KUALA LUMPUR, 1 April 2014 – Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) and its fundraising arm the Malaysian AIDS Foundation (MAF) as well as their Partner Organisations are profoundly saddened by the passing of human rights activist and Tenaganita executive director Irene Fernandez on Monday due to heart failure.

“She was a fearless fighter whose courage of convictions to safeguard the rights of the marginalised, including people who are living with HIV, has left an indelible imprint on the civil society movement. Her death is a great loss to all of us,” said Datuk Dr. Raj Karim, MAC president.

Fernandez played an important role in strengthening the foundation of MAC in its formative years. Beginning with being a pro-tem committee member who contributed towards the establishment of MAC in 1992, she went on to serve on its executive committee as assistant honorary secretary for two non-consecutive one-year terms between 1992 and 1995. Tenaganita – the women’s, migrants’ and refugees’ rights based organisation which she helped form in 1991 – was one of the seven original founding member organisations of MAC and continues to be one of its forty-nine Partner Organisations to this day.

“Her humanity is infectious and her compassion knows no boundaries, as evidenced, among others, by the hospice for the terminally ill that she set up through her work with Tenaganita. Her legacy will live on in the people whose lives she has touched,” said Hisham Hussein, MAC honorary secretary who worked closely with her in the early years.

MAC, MAF and Partner Organisations extend their deepest condolences to her family and loved ones at this time.