I studied Mandarin in a university in Hainan, China, for several months just before the Covid-19 outbreak.

The first time I walked into a bookstore on the island province, I was struck by how crowded it was. Adults and children alike sat along the aisles flipping through all kinds of books.

I soon found out that it is a common Chinese family activity to visit bookstores, some of which also provide special reading spots for children.

Another observation: The Chinese people can read quietly in bookstores for hours, something I have never seen in my home country Indonesia.

Indonesians hardly go to bookstores. We are more stationery buyers than book buyers.

And bookstores in many parts of Indonesia actually forbid shoppers from sitting down to read.

There are other differences between bookstores in Hainan and Indonesia.

First, books sold in Indonesia tend to be wrapped in plastic to discourage browsing. So Indonesians literally judge books by their covers. On the other hand, I couldn’t recall seeing a bookstore in Hainan "seal" its books. Everyone is free to read on the spot.

Second, the price of books in Hainan can be twice as cheap as in Indonesia. Book bazaars in roadside tents in Hainan are a common sight. Good quality books are affordable even for the lower income groups.

While my direct experience is in Hainan, my Chinese friends from other parts of the country told me that the bookstore scenes in their home cities are not different too.

In Indonesia, books are still quite a luxury item.

They are relatively more costly because there is no significant intervention from the state, such as tax exemption for books and authors. Shipping to regions outside of Java also adds to the cost.

Third, the range of books in Hainan bookstores is very diverse, despite China being known for its censorship.

I can't find Chinese books easily in Indonesia. History and political books are also harder to come by compared to those on religion and self-improvement.

To survive, many bookstores in Indonesia actually sell more stationery than books. Major bookstores can only be found in big cities.

These observations also made me wonder why the Chinese, especially the youth, love to read. Could it be because of pressure from their teachers or their parents?

A Chinese friend attributed this to a push by the Chinese government to improve the reading culture of its citizens.

Teachers in schools require students to read many books. Parents in general support such reading habits, so they tend to bring their children to visit bookstores or libraries. Local authorities are also increasingly upgrading library systems and designs to draw more visitors.

In short, there is an ecosystem that supports a reading culture in China.

A study by Central Connecticut State University in the United States found that Indonesia ranks 60th out of 61 countries in terms of reading interest while China ranks 39th (2016).

I am not sure how accurate this is.

From my experience in the past few years visiting villages in Bogor (West Java) and West Lampung (Sumatra) as a literacy promotion volunteer, I find that children actually have a very high interest in reading.

After school, they like to visit reading corners set up by local literacy groups.

In a 2017 article in The Conversation, Gadjah Mada University researcher Lukman Solihin wrote that the low rate of reading among Indonesians was not due to a low level of interest.

Rather it was due to a lack of opportunity to read, especially for disadvantaged Indonesians.

Indeed, I have personally seen how Indonesians who live in rural areas have difficulty in accessing good books.

Community literacy groups that set up reading corners often lack the resources to provide quality books or replenish them. As a result, children quickly get bored.

While more Indonesians now have access to the internet, most use it to browse social media and watch videos.

What can the Indonesian authorities do then?

First, strengthen policies to support public literacy throughout Indonesia. Ensure there are adequate reading facilities especially in remote areas outside Java, as well as support the publishers and writers.

The head of the National Library, Muhammad Syarif Bando, stated that in 2019, 47.89 per cent of 160,000-odd public, school and university libraries are located in Java, 23.55 per cent in Sumatra, and 11.62 per cent in Sulawesi. This means that there is still a very large gap in the ability to access books, especially for East Indonesian people.

Chairman of the Indonesian Publisher Association, Rosidayati Rozalina, said that one of the biggest problems for publishers and writers is the rampant illegal circulation of books.

The government can help to combat piracy through law enforcement, copyright awareness campaigns as well as by tightening regulations to protect authors and publishers, and supporting them by reducing the current 10 per cent royalty taxes

Secondly, the government should strengthen cooperation with local literacy community groups. These are mainly ground-up initiatives which currently don’t receive any assistance from the government.

These groups are familiar with the needs of grassroots and the local communities.

It would not cost the government much to support them by donating books, providing grants for books written by local writers, holding regular local literacy festivals, as well as funding local cultural research.

But the benefits to poorer Indonesians would be enormous.

According to the Ministry of Education and Culture, there are some 11,437 literacy groups involving 543,736 people throughout Indonesia.

Many of such groups work with great passion, organising events such as opening reading corners and community libraries in villages and in city parks as well as providing writing training for children in rural areas.

Their passion keeps me hoping that someday, Indonesian reading culture and literacy can be as strong as those in China. Meanwhile, as a writer who lives in urban areas, all I can do is try my best to encourage book donations and volunteer with local literacy groups.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sylvie Tanaga, 33, is an Indonesian author who completed a year-long Chinese language course conducted by Hainan Normal University in July 2020. She has published two biographies in Indonesian and her commentaries have appeared in Jakarta Post.