Farwiza Farhan | Conservationist from Indonesia, Magsaysay awardee

Often called Asia’s Nobel Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award was instituted in 1957 in the memory of the late Ramon Magsaysay, the former President of Philippines who died in March that year in a plane crash Mr. Magsaysay was known for leading the charge against the communist Hukbahalap or Huk movement and was popular among his people.

The first awards were given out in 1958, in five categories.

Winning the first award for Community Leadership was Indian freedom fighter Acharya Vinoba Bhave, who led the Bhoodan movement. Dr. Mary Rutnam, who worked for the people of Sri Lanka and introduced women’s institutes known as the Lanka Mahila Samiti, received the inaugural Ramon Magsaysay award for Public Service. Filipino Organisation Operation Brotherhood which provided medical treatment to refugees in Vietnam, received the award for Peace and International Understanding.

The first Ramon Magsaysay award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication was split between Mochtar Lubis, editor-in-chief of Indonesia Raya, who spoke up against government corruption and authoritarianism, and Robert McCulloch Dick, the Scottish founder and publisher of The Philippines Free Press, which reported on social injustices and helped ensure freedom of press in the nation.