Anies Opens Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF) 2019 at JCC Senayan

Jakarta Governor, Anies Baswedan symbolically opened Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF) 2019 at Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Senayan, South Jakarta, Wednesday (9/4).

It is the 39th time IIBF has been held

 

This event is held on September 4-8 at JCC Senayan. Its participants are from domestic and abroad.

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In his welcoming speech, he mentioned that Jakarta Government supports IIBF 2019 event to be held in Jakarta. He also supports all sides who create a movement to build a literacy culture in Jakarta outside of Jakarta Government's program.

In order to build a literacy culture in Jakarta, he assessed that it needs collaboration between government and communities.

"It is the 39th time IIBF has been held. For an event, it is a quite long time. But it needs more than 39 years to improve literacy in Indonesia (especially Jakarta). Literacy movement is not only government's job to handle, but it needs support from all citizens. The approach is partnership. Invite all your friends and others who are working on literacy activities to cooperate with government," he said as mentioned from Jakarta PPID Press Conference.

Building culture of literacy, he continues, can be done everywhere in Jakarta, especially in the third space (public interaction space). Providing this space, he assessed, is part of his strategic plan to stimulate people's reading habits.

According to him, government should be open in managing the budget thus it can be used to facilitate the growth of literacy activities in communities, especially in the third space.

"We want to support literacy growth in all places in Jakarta. Especially to promote literacy in third spaces. We will develop public transport and plan to give access for MRT passengers to borrow book in departure station, read it during the trip, then return it at arrival station. We will also build more libraries, book stores, and book markets," he explained.

He asserted, literacy movement should be done massively by all components of society who realize the importance of literacy.

"Literacy movement should be promoted widely in all aspects. We believe this approach can help us to build culture of literacy (in Jakarta)," he expressed.

For information, participants in this exhibition are Malaysia, England, Germany, Egypt, and China. This event is enlivened with talk show, coloring contest, discussion, and book bazaar from various publishers. He hopes this event to be useful for book enthusiasts, literacy activists, and residents.

"This international book exhibition has two areas. First area is where people can buy books and chat with the writer. Second is a place for copyright transaction between our publisher and foreign publisher. It means, we are promoting Indonesian writer's work to them and making them interested to buy it. This foreign exchange surely benefits our country. IIBF 2019 is also supported by Education and Culture Ministry and Jakarta Government," explained Djaja Subagja, IIBF 2019 Committee Head on the location.

Other important figures also attended the opening ceremony of IIBF 2019, such as Indonesian Agency for Creative Economy Deputy Head, Ricky Joseph Pesik; representative of Saudi Arabian Ambassador (Ambassador TBC); representative of Education and Culture Minister; both domestic and foreign education book practitioners and education figures; related Jakarta Government officials; Indonesian Publisher Association (IKAPI) board of directors; and IIBF 2019 participants from domestic and abroad.