Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 14:57:31 +0800
To: apakabar@clark.net
From: sen@murdoch.edu.au (Krishna Sen)

The following letter was sent to the Jakarta Post today, from a group
of academics currently working at Murdoch University in Oz.

Krishna

Letter to Jakarta Post:
To
The Editors
Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Indonesia
Fax: 0011 62 21 549 2685

Dear sir/madam,

The letter of protest signed on 29 July by 26 Indonesian
intellectuals, against the awarding of the Magsaysay literature prize
to Pramoedya Ananta Toer, will be deeply disappointing to the readers
of Indonesian literature around the world.

Internationally, Pramoedya is not just Indonesia's, but indeed
Southeast Asia's, most celebrated author.  He is the most translated
and most widely read Indonesian novelist.  In world literature,
Pramoedya IS Indonesia's representative.  He has been nominated many
times for the Nobel Prize for Literature and many of us hope that he
will one day bring the first Nobel award to Indonesia.  The judgement
of 26 people, whatever their position in contemporary Indonesia, will
not alter the place that Pramoedya already occupies in world
literature.  In that context, it is deeply regrettable that some
literary figures in his own country are unable to share the glory that
Pramoedya brings to his nation, and by extension to all of Asia.

It appears that the position of the 26 signatories, is not shared
widely in the Indonesian intellectual community.  Significantly, the
list does not include any prominent intellectuals of the younger
generation.  Nor does it include some of the most respected cultural
figures of New Order Indonesia, such as Arief Budiman and Goenawan
Mohamad.  It is possible, that by continuing to judge Pramoedya by a
particular interpretation of LEKRA politics of 1959-65, the 26
signatories represent an increasingly anachronistic position, which i
irrelevant to Indonesia's future in a global cultural community.

No one remembers the Soviet critics of Solzhenitsyn.  So too, with or
without the Magsaysay award, Indonesia will continue to be seen in
world literature largely through Pramoedya's work, long after the
current politl issues are forgotten.

Yours sincerely
Krishna Sen
George Aditjondro
David Hill
Vedi Hadiz

Murdoch University
Australia

10 August 1995

Cheryl Miller
Theatre and Drama Studies
School of Humanities
Murdoch University
c_miller@csuvax1.murdoch.edu.au (Cheryl Miller)
360 6248