Be inclusive, drop the labels

(from left) Panalists JJ Fernandez, Marina Mahathir and Dina Cheah-Foong, with moderator Suri Kempe at Seed Malaysia's #NoLabels event.

While the intention of having no labels is good – namely, a society that is diverse and inclusive where everyone is respected as an individual and not placed into boxes – there are some labels that shouldn’t be discarded, says human rights activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir.

“Each one of us is made up of many labels, for example, I’m a speaker, ex-president (Malaysian Aids Council), mother, wife, writer, etc,” says Marina.