RI philanthropist honored at int’l conference
Ina Parlina and I Wayan Juniarta, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali | Archipelago | Tue, January 26 2016, 3:12 PM

Eminent Indonesian philanthropist and one of the country’s most successful businessmen Dato’ Sri Prof. Dr. Tahir was honored on Monday afternoon with a Global Humanitarian Award for Women’s and Children’s Health during the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) at the Bali Nusa Dua Conference Center (BNDCC).

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo presented the award’s gold medal to Tahir and to the other recipients of the inaugural international accolade. The other recipients were Sir Chris Honh, the founder of the London-based Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and Fayeeza Naqvi and her husband Arif Masood Naqvi, the founders of Karachi-based private philanthropic trust Aman Foundation.

Arif Masood Naqvi was not present at the ceremony and CIFF’s executive director Alvaro Bermejo received the award on behalf of Sir Chris.

The awards were bestowed on individuals who, with great vision and leadership, have invested private wealth to advance reproductive, maternal, neonatal and children’s health, especially family planning, at the national and global level.

In 2013, Tahir donated US$103.5 million to the joint-donation effort initiated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Called the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the collaboration has raised combined funds of US$207 million. In 2014, he donated an additional $7.5 million to the cause.

“I learned a lot from Bill and Melinda Gates. I believe they are among the greatest gifts to the world. They inspired me to help others and in turn I have inspired many others to do the same,” Tahir said in a touching acceptance speech that drew great applause from the audience.

He also played a pivotal role in the establishment last year of the Indonesia Health Fund, which saw eight wealthy Indonesian business figures committing $5 million each for health programs targeting the poor and disenfranchised. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $40 million to the Fund.

Tahir revealed that Bill Gates was very impressed by the level of participation of Indonesia’s wealthy individuals in raising cash for health programs.

“He calls it the Indonesia Model, in which local wealthy individuals donate funds and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides matching funds, and should be replicated by other countries,”

“I genuinely hope more wealthy Indonesian individuals join philanthropic causes,” he said.

Tahir, an Indonesian of Chinese descent, said that he was born into a poor family in Surabaya, East Java. Being born into a family with meager financial means and in a certain city were not things he could choose.

“But I could choose to do good deeds or bad ones and I have chosen to do good,” he said.

“I am touched by the award. It is recognition. More important, however, is the content. I am deeply grateful that I have had a chance to do something for my country.”

He stressed that there was nothing inherently special in his philanthropic endeavor. It was a “logical consequence” of all the blessings that he had received throughout his life.

“This country has provided me with so many opportunities, I enjoy a harmonious relationship with my fellow countrymen, the government has enacted favorable economic policies that push the country forward so it is quite natural that I am giving back to the country and the nation,”

Tahir is also the only Indonesian to have signed The Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

“Half of my personal wealth will be dedicated to philanthropic causes.”

When asked what his total wealth was, Tahir, ranked 10 on Forbes’s 2015 Indonesia’s 50 richest list, with a beaming smile simply said “I don’t know. I’d have to ask my accountant first.”
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