Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir is the keynote speaker at the fifth George Town Literary Festival (GTLF), which takes place on November 27-29 . On a daily basis, Malaysians look out in the news for her most recent comments on issues that interest and bother the country. Often, she says things others would not; or if they did, the impact is often not as strong as when this liberal social activist shares her thoughts.
Being the eldest child of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad helped attract publicity, of course, but Marina’s reputation comes largely from her constant championing of important social issues. Her work in raising consciousness about HIV/AIDS helped define her public image; she headed the Malaysian AIDS Council and the Malaysian AIDS Foundation for 12 years. More recently, she became a board member of Sisters in Islam (SIS), a movement that has been a thorn in the side of – and a favourite target of – ultraconservative Muslims for years.
Her bi-weekly column in The Star – “Musings” – has always had an enormous following since it began in 1989. Books published by her include In Liberal Doses (1997) and Telling it Straight (2012), which are largely collections of her column articles. She was for a time an influential blogger as well, and a compilation of blog posts written while her father was in hospital for 50 days was published as 50 Days: Rantings by MM (2009).
The UN in Malaysia named her Person of the Year in 2010 for her work on HIV/ AIDS and women’s rights. In November last year, she received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the Penang-based Wawasan Open University. This comes on top of the honorary Master of Arts degree granted her by USM in 1997.
In a country where the battlefront is as much on the cultural front as on the political pitch, few doubt that Marina’s passion for social issues is a source of inspiration for her fellow citizens – be they young or old, men or women, Muslims or non-Muslims.
On August 9, I met up with Marina at The Loaf in Bangsar Village II for a breakfast of fresh bread and coffee, and a chat on being Malaysian today and about life in general.
