Academic Leo Suryadinata has become the first Singaporean to receive an award from the Indonesian government that honours cultural contributions and efforts to deepen understanding of the archipelago.

The Ministry of Education and Culture lauded his work on Indonesia’s Chinese community, declaring Dr Leo, who was born in Jakarta, instrumental in introducing the history and development of the country’s ethnic Chinese.

“In this field, no other scholar has as strong an interest as Leo Suryadinata,” it said of the veteran Indonesia expert, who is a visiting senior fellow at the Iseas – Yusof Ishak Institute, as well as an adjunct professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University.