Bakrie and Emil Salim receive ASEAN award

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia (JP): The ASEAN Business Forum (ABF) has named two Indonesians the recipients of this year's ASEAN achievement awards -- Aburizal Bakrie as ASEAN businessperson of the year and former cabinet minister Emil Salim for his distinguished work in environment protection.

Malaysian Loy Hean Heong, the president of the ABF, said on Saturday that Bakrie and Emil were among the eleven people to be honored this year by the ABF for their individual achievements.

"For all the natural wealth of the Southeast Asian region, its greatest asset is its people," Loy noted on the sidelines of the ASEAN ministerial meeting here.

He added that the ASEAN achievement awards represented the culmination of one of the principle objectives of the ASEAN Business Forum, namely to recognize and pay tribute to outstanding ASEAN individuals in their fields of endeavor.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ABF was set up in 1991 as a forum for businesspeople to come together and interact.

The fourth annual ABF awards would be presented in August in a ceremony in Jakarta which will be attended by Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Production and Distribution Hartarto.

Aburizal Bakrie is chairman of the Bakrie Group of companies. He is widely recognized as one of the region's most astute businessman, chairing both the ASEAN's and Indonesian chambers of commerce and industry.

Emil Salim has held three cabinet posts in his career. His work in the environment and development field has long been recognized through distinctions such as the Grand Cross Award from the Italian government and the Paul Getty award.

Six Indonesians had previously received awards from the ABF -- Didi Suwandi, Johan Silas and Wiratnam Wangsadinata for engineering; Aditya Indradjaja for architecture; Ibnu Sutowo for community service and badminton queen Susi Susanti who won twice for the sports field.

The other winners of this year's awards include two Thais, two Singaporeans, two Filipinos and three Malaysians. (mds)