Malaysian Doctor Who Conceived Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Movement Dies At 96
Datuk Dr Ronald McCoy spent decades speaking out against nuclear weapons alongside a career as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, and was best known for starting the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.
Datuk Dr Ronald McCoy, who conceived the idea for ICAN – the campaign that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 – spent decades linking his anti-nuclear activism to his work as an obstetrician and gynaecologist.
His son David McCoy confirmed his death to radio station BFM 89.9 on Tuesday (1 Sep).
Born in Seremban in 1930, McCoy studied at Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur before joining the first batch of medical students at Universiti Malaya in Singapore in 1949.
He went on to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology, working at Assunta Hospital and later becoming one of the founding members of Pantai Medical Centre. He retired from medical practice in 1996.
McCoy often linked his anti-nuclear activism to his medical career, saying the thousands of babies he had delivered deserved to grow up in a world without nuclear weapons.
Founding ICAN
McCoy spent decades speaking out against nuclear weapons, alongside a long career as an obstetrician and gynaecologist.
He was best known for his role in starting the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.
The idea came to him in 2005, after talks on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty failed to make progress.
McCoy suggested that doctors and activists start an international campaign similar to the movement that had successfully pushed for a ban on landmines.
“We can call it an International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, with the acronym ICAN,” he wrote.
Decades Of Anti-Nuclear Campaigning, Capped By A Nobel Prize
His anti-nuclear work began in the 1980s. He founded the Malaysian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in 1987, and later served eight years as co-president of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – itself a Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 1985.
McCoy was also part of Malaysia’s team at the International Court of Justice in 1995, when it considered whether the use of nuclear weapons was legal.
In 2018, he criticised US plans for its nuclear arsenal, accusing Washington of “itching” to build up its nuclear weapons. He also opposed plans for nuclear power in Malaysia, citing cost, radioactive waste, and the danger of serious accidents.
When ICAN won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, McCoy became the first Malaysian linked to a Nobel Prize win. Then-health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said McCoy had dedicated years to promoting nuclear non-proliferation, and had “placed Malaysia on the world map.”
McCoy attended the Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo that December. Speaking to reporters ahead of it, he acknowledged he might not live to see a nuclear-free world, but said he would celebrate all the same, wherever he was.
