Malaysians reading physical books.

 
 
My  name  is  Meikeng  and  I  am  a  reporter  with  The  Star  newspaper.  I'm  currently 
working  on  a  story  about  Malaysians reading physical books despite it being the age 
of  the  Internet  and  social media. Many Malaysians still head for book fests, fairs and 
sales and buy cartloads of books.  
 
As  such,  I  would  like  to  get  some  comments  from  your  association  about  this. 
Hopefully  you  will  be  able  to  respond  to  my  questions  before  my  deadline  next 
Tuesday (June 11). 
 
1.​What is your opinion of the reading culture among Malaysians? Is it growing?

We think Malaysians love to read, but there are a few more areas or challenges where we
need to focus on to improve the reading culture further. We believe that a little bit of
intervention from other parties may help to improve the reading culture among people from
all walks of life in Malaysia. No one should be left behind.

According to the reading survey by e-Sentral, there is a significant drop in reading habit
among teenagers at secondary schools. That is something that we should look into. We
must do more surveys and look at the findings to identify other issues, study the 'why' , and
discuss and address the 'how' to ensure reading culture will continuously grow.

Overall, we believe that reading will grow in tandem with the economic and social progress
of the country. Books will be made accessible to more people. But, the format and type of
materials will change. Interactive, audio, video type of materials will have more market share
and play a vital role in cultivating the reading habit for the next generation.

2. ​Do you believe many still prefer physical books over online material? If yes or no, why?

We believe it depends on the usage scenario. Print books are not the only option nowadays.

For example, readers have the option of listening to an audiobook in the car while travelling,
students have the option to look at video tutorials for their lessons, parents can buy an
augmented reality (AR) books for their children's education and entertainment.

On the other hand, print book is strong in non-fiction, in deep dive reading, and leisure
reading when people wants to turn off from the social media noise.

3. ​Does your association have statistics or data on the number of books sold among your
members /in the industry over the last 3 to 5 years? Has there been an increase in sales of
physical books?
Yes, we have done a survey among our members.

Print book output by Malaysian publishers, are as follows :

2010 = RM 1.008 Billion.

2012 = RM1.066 Billion.
2014 = RM1.192 Billion.
2016 = RM847 Million.
2018 = not published yet.

This numbers excluded imported foreign books.

You can see the revenue started to drop after 2015 due to the decline in sales. If we make
the comparison from the Statistics of Books Registered Under Library Depository Act, 1986
(For 2006-2018) from National Book Library of Malaysia (refer to attachment), it also shows
the drop of books published since the year 2015.

The decline in 2016 is mainly due to the cancellation of book voucher program that was
worth more than RM300 million annually. There are also a secondary factor, reduced
consumer spending power in the past few years.

4. ​ Any other comments

We are hopeful that the new #MalaysiaMembaca reading campaign initiated by the Minister
of Education will get serious funding from the government and receive broad support from
the public. Reading campaigns can be the biggest influence for positive social change.

We hope the government can also stimulate reading culture via tax incentives, specifically
targeting the purchase of reading materials, book donations, and for royalty income from
writing. There are present incentives, but we think we need more, especially in our current
increase in our cost of living in Malaysia.

We also hope the funding for the book voucher programme will stimulate libraries purchasing
and restore their book collections with new and latest books like before. We would like to
see previous policies and funding level, that were proven working, to be restored.

Campaign from NGOs such as #QuranHour has been proven in getting more people to read,
in this case, the holy Quran.

5. ​Who shall I quote from your association in my story?

Mr Arief Hakim Sani bin Rahmat, President of Malaysian Book Publishers Association
(MABOPA).
For more information on reading culture and promotion matters, please contact Tuan Haji
Che Mazlan bin Saad, Deputy President of MABOPA, who is also MABOPA's Chairman of
Reading Promotions Committee.