Need to increase titles, types of books in Malaysia: CM

KUCHING: The number of titles and types of books published in Malaysia still lags behind those in the United States of America, United Kingdom and China.
Thus, there is a need to increase them as UNESCO annually monitors both the number and type of books published in a country as it is an important index on the standard of living and education, says Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
"Unfortunately, Malaysia is way behind America, United Kingdom and China. Based on our population, we should be publishing about 30,000-40,000 titles but based on statistics, we have not even reached 20,000 titles," he said in a speech text read by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas who represented him in officiating the International Conference on Borneo Book Publishing and the Borneo Book Fair here today.
The chief minister said Sarawak had more than 40 ethnic groups with their own distinct language, culture and lifestyle, and it would be worthwhile if something could be written about each ethnic group to preserve the indigenous knowledge and better understand one another. — Bernama