Nation Building

Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanitarian Efforts Inspiring Creativity and Innovation

Addressed by Tan Sri Lim
15 September 2006

Has it really been a lifetime already? Goodness me! But thank you all the same for the opportunity to receive this award especially TBR and the selection panel.

Those who know me will know that I′ve always done what I′ve wanted to do. So doing what I do has always been easy because it′s just about doing the things I most want to do.

So much has been said but I don′t remember much of what I′m told that I have done because I′ve been at it for so long. Of course there have been life–enhancing events that I could recall quite clearly.

Bosnia is one – I was in Bosnia & Herzegovina just after the war to help rebuild schools. I was stunned by the devastation that was inflicted during the hostility. It was an experience of a lifetime.

I remember being in South Africa just before their first ever free election. I was shocked by the political oppression that had been there for decades but inspired by the resilience of the people who had lived through it all.

Working with Mandela was a pleasure but working in South Africa at that turbulent time was nowhere near a walk in the park. It was an experience of a lifetime.

I′ve been very priviledged in that I′ve had the opportunity to work alongside many whose brilliance in the way they think, whose courage to challenge the impossible and whose preparedness to make the most painful sacrifice has opened my eyes to the complexity of human values that words can do little to describe.

You have been told of the work I managed to do. But I can tell you that for every battle I′ve won, I would have lost at least three.

But still, it′s been a great time and this has been a great place. Nowhere else in the world would I have been able to do what I have managed to do here.

I must take the opportunity to thank all the people who have worked alongside me over the years, and they are literally spread all over the world. The simple truth is we are powerless without the energy of those who rally for us.

On your behalf, I will also thank Beatrice of TBR for having turned this evening into such an impressive event.

Lastly, may I congratulate all who will be bringing home a lion tonight.