‘This is dangerous’: Anwar warns Malaysians against mistaking social media snippets for knowledge

KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today warned that children are losing the habit of reading as social media shortens attention spans and replaces knowledge with bite-sized information.

Launching the 2026 National Book Fair at the World Trade Centre here, Anwar who professed himself a bookworm, urged schools, teachers and parents to reignite interest in reading to build a more informed society.

“The reading culture has become a problem in the modern world,” he said.

“Many are no longer interested to read because they only consume information, and much of it from social media. Trying to solve complex problems in just 20 words. Insulting in just 40 words. This is dangerous.

“This is not knowledge. This is not the tradition of knowledge,” heb added.

Anwar said a society cannot “be truly great” without a strong culture of reading and intellectual curiosity.

Recent estimates place Malaysians’ reading average at about five books a year, compared to 6.7 books in Singapore and 6.3 books in Thailand, although the National Library of Malaysia’s broader measure that includes digital reading puts the figure at 24 books annually.

Regionally, Malaysians spend an average of 122 hours a year reading, slightly behind Vietnam’s 123 hours and well below Singapore’s 155 hours.

The Anwar government introduced the RM100 Madani book voucher for secondary in 2024 and expanded it to include university students in public institutions the following year to bolster reading among young people.

Anwar said today the programme would continue and would not be affected by spending cuts.