The Asian Age, London, Monday 18 March 1994

Buzz begins on the Asian of the Year
By Amit Roy

London, March 27: The winner of the next ‘Asian of the Year’ award is to be announced in May, according to Mr Jasbir Singh Sachar, 58, the publisher of the annual Who’s Who of Asians in Britain.

The last award, for 1993, should have been made at the end of last year. There will, exceptionally, be two winners announced this year; the delayed one for 1993, which will be disclosed in a couple of months, and another for the current year.

The function at which the name is announced has become an important part of the Asian social scene in London. At a dinner at some West End hotel, guests are given the new edition of the book – each year it becomes thicker as the community prospers. Then, some time between the dessert and the cognac, the titleholder hands over an inscribed silver platter to the new “Asian of the Year.”

The occasion is actually great fun. Though likely candidates pretend they don’t want the award – “Why me, bhai, mein to chhota admi hu?” (I am an ordinary man) – they love it when they win.

The first winner in 1987 was Swraj Paul, head of the Caparo Steel empire (who is, incidentally, hotly tipped for a peerage). He was followed in 1988 by Keith Vaz, the labour MP who hugely increased his majority in Leicester East at the last general election. Then came Lisa Aziz, the TV presenter who has been followed into television by other Asian women; and Nazmu Virani, former chairman of the leisure group Control Securities.

In 1991, Professor Bhikhu Parekh of Hull University was named “Asian of the Year”. He, too, may get a peerage, according to those who know about such things. In 1992, he passed on the silver platter to a glamorous young man who spends much of his time in London, and who had that year come fresh from winning the cricket World Cup in Melbourne. And so, who is to succeed Imran Khan?

Lots of names are being tossed around – among them, Kamlesh Bahl, the first Asian woman to head the Equal Opportunities Commission; Baroness Shreela Flather, the first Asian woman to get a peerage; and the dignified and the white-turbaned Mota Singh, the first Asian judge.

Could it be Anwar Pervez, the low profile, modest and immensely successful Pakistani businessman who has quietly done a lot of work for charity; the Manchester-based young fashion whizzkid Shami Ahmed, who invented the Joe Bloggs label; Professor Partha Sarathi Dasgupta, the brilliant Cambridge economist; Mr Lord Desai, another high-flying economist.

Could the bible go to Hanif Kureishi, for writing The Buddha of Suburbia and putting Asian sex on the TV; or Guringer Chadha, for directing the film “Bhaji on the Beach”? Every year the list of serious candidates gets bigger.

One who should perhaps get the title but won’t because he awards them (after thorough consultation with community leaders) is Mr Sachar himself. He has done more than most people to project the success of the Asian community. He was 38 when he began work on his first Asian “Who’s Who” in 1974. It had 170 names. “I could hardly get six local government councillors,” he recalls. The entries have swelled to over 1,000, providing many role models for the new generation of British-born Asians (who are also filtering through into Mr Sachar’s book).