Banned writer Pramoedya gets Magsaysay award
JAKARTA (JP): Pramoedya Ananta Toer, a prolific novelist whose books have been banned by the government, has been elected to receive the 1995 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts.
The 70-year-old writer will receive a certificate and medallion bearing the likeness of a former president of the Philippines, after whom the annual awards are named, and a prize of US$50,000 during the presentation ceremonies in Manila on August 31.
Pramoedya is the second Indonesian to receive the award for the field of journalism, literature and creative communication arts. The first was senior journalist Mochtar Lubis in 1958.
Mochtar refused to comment on the award for Pramoedya.
"I'd rather not say anything. Pramoedya and I are from opposing groups. He's from LEKRA," he said, referring to the People's Cultural Institute which leaned heavily toward communism in the early 1960s.
"It was LEKRA that burned my books at the time. So, I'd rather not make any comments about it (the award being given to Pramoedya)," Lubis told The Jakarta Post.
Pramoedya is the 15th Indonesian to have been named a Magsaysay laureate. The most recent was Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the 30 million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization, for Community Leadership, in 1993.
A release from the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation said that, aside from Pramoedya, three other awardees for 1995 have been announced. They are: Morihiro Hiramatsu of Japan for Government Service, Asma Jahangir of Pakistan for Public Service, and Ho Ming-Teh of Taiwan for Community Leadership.
Among Pramoedya's books are Perburuan (The Fugitive), Keluarga Gerilya (Guerrilla Family), Gadis Pantai (The Girl from the Coast), and Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind).
The government has already banned most of Pramoedya's works, which were considered to have communist overtures.
The most recent ban was imposed on his book Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu (The Silent Song of a Mute) in April, almost two months after it went on sale. The authorities cited that its content could create public unrest.
The 319-page book "contains misleading writings, which could create the wrong opinion about the government of Indonesia," Attorney General Singgih said in his decree.
"Allowing the circulation of the book will cause commotion or restlessness, which can disturb public order," Singgih said.
Pramoedya, who was once an editor of the literary page of a left-wing newspaper, was held from 1965 to 1969 in the Salemba detention center in Jakarta, for alleged communist activities. He later spent 10 years in hard labor at Buru Island, Maluku.
Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu was published by Lentera of Jakarta in February this year in commemoration of his 70th birthday.
It was first published in the Netherlands under the title of Lied van een Stomme, in 1988 and 1989, translated by A. van der Helm and Angela Rookmaker. (swe)