Veteran diplomat Tommy Koh wins 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award
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The award comes as Tommy Koh steps down as Ambassador-at-Large at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
- Tommy Koh, a veteran Singaporean diplomat, won the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award for his significant contributions to diplomacy and public service in Asia.
- Koh played key roles in international agreements, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the ASEAN Charter drafting.
- He is the fourth Singaporean to receive this award and will be honoured in Manila on Nov 15 alongside two other awardees.
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SINGAPORE – Veteran diplomat Tommy Koh has been named one of three winners of the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award.
The eponymous award, established in 1957 in memory of the Philippines’ seventh president, recognises individuals and organisations whose work has made a significant contribution to Asia.
“We are so proud that Professor Tommy Koh of Singapore has received this recognition,” said the Singapore Embassy in Manila in a Facebook post on Aug 31.
It noted that Koh’s career has spanned more than five decades of diplomacy, international law and public service.
Koh served as president of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea and played a key role in bringing the negotiations on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to a successful conclusion in 1982.
He also chaired negotiations at the 1992 UN Earth Summit and chaired the High-Level Task Force that drafted the ASEAN Charter in 2007, said the embassy.
Beyond diplomacy, Koh has also contributed to education and public discourse in Singapore, including as the founding rector of Tembusu College at the National University of Singapore.
The embassy said the award comes as Koh steps down as Ambassador-at-Large at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Koh is the fourth Singaporean recipient of the award, following in the footsteps of former minister for national development Lim Kim San, who received the award in 1965; then Minister for Defence Goh Keng Swee in 1972; and Willing Hearts founder Tony Tay in 2017.
“Congratulations, Professor Koh, on this significant recognition,” said the embassy.
The other awardees are Bangladeshi humanitarian Runa Khan and Myanmar activist Bo Kyi.
The winners of the award will be recognised at Manila’s Metropolitan Theatre on Nov 15 with a medallion, inscribed certificate and an undisclosed cash prize, reported AP.
