“When a woman’s features are beautiful, she’s bound to have shortcomings and there are bound to be others who will be jealous of her and not like her. This is just like the GST.”

Believe it or not, this was an actual statement made by a local state assemblyperson during an assembly sitting.

Every so often, Malaysians discover yet another sexist, homophobic, misogynistic and transphobic statement or action made by public figures and institutions.

In 2012, the coalition of women’s groups referred to as The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) said “Enough!” to such statements and policies and decided to bring attention to these statements by holding an annual satirical awards show called, ‘Aiyoh, Wat Lah?!’ - the all too familiar kneejerk Malaysian expression to anything ridiculous.

Aiyoh Wat Lah aims to raise public awareness on what constitutes sexism, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, to educate the public to expect higher standards of behaviour from public figures and to encourage public figures and institutions to adhere to higher standards of behaviour in relation to gender and sexuality.

Statements and policies that are sexist, homophobic, misogynistic and transphobic are compiled and nominated under seven different categories - Foot in Mouth, Insulting Intelligence, Cannot Ignore, Least Helpful to the Sisterhood, Policy Fail, and Enough Already - according to the severity of the statements.

In a sea of ridiculous statements, Aiyoh Wat Lah shares a glimmer of hope by highlighting statements or policies that are positive towards achieving gender equality under the category ‘Right on Track’.

Winners for each category are chosen through an online public voting system, where the statement with the highest votes ‘wins’. Members of the public are encouraged to cast their vote before voting closes on Aug 12, 2016. Voting is simple and takes only seven minutes - you just pick the statement or policy that made you go, “aiyohh... wat lah?!” the most!

Aiyoh Wat Lah, now in its fifth year, has teamed up with the Gender Equality Initiative (GEI) which aims to create an educational platform for college and university students to understand the issues and complexities of gender and sexuality.

Students from a few local private universities were involved in analysing and writing the Aiyoh Wat Lah nominee booklet, which is a wealth of information explaining why the statements and policies chosen are detrimental to the fight for gender equality in Malaysia.

Winners chosen by the public will be announced at an awards show, open to the public on Aug 26, 2016. More details will be shared closer to the event date on Aiyoh Wat Lah’s Facebook, Instagram and website.

The GEI member institutions involved in organising the Aiyoh Wat Lah! Awards 2016 are:

1. Advance Tertiary College (ATC)
2. Brickfields Asia College
3. HELP University
4. INTI International University
5. The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality comprises:

1. All Women’s Action Society (Awam)
2. Association of Women Lawyers Malaysia (AWL)
3. Perak Women for Women (PWW)
4. Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower)
5. Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor (PSWS)
6. Sabah Women’s Action-Resource Group (Sawo)
7. Sisters in Islam (SIS)
8. Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO)
9. Women’s Centre for Change (WCC)
10. Tenaganita
11. Justice for Sisters (JFS)