Award upholds human rights: Pramoedya

Award upholds human rights: Pramoedya

MANILA (Reuter): Indonesian novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer says his winning of a prestigious Southeast Asian award was a triumph for human rights in Indonesia and will inspire change in his country.

Pramoedya, whose selection as the Ramon Magsaysay award for journalism and literature sparked controversy among Indonesian writers who accuse him of suppressing freedom, said giving him the award was a mark of courage.

"To me, this award is a sign of moral courage and support as it is to all those who sincerely endeavor to uphold human dignity and human rights," he said in a speech read by Indonesian Marianne Katopo in award ceremonies in Manila on Thursday.

"I salute the Magsaysay foundation in making an invaluable contribution to this process of change," the 70-year-old Pramoedya added.

Protest

Fellow Indonesian writer Mochtar Lubis on Wednesday handed back his own Ramon Magsaysay Award, won in 1958, in protest against the prize to Pramoedya.

The award consisted of a gold medallion given him by the Philippine-based award foundation as well US$1,000 of the $5,000 cash prize. He has promised to hand in the rest later.

Pramoedya was affiliated with the now-banned Indonesia Communist Party, blamed for an abortive coup attempt in 1965. He is barred from traveling abroad because of his alleged involvement in the coup attempt.

Lubis was among 26 Indonesian artists and writers who slammed the foundation's decision to name Pramoedya.

But more than 150 Indonesian writers, journalists and activists said in a statement on Wednesday in Jakarta they supported the choice because of Pramoedya's "invaluable contribution" to Indonesia's cultural and intellectual life.

The Magsaysay foundation also defended the award, saying he had paid for his identification with the Indonesian communist movement by being jailed for 14 years from 1965.

The award, Asia's version of the Nobel Prize given in five categories annually to outstanding Asians and Asian-based organizations, was established in 1958 in memory of Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, who died in an air crash in 1956.