S.E.A. Write Award no big deal in Indonesia

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Southeast Asian Writers (S.E.A. Write) Award, with over 20 years of history, should be the most prestigious literary award in ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, not unlike a Pulitzer in prestige.

It may be prestigious in the award's native country Thailand, where debates are heated about who should win the annual award. But here, in Indonesia, it is just a matter of taking turns, according to noted poet Sapardi Djoko Damono.

"Unlike the Pulitzer, the criteria for S.E.A.Write is that past awardees cannot be chosen again, so we just choose from the ones that haven't received an award yet. It's just about waiting your turn," he said in an interview recently. Sapardi himself won the award in 1986 and is now a member of the national committee.

The S.E.A.Write Award was begun in 1979 by The Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, Thai Airways International and the Italthai Group of Companies, to encourage writers in ASEAN countries and to bring recognition to literary talents in the region.

Also supporting the organizing committee are the PEN International Thailand-Center, the Writers' Association of Thailand, the Jim Thompson Foundation, Bangkok Bank and Carlsberg Brewery (Thailand).

The award is the highest award given to literary figures in ASEAN by the Kingdom of Thailand, and in its native country is considered a highly prestigious and competitive award.

"In Thailand the competition is very tight, they take it very seriously. It is prestigious since it is always presented by a member of the royal family," said Budiono Mismail, education and cultural attache at the Indonesia Embassy in Bangkok and a member of the central committee. He added that the selection of S.E.A.Write Award winners is left entirely up to the local committee in each of ASEAN's 10 member countries.

In Thailand, a seven-member selection committee is responsible for accepting entries and short-listing seven literary works to be proposed to the Board of Juries for final judging.

The Board of Juries, also made up of seven members, comprises the chairperson of the PEN International Thailand-Center, the chairperson of the Writer's Association of Thailand, a prominent literary expert, three literary figures and the chairperson of the selection committee.

Organizations, institutions which deal with literary works, publishers, literature experts, writers, critics and readers can submit works for the S.E.A.Write Awards.

According to The Nation newspaper, this year's award in Thailand focuses on short stories, with some 59 entrants received by the Thailand committee for S.E.A.Write. The Board of Juries chose 29-year-old author Prabda Yoon as the winner for his short story Khwam Na Ja Pen (Probability).

Back in Indonesia, this year's winner was poet Darmanto Jatman for his collection of poems Isteri (Wife) (1997).

"You ask me why he was chosen? Well, why not?" Sapardi said, explaining that judging a literary work was different from the sure answers one gets from mathematical equations, being much more personal.

"With a different set of judges, the outcome could also be different," he said.

Dendy Sugono, chairman of the Center for Language Cultivation and Development, said a national committee for the selection of a winner from Indonesia was annually appointed by the Center, which comprises noted literary figures and experts. Unlike the Thai nominees, the Indonesian nominees cannot be chosen by the public.

This year, the panel included past awardees Sapardi Djoko Damono (1986), Ramadan K.H. (1993) and Taufik Ismail (1994), poet Slamet Sukirnanto, literature expert Melani Budianta, as well as the Center's own director, Abdul Rozak Zaidan.

However, Dendy denied that the award was given through rotation, explaining the type of literature honored was rotated annually but not the winners themselves.

"We rotate the type of literary works that are entitled to win the award, for example poetry then novels then short stories. This year's award focused on poetry," he said over the phone.

This year's nominees were Darmanto Jatman, Joko Pinurbo for his collection of poems Di Bawah Kibaran Sarung (Under the Flutter of te Sarong) (2001), and a collection of short stories titled Kemilau Cahaya dan Perempuan Buta (Glittering Light and A Blind Woman) (1999) by poet Gus TF Sakai.

The winner was chosen after meeting a set of criteria, Dendy said, explaining that besides the general criteria presented by the central committee, the national committee also has its own criteria for winners.

According to the general criteria, literary works that can nominated for the award are those that have some relevance to the nation or region where the author lives, should be fiction and non-political, and must have been published within three years of the selection year. Other general criteria include a contribution through the writings of the author to the cultural and literary development of his or her country.

Dendy said that the Indonesian committee required a work to have been published within five years of the selection year, rather than the three years required by the central committee. Indonesians, he said, did not produce many literary works in one or two years, and five years was a "reasonable" span.

Moreover, dedication and consistency of production was also regarded in the criteria, he said. "So it's not true that the winner is merely rotated," Dendy asserted.

Winners from the 10 ASEAN countries will receive a plaque to commemorate the distinction, a one-week paid vacation in any ASEAN country for the Thai winner, while winners from the other nine countries will receive a one-week paid vacation to Thailand to attend the awards presentation ceremony, and a cash prize of 70,000 baht (US$1,608).

The S.E.A.Write Awards will be presented during a gala dinner on Oct. 8, presided over by His Serene Highness Prince Bhisatej Rajani at The Oriental Hotel in Bangkok.