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INTERVIEW - Marina Mahathir,
President of the Malaysian AIDS Council and Chairman of
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Board of Trustees
of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation |
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| “Denial and inaction will
be the deciding factors, not better economic development or
the types of government” |
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| How serious is the epidemic
in Asia Pacific? There are projections that Asia Pacific is
going to be worst hit. Is the comparison with Africa real? |
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| The Asia-Pacific epidemic is still for the most
part invisible; and that is where the problem lies. People can't
see it yet, so they think it is not that serious. But with Asia's
huge populations, invisible does not mean small. A small percentage
in India or China can mean huge numbers compared to smaller
countries in Africa. |
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| I think, we can take many lessons from Africa. People in Asia
like to say we're different from Africa and therefore it won't
happen to us, or it won't be as bad. But denial and inaction
will be the deciding factors, not better economic development
or the types of government. I don't think we have to be poor
to suffer from AIDS; we just have to be blind to it. |
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| What populations in your view
are more vulnerable in the Asia Pacific region? |
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| Not much different from elsewhere really. Whoever
is marginalised will be vulnerable and in Asia that generally
means drug users, sex workers, migrant workers and refugees.
If there are women in these groups, they will be even more vulnerable,
since women generally are more vulnerable than men because of
their socio-economic status in many of our countries. Layer
young people on top of that and then you're looking at very
substantially vulnerable populations. |
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| Do the experiences elsewhere
in the world provide any opportunities to the region? |
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| Of course, if we're not too proud to learn, and
if we stop saying we're different from everyone else. The history
of AIDS has been pretty much the same everywhere, and the people
who've approached it in the most practical and realistic way
are the ones who've made a difference. |
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| How have culture and religion played a
role in the campaign against HIV/AIDS in Asia Pacific? |
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| Usually not in a positive way. For instance,
the Malaysian Minister of Health has just said that we cannot
be too open in talking about HIV prevention and condoms because
we might offend some people's sensitivities. This was in response
to me saying that we have to be more open, realistic and practical
if we are to have any hope of arresting the spread of HIV in
Malaysia. He then admitted that this lack of openness is probably
why our infection rates are rising. So there you have it. Do
we seriously want to do something about it or not? |
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| I think many countries in Asia Pacific face the same issues.
But I think it is important for governments and politicians
to have the courage to do what is right. Because doing what
is right saves lives. And if you save people's lives, they will
vote for you! |
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| Malaysia, like most countries of the region,
has a vibrant religiosity. What has been the role of the Islamic
clergy in the response to the epidemic? Have visits to Uganda,
arranged by your organisation, resulted in any difference in
the religious leaders' involvement with the AIDS campaign in
Malaysia? |
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| Yes, actually that was one of the smartest things
we did. We wanted the religious leaders to first see firsthand
what it's like to live in a country where AIDS is an everyday
reality, and secondly to understand that something can be done,
especially by Islamic communities. They found the visit very
enlightening and one of them even talked about it on television.
Since then we've been working with religious leaders on a training
manual for them and been conducting training workshops all over
the country. The grassroots leaders have really welcomed it
because it turned out that they were facing HIV in their villages
and hadn't known what to do. They thought our workshops armed
them with much-needed knowledge and empowered them to be able
to help. Now they are asking for even more training.
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| Could you please tell us about your work
among children - introduction of sex education in schools and
initiation of theatre programme to educate kids? |
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| We have been advocating for sex education in
schools (along with the reproductive health education) for a
long time and trying to convince people that with the threat
of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is even more urgent to have such
education imparted at schools. For the longest time, the Education
Ministry wasn't that responsive but now they are responding
and we've been working with the Curriculum Development Centre
on the syllabus and training of teachers. It's still not on
yet but the atmosphere has become better. I think it is also
because the public indicated that they think it's important. |
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| What in your view should
be the immediate priorities for the region in the backdrop of
an escalating epidemic? |
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| The most important is for governments to wake
up to the fact that HIV/AIDS is threatening to become a large
scale epidemic in Asia. I think China has been setting a good
example with their current openness and somehow I find people
are hearing about this. We need to get across to politicians
and policymakers the sort of devastation HIV/AIDS can cause
to all the development gains they've so painstakingly worked
for. If we can get the more enlightened politicians to talk
to their peers in other countries, maybe something good will
happen. |
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| About
Marina Mahathir |
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