Even with she was hooked up to a life support system, with tubes down her throat and unable to speak, the late human rights activist Irene Fernandez could not be silenced. She gave her fellow activists a thumbs-up.
 
Youngest daughter Katrina Jorene Maliamauv said as her mother lay in the hospital bed after a severe heart attack, she read out to Irene the many messages of support that were pouring in.
 
“I also told her - and this was when she gave me a thumbs-up - I said, ‘Your activist friends from around the world, they said that they are here in solidarity with you. You take your time (to heal), we will keep up the fight,’ and she gave me a big thumbs-up.
 
“I think that says so much about who she is,” said Katrina at a memorial service for Irene in Petaling Jaya last night.
 
As she spoke, standing before a crowd of about 200 and in front of a projector screen showing a photo of Irene’s thumbs-up while holding her rosary, Katrina explained how the picture shows Irene both as a person of faith and an activist who would find a way to make a point even when she couldn’t speak.
 
“It is the last picture that I took of mum,” she added.
 
The photo was taken on March 26 at Serdang Hospital, a day after Irene collapsed and five days before she passed away at the age of 67 due to heart failure.
 
She is best known for her welfare programmes and rights campaigns for migrant workers through her NGO, Tenaganita, and was on her way to hear the findings of the Bersih People’s Tribunal when she started having breathing difficulties.
        
Songs and dances
 
Irene gained international attention in 1996 when she revealed abuses in immigration detention centres and was charged with "maliciously publishing false news", which in turn became Malaysia’s longest criminal court battle that ended 13 years later in 2008 with her acquittal.
 
Throughout the three-hour memorial service, representatives from NGOs and other groups spoke fondly of her memory, whether it was her work as an activist or the way she laughed.

Among those who gave speeches were former Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan, PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, her long-time lawyer R Sivarasa, Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan, and representatives from the Tenaganita-run shelter.
 
Anwar spoke of the time when he and Irene were active at the World Assembly of Youth when the opposition leader was leader of the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim).
 
Interspersed between these speeches were songs and dances, which included performances from workers and refugees that Irene had helped.
 
The memorial ended at about 11pm with the crowd holding candles and singing Irene’s favourite song:
 
"Get up, stand up. Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up. Don't give up the fight."

Irene’s task not done yet