Press Release: 09/SP/IKAPI-KLIBF/IV/2018
Kuala Lumpur – Talking about creative industries in Indonesia, publishing is a sub-sector representing other creative industry sub-sectors, all sub-sectors need books. “Out of the 250 million Indonesian population there are 300 million creative business influence units, which is greater than the population, illustrating how Indonesia is going forward in the creative industry.” Said Ricky Pesik as Deputy Head of the Indonesian Creative Economy Agency at the Kuala Lumpur International Book Main Stage Fair. Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands, 700 more languages, 1000 more ethnic cultures where all are sources of content for the creative industries going forward.
President Joko Widodo said “That the creative industry must be the backbone of Indonesia in the future.” It was a vision built by the President of Indonesia in 2015 which later developed into missions carried out by the Creative Economy Agency.
In terms of statistics, although many debates say that the publishing industry fell because of digitalization but publishing is an industry that moves not only in the physical sale of books. The creative industry itself contributes which is still quite dominant. “Publishing contributes around 6 percent of the industry’s own capital,” said Ricky Pesik. According to him, the book industry in Indonesia can still continue to develop because there are still many spaces, opportunities, and opportunities to advance other regions outside Indonesia that are growing so that they can provide opportunities for publishing in Indonesia.
Indonesia needs to be more advanced on the world stage. Therefore, it is important to promote Indonesian literary works consistently. For this reason, the government continues to support the opportunities to appear at international book fairs. This business relationship is created through the sale of copy rights or physical purchases through publishers, distributors or bookstores in Malayasia. KLIBF is one of the important exhibitions for Indonesian content. The international buzz was even greater after Indonesia became the Guest of Honor at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair.
“This is where the development of Intellectual Property (IP). We just found out that we have extraordinary potential. We also noted that more than 1000 titles of Indonesian books had been bought by foreign publishers, “said Rosidayati Rozalina as Chairperson of Ikapi Indonesia representing Indonesian publishers at KLIBF 2018.
In the creative world, especially comics, the 90s comic industry in Indonesia was suspended. Then since 2010 Indonesian comics have been increasing. Starting from 2011 the title of the book series “Si Juki” has been published up to 20 titles. “Comics can become the upstream of the creative industry, the development of greater Intelectual Property (IP) potential such as animation, videos, games, films and merchandise,” said Faza Meonk as Visual Entertainer and content creator.
Faza, who was invited by the committee to attend KLIBF 2018, wants to develop the character “Si Juki” with Malaysian Publishers, collaborating with Malaysian comic artists so that they can produce new books as a result of collaboration between the two countries.
Malaysia ranks second for “Si Juki” enthusiasts after Indonesia. This is due to the similarity of culture that allows Si Juki to sell in the Malaysian market. Si Juki the Movie which was played in cinemas in Indonesia in December 2017 managed to attract 700,000 spectators. This is evidence of the success of the animated film which recorded the highest number of viewers and the number of books that have sold more than 40,000 copies.
KLIBF is held at Putra World Trade Center from April 27 to May 6 2018. At KLIBF there will also be a Kuala Lumpur Trade and Copyright Center (KLTCC), Writers Conference and Malaysia’s Digital Lifestyle Exhibition.
