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Oxford University Press (OUP) was established in Kuala Lumpur, in 1957 by
Mr. Raymond E. Brammah, the founder of OUP in Malaysia. Its office was first located in the Loke Yew Building, relocated to Section 13, Petaling Jaya, and then to Kuchai Lama. The office is now located in the new industrial park in Hicom Glenmarie, Shah Alam.
In publishing, class often comes from the courage to think outside the box. OUP KL represented a new vision, a new way of doing business. Those who take the less travelled route to the top often leave the most indelible impression.
OUP KL published its first branch book in 1958 - a Malay translation of Shamus Frazer's The Crocodile Dies Twice - which is probably the most popular children's story of that era. By the 1960's the publishing pattern in Malaysia was changing rapidly and OUP KL had to compete with local and foreign publishing houses. In 1969, having recognized the need to adopt a local identity, OUP established a subsidiary company - Penerbit Fajar Bakti (PFB) - to publish educational material in Malay. A separate division (ESTATE) was also created to publish books at university and academic levels and for the trade market. OUP also became the only publisher in the country who published scholarly books of the highest standards, with sound production and clear design, embarking on such series as East Asian Historical Monographs, Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints, Oxford in Asia Current Affairs, Oxford in Asia College Texts, Oxford in Asia Modern Authors and Oxford in Asia Paperbacks.
A regional ELT unit (DELTA) was formed in 1972, which contributed to ELT publishing in the region. Amongst other titles published was a picture dictionary, adaptations of which were sold worldwide in more than twenty bilingual editions.
By mid 1970's OUP KL was the only publisher in Malaysia who had developed a strong educational, trade & academic list in both English and Bahasa Malaysia.
Between 1975 and 1985 OUP KL and PFB had several consecutive years of high growth,
a record for OUP East Asia at that time. However, the economic downturn of the late 70s and 80s and the Asian economic crisis of the 90s revealed how vulnerable we were to global economic changes. Textbook publishing and examination guides alone were not enough. OUP had to move up the value chain (publishing atlases, children's encyclopedia, ELT dictionaries, English-Malay dictionaries) and selling more OUP and ABRSM publications. PFB was rebuilt from the top down by steering the publishing away from dependence on textbooks and guidebooks into niche areas that PFB was uniquely suited to exploit. The aim was to foster creativity, entrepreneurship and to capitalize on our relationship with one of the world's renowned education authorities - the University of Oxford.
In 1986, OUP became locally known as Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn Bhd, after the sale of
30 percent of its shareholding to Koperasi Perkhidmatan Pendidikan Nasional Berhad (KOPENAS).
In July 2006, Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd. changed its name to Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. to reinforce its relationship with Oxford University Press, United Kingdom. The new brand identity retains the value of Penerbit Fajar Bakti in high quality local publishing, whilst reinforcing the authority and heritage of Oxford University Press.
Today Oxford Fajar Sdn Bhd is one of the oldest publishing houses in Malaysia and has also grown to become one of the largest publishers in the country. In its 50-year history, the branch in Malaysia has benefited greatly from the marriage of local knowledge and Oxford University Press' expertise in educational publishing and this has led to the publication of schoolbooks and dictionaries of the highest quality.
Like other OUP branches around the world, Oxford Fajar propagates the liberal objectives of the University of Oxford, which are to further education, learning and cultural excellence, through publication. It does so in a manner that reflects the specific needs of the country.
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