Travelling around the world, slaying a dragon,

rescuing a princess, falling in love All this and more, are

all made possible, through the pages of a book.
A very good morning I bid to our respected principal,
Tn. Megat Nasir bin Megat Hashim, senior assistants,
esteemed teachers, and fellow friends. On this fine
morning, I will be sharing with you my speech entitled
Through The Pages of a Book.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The
man who never reads lives only one. These were the
words of George Martin, a renowned fantasy writer.
Indeed, by this reckoning, I have experienced more than
my tender age of 17 years would suggest. My journey
with books began when I first bugged my mother into
buying me of all reading materials a comic book, with
the face of a bearded man proudly displayed on its cover,
entitled Desperate Dan. What started as an impulsive
buy began a love affair that would last for more than a
decade.
Books. For some, these may just be a compilation of
meaningless papers. But they are a lot more than that.
Let me ask you honestly, how many books have you ever
read? Do you even read at all? To be completely honest,
some of you, if not most, wont even read if not instructed
to do so. The Bacalah Sayang Program is an effort by
the school to instill the reading habit in the student body.
But reading shouldnt be something that is forced. It
comes naturally, and one should enjoy oneself when
reading.

One way to gain access to reading materials is

through the school library. It's sad to see so few students
actually go to the school resource center, even though
our library is complete with amenities and a variety of
reading materials. Here I implore to all students, make full
use of our schools library. It is a treasure trove of
information, and reading is a conduit to places weve
never been, places weve never seen. Reading introduces
us to a whole new world. Through the authors creative
description and our minds amazing power of
imagination, we can see these places as if they are in
front of us.
In this modern age of technology, books arent just
limited to the traditional hand-held bound journals. They
are also available as ebooks, which can be conveniently
accessed through devices such as smartphones, tablets,
and computers. In addition, we can also express our
feelings in the form of ebooks or on blogs.
Language is the mark of civilized man, dan
membacalah merupakan satu-satunya cara untuk
memartabatkan bahasa. If we dont read,
.
Now, I would like to share a short Malay poem :
Pohon duku di tepi paya;
Payanya rata di kampong tua
Jadikan buku teman setia
Pastinya kita tidak kecewa

Before I conclude my speech, I would like to express

my gratitude to our principal, for his support and kind
words of advice, to Pn Roihan, for her guidance
throughout the course of last years Tokoh NILAM
competition, and also all the teachers, students, and staff
of SMK Bukit Baru, who have aided me in my pursuit of
success, and making me somebody from nobody, from
zero to hero.
With that, I end my speech. Thank you.