Attendance for the monthly sessions averages about 30 people, with a mix of new faces as well as regulars. Read more at straitstimes.com.
JAKARTA – With the sun beating down on their heads, more than 50 people gathered at the Martha Tiahahu Literacy Park in south Jakarta at 3pm on June 18 to read for an hour.
This is not a book club meeting. There are no discussions about the books – participants get together simply to be among others who share their love of reading. Countries in the region that have chapters include Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. Multiple chapters can be created in a country, and Singapore alone has two, according to the club’s website.
Ms Hestia, herself an avid reader who runs an Instagram page dedicated to the books she reads, found out about the movement from social media and got in touch with its team to register a chapter in Indonesia.When asked if she was afraid that no one would come read with her that first time, Ms Hestia said that she was not. “I have never been afraid that no one will show up,” she added.
In 2019, a survey conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development , as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment , ranked Indonesia 62nd out of 70 countries in terms of literacy levels.A separate 2016 study by the Central Connecticut State University in the US dubbed the World’s Most Literate Nation ranked the archipelago 60th out of 61 countries in terms of reading interest, below Thailand in 59th and above only Botswana.
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