Anban wins Diana Award for humanitarian efforts

Anban Ashlan Raj, 21 from Penang, Malaysia has been recognised with The 2022 Diana Award, the highest accolade a  young person can achieve for social action or humanitarian efforts.

The Diana Award established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, is given out by the charity with the support of both her sons, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex. 

Anban was the only Malaysian among 180 youths from around the world who were honoured with the accolade for going above and beyond in their daily life to create and sustain positive change.

He was nominated by his secondary school teacher, Noraini Puteh and was honoured in a virtual ceremony held on July 1, which marked the 61st anniversary of Princess Diana’s birth.

Anban who was raised by his mother, Dr Annamalar Anthonysamy, and maternal grandparents, Anthonysamy Selvanaikam and Kirubakary Santhanasamy believes that one could make the world a better place with quality education.

He began his lifelong journey in education at the age of 16 when he and his classmates were introduced to a higher level of mathematics during high school at SMK Datuk Onn Butterworth.

As many of his peers struggled with the subject, Anban came up with his own special set of notes and freely tutored his classmates after many hours of preparation.

Anban completed his pre-university education at Taylor’s College, and is currently a Monash Ng Kong Lin Scholar studying Data Science at Monash University Malaysia.

His ambition to make education more accessible for all has lead him to establish the World Youth Leaders Organisation.

The organization launched the Youth Leaders Programme (YLP), the world’s first leadership development course for young people, by young  people. Anban serves as the Head Mentor at the YLP which offers unlimited need-based scholarships.

To date, the YLP has benefited young people from over 40 countries worldwide across 5 continents and its impact is growing steadily.

World-renowned leaders such as the Vice President of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Mark Tewksbury C.C., M.S.M. and CEO of the Diana Award, Tessy Ojo CBE, were also the speakers for the inaugural August 2021 YLP.

They further received the support of Climate Change Youth Advisor to the UN Secretary General, Vladislav Kaim and Diana Legacy Award recipient, Zubair Junjunia for the Winter 2021 YLP.

The World Youth Leaders  Organisation has also forged global partnerships with renowned organisations such as Thred Media in the UK, Peace First Org in the US, and #LearningPlanet in France to advance its outreach for leadership education.