Malaysia expects to achieve 100 percent literacy rate for adults at the latest by 2016, said Deputy Rural and Regional Minister Hassan Malik.    

He said it was possible this could be achieved by 2012 based on the aggressive approach taken concerning the matter by the Social Development Department (Kemas), an agency under the ministry.

"The number of adults in the country who are illiterate or semi- literate is very small.

"Kemas is identifying those who need help in this matter right up to longhouses in Sarawak," he told reporters after officiating a rural literacy programme in Tawau today.       

He had represented Rural and Regional Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal.      

According to the latest statistics by Unesco, Malaysia's adult literacy rate now stands at 96 percent. 

- Bernama