Dear MPA members:

Firstly, thank you to all the MPA members for electing me as the President for the term 2022/24.

It is an honor for me to serve you as the President of MPA, an association with a proud past and an exciting future. I wish to acknowledge and thank all the MPA members for their past and future support.

In my capacity as the MPA President, we will be continuing the MPA’s tradition of working and collaborating with all its members, providing support, building on our strengths, and taking on new directions. We will continue our programs that strengthen our professionalism through education and training while utilising and, where possible, renewing and upgrading available resources. We will also retain our commitment to ensure that all of us can perform our critical role: promote mental health and treat those needing help.

I hope members will continue to work together harmoniously. The work will increase our association’s visibility to the broader community. Through the MPA, we will work together and continue to build on our strengths and consider taking on new challenges using ways or newer methods of dealing with these challenges. The pandemic has brough new challenges for mental health services and professionals!

Psychiatry in Malaysia has expanded in terms of government and public recognition; there is an increasing recognition of its importance. There is now an increased number of psychiatrists and mental health services in the public and private sectors. We would never have guessed this would be the situation years ago; our founding members and subsequent psychiatrists have pushed hard for recognition and service expansion, but we still have a long way to go.

Now, we must also look outward and beyond our own psychiatry community. We cannot accomplish much by merely connecting with each other. Instead, we must extend our collaborative network with other communities. We have a lot to offer to mental health professionals, patients and the broader community as they wrestle with the issues of mental health and illness. If we do it right, I know our contributions will be welcomed and appreciated. Of course, many challenges are ahead, but let us not forget that we are an organization united by our values and rich with talents. We have many talented and enthusiastic young psychiatrists in our field now, and they are motivated enough to help expand the field in the country.

As an association, we will work towards maintaining members’ commitment to ensure that all of us will continue our primary role in promoting mental health and treating those needing help.

I wish all of you the best and hope we will bring the association to greater heights.

Prof Dr Ahmad Hatim Sulaiman

President , MPA.