Koentjaraningrat wins Fukuoka's Asian grand prize

JAKARTA (JP): A prominent Indonesian anthropologist, Koentjaraningrat, was declared this year's recipient of the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Grand Prize yesterday.

"On behalf of the Fukuoka Mayor, I formally declare Mr. Koentjaraningrat this year's recipient of the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Grand Prize," Shin-ichi Shiki, executive director for general affairs of Fukuoka City, said in a press conference here.

The senior lecturer at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, and Jakarta's University of Indonesia, will receive a cash prize of five million yen (about Rp 125 million). The official prize presentation will be held at the Fukuoka Sun Palace in Japan, on Sept. 28.

Shiki said that the Fukuoka City of Japan, in cooperation with the Yokatopia Foundation, unanimously selected Koentjaraningrat as this year's Grand Prize recipient from approximately 3,400 candidates from 53 countries.

"We chose him for his outstanding contributions to the development of anthropology in Indonesia," he said.

He said that Koentjaraningrat has rendered Indonesia great services for the embryonic establishment of anthropology departments in seven universities in Indonesia.

He also said that Koentjaraningrat has made a great effort for the development of anthropology in the Asian region.

"Mr. Koentjaraningrat has been involved in a number of studies on traditional Southeast Asian cultures in general, as well as those of the region's development and modernization," Shiki said.

Koentjaraningrat was born on June 15, 1923. He graduated from the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta in 1950.

He gained his Master's degree in anthropology from Yale University in the United States in 1956 and his Doctor's degree in anthropology from the University of Indonesia in Jakarta.

He was director for the National Institute of Cultural Studies of the National Institute of Science from 1964 to 1966, and then deputy chairman for Social Sciences and Humanities of the institute until 1977.

He has written a number of books on anthropology, including A Preliminary Description of the Javanese Kinship System, in 1957; People and Cultures in Indonesia, in 1980; and Ethnic Diversity and National Integration in Indonesia, in 1989.

This year is the sixth Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prizes held by the Fukuoka City and the Yokatopia Foundation. The first cultural prizes were awarded in 1990.

Beside the Grand Prize granted to Koentjaraningrat, the committee will also grant this year an International Academic Prize to Hahn Ki-un, a South Korean scholar in education; a Domestic Academic Prize to Noboru Karashima, a Japanese historian; and an Arts and Culture Prize to Nam June Paik, a South Korean video artist.

Ki-un, Karashima, and Paik will receive 3 million yen in cash each.

The Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prize was established in 1990 by the Fukuoka City, a city in the northern part of Kyushu Island, Japan, to honor those who have made outstanding achievements in the cultivation and advancement of academic studies, arts and culture of Asia, as well as contributions to the promotion of culture, mutual understanding and peace in Asia. (imn)