PETALING JAYA, Dec 14 — Got old books lying around that you’d like to give away?

From now until January 8, the office of Bukit Gasing state assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran is having a book donation drive for prisoners across Malaysia.

Rajiv launched the initiative on Friday via Zoom and said the book drive will help often overlooked prisoners, especially juvenile offenders as they prepare to re-enter society.

The Book Drive for Prisoners is an effort to motivate and provide inmates with hope for a better life, he said in a Facebook post.

The idea came about from the non-governmental organisation Pertubuhan Kebajikan Sosial Sivasakthi which provides inmates with counselling, motivational training and tutoring.

“The NGO’s chairman told me it would be nice if the prisoners can get more books and I thought ‘Let’s do something about it’,” Rajiv told Malay Mail.

The books collected will be distributed to the following prisons: Tapah Prison, Taiping Prison, Kamunting Prison, Batu Gajah Prison, Kajang Prison, Melaka Prison and Sungai Buloh Prison.

Rajiv said many of these inmates will be released in a few years and efforts to help them rehabilitate has a positive impact on society.

“I’m very happy to support NGOs like this.

“These volunteers are devoting a lot of their time to rehabilitate prisoners and if this effort can support their rehabilitation, it’s a good initiative.”

Although he didn’t set a target, Rajiv would like to collect as many books as possible.

“Even if we get 10,000 books, it won’t be enough because one prison alone has a few thousand inmates and we have about seven prisons as our beneficiaries,” he said, adding that this is their first book drive for inmates.

“We’re doing a four-week programme as a start and then we will see how things go before we take further steps.”

Books in any language are accepted and from all genres, including comics which Rajiv believes is a good starting point that will provide laughs for prisoners.

Books can be dropped off at the Bukit Gasing state assemblyman’s office between 10am to 5pm from Monday to Friday.

Alternatively, you can post the books or drive by the office to avoid parking by calling 03-7954 7490 before going over.

The Bukit Gasing state assemblyman’s office is located at 7A Jalan 52/8, PJ New Town, 46200 Petaling Jaya.