HONORARY DOCTORAL DEGREE RECIPIENTS IN 2005
HONORARY DOCTORAL DEGREE RECIPIENTS IN 2005
HIS EXCELLENCY KEAT CHHON
Keat Chhon was born on 11 August 1934 in Kratie Province, Cambodia. After being one of the first batch of high-school graduates to do a Baccalaureat serié mathématiques in Cambodia, he obtained a scholarship to go to France in 1954; there, he earned degrees in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (1959) and Nuclear Engineering (1960), before going on to do research on thermo-nuclear fusion at the Center for Nuclear Studies in Fontenay-aux-Roses.
HE Keat Chhon came back to Cambodia in 1961. He first served as a chief engineer in the Ministry of Public Works; before being appointed General Manager of ODEM, a civil engineering state enterprise. In 1964, he founded the Royal University of Kampong Cham, of which he was President until 1968. Between 1967 and 1969, he was Minister of Industry, and then of Commerce, in the Royal Government of Cambodia. Subsequently, he was appointed Minister in charge of the Council of Ministers of the Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia (1970-1975) under Samdech Norodom Sihanouk.
Then, during the period of the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979), he and his family were dispersed as enslaved hostages.
In the early 1980s, HE Keat Chhon lived in France, working as manager for international operations in a private company. UNIDO then appointed him as a co-director of a project on the strategic management of industrial development in Zaire (1988 to 1992). After the Paris Peace Agreement, he returned to Cambodia in 1992 to work as a UNDP consultant; he then served as Senior Adviser to the Government of the State of Cambodia in early 1993, until he was elected to Parliament. Thereafter, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the Provisional National Government of Cambodia; and a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee. In November 1993, he was appointed Senior Minister for Rehabilitation and Development of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC); he was subsequently also appointed, in October 1994, as Minister of Economy and Finance, and as Vice Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC). He has held each of these positions since then.
In his capacity as Senior Minister for Rehabilitation and Development, HE Keat Chhon led a team to prepare the National Program to Rehabilitate and Develop Cambodia (NPRD-1994 and 1995); and then, having defined the role of the State, to implement the proposed cohesive package of objectives for establishing the rule of law and implementing structural and other reforms to ensure economic stabilization and provide a solid platform for Cambodia's much-needed rehabilitation, recovery and future development. As a follow-up, he also prepared the ground-work for the Second Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2001-2005 and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy.
Cambodia's weak and fragile condition, as a result of all of the recent turmoil and strife, has meant that she has had to be very dependent on outside assistance in order to survive. As the Senior Minister for Rehabilitation and Development and the Vice Chairman of the CDC – and also as chairman of the Committee on Economic and Financial Policies and the RGC's representative at the International Conferences on the Reconstruction of Cambodia (ICORC) – HE Keat Chhon has played an important role (e.g. by setting priorities and determining strategies) in the mobilisation and coordination of external assistance from Cambodia's various development partners to support these objectives.
During his tenure as Minister of Economy and Finance, and as co-chair of the Working Group on Law, Tax and Governance, HE Keat Chhon has initiated many important policy measures on fiscal reforms, including his instrumental role in implementing a new budget and tax system. Under his guidance, a number of important laws and regulations were adopted, as well as numerous regulations governing public sector management.
Thus, as a result of HE Keat Chhon's management of the Cambodian economy, the credibility of the RGC has been greatly enhanced; and so Cambodia has continued to receive generous foreign aid. This was made possible by his dual status as Senior Minister for Rehabilitation and Development and Minister of Economy and Finance; together with the powers entrusted in him by Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen to negotiate with international financial bodies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank,and to participate in dialogues with international and regional bodies such as ASEAN.
HE Keat Chhon recognized that, for Cambodia to succeed and become self-sufficient, his plans for the future required the development of adequate indigenous human resources. Thus, he has also played an active role in encouraging the development of an effective education system to better nurture future generations, including his role as Chairman of the National Higher Education Task Force. One of his initiatives is the Economics and Finance Institute (EFI), which offers an MBA programme in collaboration with the Intellectual Resource Incorporated Group and Australia's Charles Stuart University. The goal of the EFI is to help produce Cambodia's next, home-grown generation of leaders in the public and private sectors; as such, it is the official training and human resource development center of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
HE Keat Chhon is also a co-founder and Vice-Chairman of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP), a non-profit, non-partisan, policy-oriented think tank dedicated to a greater understanding of national, regional, and international issues of concern to Cambodia. This, as a publisher of several of his books and other papers, has provided one vehicle for the general dissemination of his many ideas about Cambodia's present situation and how to best implement policies and programmes to provide a better future for our country.
In recognition for his numerous and great contributions to the development of Cambodia, HE Keat Chhon has been awarded many
medals and distinctions by both Cambodian and foreign governments. These include the Grand' Croix of the Royal Order of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Gold Medal of Labour of the Kingdom of Cambodia; and he is also a Grand Officer of the Order of Her Majesty the Queen Kossamak of Cambodia, a Grand Officer of the Order of Sowathara (Economy) of Cambodia, a Commander of the Legion of Honour of France, and a Chevalier of the Order of Monissaraphon (Culture) of Cambodia.
HIS EXCELLENCY KEAT CHHON
HE Keat Chhon is being honored here in recognition of his many and great contributions to the economic development of Cambodia. Thus the citation for an Honorary Doctorate in Development Economics reads:
o As Senior Minister for Rehabilitation and Development, you have provided the necessary insight and foresight to play a fundamental role in the conceiving and mapping out of the road to Cambodia's future, through the preparation of a detailed and comprehensive series of agenda.
o As Senior Minister for Rehabilitation and Development, you then proceeded to fulfill a vital role in the implementation of these plans, thereby being Chief Engineer in the continuing construction of the road to Cambodia's future as a viable, self-sufficient state.
o As Minister of Economy and Finance, you have also fulfilled an essential role in conceiving and implementing the necessary fiscal policies to help to establish and sustain Cambodia as a sovereign nation.
o Both as Senior Minister for Rehabilitation and Development and as Minister of Economy and Finance, your hard work, your wisdom and your integrity have proved to be key factors in convincing foreign donors that the Royal Government of Cambodia is a credible and creditable recipient of aid for the reconstruction and onward development of our country.
o In these and other capacities, and as a top Cambodian intellectual with a self-less pride in your country, you have sought to encourage Cambodia down the road to self-sufficiency and self-respect as an independent nation through your initiatives in higher education and many other spheres of activity.
THE RIGHT REVEREND AND RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD GEORGE CAREY OF CLIFTON
George Leonard Carey was born on 13th November, 1935, in the district of Bow in London's East End, being the eldest of five children to a hospital porter and his wife. Although he failed his 11-plus exam (an important filter, as a measure of an individual's potential ‘worth’, in the United Kingdom at the time) and left school at 15, he subsequently became inspired and motivated enough to complete his secondary education. He then went on to study at King’s College, London and the London College of Divinity: he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Divinity in 1962; a Master’s in Theology in 1966; and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1973. After being ordained into the Church of England and serving in a number of preaching and teaching posts, Lord Carey became Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1988. In 1991, Lord Carey was appointed the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury – and thus head of the Church of England and, worldwide, the 70 million members of the Anglican and Episcopal Churches – by the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This broke with tradition, given his working-class origins and the fact that he had attended neither Oxford nor Cambridge universities; and made him the second most powerful person in the United Kingdom (after the Queen) in religious matters, with a seat in the House of Lords.
During his tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church faced many issues as it sought to adjust to the increasing complexities of modern society. One major focus of his attention was the role of religion in community development and the escape from poverty; another was the need for communication between different religions. To this end, he was an active participant in numerous conferences with leaders of other faith-communities. One of his many initiatives was, with the then President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn, to establish the World Faiths Development Dialogue in 1998: nine different faith-communities were brought together for a dialogue on poverty and development, both with each other and with international development agencies such as the World Bank and the UNDP.
The events of September 11th 2001 highlighted, amongst other things, the absolute need for more communication between different religions. Lord Carey stepped up to play an active role. For example, he and the Grand Imam of al-Alzar al Sharif – a leading Sunni Muslim scholar – called a meeting of leaders of the Christian, Jewish and
Muslim faiths in Egypt; this resulted in the First Alexandria Declaration of the Religious Leaders of the Holy Land, signed in January 2002, which unanimously condemned the indiscriminate acts of suicide bombers.
He retired as Archbishop of Canterbury in 2002, when he was made a life peer and Privy Counselor. However, he has continued to be involved in religious affairs on the international arena, and has maintained an active involvement in the projects which he initiated: for example, he took over as the Chair of the Trustees of the World Faiths Development Dialogue in 2003.
Lord Carey has written widely on theological issues. Amongst the many honours which he has received are his being named Presentation Fellow of King’s College, London; Fellow of Christ’s University College, Canterbury; and Fellow of the Library of Congress. He is also the recipient of more than ten Honorary Doctorates.
THE RIGHT REVEREND AND RIGHT HONOURABLE
LORD GEORGE CAREY OF CLIFTON
The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Lord George Carey of Clifton is being honoured here for his efforts to break down religious divides, especially in the wake of September 11th 2001; and to maximise the effectiveness of religious organisations in facilitating development and poverty-reduction amongst the economically-disadvantaged. Thus the citation for an Honorary Doctorate in Humanity reads:
o As an individual, you have shown that, when adequately inspired, one can become motivated to not only aspire to the highest goals but to actually achieve them – an example to all who have been branded as poor performers in school because of inadequacies in the education system.
o During your subsequent rise up through the meritocratic system to being Archbishop of Canterbury, you showed selfless care and compassion to those around you.
o You have made every effort to try and bridge the gap between different faith-communities, and to heal the wounds of the past and the present, especially in the aftermath of September 11th, 2001.
o You have made a determined attempt to ameliorate the current pressing problems of poverty and development in the Third World by bringing together various different faith-communities and international development agencies (such as the World Bank and the UNDP) to discuss issues with each other.
o Even after stepping down as Archbishop of Canterbury, you have continued with these efforts to improve the lot of humanity for the common good.
DR. TAKAYOSHI MATSUI
Dr. Takayoshi Matsui graduated from the Department of Medicine at the University of Tokyo in 1967, after which he did a two-year internship in Neurosurgery there; he received his medical doctorate from the same university in 1978.
Throughout his subsequent career, Dr. Matsui has succeeded in being not just a medical practitioner but also a teacher, a researcher and an entrepreneur. His teaching positions have included Tokyo Women’s Medical College (Assistant Instructor, 1969); the University of Tokyo (Assistant Instructor, 1971); Teikyo University (Associate Professor in Neurosurgery and then Visiting Professor, 1978); Osaka Medical College (Associate Professor in Neurosurgery and then a part-time position, 1983); followed by part-time lectureships in Neurosurgery at Tokushima University (1990), Ehime University (1996) and Tokyo Women’s Medical College (2002).
He switched to part-time teaching in 1985 to allow him to devote his time to establishing, and then directing, an international-level neurosurgical hospital in Kan'nonji city, Kanagawa. The Matsui Neurosurgical Hospital and associated Japan Neurosurgical Research Institute was opened in 1988. Four years later, this hospital merged with the Fukuda Hospital to become the Matsui Hospital, with the associated Eastern Medicine Research Institute.
Both his teaching and his clinical expertise reflect his research interests. When he was an Assistant Instructor at the University of Tokyo, he was a member of a group studying external injuries to the head and neck. He designed a special ear-protector helmet which greatly reduced the risk of death when baseball-players were hit on the head by a baseball; this has been adopted as a standard item of body-protection equipment in Japan and elsewhere.
Subsequently (1973-1977), Dr. Matsui went to the United States to do further studies at the Montefiore Medical Centre in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York and the National Biomedical Research Foundation of Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He worked with the pioneering team responsible for developing the world’s first whole-body computerized tomography (CT) scanner. This is an instrument where X-rays are used to visualize successive cross-sectional ‘slices’ of the subject’s body to study the internal organs; it is thus a valuable tool for diagnosis, together with the planning and subsequent monitoring of any follow-up therapies. Dr. Matsui, with collaborators, also produced An Atlas of the Human Brain for Computerized Tomography: this award-winning treatise allows neurosurgeons to more easily interpret CT scans of the brain when planning their operations.
Having been one of the people who was there right at the start of this new technology, Dr. Matsui was an active promoter of the potential for CT scanners, giving lectures and workshops, as well as presenting papers at conferences. His passionate involvement with developing this new technology meant that Dr. Matsui also became involved in the evolution and commercial development of subsequent generations of CT instruments. Partly as a result of his insights, four Japanese companies have captured the world market in diagnostic CT scanners, having successfully out-competing about twenty US companies.
Based on his expertise, Dr. Matsui has emerged as an active participant in the international medical science community. In 1983, he launched the Japan Neurosurgical CT Association, as a vehicle to encourage the dissemination of research in the field.
DR. TAKAYOSHI MATSUI
Dr. Takayoshi Matsui is being honored for his multifaceted contributions to medical science in general, and neurosurgery in particular. Thus the citation for an Honorary Doctorate in Humanity reads:
o As a young researcher, you designed a special ear-protector helmet which protects the brain from serious injury resulting from blows to the head, and thus helps minimise the risk of death. This special helmet has therefore saved countless lives around the world.
o You were one of the pioneering team who designed the first whole-body CT scanner, which uses X-rays to visualize successive cross-sectional ‘slices’ of a patient’s body.
o You subsequently played an active role in the design of subsequent generations of scanners to make them more useful as diagnostic tools for the medical profession at large, and more generally available in hospitals around the world.
o With collaborators, you compiled An Atlas of the Human Brain for Computerized Tomography: an award-winning treatise which allows neurosurgeons to interpret CT scans of the brain when planning their delicate operations.
o To also help diagnose and treat the sick, you have established the international-level Matsui Hospital – with a specialization in neurosurgery – and associated Research Institutes in Kanagawa, Japan.
