(Editor’s note: In response to an article by Linda Bolido entitled “The controversial Magsaysay award” published in our August 28, 1995 issue, Filipino novelist and Magsaysay awardee F. Sionil Jose sent in this reply:
“Below is the rationale for the RM Award. Please print it in full so that your readers will understand that our objection to Pramoedya ( this year’s RM awardee for literature ) has nothing to do with his writing but with his acts when he was in power. Linda Bolido should have prefaced her article with the notation that she works for the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation and her views are not particularly objective.”
Ms.Bolido actually informed the Editor that she worked with the Magsaysay Foundation. The editor believes that her article was objective.)
IN RECOGNITION OF GREATNESS OF SPIRIT SHOWN IN SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE
The life of Ramon Magsaysay had great impact not only in the Philippines but on many people in many lands. He was one of the outstanding leaders of our time.
Ramon Magsaysay commanded the admiration, respect and affection of people because he was a simple, humble man; because he care for all people as individuals and believed in their dignity and importance, and because he had the courage of his convictions. His objective was to improve a lot of his countrymen and he approached the task with selfless devotion. He was convinced that government to last and to be sound must have integrity and reflect the will of the people.
A man of greatness of spirit, he saw his fellowmen born with the right to live in liberty and happiness. He angered at injustice and the violation of high principles. He worked to build a nation — a world — in which freedom could be enjoyed by all and man could live with man in honor and peace.
The world is richer and better because Ramon Magsaysay lived. His spirit will continue to be an inspiration. He exemplifies the highest type of leadership and as such is a source of strength and confidence to men everywhere who are sincerely concerned about the well-being of their fellowmen.
To honor Ramon Magsaysay and to give recognition to those ideals which characterized his life and the courageous service which he rendered to the people of the Philippines, the Ramon Magsaysay is established.
The above rationale for the RM Award has not changed in the last forty years. Nowhere does the rationale recognize excellence alone; it equally allows for virtue and integrity and the awardee must conform with such lofty principles as well.
The problem is this: the RM Award board has forgotten it. In justifying their choice of Pramoedya Ananta Toer as the RM 1995 Awardee for literature, the RM Board dismissed the objections of two Indonesian RM awardees and the most distinguished literati of Indonesia as “their opinion.”
What is this again? Such opinion is not the opinion of the herd, the uninformed, of the cultural periphery; it is expert, learned Indonesian opinion which was not consulted. The RM board affirms that Pramoedya was not a communist. What if he was? Jean Paul Sartre espoused many communist causes but did no harm to his fellowmen as did Pramoedya.
Another revealing insight into the Board’s thinking—the vote is unanimous—is its belief that the objection to Pramoedya bears “little moral weight.” On whom? Go tell that to the Indonesians whom Pramoedya tyrannized!
This kind of thinking goes to the very condition—collaboration—which plagues our own society. Collaboration with the enemy—the Japanese, the dictator Marcos—has perhaps been resolved politically when many of these slimy creatures who oppressed their country were returned to power and were never really ostracized. But as a moral issue, we know that collaboration rankles, weakens our moral fiber and, to this very day, is the festering core of our political malaise.
No, the case of Pramoedya is not isolated or Indonesian alone. It is relevant to us Filipinos who care about morality in our political life and in our dealings with fellowmen.
By acting the way it did, the RM Board has shown itself recreant to the very standards that made Magsaysay great. In returning his RM award, Mochtar Lubis has chosen an honorable alternative. I hope the RM Board recognizes the stern demand of honor as Lubis knows it.
I have spoken.
Written by F. Sionil Jose. September 11, 1995. Philippine Graphic.
NOTE: The “Editor” in the Editor’s Note refers to the Editor of the Philippine Graphic in 1995.
