Firdaus Oemar has been publishing books for 50 years. As he grew older, he continued to actively promote literacy to families in remote villages.
By
Esther Lince Napitupulu
·5 minutes read
Firdaus Oemar has been publishing books for 50 years. As he grew older, he continued to actively promote literacy to families in remote villages.
Firdaus was initially forced into the world of book publishing and literacy because of his father, Oemar Bakry, who wanted Firdaus to continue the family business: the Mutiara Sumber Widya publishing and printing company that Oemar had founded in Jakarta. At first, Firdaus was not interested in books. But over time, his interest grew and developed into love, and he has since been an active promoter of publishing in Indonesia.
In early September2019, he attended the opening of the Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF) in Jakarta. His steps may have been slow, but his eyes lit up. He is delighted to meet his peers from the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi) at events like this, where he typically talks of the “Books for People” village program that runs in West Sumatra and West Java.
"I’m like this, see, already far along in age. If I don\'t come out to mingle and just sit at home, not moving, I would fall ill easily,” the 82-year-old man said, laughing.
Attending the annual IIBF also calls to mind many memories for Firdaus, like being appointed to head the organizing committee for the Indonesian Book Fair in 1980, while he was the deputy chairman of the Ikapi central board. He had earlier met with then-vice president Adam Malik, who asked him what he would do to increase people’s interest in reading. The young Firdaus replied firmly: he would hold a book fair and ask the Vice President to attend the opening ceremony.
The inaugural book exhibition was held, opened by the vice president.
The Indonesian Book Fair became the forerunner to the annual Ikapi book fair, now called the IIBF. "Thanks be to God, what was initiated has developed well," said Firdaus. Firdaus fulfilled his passion for advancing the Indonesian publishing industry and promoting Indonesian books through Ikapi. This included encouraging Indonesia to accept the invitation as the 2015 guest of honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world\'s largest book fair.
Left behind
One thing still makes Firdaus upset: the Indonesian publishing industry still lags behind its neighbors, including Malaysia. At the Frankfurt Book Fair, several publishers under the Ikapi banner rented a small booth together in a hidden corner. Malaysian publishers, on the other hand, rented 4-5 booths. He also witnessed India be the Frankfurt fair’s guest of honor in 1986 and 2006.
However, Firdaus did not give up. He continued to develop programs to boost the publishing business, as well as good reading habits and literacy. He founded in 1985the Book Distribution and Information Center in Padang, West Sumatra.
One day, he saw a schoolboy who had not gone home immediately after school, leisurely browsing books at the center until his parents came looking for him. "That touched my heart, that reading books was actually being enjoyed, including by children," he reminisced.
We grew concerned over the many researches about the lack of public interest in reading books. We were sure that people actually wanted to read books, but a breakthrough was needed to make books available to them at home.
Firdaus also started a special program to address the difficulty of distributing books to certain areas. He funded the program using his own money, but it met with operational problems. However, Firdaus persevered and started a new program in 2014. He and a number of Ikapi figures, including Setia Darma Madjid and Afrizal Sinaro, launched a literacy program that targeted families at their homes.
"We grew concerned over the many researches about the lack of public interest in reading books. We were sure that people actually wanted to read books, but a breakthrough was needed to make books available to them at home," he said.
Firdaus and his colleagues thus developed the Pustaka Bergilir book distribution program, managed by the Indonesia Book Reading Foundation. The program distributes books to 200 households on a rotating basis. The program was trialed in Jorong Air Batumbuah in Nagari Paninjuan, Solok regency, West Sumatra.
Every two weeks, two program workers deliver to each household a bag of five books: one for the father, one for the mother and three books for the children. After a family finishes reading the books, they are delivered to another family. The program distributes 1,000 books on rotation to households with a target for each person to read 24 titles per year. The program also assessed technical issues, such as which titles were unread and what kinds of books were popular. In the end, the program succeeded in boosting the community’s interest in reading, and encouraged the people to start visiting the local library.
The Nagari Saok Laweh Library then adopted the program and in 2018, it received the National Library’s best public library award.
I believe this program is necessary to help people read the right books.
After the pilot program had succeeded in West Sumatra, it was initiated in West Java, where it was warmly welcomed.
"I believe this program is necessary to help people read the right books," said Firdaus.
Firdaus said that the senior Ikapi figures always responded with enthusiasm when they were invited to develop the Pustaka Bergilir program to reach more and more villages. "When talking about books, time is forgotten," he said.