Merdeka Award

The Merdeka Award is a Malaysian award that recognises and celebrates the achievements and significant contributions of individuals to Malaysia and her people, within their respective fields.

The Royal Patron of the Merdeka Award Trust is His Royal Highness (HRH) the Sultan of Perak Darul Ridzuan, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.

The Merdeka Award was launched on 27 August 2007 in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the independence of Malaysia. It was founded by PETRONAS, ExxonMobil and Shell.

The Merdeka Award is conferred annually to individuals and/or organisations, both Malaysians and non-Malaysians, based on excellent works that have made outstanding and lasting contributions to Malaysia, in their respective fields.

There are five award categories:

The Award is open to all living Malaysian citizens – individuals and organisations.

However, only non-citizens are eligible for the Outstanding Contribution to the People of Malaysia category, whilst the Outstanding Scholastic Achievement category is open only for individuals.

The nomination and selection is an independent, objective and fair process administered by a Board of Trustees, Selection Committee and Nomination Committees.

Nomination Committee

The role is to identify, deliberate, shortlist and recommend candidates to the Selection Committee. There are five committees, one for each category. Each committee comprises three members, except for Education and Community which has five members.

Selection Committee

The role is to deliberate the merits of the candidates put forward by the Nomination Committees and recommend shortlisted candidates to the Board. There are five members in the Selection Committee.

Merdeka Award Board of Trustees

The role is to make a final selection of the recipients. The decision must be unanimous with one award for each category, through there may not be recipients in every category each year. The Award can be shared by as many as two recipients. The Board comprises representatives of the founding members, as well as two independent members.

The winners are announced each year in the month of Merdeka in conjunction with Malaysia's Independence Day, with the Merdeka Award Ceremony taking place later in the year.

Education and Community

Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid

For outstanding contribution to the eradication of poverty, rural economics and the development of Tabung Haji and in the field of Education

Environment

Malaysian Nature Society (MNS)

...
Wikipedia