Greetings to my fellow colleagues.

This is the second message that I am posting on our webpage. It has been a hectic few months. We have had two well attended committee meetings so far and lots of issues have been discussed. Firstly, we have bought our property and it is final now. We are owners. 

Now comes the task of deciding what to do with this office space. Rent out or use as an MPA office. Feedback from members would be welcomed. Meanwhile, we are looking at some interior design concepts. Next, we will be having a Schizophrenia Awareness Day on 18th September 2010 to be launched at KL Hilton. We will be honoring Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye for his efforts in promoting mental health issues at every opportunity he gets. 

The theme for the day is ‘Together we will be stronger’. Another piece of good news and honor is that The ASEAN Federation of Psychiatry and Mental Health has agreed that MPA continued to helm the ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry and we maintained the website for it as well. Professor Hatta Sidi will continue in his able leadership as its editor. The committee has appointed Dr. Hazli, the assistant secretary to be our media watchman and we will be replying to issues concerning mental health and try to give MPA’s stand on them. He will be helped in this by Dr. Umi Hadzlin. Again, I hope members will provide feedback on this. 

On another note, MPA will be co-hosting the Regional CINP 2011 in Kuala Lumpur June 19-22. So, please help support this. There will be other conferences next year like the ones in Sabah and Johor but do not forget our MCPM in early June. Please also remember to check on our website as it is being regularly updated for the benefit of us all. 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. Further, do not forget to browse through the section on the REACH workshop and complete the CME at the end. There will be CME points given for those who have completed them. Lastly, let me take this opportunity to wish all our muslin members Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir Batin. 

Best regards, 

Dr Abdul Kadir Abu Bakar 

President of Malaysian Psychiatric Association