Don't let books become another thing Singaporeans buy while in Malaysia

As our bookshops vanish, we risk losing a sense of curiosity and imagination of the spirit.

- Lin Suling

Like diapers, shaving blades and Panadol, will books end up as one of those things that Singaporeans buy while in Malaysia?

The thought struck me while strolling through Kuala Lumpur's myriad bookshops in mid-February, from giant chains like home-grown BookXcess, Japan's Tsutaya and Taiwan's Eslite to independent single stores like Riwayat and Sunda shelves.

Witnessing the young crowds thronging the BookXcess outlet at RexKL and wandering through its labyrinthine network of shelves offered a sense of relief. And for under RM30 (S$9) a book, the temptation to haul home some bargain buys was strong.

That same week, Kinokuniya, Singapore's last major bookshop chain, announced a downsizing of its flagship store at Ngee Ann City, after earlier efforts to downplay the store floor reduction on its TikTok channel failed to fool a suspicious journalist or two from The Straits Times.

The contrast with flourishing bookshops filled with rows upon rows of books and brimming with people just across the Causeway was unmistakable.

Will books become too expensive to be sold in Singapore? Will bookstores gradually vanish from our retail landscape?

THE DECLINE OF GENERAL LITERACY Economics usually shoulders the blame. There is the matter of high rents, falling book sales and the persistent back-handed compliment that Singapore bookshops do poorly because of our excellent and well-funded public libraries.

But free markets simply reveal consumer preferences. And in an economy where middle-income Singaporeans are apparently said to shell out $25 to $30 per person for a casual meal, the reality is that Singapore society on the average values literacy less.