The Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria’s remarks about camelback sex bagged an award in the ‘Insulting Intelligence’ category of the Aiyoh Wat Lah! Awards.
He edged out Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, despite the latter having two nominations in the same category.
The annual Aiyoh Wat Lah! Awards is comprised of six awards, highlighting sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic comments or actions by public figures or institutions that were made in 2015.
The ‘Insulting Intelligence’ category is for statements or actions that show these characteristics that are also ‘illogical, irrational, or blatantly false’.
There is also a seventh category dubbed the ‘Right on Track’ award, which recognises efforts to combat these tendencies.
Harussani made his award-winning remark in April last year, when arguing that the concept of marital rape does not exist in Islam and that a wife cannot refuse her husband’s sexual urges unless she is menstruating, sick, or has just given birth.
“Even the Prophet Muhammad says even when they're riding on the back of the camel, when the husband asks her, she must give,” he said.
The statement garnered 56 percent of the 1,065 votes cast by members of the public, during the voting period from Aug 1 to Aug 12. There were a total of four nominations in this category.
Rambunctious ceremony
The small but rambunctious awards ceremony was held in Petaling Jaya yesterday, in which none of the winners attended.
The event, now in its fifth year, was organised by the NGOs of the Joint Action Group on Gender Equality (JAG). Unlike the previous years however, JAG was joined this year by private university students from the Gender Equality Initiative (GEI) as co-organisers.
Meanwhile, one statement from Najib garnered 19 percent of votes in the Insulting Intelligence category, while another garnered 16 percent of votes.
The first was for Najib’s remarks condemning lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) individuals, which also linked them to Muslims who support liberalism, and the convicted paedophile Nur Fitri Azmeer Nordin.
“This threat will ruin the Muslim identity… the liberal ones will take the easy route in matters of religious principles… groups such as liberal Muslims, LGBT, human rightism will be born. An example was Nur Fitri’s case in the UK,” he said.
Najib’s other statement that was nominated for the award was made in September last year, where the premier spoke about the role of wives of elected representatives.
“If our wives started acting up, our heads are frayed and we cannot become good leaders or elected representatives,” he said.
Najib’s remarks also received a third nomination, this time in the ‘Enough Already!’ category. It is for statements or actions that show misogyny, sexism, homophobia, and/or transphobia, which had been repeated over a period.
This time, it was for Najib’s statement in August last year linking those who defend universal human rights to LGBTs, ‘liberalism’, and the IS militant group.
“Even if this is difficult to defend at the international level, we should defend the definition (of human rights) in the country.
“These groups (liberals and LGBT) are hiding behind the façade of human rights to approve their acts,” he said during the 2015 International Wasatiyyah Seminar.
However, this statement only garnered 17 percent of votes out of seven nominees.
Instead, the ‘Enough Already!’ award went to a Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) Friday sermon, which garnered 42 percent of votes in the category.
The sermon in February last year compared women who do not cover their aurat to houses that had been left unlocked.
“Which houses would robbers love and break into? Surely house B because it was exposed and made it easy for external elements to intrude.
“Therefore, that was a simple analogy for women who cover their aurat,” the sermon read.
Other winning acts featured in this year’s awards were:
‘Foot in Mouth’ category: Department of Islamic Development Malaysia’s (Jakim) pamphlets titled ’10 Myths about homosexuality’. (28 percent of votes out of five nominees)
‘Cannot Ignore’ category: Threats of violence, death, and rape - as well investigations - against BFM newsreader Aisya Tajuddin and G25 spokesperson Noor Farida Ariffin.
The duo had been accused of mocking Islam on separate occasions. Noor Farida was present to ‘receive’ the award on her tormentor’s behalf. (48 percent of votes out of four nominees).
‘Least Helpful to the Sisterhood’ category: Then de facto law minister Nancy Shukri’s statement that Section 375 of the Penal Code would remain in force, hence legitimising marital rape. (63 percent of votes out of four nominees).
‘Policy Fail’ category: Court of Appeal judgment acquitting a 60-year man of raping a 15-year old girl, because the man had used his semen-tainted finger instead of his penis to impregnate her. (71 percent of votes out of four nominees).
‘Right on Track’ category: Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto’s statement in parliament on Nov 17, urging fellow parliamentarians to stop judging women by their clothing, while they made disparaging remarks about female athletes’ attire, which was perceived as being too sexy and could lead to moral problems.
Bleak picture
In a statement, Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) vice president Tashia Peterson lamented on the lack of progress in the past five years when the Aiyoh Wat Lah! Awards has been in existence.
“A review of winners over the last five years paints a bleak picture. Instead of seeing progress over time, we have witnessed too many government, political party, or civil society leaders across the political divide, who continue to demonstrate sexism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia in their speech and actions,” she said.
Youths targeted
Meanwhile, Association of Women Lawyers (AWL) president Meera Samanther told reporters after the awards ceremony that the program is targeting youths, because they would be the ones voting in the next generation of leaders.
Accordingly, those in the 18 to 25 year-old age bracket formed the largest age group that voted on the awards (35 percent), followed by those in the 26 to 36 year-old age bracket (26 percent).
She said JAG is hoping to expand the program to involve public university students as well.
Both the AWL and WAO are a part of JAG.
The private universities students that participated in organising the awards ceremony and who are involved in JAG’s workshops, hail from Advance Tertiary College, Brickfields Asia College, Help University, Inti International University, and the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia campus. - Mkini
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