Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul accepting an award for Best Literary Book of 2022 from the National Library, Monday (11/14/2022). Photo by MKRI/Hendy.

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Monday, November 14, 2022 | 12:06 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul received an award for Best Literary Book of 2022 for his book entitled Perkembangan Hukum Ketenagakerjaan dan Perlindungan Hak-Hak Konstitusional Pekerja/Buruh Indonesia (“The Development of Manpower Law and the Protection of the Constitutional Rights of Indonesian Workers/Laborers”) on Monday, November 14, 2022. The award was conferred by the Chief Secretary of the National Library (Perpusnas) Ofy Sofiana at Printed and Recorded Works Handover Week at the auditorium of the National Library.

Head of the National Library Muhammad Syarif Bando expressed his admiration for Justice Manahan who, despite his busy schedule, was still able to write a book. He added that the award was not from the National Library, but from the state based on the Law on Handover of Printed and Recorded Works (SSKCKR Law).

“Anyone who writes a book has recorded their thoughts in eternity. Books are even more significant than bullets. A bullet can penetrate only one head, but a book can get into millions of heads,” he said.

He added that the empires of Ancient Rome, Persia, Greece, and Mesopotamia were well-known for their books. The collapse of the empires coincided with the destruction of literary works due to various things, such as war.

Literacy is the depth of one’s thinking that can be used to win global competition. Syarif said that Indonesia actually has a fairly good level of literacy, but has an issue of the lack of books. Therefore, based on the SSKCKR Law, the National Library has an obligation to provide the people access to literature.

Syarif emphasized that Indonesia had long undermined itself as a country with low literacy level, without taking into account its lack of literature. “How can [Indonesia] have low literacy if library becak, horses, and boats are always full of customers,” he said. He also appealed to the Constitutional Court to cooperate with the National Library to review law literature.

Prior to this, the Director of Deposit and Library Collection Development Emyati Tangke Lembang said in her report that the National Library has the duty to develop the national collection. Based on the SSKCKR Law, publishers must submit two of each printed published works.

Justice Manahan’s book was selected since manpower issues are a hot topic amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced workplaces to allow its employees to work from home.

This event was the culmination of the Printed and Recorded Works Handover Week, where the National Library expressed its appreciation to authors of quality printed works and producers of recorded works who have submitted their works to the Library.

Writer        : Ilham Wiryadi Muhammad
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 11/14/2022 15:49 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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