SOUTHEAST ASIA And the Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize has been handing out commendations for more than a hundred years now. It was established to honor the last will of the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel (the inventor of the dynamite). Supreme commendations (prizes) in Peace, Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Economics are handed out every year on 10 December to commemorate the anniversary of Dr. Nobel’s death.


For over a hundred years of finding the world’s most important contributions to society, SE Asia has only four (4) awardees and it is all under the Peace prize:

Le Duc Tho of Vietnam (then North Vietnam) was awarded the Peace Prize in 1971 for his efforts to establish peace in the war torn Indochina. He refused the prize charging that peace had not been really established in South Vietnam.

Only after 20 years did a SE Asian received another Nobel. The struggle by peaceful means for human rights of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma received the prize in 1991. She was the only awardee in Nobel Prize recent history who received the prize in absentia. “The Lady” was (and still) under house arrest and cannot leave Burma to receive the prize personally.

Carlos Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta of East Timor were awarded the Peace Prize in 1996 for their efforts to establish peace on Timor.


We comprise 10% of the world population. I’m sure we can contribute many things to the world worthy of a Nobel. I hope we won’t wait for long.

But in the mean time, let’s honor and commemorate our SE Asian Nobel Prize laureates for their contributions to our region and the world.

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