AMSA Malaysia KKL

On the 1st-4th May, 3 AMSA members from UKM had joined HIV/AIDS Awareness Conference in UPM Serdang organized by AIESEC UPM. They were Caryn Leong Jia Wern, Boey Ching Yeen and Wong Yee Ming. Despite the low turnout in the conference, the conference was considered a success. The participation of a small number of 30+ delegates turned to be a blessing in disguise as all the delegates get to know everyone with a close bonding between all the delegates. There were also a few medical students delegates from UM and IMU, and AIESEC interns from Nepal, Netherlands, India and Korea.


Basically, the conference was intended to educate the public on the awareness of HIV/AIDS in Malaysia. Targeted at age group 18-25, the conference started with a simple introductory on how HIV transmission occurs and some general knowledge on HIV and AIDS. Then, Pink Triangle Foundation (PTF) was invited to the conference to expose the delegates to the other 'side' of Malaysia, the diversity that not many had known and always been feared. The representatives from PTF includes people with notable experiences of the cause they had been fighting for, which are drug users, transgender, sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM) and living with HIV+ people (positive living).

The best we could get from the conference are from workshops and discussions with representatives from PTF. Discussions and workshops focuses more on social issues faced by HIV+ people as well as people in the high risk group of being infected with HIV. As they can say, HIV is more of a social problem these days as general prevention and procedures has been taught and almost everyone is aware of it.

What was disheartening is that those who are HIV carrier and still healthy were denied the rights and opportunity that they had deserve as a human being. They were denied education, jobs, and perhaps the inequality in treatment in healthcare sector is still significant in Malaysia despite improvement over the last 20-30 years. We had even visited PTF in Chow Kit on the 3rd day of the conference, looking at the condition of the shelter that PTF had provided for people, whether they are sex workers, HIV positive people and transgenders. A fund raising was even held in Sg Wang for PTF on the 4th May and an estimated funds of approximately RM2,000 was collected within the 2 and a half hours allocated there.

Apart from that, there are many side-activities to keep the delegates entertained, as the saying goes "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." There were mind stimulating activities such as Marketing Stimulation on how to get to the public to educate the awareness on HIV/AIDS as well as taking away the stigma that the HIV+ people had been carrying all these while. There were also a Red Party on the second day where all the delegates wore red and had their own performances. Body Combat exercises by instructor from Celebrity Fitness made the morning on the second day while David Lai, a mind-illusionist entertain the delegates on the last day of conference. A mass gathering of candles forming a large ribbon shape was also being done on the 3rd night there.

Below are some of the photos taken there:










Overall, this is an enriching experience for us who had been there as we had at least one more cause for us to encourage us to continue our journey ahead. We hope we would be able to participate in more national youth conferences in the future if we had the time. As Pink Triangle Foundation requires more volunteers to aid their cause, we could here call out for anyone who reads this to offer your kind help.

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