KUALA LUMPUR: Scientific literatures in the national language should be given equal importance as creative literatures, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He said the knowledge of science and technology was crucial to create quality human capital to develop the country.
“The ability to create a person who can produce creative and unique ideas is the driver of civilisation.
“As such, science and technology and creative writing should always go hand in hand in developing our country,” he said in his speech at the 2013 Sastera Perdana Malaysia Award ceremony tonight.
Also present were Deputy Education Minister I Datuk Mary Yap and Media Prima chairman Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar.
Muhyiddin said the Karya Ilmiah Award introduced by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka last month was a good start to encourage scientific writing.
He said a good scientific literature was not only dependent on its content but also the quality of the language used to explain the idea it wants to deliver.
Muhyiddin said in this globalisation era, where secular culture, economic competitiveness and information and technology revolution was on the rise, Malaysians still did not improve on their reading habit.
“Writing of philosophical literatures is also lacking in the country,” he said, adding that writers and authors should continue their forefathers’ philosophy of writing, which was to uphold moral and human values in fighting crime and corruption.
He said although publishing of fictional books helped develop the publication industry in the country, reading habit of the younger generation should also include quality literatures.
“I hope researchers and educators could come up with a solution to encourage youths to read literatures.
“One of the steps that can be taken is to digitalise classic literatures," he said, adding that a successful society is a society that appreciates its intellectuals.
The government in recognising the importance of the country’s intellectuals, he said, had continuously provided support in terms of incentives, facilities, trainings and monetary allocation to buy books in schools and teachers’ training institutes.
However, he said, the government's efforts would only be meaningful if the rakyat appreciate local literatures.
“Every Malaysian, across race and ethnicity, should read and analyse the literatures that received awards tonight.
"We should create a sense of belonging towards our local literatures,” he said.
The award was given to 38 literatures chosen from materials produced in books, newspapers, magazines, journals and drama scripts throughout last year.
DBP director-general Datuk Awang Sariyan said the literatures were judged based on their originality, aesthetic value, the message delivered, innovation and creativity.
He said the award recipients were a mix of young writers, veterans and national laureates.
Awang added that there were still areas that need improvement, especially in academic writing, short story writing by teenagers and drama script writing.
“The quality of literatures that we produce must be improved so that we can compete in the international arena.
“DBP is continuously taking efforts to ensure that Malay literatures grow rapidly,” he said.