Teten among Magsaysay award winners
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Noted Indonesian antigraft campaigner Teten Masduki has been named as one of the six recipients of this year's Ramon Magsaysay awards, organizer announced on Monday.
The head of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) won the Magsaysay public service award for "challenging Indonesians to expose corruption and claim their right to clean government."
Established in 1957, the Magsaysay prize is often dubbed Asia's version of the Nobel Prize.
"I've never dreamt of receiving this prestigious award as what I've been doing is nothing extraordinary. I think everybody must fight against corruption because this is our country's biggest problem," he told The Jakarta Post from Medan, North Sumatra.
He was meeting prosecutors from the province to discuss the antigraft campaign.
Teten plans to attend the annual awards ceremony on Aug. 31. The awards are named after late Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay.
Teten, who was born into a family of farmers, said that "I plunged into the activist world" after joining a 1985 demonstration by local farmers whose land had been stolen, AP reported.
In 1998, he volunteered to head Indonesia Corruption Watch, which became a clearinghouse for information about corruption, collusion and nepotism. Last year, the group examined 432 graft cases causing an estimated loss to Indonesia of some US$580 million.
The other recipients of the Magsaysay awards are Thai senator Jon Ungphakorn, Bangladesh journalist Matiur Rahman, Indian physician V. Shanta, South Korea's Yoon Hye-Ran and Laotian Sombath Somphone.
Ungphakorn won the Magsaysay award for government service for "his impassioned insistence as a senator that Thailand respect the rights and attend humanely to the needs of its least advantaged citizens," the Magsaysay board of trustees said.
Rahman won the award for journalism, literature and creative communication arts as the foundation praised "his wielding the power of the press to crusade against acid throwing to stir Bangladeshis to help its many victims."
Shanta, a second public service awardee, was honored for "her untiring leadership of the Cancer Institute as a center of excellence and compassion for the study and treatment of cancer in India."
Yoon won the award for emergent leadership. The prize was for "her catalytic role in enabling (her hometown) Chenoan's civil society to exercise its social responsibilities dynamically and democratically."
Somphone won the award for community leadership as he was recognized for "his hopeful efforts to promote sustainable development in Laos by training and motivating its young people to become a generation of leaders."