Reading enhances a nation

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 12/09/2006 1:28 PM  |  Opinion

Henri Lois, Jakarta

Philosopher Martin Heidegger stated that human beings live existentially (Das Wesen des Daseins liegt in seiner Existenz). Reading is one way to experience our own existence and better understand the lives of others. Reading is also a habit of successful people. Most successful managers, entrepreneurs, and political leaders regularly spend time reading.

Compared to people in other countries, Indonesian citizens are considered ""non-aggressive"" readers; while the most productive workers are readers, only a small percentage of the overall population reads. Newspaper sales statistics bear this out. The percentage of our citizens who read the newspaper is low, as is the percentage of internet users.

In Japan, by contrast, the ministry of education has developed a national program to promote reading. It's easy to see that the Japanese are reading every day.

Reading must become an integrated lifestyle for all Indonesian citizens if we want to become a better nation. Knowledge is power, but it is only going to be powerful if we apply it in our real lives. No wonder most of our talented scholars go to live in other countries, because their intellectual capacities are more appreciated there.

For a country to develop, its people must love to read. Through reading, we are able to grow, learn, and apply technical skills in practice.

Reading also promotes entrepreneurship. Out of 220 million citizens, we have only around 400,000 entrepreneurs (0. 18 percent). According to psychologist David McClelland, for a country to be considered developed, it should have at least 2 percent entrepreneurs.

In 1993, the United States had more than 6 million entrepreneurs (2.14 percent of its 280 million people). Let's also consider Singapore, with 4.24 million citizens. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor has stated that the percentage of Singaporeans developing their own businesses has increased sharply. In 2005 it was 7.2 percent of the total population, compared with 2.1 percent in 2001. In 2004, their per capita gross national income was up to 40 times higher than ours.

Why are we not a more prosperous country? Think about our future generations. Are we willing to let our children be leaders in their country? If so, it's time to act. The government should increase the national budget for education and craft wise regulations to provide low-cost, high-quality reading materials, as well as access to information via internet, newspapers and radio.

At a more personal level, we can all do more to create a culture of reading in each family and community. It is interesting to see how Singaporean families line up early on Sunday mornings, waiting for the library to open.

But it is not just reading habits that must be developed; the contents of the books must be considered as well. Are our children reading meaningful and useful materials? And what about their reading speed? Creative readers tend to develop better strategies for reading and memory.

Reading is pleasurable. Reading gives people access to ideas. By reading, we can be smarter. Smart people, along with character and ability, will develop a prosperous country. Above all, reading is a low-cost habit that will improve our nation's quality of life.

The writer is a teacher at Citra Kasih School. He can be contacted at superlois9@yahoo.com.

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