Mahathir to receive engineering award
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad arrived here on Tuesday to accept a distinguished fellow award from the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organization (AFEO) on Wednesday.
Mahathir, who bode farewell to fellow ASEAN leaders during their summit earlier this month in Bali, won the award for his role in developing engineering within Malaysia and in Southeast Asia in general.
"He is also awarded for his success in promoting developments in engineering through his policies that have made Malaysia a country of fast-growing technology," deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Engineers Institute (IEI) Lamhot Sinaga said on Tuesday.
"Malaysia's strategy and policy in the fields of technology, industry and human resources have enabled it to emerge from the economic crisis that swept the region in 1997."
Mahathir, fresh from attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok, will give brief remarks after receiving the award.
The award presentation will follow the opening of the 21st congress of AFEO by Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro on Wednesday.
Some 500 participants, including 200 from other ASEAN member countries and observers from Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Canada, India, Hong Kong and the U.S. are expected to join the two-day conference held at the Yogyakarta Mustika Sheraton Resort and Spa.
Lamhot said the decision to award Mahathir was made during the AFEO's Governing Board Meeting in Singapore last March.
Mahathir will be the second state leader to win the award. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen won last year for his success in the food self-sufficiency program.
Besides the AFEO Distinguished Fellow Award which is usually conferred to the leader of a nation, AFEO will also present the AFEO Honorary Fellow and AFEO Honorary Member awards to an institution or individual engineer, and non-engineer respectively.
Among the candidates for the AFEO Honorary Fellow Award are Aburizal Bakrie and Arifin Panigoro, both are prominent businessmen and former chairmen of the IEI.
Mahathir will leave for East Timor later on Wednesday.