The 1962 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

RESPONSE of Koesna Harley Poeradiredja

HARLEY KOESNA POERADIREDJA The Award is a complete surprise to me because my feeling is that my contribution to my community is too humble in comparison to the huge and difficult problems which my country has to solve. For this reason, it seems to me that the Award given to me is too early. Another reason is that I am not yet ready with my plans for labor and I may never be ready with them. But the most important thing for me today is the fact that the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation imposes a moral obligation to do more than what I have so far achieved. This means that Ramon Magsaysay, the late President, is applying moral pressure for me to do better than in the past for the poor.

I would also like to take this opportunity to give my formal contribution to a better understanding between the people of the Philippines and Indonesia. This humble contribution will be to give a small amount of money to the Philippine-Indonesia Association, if they will honor me with their acceptance. Secondly, to sponsor two Filipinos, one of whom shall be a top-rank railway union leader, to enable them to visit Indonesia and to be the guests of the Indonesian Railway Workers Union (PBKA) for which all the expenditures shall be paid by our organization. This will be carried out through the Indonesian Embassy in Manila in cooperation with one or more institutions here. This is only the first step to promote better relationship between the people of the Philippines and the people of Indonesia, and I do sincerely hope that in the near future the governments of both countries will try to achieve the objective which I have initiated.