen this year, considering London appears to be handling all the judging this year. (In previous years, regional prizes were judged by the regional centres -- Australia in the case of the Asia-pacific zone of which Malaysia is a part of). The website does say, "There will be five winners, one from each region. The overall winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize will receive £10,000 and the remaining four regional winners £2,500." Apart from that there are few details.

Still, we are happy for Iskandar Al-Bakri. This is the third Silverfish Books title to make it to the next stage of judging for a major international award. In 2009, Ripples by Shih-Li Kow made it to the final shortlist for the Frank O'Connor Award; in 2010, 21 Immortals by Rozlan Mohd Noor was shortlisted for the Asia-Pacific Commonwealth Writer's Prize for the best first book, and in 2011, it is The Beruas Prophecy by Iskandar Al-Bakri. At Silverfish, we feel vindicated. We have always believed that Malaysians need not live overseas to become good writers. Considering the poor education system and the decades of marginlisation of English in the country, the success of these writers is outstanding. Congratulations to all of them; we know how hard they have worked. And to others aspiring to write, Silverfish will be here to assist you. All we ask is for you to be willing to work hard and take criticism. (Some talent helps, of course. But talent without effort is of no use to anyone.)

Now, let's go out and win something.

Silverfish Writing Programme

Registration for the next programme that will commence on Saturday, 4 February 2012, was opened in early December. As is usually the case, at this jucture, we are half full. There is always a last minute rush in the days before we close. The early bird discount of 10% ends on (including) 10 January 2012, so please hurry to avoid disappointment.

The world is full of stories. Humans are the strangest of all animals. We may miss meals (ask your teenager buried in a book or your aunt or mum hooked on a television soap) but not our stories. Even in famine stricken zones, while people wait for the food trucks to arrive, they tell one another stories to keep alive. In war zones, where life is in danger every single minute, people cannot resist telling stories. All religions have tons of stories that are constantly repeated. Stories are part of our very being, our claim to be human.

We are surrounded by stories every waking minute of the day. When we turn on our radio or television to listen to the news, or to watch a drama or sitcom or even a cooking show, when we open our newspapers or surf the net for news, when we go to the movies, to a dance, listen to a song, or look at a painting, when we go to the office, pitch a proposal to our boss, our clients, meet our co-workers when we relax over tea and gossip, or tell them about our day, or listen to their stories. When we read books, we read stories. And stories will make us laugh or cry or angry, and dozens of other things. We will love characters or we hate them. Good stories never leave us indifferent. We have a desperate need to tell stories in whatever form. That’s why some of us want to become writers. But what do publisher's want?

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