THE Malaysian Institute of Translation & Books (ITBM) will not have to scale down operations and cut its workforce, following an intervention by the Education Ministry.

Although ITBM is a Finance Ministry subsidiary, it is managed by the Education Ministry, which sources said has ordered a stop to plans to let go about half of its 100-strong workforce.

“Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik intervened using his ministerial powers,” a source told The Malaysian Insight.

Maszlee is expected to issue a statement on the matter on Monday.

Last month, The Malaysian Insight reported that ITBM had plans to lay off 50% of its 116 employees as part of a rationalisation exercise to deal with its RM3 million debt owed to various local publishers.

Contributing to its financial woes was the management of Kedai Buku 1Malaysia (KB1M), a bookstore chain started under the Najib Razak administration that ended up closing in 2017.

ITBM last month said the retrenchment could happen at any time, and that it was part of efforts to have the institution return to its core functions of translating books and promoting local authors.

General manager Sakri Abdullah previously said ITBM had sought funds from the government even before Pakatan Harapan won federal power in last year’s general election.

He also urged ministries and agencies to buy ITBM books to help it overcome its financial difficulties.

ITBM is formerly known as the National Institution of Translation of Malaysia, which was established on September 14, 1993.

The Najib administration, in 2011, made the name change and added to ITBM’s scope of work the publication of original Malaysian writing and management of the KB1M chain. – December 7, 2019.