The 2024 Ramon Magsaysay awardees have made a positive impact on society through their transformative leadership, including renowned Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
For more than 60 years, the Ramon Magsaysay Awards—Asia’s premier prize and highest honor—has recognized over 300 individuals who’ve made a significant impact in Asia and beyond through their transformative leadership. Its six specific categories include Government Service; Public Service; Community Leadership ; Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Art ; Peace and International Understanding; and Emergent Leadership. The 2024 edition of the awards spotlights five awardees, all of whom have changed the world in their respective fields and sectors.
One of the awardees happens to be renowned Japanese filmmaker, Hayao Miyazaki: the man behind the beloved animation behemoth, Studio Ghibli. Should they be able to attend, awardees are to receive The Ramon Magsaysay Award medallion and certificate this November in a formal ceremony. Read on to learn more about the awardees and their meaningful work.
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Karma Phuntsho (Bhutan)
Many know Bhutan for its idyllic natural environment and high ranking in Gross National Happiness. Yet despite these factors, the country still faces a number of challenges today, including high poverty rates, which has pushed many of its youth to migrate to the country in search of better opportunities.
In the midst of these hardships is Karma Phuntsho, a former Buddhist monk and Bhutanese thought leader who happens to be an Oxford-educated scholar. With his years of experience and education, he has worked to preserve Bhutan’s culture and heritage while launching educational and economic projects through the Loden Foundation, which he founded in 1999.
Some of the foundation’s contributions include promoting ethical businesses and a more caring economy by funding 295 entrepreneurs (including 97 women) since 2008. This has created 860 jobs and trained 5,750 aspiring entrepreneurs. Loden has also preserved Bhutanese heritage through the digitization of important materials, including 3,348 hours of intangible culture, 4.55 million pages of texts, and 150,000 images of art and artifacts, among 61 other cultural projects.
Farwiza Farhan (Indonesia)
Indonesia is among Asia’s most biodiverse countries. Its Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra, in particular, is the home of highly endangered species who’ve managed to survive a variety of threats. Unfortunately, issues like deforestation, commercialization, and weak law enforcement continue to place a lot of pressure on the area, despite it being a UNESCO World Heritage Site and protected National Strategic Area. Things took a turn for the worse when the Aceh government also abolished the Leuser Ecosystem Management Authority, which had long been fighting to protect the area.
That said, individuals like Farwiza Farhan—who holds a master’s degree in environmental management—have continued to fight for the precious natural haven. After returning from an education abroad, she joined the organization Yayasan Hutan Alam dan Lingkungan Aceh (HAkA), which is made up of ex-employees from the defunct Leuser Ecosystem Management Authority. Together, they’ve successfully empowered local communities, particularly their women, to protect the ecosystem through advocacy, forest monitoring, and community engagement.
One particularly momentous success story was when Farhan and HAkA helped achieve a court verdict that led to $26 million in fines. The case was against a palm oil company that burned forests in the Leuser Ecosystem, and stopped a hydroelectric dam that would have threatened the habitat of the endangered Sumatran elephant. They then used the money they received to help rehabilitate the damaged areas of the Leuser Ecosystem.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong
Millions of civilians died or suffered the biological consequences of the toxic chemical TCDD (2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) from Agent Orange, which American forces had sprayed in dangerously copious amounts during the Vietnam War (1955 to 1975) as part of their chemical warfare. Up to today, the effects of the chemicals remain, rendering soils swathes of land in various hotspots within Vietnam barren, unproductive, and harmful to local communities.
One of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay awardees is doctor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, who lent her medical expertise during the Vietnam War and witnessed firsthand the horrors of TCDD, especially in regard to newborn birth defects. Determined to help, she has dedicated her entire life to researching the causes and extent of the chemical’s effects while seeking justice for its countless victims, working alongside the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin.
Beyond the laboratory, she has also taken her research and advocacy to the international stage, taking legal action against chemical companies responsible for the atrocities and seeking compensation for victims, as well as attending forums with the American Public Health Association.
Rural Doctors Movement (Thailand)
Rather than recognizing a single individual, the Ramon Magsaysay Awards bestows a medal to the Rural Doctors Movement in Thailand—a unified force of Thai doctors from the Rural Doctor Society (RDS) and the Rural Doctor Foundation (RDF) who advocate for proper, accessible healthcare in the country’s rural areas.
These groups emerged as part of Thailand’s efforts in bolstering its healthcare system, especially in the wake of the “brain drain” that happened in the 1960s, where many medical professionals moved to the U.S. to seek more opportunities.
Doctors from the RDS advocate for policy reforms, while those from RDF implement progressive healthcare programs through collaboration with other NGOs and international agencies. Together, they’ve made a lasting impact on the country’s healthcare, ensuring that everyone has the right to proper medical treatments regardless of their socioeconomic status and location.
Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)
While Hayao Miyazaki’s contributions don’t necessarily cover the medical, educational, or environmental sectors, they’ve been crucial fixtures in both culture, the arts, and children’s media. Animation has established itself as more than just a “genre,” but rather, a captivating medium in its own right—and the films by Miyazaki and his company, Studio Ghibli, have played a large role in promoting the art form to international audiences.
His movies like Spirited Away, Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and more recently, The Boy and the Heron, have not only received great commercial success, but also influenced generations of audiences through a blend of whimsical, stunning visuals and complex themes. Rather than talking down to children, his films treat them like any other viewer, presenting nuanced stories that deal with themes of grief, self-acceptance, compassion, and even environmental preservation without being didactic.
As the Ramon Magsaysay 2024 board of trustees writes in a statement on their website, they hail “a gifted and exemplary artist who has demonstrated, in his work and outlook, a lifelong commitment to the use of art, specifically animation, to illuminate the human condition, especially lauding his devotion to children as the torchbearers of the imagination, to whom he has passed the light and spark of his own.”
Banner photos from the Ramon Magsaysay Awards website and via X @MagsaysayAward.
