Dear Yee Ping (columnist for The Star),
I read with interest your State Side column this morning concerning the deplorable wanting of a vibrant reading culture in our Malaysian soil. I have been to New York City and what you mentioned is exactly what I experienced during my short stay there.
Going on the subway affords one a spectacle of mass indulgence in reading on the go. New York Post, New York Times, New Yorker, novels, magazines. New Yorkers read with a hunger which is nothing short of astonishing. One thing you could also add is that the libraries are admirably welcoming and provides easy accesibility (New York Public Libary or NYPL alone has numerous branches around Manhattan) in addition to their up-to-date collection of all forms of literature and media.
Here, I have to ponder twice if I need to make an hour trip to the nearest community library, if at all a library it is. Books there are often so outdated and obsolete that the only viable reason for even a short jaunt is to browse the newspaper. It never fails to irk me seeing the sloth that pervades the local library staffs, now a familiar sight of bands of impotent near-retirement pakcik and makcik sitting idly before the counter, counting the hours before closing time.
I know how you feel. I wish we have something like what they have there in the Big Apple or for that matter most western countries. At least, I can rejoice knowing that you have highlighted the obvious problem in an English daily. Let’s hope something good comes out of it.
Yours truly,
Editor of Nocturnale