Pramoedya's wife to accept award

Pramoedya's wife to accept award

JAKARTA (JP): The wife of writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer flew
out of Jakarta for Manila yesterday to collect the Magsasay Award
for literature on his behalf.

Maemunah Thamrin, accompanied by her daughter Astuti Ananta
and novelist Marianne Katoppo, flew out of Soekarno-Hatta airport
on board a Singapore Airlines flight.

The debate about whether Pramoedya is barred from leaving the
country became purely academical because the writer has decided
to stay at home due to his age and failing health.

The government has given conflicting signals on the issue,
with one official saying that Pramoedya could not leave the
country, while another says that the travel ban had been lifted.

There has also been controversy over the Magsasay Foundation's
decision to give the award to Pramoedya, Indonesia's most
renowned writer but most of whose works have been barred in his
home country because of what the authorities considered to be
their Marxism/communism teachings.

A group of top figures in Indonesia's art and literary
community criticized the granting of the award to Pramoedya in
view of his own past record in clamping down against fellow
writers in the 1960s.

The award presentation is planned for tomorrow in Manila and
Marianne will read a statement prepared by Pramoedya.

His wife will also be received by Mrs. Luz Magsasay, wife of
former Philippine president Ramon Magsasay, after whom the award
is named, and will pay her respects at Magsasay's grave in Quezon
City.

Marianne said that given the controversy the award for
Pramoedya has spawned in Indonesia and the Philippines, there are
now uncertainties whether or not the award would be presented by
Philippine President Fidel Ramos, as has been the tradition.

"To this day, we've not heard from the committee whether
President Ramos will present the Magsasay," she said. (aks)