PETALING JAYA, Oct 28 — Mohd Raffi’e Jaafar is the winner of the Sunway-MAF Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Award 2022.

"I thought Komited Malaysia would win because they were more established,” he said after being presented the award by the Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah at the Sunway-Malaysian AIDS Foundation Red RIbbon Gala 2002.

He received RM20,000 cash, a trophy, RM2,000 worth of Shopee vouchers and a certificate.

Raffi’e is the founder of Amal Firdausi Clump that seeks to empower key populations affected and infected by HIV/AIDS.

"I started doing this work on a voluntary and adhoc basis 22 years ago.

I still have the same phone number that if people Google for it, they will find it,” he added.

He started working with key populations affected by HIV/AIDS when he helped prepare Muslim bodies that included sex workers, drug users and transgenders for burial.

"The stigma 20 years ago against HIV/AIDS was still high.”

He said that sometimes would be up until 3am to do counselling.

"They will also ask me all sorts of questions like can you have teh o ais limau with your medicine.”

He is also known as Abang Long among those who sought his help as he was resourceful.

They sought him out for advice on various aspects such as treatment, medication, marriage and moral support to continue their survival as a person who Among his contributions to ending AIDS is that was one of the first to have a Syarie discussion on the issue of transgender and LGBT which also involved the cooperation of JAWI and the Legal Aid Bureau.

He also led and was responsible for the production of manuals such as Manual Islamic and HIV, and Transgender and Islam Manual. In addition, he was also one of the first to be involved in efforts to deal with the issue of PLHIV body management among drug users and transgender.

Among those newly diagnosed with HIV, he is often regarded as "Abang Long" who is a resourceful person. They look to him for advice and seek his views on various aspects such as treatment, medication, marriage and moral support to continue their survival as a person who been infected with HIV.

Two other finalists, Komited Malaysia and Mahfurizal Ameerlatfi (Along) received RM2,000 worth of Shopee vouchers.

The Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Award is awarded to recognise outstanding contributions by organisations and individuals towards meeting the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health concern in Malaysia.

* Malay Mail is the official strategic media partner for the Malaysian AIDS Foundation Red Ribbon Gala 2022 and Sunway-MAF Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Award.