Chosen As The World's City Of Literature, Anies Very: In Jakarta The First Newspaper Was Found

DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan (Photo: @aniesbaswedan)

JAKARTA - UNESCO announced that Jakarta was chosen as the City of Literature or the World's City of Literature. It is contained on its official website, unesco.org on November 8, 2021.

Jakarta is included in one of 49 other cities in the world that are members of the world creative city network (UNESCO's Creative City Network) in 2021 and is the only city in Indonesia that was selected.

For this achievement, the Governor of DKI Jakarta Anies Baswedan said he was proud of the election of Jakarta as the City of World Literature.

"We feel very proud of this UNESCO election", said Anies in his statement, Tuesday, November 9.

This selection is based on the category that Jakarta as a city has a long history and has great potential for improvement and development of literature and literacy.

Anies conveyed the importance of sustainable infrastructure development and the quality of human resources. According to Anies, this will make Jakarta a developed city. However, Anies also wants to improve his human qualities.

"This is what will drive the sustainable development process. With Jakarta chosen as the World Literary City, this will be an important driver for us to continue to improve its human aspect", Anies explained.

Anies then explained that Jakarta has a long history of literacy. Since the royal period, colonial era, until the early days of Indonesia's independence and now, Jakarta has become an important center for books and literacy.

"We remember that it was in Jakarta that the first newspaper was established, the first book publisher was established, Balai Pustaka and the Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI) was also established in Jakarta. In fact, Indonesia's independence began with the knitting of words and sentences composed by the founders of this nation in Jakarta and then spread throughout the republic", he explained.

Furthermore, Anies said that the election of Jakarta as the City of World Literature is expected to continue to be developed in the future.

"With the election as a World Literary City, we ensure that we will continue to maintain and develop this strong historical root in the future", he added.