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Poet Afrizal Malna turns down Bakrie award
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Respected poet and writer Afrizal Malna, seen here in an undated photo, has turned down the 2016 Achmad Bakrie Award for literature on Saturday, adding to a list of other intellectuals that have refused the award in the past. (Antara/Rosa Panggabean)
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oted poet and writer Afrizal Malna has turned down the 2016 Achmad Bakrie Award for literature, saying he did not want to be associated with the Bakrie family's group of businesses.
"That means I would become part of their construction [Achmad Bakrie Awards]; therefore it is better for me not to accept it," he told tempo.co on Sunday.
The 59-year-old literary figure also pointed to the image of the award in the public eye, given the background of the Bakrie family's business empire. Achmad Bakrie is the father of businessman and Golkar Party politician Aburizal Bakrie.
The literature award was an effort to silence the development of literature itself, Afrizal claimed.
An advisor to the Achmad Bakrie Award committee, Rizal Mallarengeng, said the refusal did not annul Afrizal's victory.
"There are controversies, but for us that does not matter," he said, as quoted by tempo.co.
The committee said Afrizal's achievements as a poet and writer had enriched the cultural life of the country. The award aimed to appreciate his works and to inspire younger generations, Rizal said on Saturday. Furthermore, Afrizal was also awarded because the committee considered him successful in creating modern poetry on urban lives.
Afrizal's refusal adds to a long list of respective figures that have turned down the awards in the past. Catholic intellectual Rev. Franz Magnis-Suseno declined to receive the award in 2007 because of Bakrie’s connection to a mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java.
Other figures include noted poet Sitor Situmorang, social scientist Daoed Joesoef, poet and journalist Goenawan Mohamad and literary figure Seno Gumira Ajidarma. (rin)
