The 1960 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

RESPONSE of Tunku Abdul Rahman

I have come on behalf of my father, TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PUTRA, the Prime Minister of the Federation of Malaya, to receive the high honor of an Award for Community Leadership which the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation is so generously bestowing upon him.

My father has asked me to express his sincere thanks and his deep appreciation for your having singled him out as one of the recipients for award in the year 1960.

He feels that recognition of his services in the cause of humanity is a tribute not to him alone but also to his colleagues and to the people of Malaya, for it is they who have made him worthy of your consideration.

It was the people of Malaya who made the achievement of Malayan Independence possible. It is the people of Malaya who have worked to build up goodwill and understanding between all the diverse races in our country. And it is the people of Malaya again who have helped my father to establish a contented, happy and prosperous state in the Federation of Malaya.

His burden has been made very much lighter through the willing and ready cooperation he has received from the Malayan people, irrespective of their race, creed or color. Through the help of the people also, the security forces of the Federation have been able to crush the Communist uprising which lasted for 12 long years.

On the 31st of July this year, just one month ago, the Government of the Federation of Malaya, was able to declare that the Emergency was over at last, and that it could now remove all the Emergency Regulations which had restricted the freedom of the people during these years of trial.

Today the people of Malaya are enjoying greater prosperity, greater peace of mind, and greater harmony than they have ever enjoyed before. The honor which you so thoughtfully give to my father in the form of a Ramon Magsaysay Award is most truly shared by all the people of my country.

My father has sent me, being his closest kin and his only son, to come to Manila to receive the Award. Nothing would have pleased him better than to have been able to come here himself, but it so happens that this birthday anniversary of the late and great Ramon Magsaysay also falls on the day when the whole of Malaya celebrates national independence, today being the third anniversary of the great event.

You will, I am sure, readily understand that because of this coincidence he was not himself able to make the journey.

He has asked me to renew once again the feelings of goodwill and friendship which the people of Malaya have for the people of the Philippines. He also asks me to convey to the people of the Philippines his good wishes for the speedy recovery of President Garcia, whom he understands is not too well, and whose illness has caused a postponement of his visit to Malaya. The Malayan people had looked forward to his visit with great anticipation, and my father hopes that the opportunity for him to do so will soon occur.

If I can speak for myself I would like to say also both as a Malayan and as my father's son it is a great honor for me to represent him on this momentous day. Lastly I particularly wish to thank the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation for the gracious hospitality and the warm welcome they have so cordially extended to me in Manila. This is the first time I have visited your country, of which I have heard so much, and may I say I have enjoyed every moment of my stay.

On behalf of my father and myself I thank you once again.