Twenty-five years ago, Thai Airways International decided to assist local writers by bringing them to the attention of the public. Through the PEN Club of Thailand they could select a writer whose work had been published, and award him or her with a prize. A wonderful idea!  But why isolate it to Thai writers alone? Why not writers from all ASEAN countries? A logical place to issue these awards would be The Oriental Hotel, of course. The Oriental is one of the oldest hotels in Asia, and for ten consecutive years was voted The Best Hotel in the World. Much of The Oriental’s glory comes from the many writers who stayed there—Joseph Conrad, James Michener. Somerset Maugham and a host of others.

The Oriental Hotel, under the guidance and direction of its manager Kurt Wachtvietl, agreed, and together THAI and The Oriental inaugurated a yearly event called The S.E.A. Write Award. It honours and pays tribute to nine (from the original five) writers and poets from the nine ASEAN countries of Southeast Asia.

Those who visit the Author’s Lounge at The Oriental will notice on the wall to the left as they enter a large marble plaque, and engraved here, for the world to see for generations to come, are the names of the awardees and the countries from which they come. There could be no higher tribute to the literary men and women whose names appear there.

Each year there is a gala presentation of the awards at the hotel. This year it was October 15, and those who attended were high-ranking Thai ministers, ambassadors from the many ASEAN countries, invited guests, members of the local and international press, news photographer and TV cameramen and both foreign and Thai royalty. Nor were the awardees themselves any less impressive, dressed in their traditional national costumes from nine ASEAN countries.

The reception cocktail party held in their honour was only a forerunner of what is to come. Soon after they were ushered into the Grand Ballroom at The Oriental and presented to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand; and then, after a gala champagne dinner party, came the honours.

  “It cannot be denied,” wrote one literary critic in the Bangkok Post, “that the S.E.A Write Award is certainly having an impact on the creation of an awareness of the overall ASEAN literary scene.”

Both THAI and The Oriental realised there was a certain gamble in organizing such awards. Who would help sponsor such an ambitious and costly program? Who would decide what work is best? And how do you avoid discriminating among ASEAN writers where nationalities, religions and languages differ so drastically?

But the idea was sound. “It was just what we needed to recognise Asian writers and promote our cultures,” explained Chitdee Rangarava, Public Relations Manager for Thai Airways International at the time. “The popularity of the awards has also succeeded in promoting international communications. Suddenly authors are being read outside their country. There’s a cry for translations. That had never happened before. The Award could also help boost tourism. Thai Airways International agreed to be one of the major sponsors.

Another impetus to its success was when Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand agreed to preside over the presentation ceremony and chair the organizing committee. Included on the committee are members of the three main sponsors, representatives from the ASEAN embassies, the PEN Club of Thailand and the Writers’ Association of Thailand. The Jim Thompson Foundation later joined in financial support of the award.

That was twenty-five years ago, and the number from five ASEAN countries has grown from five in 1979 to nine today, including, aside from Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Thai Airways International flies awardees from their respective countries to Bangkok. They stay for a week at The Oriental Hotel, with all expenses paid, and this year’s prize money amounted to 100,000 baht, or US$2,600. But most important, awardee’s books are being made known internationally.

Selecting winners was a critical ruling that had to be made from the start. It was solved by a unique system that seemed fair and

just to all countries. Writers and poets would be selected by their peers within their native country. The requirements were that all work selected had to be an original and had to have some relevance to the nation or region where the author lived.

The work, whether a novel, short story or poem, had to be fiction and had to have been published within five years of the selection year. The work could be presented in English or in the author’s native language.

And who are these winners? The differences among them are as striking as the similarities. From past winners: Thailand’s Naowarat Pongpaiboon was a successful lawyer as well as a noted poet. Nick Jaoquin of the Philippines was a laborer. Putu Wijaya of Indonesia authored no less than 15 novels and is a film and stage actor. Marianne Katoppo was the first woman to be awarded. Chart Kobjitti was the youngest at 28 years old, compared to Nick Jaoquin, 63. This year’s awardees are truly n impressive group of five men and two women. The Thai winner is a lady, Duanwas Pimwana, who writes under the pen name of Pimchai Jugin She. A young writer, born in 1969m she had won many award for her books of short stories and her novel Chang Samran.

I was fortunate to be able to attend the press conference on October 11^th and talked with a few of the awardees. I was most impressed with these writers and their dedication to the arts. Philip Jeyaretnam is a layer from Singapore who devotes as much time as he can to writing. His objective in writing is to explore the perspectives of those around him, and to slip into their shoes while telling their tales. His wining entry was his book Abraham’s Promise.

I was most impressed with Dr. Zakaria Ali from Malaysia. Dr. Zakaria holds a master’s degree from a university in Texas and a second masters from Mexico. He earned his doctoral degree from Harvard University in 1991. He began writing in 1968 and since then has won many awards. We struck a common ground when we learned we both did graduate work (mine was anthropology) at a university in Mexico. I am looking forward to reading his books.

Domingo Landicho from the Philippines is not only a gifted writer but also a jack-of-all-trades—a professor at the University of the Philippines, and actor for the theatre, TV and films, and a cultural activists. He kept everyone entertained with his theories of writing at the press conference.

Professor Haji Hashim Bin Haji Abdul Hamid from Brunei is a poet and very erudite and pleasant to listen to. Kim Pinun from Cambodia read one of his poems in his native language, and despite not knowing the language, it was beautiful, much as an Italian opera is to non-Italians.

At the second presentation, the organizing committee decided to invite well-known authors to give the keynote speech. That year James Michener was invited. He delighted the audience with his heart-warming tales about his early experiences in Bangkok and Thailand. The next year came Han Suyin. The following year came Gore Vidal, American historical novelist. Others have been William Golding, Paul Theroux, Frederick Forsyth, Norman Mailer and Vidiadhar Naipaul. This year’s guest speaker was Victoria Glendinning, well known in the English-speaking world for her highly praised literary biographies and novels which have been translated into many languages. She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1998 for services to literature.

The S.E.A. Write Award brings the beauty of the written word to all of Asia and the rest of the world. By winning this highest literary prize, Asian authors are gaining international recognition by being read outside their own countries.

Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited.