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Thai senator, Indonesian anti-corruption crusader among 2005 Magsaysay winners |
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Senin, 01 Agustus 2005 |
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A Thai senator who champions the underprivileged, an Indonesian anti-corruption campaigner and an Indian cancer doctor are among this year's winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia's version of the Nobel Prize.
The annual awards, named after late Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, will be presented to six winners from Thailand, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Laos and Bangladesh on Aug. 31, organizers announced on Monday.
Thailand's Jon Ungphakorn, 58, became a second-generation winner, receiving the Magsaysay award for government service for his impassioned insistence as a senator that Thailand respect the rights and attend humanely to the needs of its least advantaged citizens, the Magsaysay board of trustees said.
His father, Puey Ungphakorn, was one of the architects of the modern Thai state.
The younger Ungphakorn turned his attention to social issues during the politically turbulent 1970s, founding the Thai Volunteer Service in 1980 to expose privileged university graduates to the rural poor and the non government organizations working with them.
In 1991, he founded the AIDS-Access Foundation, pioneering providing confidential counseling for people with HIV/AIDS and their families, and pushing for effective and affordable treatment.
Ungphakorn was elected to the Senate in 2000 on support from the NGO and HIV/AIDS communities.
Indonesia's Teten Masduki, 42, is receiving the Magsaysay public service award for challenging Indonesians to expose corruption and claim their right to clean government.
I plunged into the activist world after joining a 1985 demonstration by local farmers whose land had been stolen, said Teten, who was born into a family of farmers.
In 1998, he volunteered to head Indonesia Corruption Watch, which became a clearinghouse for information about corruption, collusion and nepotism. Last year, the group examined 432 cases causing an estimated loss to Indonesia of some US$580 million.
Source: The Jakarta Post, August 1, 2005 |
