Dr Mahathir given Rafik Hariri Award

KUALA LUMPUR - Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been awarded the 2012 Rafik Hariri UN-Habitat Memorial Award.

The award's steering committee made the announcement earlier this week in Paris, after an international jury chose Dr Mahathir over 13 other nominees from countries like Dubai, Saudi Arabia, United States, India, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Philippines.

Dr Mahathir will be honoured in a ceremony in New York on Sept 28, said a statement.

UN-Habitat Scientific Adviser Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka said: "Malaysia saw considerable economic progress during Dr Mahathir's time.

"It is recognised that he significantly influenced other developing countries about how it is possible to develop in a very rapid way in a very short time."

The chairperson of the international jury, Mervat Tallawy, added: "The per capita income in Malaysia increased eight times during his time.

"The model of thinking to get out of problems and crisis was almost the same as that of Rafik Hariri."

Nazek Rafik Hariri, who is the wife of the late Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, said that her husband had visited Malaysia several times when he was in office.

"My husband was very impressed with the achievements of Dr Mahathir. Their relationship was based on the shared interests of building confidence and economic success for their respective nations," said Nazek, who is the president of the Rafik Hariri Foundation.

The Hariri family established the award jointly with the UN-Habitat through the Rafik Hariri Foundation in March 2009.

It is given to individuals, organisations or institutions anywhere in the world for significant accomplishments in the areas of: leadership, statesmanship and good governance; construction and re-constructions of settlements and communities; human resource development, and benevolent activities in fighting urban poverty and the implementation of the Habitat Agenda.

-New Straits Times