Martin Khor Kok Peng (November 9, 1951 – 1 April 2020) was the executive director of the South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing countries based in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, from 1 March 2009 to 2018. He replaced Dr. Yash Tandon who was the executive director of the South Centre from 2005 to 2009. Khor was also a journalist, economist and the former Director of the

Third World Network Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

, which is based in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Khor was born in

. He was active in the

civil society movement The Civil Society Movement ( ar, تيار المجتمع المدني, CSM) is a Lebanese political party and movement founded by Grégoire Haddad in 1998. Definition and vision The CSM hopes to build free, democratic and secular Secularity, ...

. He attended the 1999 and 2000

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

(WEF) in

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...

, the

World Social Forum The World Social Forum (WSF, pt, Fórum Social Mundial ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemoni ...

(WSF 2002, 2003) and the European social forum (2004). He was also a member of the

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...

's Task Force on Environment and Human Settlements since 1997, and a member of the

Ministry of International Trade and Industry The was a ministry of the Government of Japan from 1949 to 2001. The MITI was one of the most powerful government agencies in Japan and, at the height of its influence, effectively ran much of Japanese industrial policy, funding research and di ...

's National Committee on Multilateral Trade Issues in Malaysia. He was a Vice-Chair of the Working Group of Experts on the

Right to Development The right to development is a human right that recognizes every human right for constant improvement of well-being. History The right was first recognized in 1981 in Article 22 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights as a definitive ...

under the UN

Commission on Human Rights A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...

. He took part in the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy. Khor sat on the board of directors of the

International Forum on Globalization International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. Khor was a columnist for ''

The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' from 1978 to 2019. He studied at Cambridge University and the Universiti Sains of Malaysia. He was an economist there.

Illness and death

Khor had been fighting cancer since 2015, and he had returned to Penang to fight it. He died on April 1, 2020. His wake was held at the funeral parlor at

Mount Erskine Mount Erskine is a residential neighbourhood within the city of George Town in Penang, Malaysia. This hilly neighbourhood, northwest of the city centre, is situated between the Tanjung Tokong and Pulau Tikus suburbs to the north and to the south ...

on the following day and his funeral was held on April 2nd at the same location. He had a daughter and a wife. Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan paid tribute to him.

Quotes

*about the WSF: "That is a new global relationship between countries that promote the weak rather than the strong
WSF 2003
*about the patent system and intellectual property in general: "One of the solutions is finding ways to promote innovation and to reward good work without necessarily using the intellectual property system, because it may not be the right system to provide rewards all the time.

Selected works

*The Malaysian Experience in Financial-Economic Crisis Management: An Alternative to the IMF-Style Approach (2005)
983-2729-40-8
(Publisher: Third World Network) *Global Trends Series (2001-2019)
978-1842770559
(Publishers: Zed Books and Third World Network)

References

External links

interview
1951 births Malaysian people of Chinese descent Malaysian economists Malaysian journalists People from Penang 2020 deaths {{Malaysia-academic-bio-stub