With reference to media reports on the decline in reading and shallow thinking among Malaysians, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has rightly called on Malaysians to stop settling for surface-level thinking and start building a genuine culture of wisdomhttps://share.google/JxHUlpk4iTlmDKV6c. Malay Mail
If Malaysia wants stronger education, better social cohesion and real democratic accountability, reading has to become a national priority.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's warning that falling reading habits and shallow thinking put civilisation at risk shouldn't just be treated as a clever observation. It should push the country into action. Malaysians may be more plugged into the digital world than ever, but being able to access information doesn't automatically mean people understand it, or that they develop wisdom or good judgement.
The real danger is this: people can scroll through hundreds of headlines, videos and social media posts every day and still struggle to tell facts from opinions, evidence from speculation, or reasoned argument from emotional noise. We risk confusing the ability to reach information with the ability to actually understand it.
In his October 28 reflection on James Marriott's The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-Literate Society, Anwar pointed to a basic contradiction of our time: information is everywhere, but the patience to read, reflect and think deeply is fading.
This isn't a new concern. The Prime Minister has warned before about what happens when reading habits decline and critical thinking erodes. The challenge now is to turn those warnings into reforms we can actually measure.
The first priority has to be changing how we educate our children.
A system obsessed with exams, one that rewards memorisation and reproducing expected answers, can't on its own produce independent thinkers. Students need to learn not just what to think but how to think: how to question assumptions, weigh evidence, compare competing arguments and recognise their own biases.
Reading should be a daily habit in every school, with a protected 20-minute slot for sustained reading. Students should be encouraged to explore literature, history, science, biographies, environmental issues and current affairs, not just read to pass exams.
Teachers should ask questions that force reasoning. What is the author arguing? What evidence backs it up? What's missing? Could the same facts lead somewhere else?
These exercises should run across Bahasa Melayu, English, mathematics, science, history and civics. Critical thinking isn't just the job of language teachers.
Malaysia also needs to rethink how it measures educational success. Exams should test comprehension, interpretation, problem-solving and applying knowledge to unfamiliar situations, not just factual recall. Teacher training has to support this shift from handing out answers to cultivating thought.
Second, reading has to reach beyond the classroom and become part of family and community life.
Children are unlikely to develop a lifelong love of books if reading feels like a school-imposed chore rather than an enjoyable part of everyday life. Parents should read with young children, talk about stories and show that learning doesn't stop at exams.
Public libraries need to become active learning centres, not just buildings that store books. Mobile libraries, community reading circles, author talks and intergenerational programmes can bring reading to rural villages, low-income neighbourhoods and communities with limited access to educational resources.
Reading materials should be available in Bahasa Melayu, English, Mandarin, Tamil and other relevant languages. Malaysia's linguistic diversity is an intellectual asset, not a barrier to national unity.
The National Library of Malaysia, schools, local authorities, universities and civil society groups should coordinate these efforts instead of relying on occasional campaigns that get publicity but don't build lasting habits.
Third, Malaysia has to teach people how to navigate the digital information environment.
Social media has democratised access to information, but it has also encouraged snap judgements. A short video can spark outrage before anyone understands the context. A misleading headline can travel further than a careful correction. Artificial intelligence can produce convincing answers full of factual errors or made-up references.
Digital literacy therefore has to become a core part of education and lifelong learning. Students should learn to verify sources, spot manipulated images, tell correlation from causation, examine statistics and compare reports from independent outlets.
Schools could give students conflicting reports on the same public issue and ask them to identify differences in evidence, omissions and framing. They should learn to pause before sharing a claim and ask whether it's credible.
Restricting smartphones during lessons and setting aside dedicated reading periods may help protect concentration, but restrictions alone aren't enough. Young people also need to learn to use technology constructively, including as a tool for research, learning and creativity.
Fourth, critical thinking has to be encouraged in public life.
Malaysia's recurring debates over race, religion, education, public spending and environmental protection show why intellectual discipline matters. Too often, complicated questions get reduced to slogans, partisan loyalties or appeals to communal sentiment.
Take the debates over vernacular schools, public procurement or deforestation. Citizens should examine evidence, constitutional principles, costs, outcomes and long-term consequences rather than accepting claims just because they come from a preferred political or social group.
The government has to lead by example. Ministers should explain decisions with evidence, admit uncertainty and correct mistakes openly. Universities should encourage rigorous debate, journalists should separate verified facts from opinion, and public institutions should welcome legitimate scrutiny.
A government can't credibly demand critical thinking from citizens while treating constructive criticism as disloyalty. Intellectual confidence requires the freedom to question, disagree and revise your views.
Fifth, the government has to set measurable targets.
A five-year National Reading and Critical Thinking Action Plan should bring together the Education Ministry, the National Library of Malaysia, universities, publishers, teachers and community organisations.
Schools should establish baseline measures for reading comprehension and reasoning. Annual assessments should track progress, with particular attention to rural and low-income communities. Public reports should disclose programme spending, participation and outcomes.
As a proposed target, Malaysia should aim for at least 60% of students to reach minimum reading proficiency in the relevant international assessment by the end of the five-year programme, subject to a clear baseline and alignment with the assessment cycle. Daily reading habits, teacher training and access to books should also be tracked through independently evaluated indicators.
The goal isn't to create another bureaucratic initiative but to establish accountability for measurable improvements in learning.
Ultimately, reading is more than an educational skill. Literature can build empathy; history can show the consequences of prejudice; science can teach intellectual honesty; and philosophy can challenge assumptions we've long accepted without question.
For Malaysia, these qualities are essential to social cohesion. A citizen who understands other cultures is less vulnerable to racial prejudice. A voter who examines evidence is harder to manipulate. A policymaker who thinks beyond immediate political gain is better equipped to tackle inequality, environmental degradation and technological disruption.
Anwar's warning is a chance to redefine what national progress means. Development can't be measured only by income, infrastructure, qualifications or technological advancement. It also has to be measured by the quality of our thinking, the integrity of our decisions and our willingness to seek truth even when it challenges our convictions.
Malaysia doesn't just need more readers. It needs readers who become thinkers, thinkers who exercise sound judgement, and citizens who turn knowledge into responsible action.
Civilisation is endangered not simply when books are neglected, but when people lose the patience to understand, the courage to question and the humility to learn. Reversing that decline has to become a national priority.
K.T.Maran Social Environmental Animal Activist
K.T. Maran (maran.kt@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
