Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang | Thu, 07/21/2011 6:42 PM
As part of the South Tangerang municipal administration’s campaign for literacy, Mayor Airin Rachmi Diany launched on Thursday an initiative known as Gema to encourage mothers to read to their children.
“We hope that with Gema, South Tangerang residents, from kids to the elderly, will love reading,” Airin said. She quoted English historian Thomas Babington Macaulay’s saying: “I choose to be a poor person living in a hut which is full with books rather than being a king who has no desires to read.”
According to Airin, reading is a fun activity that is also enlightening and therefore it should be a habit in every family because it helps people broaden their minds and knowledge.
“Reading as a habit should be started in each family, starting with mothers who read to their children, because it will be very useful for all of us,” she said.
The mayor described various other benefits from reading, such as building a strong foundation for various sciences and their applications in daily life.
“Reading improves verbal and linguistic aptitude because it enriches vocabularies, it activates eye muscles and freshens minds and prevents people from becoming senile, improves intelligence, creativity and imagination, self confidence, develops emotion and social interactions where ever we are, as well forming personalities,” she said.
Airin also vowed to make South Tangerang a child-friendly city. Children in South Tangerang should not only get a guarantee of physical health, but the administration would also pay attention to them psychologically, spiritually and socially.
According to Airin, the future of South Tangerang is in the hands of the next generation, therefore children should be seen as precious assets and that all community elements should be responsible for their rights to health, education and good environment services.