BIODATA Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir

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BIODATA Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir is to be conferred the Honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of her contribution to the community at large, especially in championing social and cultural issues no matter the ethnicity and political persuasion. Born in Alor Setar, Kedah in 1957, she is the eldest child of the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Her early education from kindergarten to Form 3 was at St. Nicholas’ Convent, Alor Setar and subsequently she did her Form 4 and Form 5 at Tunku Kurshiah College in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan before proceeding to study for her A-Levels in the United Kingdom. She also studied briefly at her father's alma mater, Sultan Abdul Hamid College, Alor Setar while waiting to go to the UK. She obtained her degree in International Relations from the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK (1979). Datin Paduka Marina is a writer, women’s rights and HIV/AIDS activist and TV producer. She was President of the Malaysian AIDS Council for 12 years from 1993-2005. She has also served on many regional and international HIV/AIDS bodies including the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), UNAIDS and the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV and Development (APLF). Among her achievements are chairing the 5th International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in 1999 which directly led to the availability of free first-line antiretroviral treatments to all Malaysians living with HIV. She has written a fortnightly column on social issues in a local English language daily for more than 20 years. Between 2001 and 2009, she was Co- Executive Producer of an award-winning TV programme ‘3R’ (Respect, Relax and Respond), and resumed that role in the new 3R series that began broadcasting in 2013. She has authored three books, In Liberal Doses (1997), 50 Days: Rantings by MM (2009), and Telling It Straight (2012). In 2010, Marina was named the UN Person of the Year by the United Nations in Malaysia and in 2011 was one of only two Malaysians named by WomenDeliver.org to their list of the 100 Most Inspiring Persons Working for Women and Girls. She currently sits on the Board of Sisters in Islam, an advocacy group that works for justice and equality for Muslim women; is on the International Advisory Group of Musawah, the global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family; and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Additionally she sits on the boards of the Maybank Foundation, the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1997, she was conferred the Datuk Paduka Mahkota Selangor award by the Sultan of Selangor, which carries the title ‘Datin Paduka’. .

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