Mahathir to receive engineering award

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.