Daughter of Malaysia’s always feisty former prime minister, Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad, wife and mother of three, journalist, book publisher, TV producer, fund raiser, blogger, AIDS activist and this year’s BTAP Travel Awards guest of honour, Marina Mahathir spoke with Margie T Logarta about what fires her up.
HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO DELINEATE YOUR ROLE AS THE DAUGHTER OF A FAMOUS POLITICAL FIGURE WITH THAT OF YOUR ROLE AS AN AIDS ACTIVIST?
I write a column and I react when I see a policy being used in the wrong way. But I’ve always made it clear in what position I respond. When I was president of the Malaysian AIDS Council (a position she held for 12 years until 2005), I always responded as such. During a BBC interview in London, the interviewer asked me what my father would have said about my work, and I said: “You’re talking to the president of the Malaysian AIDS Council, and the president has no father.” The guy got really angry, but that was a stupid question. I’m a professional and they should act professionally as well.
YOUR WORK INVOLVES MUCH TRAVEL.
They’re mostly for meetings, but sometimes they do fit in some activities where I can experience the local colour. Years ago, when I was coordinating coffee-table books on the region, I only got to stay in the capital cities to look after the logistics, while everyone else went around the country.
Being an NGO, I travel as an ordinary person – on Economy. I’m just happy to get to places.
YOUR HUSBAND IS A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER AND YOU HAVE YOUR WORK. ARE YOU ABLE TO FIT IN HOLIDAYS WITH THE KIDS?
Not as much as we’d like because trying to get everyone together is a challenge. The kids are aged 20, 19 and eight, and the two older ones are studying in Melbourne, while the youngest is with us in Kuala Lumpur. Minus our son, we recently went to India for eight days, and the girls loved it. They were always on time, so I wasn’t too stressed out.
ARE YOU THE ORGANISER IN THE FAMILY?
Yeah, I keep doing it. But I’m (finally) giving my husband one trip to organise.
DID YOU TRAVEL MUCH WITH YOUR PARENTS?
When my dad was in office, and he got leave, he would get us all together and go somewhere. But now that we have our own families, it’s much more difficult. But we do if it’s a special occasion, like when my mum turned 80 last year, we all went to Turkey. That was four families and almost all of the 15 grandchildren!
WHAT LED YOU TO BECOMING A SPOKESPERSON FOR AIDS?
I had several friends who died of AIDS. I used to do fund raising and I thought that was where I could help. I had to educate myself about it so I could educate others.
SINCE PRINCESS DIANA GOT INVOLVED IN IT, IT'S BECOME A HIP CAUSE.
That would be nice to think that. Only 1 percent is the glam side and 99 percent is hard work. From fund raising, I’ve moved on to talking to governments and policy makers about lots of issues, including religious and gender issues.
DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE GIVING UP?
Everyone who works with AIDS goes through that…when someone dies…when you see inertia in the bureaucracies.
YOU COULD HAVE EASILY JOINED POLITICS. WHY HAVEN'T YOU?
Yes, there is a need to get more women into the legislature (to get issues affecting them addressed). Many people have asked me, but I don’t like internal party politics. Too much time is spent on it.
I like being an NGO. I can say what I want.
