Seven years ago, seeing the force of a simple act of human generosity “one man’s voluntary gift of land” in the solution of a bitter village conflict, VINOBA BHAVE dedicated himself to the propagation of a new kind of social revolution in India. 

The vehicle he originated for this work, known as the Bhoodan Movement, has as its primary tangible objective “land for the landless.” Its intangible implications are even more significant. Emphasizing a voluntary giving, first of land and more recently also of cash, kind, labor, intelligence, life and of whole villages, he has sought to bring his people to a fuller realization of man’s nobler nature. 

Many among his countrymen have responded to his abiding faith in the basic goodness of human character and the tempering effect of human conscience. In them, he has awakened a consciousness of inner strength and nurtured a social morality. Thus, in his seven years of walking to the villages of India, he has labored to create with gentle persuasion the climate for social reform wherein, by ways he has proposed, needed change could be accomplished voluntarily. 

He has sought nothing for himself, least of all recognition of his achievements. Rather, his has been a life selflessly devoted to finding and conveying to his people an approach to the problem of poverty that is within the means of every man. He, in his way, as our late President Ramon Magsaysay did in his, has given himself humbly and unstintingly in service to his people. 

In electing ACHARYA VINOBA BHAVE to receive the first Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the Board of Trustees recognizes his furtherance of the cause of arousing his countrymen toward voluntary action in relieving social injustice and economic inequalities.

ACHARYA VINOBA BHAVE has conveyed to the Foundation his thanks for the Award which he has “most humbly accepted.” He has said he would have been happy if he could have come to Manila for the presentation ceremonies, but his padyatra, or walking to villages, must continue “until the land problem of India is satisfactorily solved.”

Nearly ten years ago, Dr. CHIANG MON-LIN was chosen to be the Chairman of a new government entity, created to formulate and carry out a program of rural reconstruction in China. To this end, he and his colleagues in the Chinese and American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction evolved a “formula” that has been notably successful. 

On Taiwan, evidences of the JCRR’s catalytic influence may readily he observed in increased and improved agricultural production. Equally important, the JCRR has helped to insure social justice through effective land reform and through organization of farmers to process and market their produce, to maintain their own health clinics, their irrigation canals and otherwise to enrich rural life. 

Though the accomplishments of the JCRR are the work of more than one man or a few men, Dr. CHIANG, as its Chairman, has provided a balance that has been vital to its success. Formerly one of his country’s leading educators, he brought to government service a broad, humanitarian view that has contributed toward an unusual tolerance and flexibility and yet a high degree of selectivity in the organization he has led. 

Like Ramon Magsaysay, he has set for his associates a high standard of government service. His yardstick for personal effort has been achievement of goals for the public good rather than reward. 

In naming CHIANG MON-LIN to receive the first Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the Board of Trustees recognizes his distinguished leadership of the Chinese and American Commission that has been largely instrumental in bringing about significant improvements in the rural life of his countrymen.

It has been said civilization is but a lengthening shadow of its great men. How true it is. But the idea of a great man changes its meaning as times change. In the 19th century, a great man may have meant an empire builder, no matter in what field of endeavor he was engaged.

In the middle of the 20th century, after two world wars, a great man must be a great leader of the common man.

So it was with Ramon Magsaysay. Such a leader knows no national boundaries. His influence extends to every corner of the four seas.

With such an understanding, I come here to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award. In a deeper sense, I come here to pay my humble tribute to this great leader rather than to receive the honor bestowed upon me and my colleagues in the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction.

In another sense, the work of the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction falls in line with the spirit of Ramon Magsaysay — to work for the benefit of the largest number of people in the rural districts.

May my colleagues and myself take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the members of the Foundation for conferring upon us this great honor.

I thank you.

(Note: Salutations preceding all Responses have been omitted.)

R. McCULLOCH DICK, as founder and publisher of a journal that has recently marked its 50th anniversary, has played a pioneering role in establishing and maintaining the tradition of press freedom in the Philippines. 

The Philippines Free Press has, from its beginning, lived up to its name. The staff has been encouraged to explore every event of significance, regardless of the influence of agencies or personalities that may have been affected. Despite repeated attempts to curtail publication of his journal, Mr. DICK has not wavered in his determination to give to the people of the Philippines a free press. 

His weekly magazine has brought to public attention the unsung work of good citizens, prominent and unknown alike, as well as abuses that have not otherwise been reported. It has been, in a sense, a public prosecutor in the cause of fair elections, rule by law and morality in government service. 

Consistent with the spirit of the late Ramon Magsaysay, the Free Press has taken up the defense of victims of injustice. And it attends to the concerns of the people who live in the barrios. 

MOCHTAR LUBIS is today waging in Indonesia the battle for freedom of the press that R. McCULLOCH DICK has helped to win in the Philippines. As neither he nor Mrs. Lubis could be present, he has requested that Carlos Nivera, a former Filipino editor, should represent him. 

MOCHTAR LUBIS, as editor-in-chief, and part-owner of the Indonesia Raya, has fought against government corruption, the violation of civil liberties by the military and against the inroads of totalitarianism in his country. Since December 1956, he has chosen incarceration over compromise in the interest of enhancing rather than diminishing the area of press freedom in Indonesia. 

At a time when this basic freedom is being threatened in many parts of the world, his example gives strength to others who share the belief that free speech and a free press are essential if government is to reflect the will of the people. 

In electing to divide the first Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts equally between R. McCULLOCH DICK and MOCHTAR LUBIS, the Board of Trustees recognizes the courageous and constructive contribution each has made in the profession of journalism as a power for the public good.

It is difficult for me to express my feelings after having been so highly honored. Knowing that others in my profession have accomplished more, I feel that the prize, the singular distinction that has been conferred upon me by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, should have been presented to someone more deserving. 

When I started the Free Press 50 years ago, and during the years that have followed, I never entertained the thought of someday becoming the recipient of such a high honor as this. Since to reject the Award is out of the question, all I can do is to thank the members of the Board who rendered the decision. 

In closing, I would like to make this acknowledgement: The Free Press is what it is today only because of Filipino wholehearted cooperation and support. Without such, there would be no Philippines Free Press, and there would be no award to me for “journalism for the public good.” I thank you.

R. McCULLOCH DICK, as founder and publisher of a journal that has recently marked its 50th anniversary, has played a pioneering role in establishing and maintaining the tradition of press freedom in the Philippines. The Philippines Free Press has, from its beginning, lived up to its name. The staff has been encouraged to explore every event of significance, regardless of the influence of agencies or personalities that may have been affected. Despite repeated attempts to curtail publication of his journal, Mr. DICK has not wavered in his determination to give to the people of the Philippines a free press. 

His weekly magazine has brought to public attention the unsung work of good citizens, prominent and unknown alike, as well as abuses that have not otherwise been reported. It has been, in a sense, a public prosecutor in the cause of fair elections, rule by law and morality in government service. 

Consistent with the spirit of the late Ramon Magsaysay, the Free Press has taken up the defense of victims of injustice. And it attends to the concerns of the people who live in the barrios. 

MOCHTAR LUBIS is today waging in Indonesia the battle for freedom of the press that R. McCULLOCH DICK has helped to win in the Philippines. 

As neither he nor Mrs. Lubis could be present, he has requested that Carlos Nivera, a former Filipino editor, should represent him. 

MOCHTAR LUBIS, as editor-in-chief, and part-owner of the Indonesia Raya, has fought against government corruption, the violation of civil liberties by the military and against the inroads of totalitarianism in his country. Since December 1956, he has chosen incarceration over compromise in the interest of enhancing rather than diminishing the area of press freedom in Indonesia. 

At a time when this basic freedom is being threatened in many parts of the world, his example gives strength to others who share the belief that free speech and a free press are essential if government is to reflect the will of the people. 

In electing to divide the first Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communications Arts equally between R. McCULLOCH DICK and MOCHTAR LUBIS, the Board of Trustees recognizes the courageous and constructive contribution each has made in the profession of journalism as a power for the public good.

It is with a feeling of greatest inadequacy that I stand here for MOCHTAR LUBIS. MOCHTAR LUBIS is today a great man and there can be no substitute for greatness. 

A few days ago, there came from Indonesia the text of the response which MOCHTAR LUBIS had hoped to deliver before this assembly. Due to limitations of time, I can read to you only a few excerpts from MOCHTAR address, an address that reflects a spirit still afire with freedom even after almost two years of confinement. 

This is the message from MOCHTAR LUBIS: 

“When I first met the late President Ramon Magsaysay at the headquarters of his presidential campaign, I asked him: ‘How do you expect to win this election?’ 

“He put his hand on my shoulder, grinned and said: ‘With the truth and with the people . . .’

“The task of working for the truth and for the people is not an easy one today in many countries in Asia. In our own time, and in our own specific countries, the task of discovering the truth, the task of serving the people . . . must become an unceasing and vigilant confrontation with the facts of our time.

“And what are these facts?

“The big facts are that despite hard-won freedom, our peoples are still very poor, hungry, ignorant and in some cases they are still exploited . . . 

“Many honest and well-meaning people, faced with difficult and seemingly insurmountable problems have become persuaded that democratic reconstruction is impossible in Asia. And this attitude is being helped to grow by communist propaganda and subversion. That is why today in Asia we may find leaders, who yesterday were quite willing to die for democracy and human freedom, but are now easily beginning to say that, in order to achieve freedom from want, it is excusable to do away with freedom of expression, which is another way of saying that democracy and human freedom may be thrown away for the sake of filling the stomachs of the masses . . . 

“We maintain that freedom from hunger and freedom of expression are one and indivisible, that democracy, human dignity and freedom are worth fighting for. We maintain that rice alone is not enough and that it is not by rice alone that we can promote and enrich human values, and so give our contribution to the building of a happier human life on our earth. We maintain that no nation can live by itself, but that a nation can only enrich its own life and happiness by living and working together with other nations . . . 

“We all know that the voice of truth and the voice of the people can be suppressed: newspapers can be muzzled, journalists can be arrested or even killed, but the ideals of truth, the love for the people, the love for a better mankind and a better and happier world?all these will never die and can never be suppressed. 

“Indeed, the challenge of our time is for man to express more fully, more truly, more bravely and honestly his own humanity. 

“Ramon Magsaysay is no longer with us. We are here to pay tribute to his ideals, and because of his ideals, he is so much more with us today. Because Ramon Magsaysay understood the challenge of our time, because he responded honestly and bravely to this challenge, he became one of the driving forces of these universal values. In his own time, Ramon Magsaysay became the champion of the common people in the Philippines and the symbol of truth, honesty, courage and freedom in Asia? 

“And it is because of this that I most sharply feel my own inadequacy to earn this honor, this Award. I accept it with the greatest humility, and my only hope is that I would be worthy of this great honor bestowed upon me.”

In mid-1954, the group effort known as OPERATION BROTHERHOOD was originated in the Philippines to help meet the medical and relief needs of the tens of thousands of refugees and wounded who were flooding from embattled areas of Vietnam into crowded Saigon and Cholon. 

The late President Ramon Magsaysay personally helped provide initial impetus to the drive for the succor of war-ravaged Vietnam and the uprooted families who had sought in the south a sanctuary not hostile to their faith or political convictions. The first team of seven doctors and three nurses was flown to Saigon aboard a Philippine Red Cross plane in October 1954. Before closing their work in Vietnam in December 1956, OPERATION BROTHERHOOD teams had treated some 730,000 persons. Since January 1957, a 50-member group has given treatment to another 250,000 persons in Laos. 

The OPERATION’s impact has been felt not only in terms of lives saved and better health attained. Of equal importance has been its heartening demonstration, in keeping with the creed of its civic sponsor, that “the brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations.” 

Initially a project of the Philippine Junior Chamber of Commerce, OPERATION BROTHERHOOD was immediately taken up by the Asian Jaycees and later was selected as the Junior Chamber International project for 1955. Other organizations, government agencies and individuals have also made important contributions. Altogether, material aid in cash, medicines and supplies — in some instances bolstered by actual participation through medical teams — has been received from Australia, Burma, Canada, Ceylon, the Republic of China, England, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaya, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States.

In recognizing this group effort, the Board of Trustees makes particular reference to those men and women who have actively participated in this work. The Board of Trustees also recognizes, by extension, the OPERATION’s civic sponsor and all of those others in many countries who have rallied to its support. 

The first Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding is given to OPERATION BROTHERHOOD in acknowledgement of the spirit of service to other peoples in a time of need, with which it was conceived and has been carried forward, as well as the international amity it has fostered.

OPERATION BROTHERHOOD is a product of dreams made into reality by the faith, confidence, and generosity of men of good will.

OPERATION BROTHERHOOD believes that only through the demonstration of good will can we hope to banish the suspicion and hostility with which neighbor looks upon neighbor in these insecure times. It believes that only if fear and suspicion can give way to faith and understanding can any program of social or economic betterment hope to begin and succeed. 

OPERATION BROTHERHOOD has only used the simple maxims that were taught to all of us as children: to love all men as brothers; to love one’s neighbors as oneself; and to do unto others as one would have others do unto oneself. If OPERATION BROTHERHOOD has won any success in the eyes of the people it has served, it has been due to the dedication of its personnel to these principles learned in childhood. 

If OPERATION BROTHERHOOD has been able to translate these maxims into reality, it has been due to the generosity and faith of those who have contributed to its efforts. 

The Jaycees of Asia, and particularly those of the Philippines, lent it their support, and the Junior Chamber International named it their main project for the years 1954 through 1956. Since then, OPERATION BROTHERHOOD has become an independent project sponsored by the Jaycees in the Philippines and Laos. Support comes from many nations whose citizens make possible the continuance of this work, and we pay tribute to all our patrons in the free world, particularly that great friend of Asia, the United States of America. 

Today, in particular, we would like to pay homage to the late President Ramon Magsaysay, for he was one of the very first to whom this project was presented. Warned that it would be controversial as our own country needed programs of this nature as badly as our neighbors, it is only fitting that you know his reply. It was this: 

“We have been assisted in our hour of need by generous friends. Shall we then deny our help to our neighbors when they are in need of it? Human misery knows no national boundaries. By all means, help them. And if there is anything that I and this government can do to help, please feel free to come to me.”

President Magsaysay is dead. But his words shall always live with us. 

And we are proud to say that our President who has succeeded him has been as unstinting in his support of this movement. We would like to take this occasion also to pay tribute to President Ngo Dinh Diem of Vietnam, and to the Royal Government of Laos, for the hospitality, kindness and support that they have given to the members of OPERATION BROTHERHOOD who have been privileged to serve in their countries, and who have been made to feel not strangers but welcome friends and brothers. Likewise, we pay tribute to those who have allowed their loved ones to serve in foreign lands, especially to the parents of our three comrades whose third death anniversary we observed only four days ago. 

There is a tendency today to brand anyone engaged in business and industry as arrogant, selfish, and rapacious capitalists. Yet it has been the contributions of these men that have made possible our work, whose assistance has been characterized by true altruism. They have realized that the main concern of any thriving enterprise is the upliftment of the spiritual and social welfare of the individual. They, more than any group, recognized that only through mutual prosperity can progress be achieved. 

It is to these men, institutions and governments that we dedicate this Award which your Foundation has so graciously given to us, and which we accept with deep humility. You, our patrons and friends, have given to us a great blessing, for you have rekindled in us an abiding faith in the precept of our childhood” that of Christian love. By your great kindness, we have been privileged to lighten in some little way the dreadful burden of misery that afflicts our part of the world today. 

We hope that we have been able to instill in those among whom we have worked our common message: that they are not alone; that the brotherhood of man transcends national boundaries. On behalf of all my co-workers, I thank each and every one of you.

In 1896, MARY H. RUTNAM left the country of her birth to serve a people of a different race, creed and custom. Since then, she has for 62 years applied her heart, her mind and her medical knowledge with insight and understanding to the problems of the Ceylonese people, whom she has made her own. From her inspiration and leadership, volunteer and government-supported social services in many fields have grown and been sustained. Perhaps her greatest contribution has been the introduction into Ceylon of women’s institutes, known as the Lanka Mahila Samiti, that have done much to alter the status of village women. 

Dr. RUTNAM has labored particularly to enhance the self-respect of the less fortunate by showing them practical ways to improve their lot. At the same time, she has helped the more fortunate to recognize that it is their social responsibility and, indeed, their privilege to help their fellowmen. Her life and activities have been characterized by a spirit of service kindred to that of our late President. He, like her, cared for all people and believed in their dignity and importance. 

In electing MARY H. RUTNAM to receive the first Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, the board of trustees recognizes her gift of service to the Ceylonese people and the example she has set by her full life of dedication as a private citizen to the needs of others.

I consider it a great privilege and honor to be chosen as one of the Ramon Magsaysay Awardees and to be able to be present on this memorable occasion. The ideals for which Ramon Magsaysay, your late President, stands have been a great example and inspiration, not only to his own people but to those of other lands as well. I greatly appreciate the privilege accorded to me of visiting Manila and meeting his beloved people who are today celebrating his 51st birthday in befitting manner.

I thank the Board of Trustees for the arrangements made for my stay here and the kind hospitality shown to me. I am sure on my return to Colombo I will have much that will be of interest and value to pass on to the people of Ceylon. My thanks are also due to the Rockefeller family who have been great benefactors to many notable causes. The presence of two of that family here today is a testimony of their great interest in all world-wide efforts for the uplift and benefit of mankind. I feel very proud of this opportunity of meeting them personally. I conclude by quoting a few lines written long ago but very appropriate for the present occasion: “The lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and departing leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of time.” Once again I thank you all.