Marina to quit as AIDS chief

Tuesday December 13, 2005
BY AUDREY EDWARDS

KUALA LUMPUR: After more than a decade at the helm of the Malaysian
AIDS Council and being at the forefront of the crusade to promote
safe sex and change public prejudices against HIV+ people, Datin
Paduka Marina Mahathir is calling it a day.

Marina will step down as council president on Jan 1.

"I feel it is high time that I relinquish the post and all the
obligations that come with it. But I am not leaving the AIDS field.
It's just that I will get to choose which areas to go into. For the
past 12 years, I have been talking about every single aspect
including science, politics, economics and women. Now I will
concentrate on gender and Islam."

Marina will also quit her post as chairman of the Malaysian AIDS
Foundation, a position she took on in 1993, but will still be
coordinating next year's Red Ribbon Gala.

"It is time to refocus. And the little one is growing up so fast,"
she said referring to her youngest daughter Shaista who begins Year
One next year.

Eldest daughter Ineza, 18, plans to continue her studies in
Melbourne, while son Haga, 17, is studying in Jakarta. Marina is
married to professional photographer Tara Sosrowardoyo.

Asked if the work to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS in Malaysia would
be affected by her stepping down, Marina said: "I will always,
always be linked to it but the problem is too big to be associated
with one individual. I want people to support the cause not because
of me but because it is an important issue."

She said that it took her a long while to realise that people do
recognise her on the streets.

"I always thought that I have an ordinary face and I blend in with
people."

She related the story of how, when shopping with a friend in
Singapore, a man from two aisles away shouted at her: "Aren't you
Marina Mahathir?"

"I just said no!" she said.

In the course of her work to promote safe sex, she had to put up
with brickbats. For example, a person remarked that she should be
shot because she advocated condom usage, and
therefore "immorality".

"Someone in a mosque said it after a ceramah on social ills. And
what upset me more was that the person who related the incident
mentioned it in front of my mother. And I do not like her getting
upset," said the daughter of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad and Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali.

Apart from continuing her work in the HIV/AIDS field, which will
also see her speak at Princeton University next year and being the
liaison person for the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and
the Pacific (ICAAP), Marina is helping her father with his memoirs,
planning new directions for the award-winning TV3 women's programme
3R as executive producer, and looking for movie scripts after
Gol&Gincu in which she was co-executive producer.

Marina also operates her own public relations and publishing firm
called Mosaique Communications, and writes the fortnightly Musings
column in The Star.

"It has been an adventure working on AIDS issues, an enriching
experience and I do not wish for life to be any different. It has
changed me and made me a better person. It enabled me to see a side
of life I would not have seen coming from a protected, middle-class
family," she said.

Her proudest moment, she said, was organising the 5th ICAAP here in
1999 because it had gone on so well and saw issues such as
compulsory licensing and advocacy talked about besides changing
public view and perception of HIV/ AIDS.

Marina said the most important change to take place in Malaysia was
the decision to implement the harm reduction programme, which she
describes as "landmark".

"My greatest frustration is that 12 years later, there are still
people talking about isolating people with HIV/AIDS or having
mandatory testing as if that is the answer to the problem. And while
the public is aware of AIDS, they still think it will not happen to
them. And Malaysians do not want to take responsibility for
themselves," she added.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?
file=/2005/12/13/nation/12842777&sec=nation
__________________________________

Adeeba to become new president of AIDS Council
BY AUDREY EDWARDS

KUALA LUMPUR: Although she knows that she is stepping into "very,
very big shoes" when she takes over as president of the Malaysian
AIDS Council, Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman knows that she can take on
the job.

"It is an honour and I hope I can do justice to the seat. I
recognise that there is a lot I can contribute. I was surprised
about the appointment although Marina had `warned' me about it," she
told The Star in an interview recently.

Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir will step down as council president on
Jan 1.

Her position as Malaysian AIDS Foundation chairman, which she has
also vacated, has not been filled yet.

Dr Adeeba, who is head of the infectious diseases unit at the
University Malaya Medical Centre, also heads the Malaysian Harm
Reduction Working Group which advocates evidence-based public health
policies on HIV prevention and treatment and care for drug users.
In addition, she chairs the Therapeutics Research, Education and
AIDS Training in Asia steering committee – a network of clinics,
hospitals, and research institutions working to ensure the safe and
effective delivery of HIV/AIDS treatments in the Asia-Pacific region
via research, education and training programmes.

Dr Adeeba obtained her medical degree from Monash University in
Australia and trained in internal medicine at the Monash Medical
Centre.

She then took up sub-speciality training in infectious diseases at
the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital and Austin Hospital in
Melbourne.

She obtained her fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of
Physicians in 1995.

She returned to Malaysia in 1996 to become a lecturer on general
medicine and infectious diseases in Universiti Malaya and set up one
of the first infectious diseases units in Malaysia.

Dr Adeeba is married to banker Umar Swift and they have two sons –
Luqman, eight, and Karim, six.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?
file=/2005/12/14/nation/12856290&sec=nation