Books have really changed my life’s journey and the way I see things, and they enhanced my integrity in terms of knowledge.
– Datuk Dr Jeniri Amir, political analyst and author
How do you cultivate a love for studying, especially among the rural populace in Sarawak, till tertiary education and beyond?
Get the cue from Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, who recently suggested a novel way – setting up mini libraries in longhouses to serve as an important component in education. The Deputy Premier said mini libraries could cultivate the reading habit right from pre-schooling age and encourage students to study until university level and beyond.
Now that Uggah has come up with this brilliant proposal, it’s left to the relevant authorities, including members of parliament and assemblymen, to pick up the idea and get cracking right away. Don’t wait until the next general or state elections to include the idea in the manifestoes.
Longhouse libraries are a perfect platform for students to acquire knowledge and skills during the school breaks. Of course starting a library in rural areas is one thing, and maintaining it is another matter altogether. It would serve no purpose if the longhouse library is left idle with very few books or reading materials.
For longhouse or rural libraries to function effectively, they – as Uggah rightfully pointed out during the launching of an English language proficiency course for pupils of a primary school in Spaoh recently – should be well stocked with appropriate books and magazines in both English and Bahasa Malaysia. Maybe in Iban language too.
I see Uggah’s proposal as an opportunity for noneducational entities in urban areas, like business organisations and eatery and coffeeshop chains, to establish mini libraries in their premises for their clients. This would certainly promote the reading culture and increase the literary rate in Sarawak.
In fact, the state government should allocate funds to encourage the private sector to set up libraries to encourage the public to adopt the reading culture.
According to academics Ahmed Sedik, Zahidah Zulkifli and Ely Salwana, in their 2019 research paper, ‘The Factors that Influence the Reading Habit Among Malaysian: A Systematic Literature Review’, Malaysia’s reading habit rate is still at a low level.
“Malaysians on average read only two books per year. About 80 per cent of Malaysian university students are reluctant readers. They can read but choose not to read.”
In Singapore, the reading habit is a lot more ingrained where a 2020 study revealed that 64 per cent of Singaporeans read between two and 10 books yearly.
Most Malaysians would rather do something else instead of reading, like surfing the internet for entertainment materials and gossips or getting glued to their cell phones, chatting away with friends.
How many books have you read so far? Let’s say you read four books a month; that would total around 50 titles a year, which works out to 3,500 books in your lifetime, averaging it out to 70 years old. You might feel proud of your ‘achievement’. Tell you what; that is insignificant in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of titles available.
Talking about literacy, Malaysia’s literacy rate in 2007 and 2008 was 93.2 per cent, which was far behind countries like Japan, US, Australia, and Germany, which had a literacy rate of 99 per cent.
Ten years later in 2018, one would have thought the situation would have gotten better. But sad to say, the situation was nothing to shout about. Our literacy rate stood only at 94.85 per cent – which was a dispiriting increase of only 1.65 per cent over a 10-year period!
Let’s return to the topic or reading and mini libraries.
What are the benefits of having a mini library? One, it enhances literacy by improving book access, thus helping to tackle low literacy rates; two, it increases knowledge, leading to a highly knowledgeable society; three, it creates a reading society; four, it mitigates the increasingly prevalent lepak (loitering) culture and prevents people from idling away their time; and five, it prevents citizens, especially the younger generation, from indulging in undesirable and negative activities.
And not many may know this: that book-reading improves mental health. Recent studies point to several psychological benefits that one can gain from reading.
According to theconversation.com news portal, “Reading fiction can increase your capacity for empathy, through the process of seeing the world through a relatable character. Reading has been found to reduce stress as effectively as yoga. It is being prescribed for depression – a treatment known as bibliotherapy.”
Research has also shown that there is a strong correlation between reading books and health. People who read are more than 25 per cent more likely to be healthy than non-readers because of their ‘health literacy’ since they have the skill to find information on health and illness, process it, and take action.
Also a highly literate society will encounter lower health risks as it is better able to obtain information about health and the range of care on offer.
My former late secondary school principal Brother Albinus made us read books by encouraging us to spend our time in the school library. We were forced to return at night to the library to study and read. He told students during morning assemblies that those who read books from a young age have higher general intelligence on average than people who read less often.
I am grateful to Brother Albinus for inculcating in us the reading habit. Another person I am thankful to was my late dad who would make it a point to bring us to the council public library in Sibu in the evenings. On top of that, he would force my sisters and I to read the Straits Times (now New Straits Times) when we were in primary school. He would also spend quite a bit on comic books.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
