Datin Paduka Marina binti Tun Dr. Mahathir (born 11 May 1957) ( Jawi: مرينة بنت محاضر) is a Malaysian socio-political activist and writer. She is the eldest child of the 4th and 7th

Prime Minister of Malaysia The prime minister of Malaysia (; ) is the head of government of Malaysia. The prime minister directs the executive branch of the Government of Malaysia, federal government. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong appoints the prime minister who is a membe ...

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...

and Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali. She graduated from the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

Career

Mahathir Mohamad and Siti Hasmah with their child Marina Mahathir

Marina is a dynamic leader in many non-governmental organizations such as the Malaysian AIDS Foundation and is an active socio-political

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger. She also writes in her bi-weekly column called ''Musings'' in The Star newspaper since 1989. Some of her pieces in the column have been published in her books such as ''50 Days: Rantings by MM'', published in 1997 and ''Telling It Straight'', published in 2012 by Editions Didier Millet. The latter is a selection of her articles published in her column between 2003 and 2012. It includes a foreword by Dr Farish A. Noor, a local political scientist and historian. It contains 90 articles which are written thematically including a special written introduction on the topics discussed in the book. It also includes two previously unpublished articles. She is an active campaigner for women's rights. In 2006 she has described the status of

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

women in Malaysia as similar to that of the Black South Africans under

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. Marina has called for an end to discrimination based on sexual orientations in 1998 and 1999. She had appeared in Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Documentary released in late 2009 with the rest of the members of the Mahathir Family. In 2010, she was awarded UN Person of The Year for her volunteer work in combatting HIV/AIDS. Marina Mahathir in 2012

In 2016 Marina denounced the destruction of

Malaysian culture The Culture of Malaysia draws on the varied cultures of the different people of Malaysia. The first people to live in the area were Orang Asal, indigenous tribes that still remain; they were followed by the Malay people, Malays, who moved there ...

and traditions by what she perceives as ' Arab colonialism'. In January 2018, following a viral incident of a Muslim man slapping a Muslim woman for not wearing a hijab, Marina warned that

Islamization The spread of Islam spans almost 1,400 years. The early Muslim conquests that occurred following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE led to the creation of the caliphates, expanding over a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted ...

of Malaysia will tear the country apart. She referred to Islamization as "another form of colonisation, a concept that has never been known to being non-violent".

Personal life

On 7 June 1998 Marina married Tara Sosrowardoyo, a renowned Indonesian photographer. They have two daughters and a son.PASSAGE
. Asiaweek (16 July 1999) Previously, she was married to Didier Roussille, a Frenchman. Marina and Didier have a daughter, Ineza Roussille.

Bibliography

*50 days : Rantings, ZI Publications Sdn. Bhd, 2009. *Hidden voices : true Malaysian experience of AIDS, as editor, with Wan Zawawi Ibrahim, Malaysian AIDS Councils, 1999. *In Liberal Doses, Star Publications, 1997. *Eyes : a photographic journey through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, with Rene Burbi and Leonard Lueras, Eyes on Asian, 1993. *Telling It Straight, EDM Pte Ltd, 2012. *The Apple and the Tree: Life as Dr Mahathir's Daughter, Penguin Books, 2021.

Awards and accolades

Honours of Malaysia

* : **

MY-SEL Order of the Crown of Selangor - Knight Commander - DPMS

Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor (DPMS) – Datin Paduka (1999)

Foreign honours

* : **

Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (2016) In 2016, Marina was conferred the ''Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur'' by the French government for “her voice and charisma to many causes”, citing her work with the Malaysian AIDS Council and with migrants as examples. Marina became one of eight Malaysians to receive the award so far.

References

External links

Rantings by MM
- Personal Blog
The Star Online: ColumnistsMalaysia’s Résumé - Marina Mahathir
{{Authority control 1957 births Living people People from Kedah Malaysian people of Malay descent Malaysian people of Minangkabau descent Malaysian people of Indian descent Malaysian people of Tamil descent Malaysian activists Malaysian women activists Malaysian journalists Malaysian women journalists Malaysian bloggers Malaysian women bloggers Mahathir Mohamad family Children of prime ministers of Malaysia Critics of Islamism Muslim reformers Knights of the Legion of Honour Malaysian critics of religions Alumni of the University of Sussex