Marina named UN person in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir has been named as United Nations in Malaysia’s Person of the Year 2010.

Marina was chosen because she had always been a prominent campaigner for women’s rights and had been at the forefront of putting AIDS on the public agenda in Malaysia, said United Nations in Malaysia resident coordinator Kamal Malhotra.

“As a strong advocate for gender equality and women’s rights, especially the rights of Muslim women, Marina has written articles and presented at national and international conferences on topics related to the principles of justice, gender equality, women’s empowerment, discrimination against Muslim women and other related issues within Malaysia.” he said at the 2010 UN Day Celebration to mark the 65th anniversary of the United Nations here yesterday.

He said Marina’s 16 years as a HIV and AIDs activist had pushed several changes in the Government’s policies, especially in making treatment more available and accessible.

Marina was represented by her two daughters as she was currently in Barcelona, Spain attending an event.

Also present was Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Senator A. Kohilan Pillay.

The UN also gave recognition to two Malaysian broadcasters for being winners of Unicef’s top East Asia awards – International Children’s Day of Broadcasting Award (ICDB).

Representatives from the two organisations – TV3 and RTM’s TRAXXfm – will receive the awards in New York on Nov 2 and stand a chance of winning the Global ICDB Award 2010 at the same event.