If You Are Reading This...

Someone in Malaysia does not want me to read. Not only me. I think someone in Malaysia does not want Malaysians to read. Well, perhaps I should be clear on this. That someone does not want us to read books. Newspapers - no problem. Books? This is a no-no.

Let's go random. A book like Twilight, written by Stephenie Meyer. It is priced at USD10.99 in Amazon.com. In Malaysia, Kinokuniya is selling it at RM35.23. This is funny considering the fact that an American earns around USD46,859 a year, which makes that USD3904.92 a month. A Malaysian earns around USD8,141 a year, which is translated to RM28570.91 a year, which means RM2380.91 a month. This means that to buy and enjoy a good novel like Twilight saga, just to learn more about Edward, Bella and Jacob, an American spends 0.13% of his monthly income while a Malaysian spends 1.48%. I thought Malaysia is the poorer country relatively? (By the way, the numbers are taken from International Monetary Fund).

Now, Twilight is a mass produced book, due to popularity, which means the price is lower. If one wants to get books that got rave reviews but not high in printing and circulation, the price can be easily RM50. Which means 10 average meals.

I have been looking for ebook readers. It is so much easier to find ebooks online, and there are a few good bargains. But guess what? Ebook reader is practically not in existence in Malaysia. If there is any consolation, there is no ebook reader sold in Singapore either. There is one ebook reader seller in Batu Pahat, but I'll come back to that later.

Let's look at the famous ebook reader - Kindle. A check on the price on ebay, so that I have an idea of how much I have to pay for it.

A kindle in Amazon.com is priced at USD299. A check on ebay.com.my, I am looking at a Kindle at the price of RM1,757.35. Plus deliver charge of RM85.60. Of course, the Malaysia is kind enough to make things tougher for us to read more, because there is that 30% tariff, which means RM527.21. This means that to own a Kindle by ordering online, I have to pay RM2370.16. Why Americans complain about paying USD299 for kindle is beyond my understanding.

Here's another famous daylight robber of the poor nation - Bebook. Bebook is USD279.99. According to ebay, this book is RM1,395.02, with delivery charges of RM98.76. Thanks to Malaysia custom, there will be a tax of RM418.51. This means I am paying a total of RM1912.29. Yeah right.. I feel super rich enough to buy this.

Okay, the cheaper popular version of ebook reader which is said so often on the news - USD100 cheaper than Kindle. It is USD199. In ebay, I find one that is priced at RM862.61 + delivery charge of RM36.30. Of course uncle tax is RM258.78. This means I have to bleed a RM1157.69 to get this device.

Okay, and then there is this twin brother of Bebook, which is known as Hanlin. Hanlin is one of the two ebook readers that can be found in Malaysia. The shop is located in Batu Pahat. It must be due to cheap land there. And the dealer does not accept paypal nor credit card. From the reviews, I have to say that this is the best in the market, as it is able to read many version of ebook files. Yeah, funny right? Each company that produces ebook reader tries to make sure that the ebook used in the reader that we pay for must fit a certain file extension the company wants. Blood sucker. Hanlin ebook reader can read almost all version of ebooks there are.

So, how much is Hanlin? RM1399. Of course there is no delivery charge and no tax. But still, RM1399. It's like squeezing every bit of my blood drop just to pay for this.

Of course there is the cheaper version - Ectaco Jetbook.
The cheapest I can find in ebay is around RM704. With a delivery charge of RM73.94. Plus tariff RM211.20. This means I have to pay RM989.14. Why Ectaco Jetbook? Because it can be used to read a number of files too.

Of course we can go with the non e-ink ebook reader - Ebookwise, which is only USD109 or USD139, depending on the memory size you want.

The battery lasts only for 15 hours, unlike the other ebook readers. And it reads less formats unlike Hanlin or Jetbook.

So, my government is not sincere to encourage me to read, huh? Why are these so expensive? And I am not even talking about a typical textbook from America, which may cost easily RM100 to RM200 a book. Check out those Economics textbook price. Money kills.

Something has to be done. Get rid of the tariff. Get the ebook reader in. Penang has a Sony factory but we don't have Sony ebook reader. Funny.

It is said that a Malaysia reads an average of two books a year. Gee. I wonder why.