Recognition at last for visionary banker to the poor

I am extremely pleased that the Nobel Peace Prize has finally been awarded to Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

If peace means helping millions of destitute people to earn a livelihood and to live with dignity, among other things, then Professor Yunus deserves the prize more than anyone else.

He believes people are poor not because they choose or deserve to be, but because no one will help them to help themselves. They are as intelligent and enterprising as the well-off, but no conventional bank will provide them with loans to buy what they need to make a living or start a small business. It is indeed ironic, and tragic, that the people who most need loans are those who are least able to obtain them.

Professor Yunus started Grameen Bank in the 1970s doing the exact opposite of what banks conventionally do. It lends only to the poor, not the rich, and without collateral; it lends to far more women (who are traditionally under-employed) than men; and most of its equity is owned by its borrowers. Instead of failing, the bank has thrived, and boasts a loan repayment rate of an incredible 99 per cent.

In 1998, I had the privilege of visiting Grameen Bank and meeting Professor Yunus. On a trip to the Bangladesh countryside, I saw with my own eyes how Grameen Bank had transformed the lives of people by providing them with the means to make a decent living. I also sat in on one of the borrowers' meetings, where they take collective responsibility for their loan repayments. What made the most indelible impression on my mind was their dignity, sense of purpose and pride.

The world has learned from Professor Yunus by setting up similar projects in many countries. It has waited long enough to honour this remarkable visionary and humanitarian with its highest award.

TONY HUNG, Ma On Shan