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The Reasons Why Lao People Dislike Reading
Rumours stating that "Lao people dislike reading" has existed for years, but during recent years many people have raised another question "whether Lao people dislike reading or do they lack reading materials?"
Lao writers have realised why Lao people stay away from reading. They say Lao society lacks good reading materials that can attract people to reading.
Mr. Chanthy Deuansavanh, President of the Lao Writers Association, said: "Before the writer can write or create a story, if he or she wants to make it interesting, it must be meaningful, easily understandable and new. It should be a story about the things that the majority of people are interested in and is relative to their lives. The stories should not relate to only good things. Good writers need to experience real life in order to express real emotions to their readers and allow them to imagine and understand the real situations. The writers also need to like reading stories of other people. However, a good story needs devotion of both energies and ideas. When the writers have already devoted themselves to a good story, he or she should be rewarded. The rewards do not always mean money or materials but could be through gaining a good reputation or appreciation. At present, the promotion of writers is not good enough due to low labour cost, high printing prices and poor support in terms of reputation and fame. These discourage them from writing stories."
Mr. Daovieng Boudnakho, a well-known writer, said: "Many Lao people are very patriotic. Even though they have a variety of alternatives for reading, they still want to read what Lao people write. The problem is that Lao writers cannot write to serve the Lao people's needs. The reason why Lao reading materials are not interesting is that there are no writers who are brave enough to write about socially sensitive issues even though they know these issues are attractive to the readers. The writers never mention the real background of the issues. The media isn't courageous enough to report sensitive issues on time. People fear to write about something because they do not have the press law to protect themselves or perhaps they fear the individual power of people involves in the story. The editors also fear to lose their position. The problems within the writers themselves are also varied. These include the low labour cost, high printing costs, the lack of financial support and the lack of promotion, especially the annual awards for excellent writers. The selection for excellent writers needs to be undertaken in an open way where it is decided through the vote of the readers."
Mrs. Dala Kanlagna, a writer, editor and publisher of reading materials for the Association of Lao Children, said: "I have spent over 40 years of my life writing. I accept that written materials in our country are very few and what we have are not interesting. To improve Lao reading materials we need to improve a number of things, including good titles, suitable and non-boring word usage, interesting contents and eye-catching pictures. When the materials are printed, good marketing techniques are needed. At the same time the government should do something to raise writers spirits, such as providing press laws and facilitating access to printing permission. This means printing houses become a body to control the printing materials or becomes the publisher itself."
Mr. Anoulack Khammalavong, editor of Update Magazine, said: "I am sorry for my intervention in this topic. In fact, reading promotion is my whole hearted aspiration and what I have strived to write in articles for Update Magazine so far is to provide good reading for Lao people. I agree with people who say Laos lacks reading materials but I see that almost all Lao people still do not choose reading as one of their hobbies. I had an opportunity to visit the Southern Bus Station and saw hundreds of passengers waiting for buses to travel south. Of those people, there were 11 foreign visitors (westerners) and all of them carried a book in their hand for casual reading. They used their backpacks as pillows and relaxed on the floor so that they could concentrate on the book. Meanwhile, amongst the hundreds of Lao people there, not a single book was being read. This indicates that foreigners utilise free time to read while Lao people always spend their free time doing nothing. Hence, the phrases "Lao people dislike reading" and "Lao people lack reading materials" are both correct. These two expressions are closely linked. The reading materials will be developed only when there is a demand from readers. Demand and production would develop together. In environments where Lao people dislike reading, the government needs to create a policy to promote reading, including a policy to allow writers to write what society needs. People inspecting the contents of the written work need to have a wide range of knowledge to avoid mistakes in their decision of whether the contents are sensitive or not. The inspection also needs to be done promptly."
Mr. Siviengkhek Konnyvong, Director General of the Publishing Department, at the Ministry of Information and Culture, said: "Now the government has opened up and promotes writing. Those who want to publish a book could send the contents for editing at the Publishing department. They could find a state organisation to secure the book. But the securing agency must be responsible for all mistakes within the book. Our country does not have a law or regulation to allow private companies to create their own publishing agency, so the private printing houses still cannot become the editor or publisher. Ministries and other state agencies could become publishers. For example, the Ministry of Finance could establish an agency to edit and publish printing materials related to its responsibilities. However, all agencies having their own publishing agency must follow the same government decree and adhere to regulations as the Publishing Department does at the moment. This means writers and publishers who want to publish a book need to read and understand the government's decree first. The decree is not available for sale, so those who want to get them must contact the Publishing Department directly. At the moment, the Publishing Department has two editors and the editing cost is negotiable. Basically, the editors have no right to cut or add any words while editing. They can just mark and comment on the part they do not agree with. Previously, most books proposed for printing permission from the Department were approved. Based on the existing decree, I think the Government provides more support regarding book publishing than ever."
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