Greetings to my fellow colleagues.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members for giving me this chance to be MPA’s President for the next two years. It was indeed a fruitful Biennial General Meeting that was held recently and I personally felt humbled and daunted by the task ahead. I hope members can bear with this new committee and help us carry out our tasks smoothly and efficiently. I promise that this committee will strive to work hard, be very transparent and open to views from all members about the running of the Association. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the new committee members and I hope we will be able to work together diligently. I would like to mention that it is my fervent hope that The President and Vice President together will put forth a strong and solid foundation for the next two years. This committee will continue the good work done by the previous committee and in this respect I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the previous Presidents of MPA for setting the stage right and for enabling MPA to be in such a strong position now. 

As mentioned by Dr. Yen in his last message, buying the property at 3/2 Square in PJ will be one main issue that this new committee will be working on. In this, we need all the help and goodwill from our members. We had our first committee meeting recently and we have discussed and deliberated on most issues that have been brought up at the last BGM. We have found the original constitution and this has paid to rest some of the issues brought up during the BGM. Our new Assistant Secretary has been tasked to update the members’ list and will start a new directory of members. He will also keep members informed of all activities of MPA from now on. So, keep watching for his column. We hope that with this move there will be better communication with MPA members and we are all aware of our activities. 

The 15th MCPM and 12th AFPMH that was just concluded had been a successful event and we will be having another meeting in June next year. We will also be co-hosting the regional CINP in Kuala Lumpur around March next year. Please also remember to check on our website as it is being regularly updated for the benefit of all us. Feel free to email us information, educational materials and articles that you wish to publish in MPA’s website http://www.psychiatry-malaysia.org to be shared with your fellow members and the public as well as event details of any upcoming events that you know of. Please email to info@psychiatry-malaysia.org. MPA is now helming the editorship of both The Malaysian Journal of Psychiatry e-Journal http://www.mjpsychiatry.org as well as The ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry http://www.aseanjournalofpsychiatry.org. Both have their own respective websites and have been upgraded. 

We have asked Prof Nor Zuraida of UMMC and Prof Hatta Sidi of HUKM to be editors of the journals respectively. They have been doing an excellent job and we will continue to support them. This committee will work diligently to promote public education and will make combating stigma and discrimination a key issue in our efforts to ensure that the rights of the mentally ill are not compromised. We also promise to work and watch the media closely to ensure the right and correct news about mental illness and the mentally ill are highlighted. Behind every sad story of the plight of the mentally ill, there is always one success story. This year also saw the implementation of the long-awaited Mental Health Act 2001 and its regulations being in place and MPA will work with our colleagues in the Health Ministry to discuss relevant issues as regards this. 

Lastly, I would pledge this committee to be transparent and open in all our discussions and invite all members to discuss issues professionally and in a spirit of collegiality so that we can bring MPA to greater heights. I would like to wish everybody Ramadan Mubarak and Selamat Hari Raya. 

Best regards, 

Dr Abdul Kadir Abu Bakar 

President Malaysian Psychiatric Association