Malaysia in a million words
The numbers are hard to ignore when describing the task of assembling The Encyclopedia of Malaysia , the result of years of hard work by contributors and publishers and a multimillion-ringgit investment. It is to be published in 15 volumes together with an Atlas of Malaysia .Inside will be 1,100 double-page, self contained articles consisting of over 1,100,000 words and nearly 10,000 illustrations, making an average of 60 pictures per densely packed volume.
There are over 450 contributors, including 17 volume and co-volume editors, mostly drawn from Malaysia's universities and research institutions. The Encyclopedia can claim to be the largest Malaysia collaboration in the history of reference publishing in the country.
How the project began
On 16 September 1993, Didier Millet, Marina Mahathir and Peter Schoppert visited Malaysia's deputy Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to present the concept of an Encyclopedia of Malaysia. Not only did Anwar Ibrahim welcome the idea, he agreed to be its patron. In the words of Didier Millet, ‘There were few sources that brought together the latest cultural, historical and scientific information in a way that reflected local perspectives'. Marina Mahathir, then operating an editorial consultancy and public relations practice, had teamed up with Editions Didier Millet in 1989 to plan a major photographic project on Malaysia, the landmark Malaysia: Heart of Southeast Asia . By 1993, Marina was also convinced of the potential of an encyclopedia project which would combine EDM's publishing, illustration and design experience with thee talents of Malaysia's large pool of authors, academic experts, photographers and illustrators.
The first meeting of the Editorial Advisory Board took place in March 1994 at the office of the DPM. The initial members included Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Tan Sri Zain Azraai, Puan Azah Aziz, Professor Dato' Dr Asmah Haji Omar, Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Mustaffa Babjee, Dato' Noordin Sopiee and Dato' Zakiah Hanum Abdul Hamid. Tan Sri Augustine S.H. Ong, Dato' Dr T. Marimuthu, Dr Peter Kedit and Patricia Regis were later invited to join the Board.
Later in that year, on 20 October, Dato' Seri Anwar publicly announced the Encyclopedia of Malaysia project, and eight months later, a ceremony was held to thank the first corporate sponsors (see page 2: First ten corporate sponsors welcomed ) . Appointing and briefing Volume Editors, drawing up volume outlines and contracting authors occupied the next 18 months or so. In June 1996, the Board approved the line-up for most of the volumes, requesting certain revisions which were implemented and approved in January 1997. From late 1996 onwards, material has begun to flow in in the form of delivered text and preliminary layouts, early stages is what is a mammoth undertaking by any standards.