Profile of Asian Leaders

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born 28

October 1956) is the sixth and current

President of the Islamic Republic of

Iran, and the main political leader of

the Alliance of Builders of Islamic

Iran, a coalition of conservative

political groups in the country. An

engineer and teacher from a poor

background, Ahmadinejad joined the

Office for Strengthening Unity after

the Islamic Revolution. Appointed a

provincial governor, he was removed

after the election of President Mohammad Khatami and returned to

teaching. Tehran’s council elected

him mayor in 2003. he took a religious hard-line, reversing reforms

of previous moderate mayors. His

2005 presidential campaign, supported by the Alliance of Builders

of Islamic Iran, garnered 62% of the

runoff election votes, and he became

President on August 3 2005.

Dr. Manmohan Singh

INDIA’s fourteenth Prime Minister, Dr.

Manmohan Singh is rightly acclaimed

as a thinker and a scholar. He is well

regarded for his diligence and his

academic approach to work, as well

as his accessibility and his unassuming demeanour. Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh was born

on September 26, 1932, in a village

in the Punjab province of undivided

India. Dr. Singh completed his

Matriculation examinations from

Punjab University in 1948. His

academic career took him from

Punjab to the University of Cambridge, UK, where he earned a

First Class Honours degree in

Economics in 1957. Dr. Singh

followed this with a D. Phil in Economics from Nuffied College at

Oxford University in 1962. His book,

“India’s Export Trends and Prospects

for Self-Sustained Growth” was an

early critique of India’s inward-

oriented trade policy.

Hu Jintao

Hu Jintao was elected president

of the People’s Republic of China

on March 15, 2003. He is now

general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, president of

the People’s Republic of China,

chairman of the Central Military

Commission. Hu Jintao, a native

of Jixi, Anhui Province, was born

in December 1942. He joined the

Communist Party of China (CPC)

in April 1964 and began to work

in July 1965 after he graduated

from the Water Conservancy Engineering Department of Tsinghua University, where he

had a major in the study of hub

hydropower stations. He is an

engineer.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was

born in Tremas, a village in Arjosari, Pacitan Regency, East

Java, to a lower-middle class family and is the son of Raden

Soekotjo and Siti Habibah. His

name is Javanese, with Sanskrit

roots. Susilo comes from the words su- meaning good and –

sila, meaning behaviour, conduct

or moral. Bambang is a traditional

boy name in Javanese, meaning

knight. Yudhoyono comes from

the words yuddha-, meaning battle, fight; and yana, meaning

journey. Thus his name roughly

translates as ‘knight who is well-

behaved in battle and journey’.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung

Nguyen Tan Dung (born November

17, 1949 in Ca Mau province) is the

prime minister of Vietnam. He was

confirmed by the National Assembly

on June 27, 2006, having been

nominated by his predecessor, Phan

Van Khai, who retired from office.

Dung is currently ranked third in the

hierarchy of the Communist Party of

Vietnam. Dung was born in Ca Mau

province in Southern Vietnam. On his

12th birthday, the young Dung is said

to have voluntarily joined the

military arm of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam,

later part of the Vietnam People’s

Army, doing first-aid, and communication tasks; he also

worked as a nurse, and a physician.

Dung was four times wounded in the

Vietnam War, and was later ranked

as a level 2/4 wounded veteran. He

graduated with a bachelor’s degree

in law ( doctor of jurisprudence)

following the end of the war.

Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu or

Binyamin Netanyahu (born 21 October

1949) is the Prime Minister of Israel.

He serves also as the Chairman of the

Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as

the Health Minister of Israel, as the

Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and

as the Economic Strategy Minister of

Israel. Netanyahu is the first and only

Israeli prime minister born in Israel

after the State of Israel’s Foundation.

Netanyahu joined the Israeli Defense

Forces in 1967 where he served as a

team leader in the Sayaret Matkal

special forces unit, taking part in

many missions including the hostage

rescue mission from the hijacked

Sabena Flight 571 in 1972. he fought

in the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and

achieved the rank of captain before

being discharged. Netanyahu served

as the Israeli ambassador to the

United Nations from 1984 to 1988,

member of the Likud Party, and was

Prime Minister from June 1996 to July

1999.

Ramon Magsaysay

Ramon Magsaysay was the third

president of the Third Rpublic of the

Philippines (1953-57). He was best

known for successfully defeating the

communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk)

movement. The son of an artisan,

Magsaysay was a school teacher in

the provincial town of Iba on the

island of Luzon. Though most

Philippine political leaders were of

Spanish descent, Magsaysay was of

Malay stock, like most of the common people. Working his way

through Jose Rizal College near

Manila, he obtained a commercial

degree in 1933 and became general

manager of a Manila transportation

company. After serving as a guerilla

leader on Luzon during World War II,

he was appointed military governor

of his home province, Zambales,

when the United States recaptured

the Philippines. He served two terms

(1946-50) as a Liberal Party congressman for Zambales, his first

experience in politics.

Pratibha Patil

Pratibha Devisingh Patil was born on December 19, 1934 in

Nagdaon village of Jalgaon District, Mahastra. She got her

early education from RR Vidyalaya, Jalgoan and later obtained her Master’s degree in Political Science and Economics from the Mooljee Jetha College, Jalgoan. She obtained the Bachelor of Laws

from the Government Law College, Mumbai. She always took part in sports and won several shields at various inter-collegiate tournaments. Even as a MLA, she pursued her studies as a law student.

Najib Tun RazakBorn July 23, 1953, Kuala Lipis,

Pahang, Najib is the eldest of Prime

Minister Abdul Razak’s six sons, and

the nephew of Hussein Onn, Malaysia’s third Prime Minister. Najib’s

five brothers are named Nizam,

Nazim, Nazir, Nazri Aziz and Johari. His

yougner brother, Dato’s Seri Mohd

Abdul Razak, runs the country’s

second-largest lender, Bumiputra-

Commerce Holdings Bhd. Najib is also

one of the Four Noblemen of the

Pahang Darul Makmur (Royal Court)

by virtue of his inherited title as the

Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar. He

received his primary and secondary

education at St. John’s Institution,

Kuala Lumpur. He later attended

Malvern College in Worcestershire,

England, and subsequently went to

the University of Nottingham, where

he received a bachelor’s degree in

industrial economics in 1947. Najib

Razak returned to Malaysia in 1974

and entered the business world,

serving briefly in Bank Negara

(Central Bank) and later with Petronas

(Malaysia’s national oil company) as a

public affairs manager.

Truong Tan Sang

Truong Tan Sang is the current president of

Vietnam and the senior member of the

Politburo, the executive committee of the

ruling Communist Party. He was ranked as

the party’s number one leader following the

11th National Congress held in Hanoi in

January 2011. he became state president

following a vote of the National Assembly in

July. Sang has been a member of the

Politburo since 1996 to 2000. He was

promoted to the national party’s number

two slot, just behind the party general

secretary, in October 2009. To get the top

slot, he had to outmaneuver Prime Minister

Nguyen Tan Dung. Sang was born January

21, 1949, in My Hanh, Due Hoa, Long An.

His nickname is “Tu Sang”. He joined the

communist Party on December 20, 1969. He

was taken prisoner by the South

Vietnamese government in 1971 and held in

Bien Hoa Prison in Phu Quoc island dixtrict.

He was released under the Paris Peace

Treaty in 1973. He has a bachelor of law

degree.

Prepared by:Jean Milnard S. PunzalanII-Charles

Submitted to:Mrs. Lalaine GalutiraAraling Panlipunan Teacher ofMangaldan National High School