Here, one meets outstanding individuals "who address issues of human development in Asia with courage and creativity, and in doing so have made contributions that have transformed their societies for the better." We learn about their extraordinary achievement from their citations, and hear directly from them their stories after receiving their medals and certificates.
This year's awardees comprise five individuals: Yoshiaki Ishizawa (Japan), Lilia de Lima (Philippines), Abdon Nababan (Indonesia), Gethsie Shanmugan (Sri Lanka), Tony Tay (Singapore), and one organization: Philippine Educational Theater Association or PETA (Philippines).
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Yoshiaki Ishikawa as his citation was being read. Seated behind include the other awardees,
Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo and RMAF board chair, Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr.
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Ishisawa, an eminent scholar of Southeast Asian history and one-time president of Sophia University, is associated with Angkor Wat to which he has devoted fifty years of his life. This is a major Buddhist temple in the Angkor--inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992--which he first visited as a student in 1961. Since then he has been involved in its conservation except during the years of civil war and political unrest from 1970 until the Khmer Rouge went out of power in 1979. But by then, the Cambodian conservationists were all gone.
The conservation of Angkor, he said in his response to the award, "is not my efforts alone ... but of numerous friends and colleagues [and] his staff at the Sophia University Angkor International Mission [simply called the Sophia Mission]."
He started working again with the Cambodians in 1980, established international networks, campaigned for awareness and support in the Japanese media, and devised programs to protect and conserve Angkor. These all led to the launching of the Sophia Mission for research, training and conservation work.
Tourists today make the magnificent Angkor Wat in Seam Reap one of their major destinations in southeast Asia. What they see and enjoy as a premier cultural heritage of Cambodia came from Izhizawa's relentless leadership of Cambodians and Japanese experts in the conservation and restoration works.
They restored, for example, the Buddlist temple Banteay Kdei, excavated 274 statues of Buddha in 2001, and completed major repairs on the western causeway in 2007, which is now a key access to Angkor Wat.
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| Ishikawa about to receive his medal and certificate. |
"Our reason," he said, "for insisting on rescuing Angkor Wat is because this would signify a call to the people to return to the peace that once characterized the Angkor period, as well as a call for them to rebuild their nation once more."
The appeal for Angkor's restoration is also "a plea for reconciliation between ethnic groups, and the revival of the [Cambodia's] culture," he added.
He stressed that "the preservation and restoration of Cambodian cultural heritage should be carried out by the Cambodians, for the Cambodians."
Towards that end, the Sophia Mission is deeply involved in the training of human resources. They selected 18 individuals and sent them to Sophia University to acquire doctorate and masters degrees. They are now senior officials of the government. The Mission has 'systematically raised awareness among Cambodian school children and villagers to take pride in their heritage and become its protectors and conservators.'
The board of trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) elected Yoshiaki Ishizawa to receive the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Award in recognition of 'his selfless, steadfast service to the Cambodian people, his inspiring leadership in empowering Cambodians to be proud stewards of their heritage, and his wisdom in reminding us all that cultural monuments like the Angkor Wat are shared treasures whose preservation is thus, also shared global responsibility.'
All photos by the author.
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