2009 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees Announced

The Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) announced that this year six individuals from Burma, China, India, the Philippines, and Thailand will receive Asia’s premier prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award. The Awardees are:

Krisana Kraisintu, from Thailand. She is being recognized for “her placing pharmaceutical rigor at the service of patients, through her untiring and fearless dedication to producing much-needed generic drugs in Thailand and elsewhere in the developing world.”

Deep Joshi, from India. He is being recognized for “his vision and leadership in bringing professionalism to the NGO movement in India, by effectively combining ‘head’ and ‘heart’ in the transformative development of rural communities.”

Yu Xiaogang, from China. He is being recognized for “his fusing the knowledge and tools of social science with a deep sense of social justice, in assisting dam-affected communities in China to shape the development projects that impact their natural environment and their lives.”

Antonio Oposa, Jr., from the Philippines. He is being recognized for “his pathbreaking and passionate crusade to engage Filipinos in acts of enlightened citizenship that maximize the power of law to protect and nurture the environment for themselves, their children, and generations still to come.”

Ma Jun, from China. He is being recognized for “his harnessing the technology and power of information to address China’s water crisis, and mobilizing pragmatic, multisectoral, and collaborative efforts to ensure sustainable benefits for China’s environment and society.”

Ka Hsaw Wa, from Burma. He is being recognized for “his dauntlessly pursuing non violent yet effective channels of redress, exposure, and education for the defense of human rights, the environment, and democracy in Burma.”

Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s highest honor and is widel regarded as the region’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. It celebrates the memory and leadership example of the third Philippine President, and is given every year to individuals or organizations in Asia who manifest the same sense of selfless service that ruled the life of the late and beloved Filipino leader.

“The Magsaysay awardees of 2009,” says RMAF President Carmencita T. Abella, “are true Asian Heroes, putting their advanced knowledge and skills at the service of critical needs of their people. They are, each one, addressing major issues affecting the growth and preservation of their respective societies – health care, mass poverty, community displacement, environmental degradation, human rights. They are each using calibrated strategies to craft lasting solutions to problems besetting their people. Nevertheless, these six awardees share a greatness of spirit which infuses their leadership for change. They all build collaboration and seek consensus wherever possible. They all refuse to give up, despite adversity and opposition. Four of them share a passionate concern for the environment, which the Foundation wishes to give special attention to at this time.

Starting in 2009, the Magsaysay Award is no longer being given in fixed Award categories, except for Emergent Leadership, which honors “outstanding work of an individual, 40 years of age and below, on issues of social change in his/her community, but whose leadership is not yet broadly recognized outside of this community.”

The six 2009 Magsaysay awardees join 271 other laureates who have received Asia’s highest honor to date. This year’s Magsaysay Award winners will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late President, and a cash prize. They will be formally conferred the Magsaysay Award during the Presentation Ceremonies to be held on 31 August 2009 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, to which the public is cordially invited.

For more information, please call: (632) 521-3166 to 85, or visit http://www.rmaf.org.ph