“We were not raised to see differences”
By N Shashi Kala, The Nut Graph
HUMAN rights lawyer and activist Malik Imtiaz Sarwar recently won the Bindmans Law and Campaigning award for his work on human rights.
Malik, who says he always knew he wanted to be a lawyer, has worked on some precedent-setting cases, including the Apcet 2 remand hearing, and the Lina Joy conversion case that earned him death threats.
Imtiaz poses with his Bindmans award
The current president of the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) talked to The Nut Graph on 11 May 2009 at his office in Kuala Lumpur about an idyllic life growing up in Penang, and the impact of 22 years of Mahathirism.
TNG: Where were you born, and where did you grow up?
Imtiaz: I was born in Penang, on 29 January 1970, at the Adventist Hospital. I spent my primary and secondary schooling years there — at Wellesley Primary School and at Seri Inai, which had just been set up then. A lot of the academics from USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia) sent their children to the school. One of my school mates was Azmi Sharom. His younger brother, Azlan, was my classmate. Karpal Singh's kids all went to Seri Inai as well.
I left at 16 to do my A-levels in Singapore. I went to Raffles Junior College — I was an Asean scholar.
