The 1983 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

RESPONSE of Anton Soedjarwo

First of all I would like to express my gratitude to the Magsaysay Foundation for giving me the honor of receiving the Ramon Magsaysay Award. I was quite surprised when I first learned from my staff about the Award; being honest, this was completely beyond my dream. However I believe that this happened because of the good cooperation, understanding and support of the government, of colleagues in our own and other nongovernmental organizations, and of all the friends who have been very faithful and supportive of Dian Desa's work. On this occasion I would like to thank them.

I would also like to express my wish that individuals will realize that helping others, however small their efforts may be, is worth far more than doing nothing; they can make a difference.

As we all know, there are millions of people who still subsist below the minimum standard of living—for a myriad of multifaceted reasons. There being many reasons for poverty, a wide array of possible activities exists for overcoming this condition. There is a real need of activators who can play the role of initiators in addressing this problem. It is surely not the responsibility of the government alone, but the responsibility of the people—or in other words, our responsibility—to help change society.

Unfortunately, within society there is usually a class system that may lead to a condition or situation where people work only for recognition or status. And such a situation, in my opinion, is quite dangerous for development. In my experience more activators will bring better performance and hasten development faster than one prima donna with many titles or high status, or than government alone. I think this is the situation in the rural development process; I believe President Magsaysay foresaw this years ago.

In closing I once again would like to thank the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, the Indonesian Government and all the friends who have given their support to Dian Desa. I believe this honor will be a challenge to us to fulfill and transmit the desire of the former President of the Philippines, His Excellency Ramon Magsaysay.