Forbes: Asia’s 48 Heroes of Philanthropy

1. Ananda, who received a scholarship to earn his undergraduate degree at Melbourne University
2. Khong, was homeless in her teens and started the kitchen in 2006 with five friends.

Great fortunes are being made in Asia, and those fortunes are increasingly earmarked for philanthropy. Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing has pledged to leave one-third of his $32 billion fortune to charity. Anil Agarwal has committed $1 billion toward creating a new university in India. Yang Huiyan, China’s richest person, and her father, Yeung Kwok Keung, donated $32 million to charities last year, making them the country’s biggest givers.

This year, for the first time, we’ve put together a list of 48 philanthropists–4 from each of 12 countries. We don’t pretend these are the 48 biggest givers. That would be an impossible list to compile, unless each person agreed to let us peek at his or her bank records. So our list is somewhat subjective: We aimed to identify not only some of the largest donors but also some of the most interesting–generous folks who may not make one of our rich lists but who put a hefty share of their money into much-needed, and sometimes unusual, projects. Wee Lin is worth only $3.5 million, but he’s opened a home for the mentally ill in Singapore and donated numerous items to North Korea, after seeing what was needed during trips there. Malaysia’s Leonard Linggi Tun Jugah, for example, puts his donations into preserving the culture of the Ibans, an indigenous group on Borneo.

Undoubtedly we missed some big givers, others we just didn’t have room for– especially in Hong Kong, India and Australia. What we most tried to avoid are people who donate their company’s money. Giving away shareholders’ assets certainly isn’t charity, though tycoons and chief executives engage in a lot of this and then get credit for being generous. For our list, we tried to make sure that people were giving away their own money and not their company’s, but the line is fuzzy. Sometimes philanthropists do both, and sometimes they own such a large share of their company that corporate giving is personal giving.

We hope that by spotlighting these 48 and their achievements, we’ll encourage even more giving. The money is certainly there, and so is the need.

Reported by Susan J. Cunningham, Russell Flannery, Ioannis Gatsiounis, Naazneen Karmali, Kiyoe Minami, Suzanne Nam, Hillary Prey, Andrew Salmon, Lucinda Schmidt, Emily Stewart and Jessica Tan

Source: Forbes’s 48 Heroes of Philanthropy, Edited by John Koppisch

KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Ananda Krishnan, Malaysia’s telecommunications, entertainment and property tycoon, and regional director of China Overseas Petroleum Corp Ruby Khong have been featured in Forbes Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy. The duo made it into a list of 48 prominent givers to society in the Asia Pacific region, whose causes range from disaster recovery, education, health and culture to science, with education being the popular choice among the featured philanthropists this year.

Two other Malaysians in the list are Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, the Chief executive of property developer SP Setia and Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, YTL Group managing director.

John Koppisch, Associate Editor, Forbes Asia said those listed are not always the biggest givers. “Instead we aim to highlight a varied group of generous people, some holdovers from last year but mostly new names who deserve recognition. By calling attention to these 48 (givers) we hope to encourage more giving,” he said in a statement here today.

According to Forbes, Ananda, who received a scholarship to earn his undergraduate degree at Melbourne University, has been extensively developing talents through school programs. Through his privately owned company Usaha Tegas, he has helped underprivileged, high-achieving Malaysian students of South Asian descent to continue their studies in non-Tamil secondary schools, as well as supporting education of other groups in Malaysia. His Usaha Tegas founded Harapan Nusantara, an education fund focused on Malays and the Yu Cai Education Foundation for the Chinese. Most recently, the quiet contributor set up the US$2 million (RM6.7 million) Monfort Girls Centre here to help less academically-inclined girls gain vocational skills.

Forbes said developing talent is his main focus, through university scholarships, school programs and other support. There were also Internet boot camps for rural high-schoolers, funds for equestrian sports and Malaysia’s Olympic athletes and even stipends for local children studying Indian classical dance and music.

“But tagging a dollar figure on Krishnan’s philanthropy is difficult. Usaha Tegas releases little information, and government figures on giving are unavailable. But by many accounts the 71-year-old, through his private and listed companies, is among Malaysia’s biggest givers,” said Forbes.

Ananda controls Maxis (a telco), satellite TV and entertainment company Astro All Asia Networks and Tanjong, which is active in gaming, power generation and property.

On Khong, Forbes said she donated US$400,000 (RM1.32 million) to the Kechara Soup Kitchen, which she helps run. It delivers 830 packets of vegetarian food a week to urban poor in the capital, as well as assisting with job placement and other services. She was homeless in her teens and started the kitchen in 2006 with five friends.

One of the high-profile givers this year is Andrew Forrest, founder of Fortescue Metals, from Australia who started the Australian Employment Covenant in 2008 with a few other business leaders to raise job prospects for Australian Aborigines.

Also listed is Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan, 55, who recently donated US$730,000 (RM2,456, 812) to the United Nations and the families of eight Chinese peacekeepers who died in the Haiti earthquake, and had previously given US$1.5 million (RM5.01 million) to assist victims of the Sichuan earthquake. — Bernama

Source: MInsider, Four Malaysians make Forbes Asia philanthropy list