# Indonesian text books: First copyrights bought


(Read about the background
[here](http://reganmian.net/blog/2008/02/08/indonesian-government-wants-to-buy-text-book-copyrights/),
and
[here](http://reganmian.net/blog/2008/03/27/indonesian-government-buys-books-copyrights-update/)).
An update on the copyright buying project, from
[[i:boekoe]](http://klipingbuku.blogspot.com/), taken from an article in
Kompas, March 27, 2008.

The Department of Education has bought the copyrights of 37 books in
2007, and will buy 250 titles more in 2008. The books will then be
accessible through the internet and anyone are allowed to publish and
sell them cheaply. The maximum price is 7.500 Rp
(0.81)*p**e**r**b**o**o**k*, *s**a**y**s**t**h**e**M**i**n**i**s**t**e**r**o**f**E**d**u**c**a**t**i**o**n**B**a**m**b**a**n**g**S**u**d**i**b**y**o**o**n**M**a**r**c**h*26. *H**e**b**e**l**i**e**v**e**s**t**h**i**s**p**r**i**c**e**i**s**r**a**t**i**o**n**a**l*, *b**e**c**a**u**s**e**t**h**e**p**r**i**c**e**o**f**p**r**i**n**t**i**n**g**t**h**e**b**o**o**k**s**i**s**a**r**o**u**n**d*6. 000*R**p**p**e**r**b**o**o**k*, *l**e**a**v**i**n**g**e**n**o**u**g**h**p**r**o**f**i**t**f**o**r**t**h**e**b**o**o**k**s**e**l**l**e**r*.  \<  / *p* \>  \< *p* \> *C**u**r**r**e**n**t**l**y*, *t**h**e**b**o**o**k**s**a**r**e**e**x**p**e**n**s**i**v**e*, *c**o**s**t**i**n**g**a**r**o**u**n**d*26. 000*R**p*(2. 8)
per book, because of the oligopoly of publishers. They control the
market and work together with head masters to sell and market their text
books. “I was ordered by the President to solve this problem. We are
trying reform the book market thoroughly”, says Bambang Sudibyo.

The Ministry of Education will buy books from teachers with the price of
45 million Rp to 75 million Rp (4.905\$  -
8.175), *w**h**i**c**h**w**i**l**l**b**e**i**n**c**r**e**a**s**e**d**t**o**a**p**r**i**c**e**o**f*175*m**i**l**l**i**o**n**R**p*(19. 075).
They will be available on the internet, so anyone can download it,
including schools in remote places.

If the books are to be published, there is not only the matter of the
maximal price, but also conditions concerning the paper quality.

The Ministry of Education hopes that with the price of books being low,
it will be easier for people to open book stores, because they will need
less capital.

This policy also comes with the obligation for schools to choose books
recommended by the National Education Standards Body (BSNP), and that
the books be used continously for at least five years. Otherwise, the
schools might receive disciplinary sanctions. In this way, we hope to
overcome the problem that books are changed every year, and allow
younger siblings to reuse the books.

After evaluating how successful this program is, continues the Ministry
of Education, we will come up with a formula for buying copyrights for
university text books. However, many of the books are in foreign
languages, which are very expensive, and requires negotiation with
foreign publishers.

The competition to buy copyrights has gotten teachers excited about
writing, and the department will hold a training for teachers in writing
books.

At first, I thought they were buying the book copyrights from
publishers, but now it seems that they are having teachers write the
books. So why don’t they just hire a teacher to write the book - then
the copyright will be theirs automatically? I am glad to see that the
books will be available online, but I am still hoping for a Creative
Commons license. If they are concerned about being able to impose
conditions on commercial publishers, they could use a Non-Commercial
license, which would allow them to specify specific conditions for
commercial publishers. Ideally, you would think that just opening it up
to competition would be enough to drive down the price, but there might
not be enough competition in Indonesia - especially in the far-away
places that are mainly targeted here.

I think the idea is probably a good one, but there are many factors that
scare me, because of the heavy-handed involvement of a government that
sadly does not have an entirely positive reputation with managing
similar programs, and I can certainly understand the concern of both
authors and publishers. In Norway, all books until high school are free,
but are bought by the school and only lent out to the students.
Personally, I don’t see the need for work books in most subjects, I
think that writing the answers to tasks in your notebook is just as
effective (I’d be interested in hearing anything else), which means that
the school can keep lending out books for several years, before they are
updated.

A separate issue is whether the schools should buy these books from book
stores, or the books should be distributed directly by the MoE to
schools. In Norway and many other countries, I have a feeling that the
school book purchasing policy is partly a tool to support small book
stores around the country, which is a valid purpose if you can afford
it, but if you are a poor country and your education is really
suffering, I am wondering if it is the most effective policy.

Stian