AWARE’s Alamak! Awards are given out to the most jaw-dropping instances of sexism and misogyny seen in Singapore. They are AWARE’s tongue-in-cheek way of raising awareness about, and condemning, these behaviours. The nomination process takes into account public feedback.

As per tradition, musical satire group Chestnuts presents each of the four nominees in the form of hilarious song parodies. Songs we know and love receive twisted new lyrics from comic genius Jonathan Lim, while local musical theatre icon Elaine Chan and video designer Genevieve Peck weave them into a musical mash-up to remember, together with Timothy Wan, Natalie Yeap and Candice de Rozario. These videos were first played at the AWAREHouse Party on 28 November 2020. 

1. The Potential

Over the past year, we’ve seen male perpetrators of violence receive what many perceive to be unreasonably light sentences, because of the men’s “potential”. In these cases, a doctor and two university students had their “potential to contribute to society” remarked upon by tribunals and judges even as they were penalised for their offences. Whatever the outcomes, we’re puzzled by society’s tendency to imagine shiny new futures for these men, despite their actual pasts. Why assume they have the ability to do good, when so far what they’ve demonstrated is the ability to do wrong?

(Latest update: Following the strong public response to these cases, the Government has announced that it will review the penalty framework, including the extent to which an offender’s background and educational status should be a relevant factor.)

2. OKLetsGo

OKLetsGo, a podcast that regularly tops local charts, came under heavy public fire in 2020 for how the hosts objectified women. Instead of apologising or addressing the feedback in good faith, the three hosts doubled down, complaining that this was a coordinated attack against them. They finally apologised when President Halimah expressed her disapproval of the podcast.

3. Gender Pay Gap

In January 2020, the Ministry of Manpower released a new report showing that the unadjusted median pay gap between men and women in Singapore is 16%. This figure of 16% has stayed constant since 2002. After adjusting for factors such as the worker’s industry, occupation, age and education, the gender pay gap is 6%. This means that even among individuals doing the same job, women typically earn 6% less than men.

MOM blamed, in part, “women’s propensity to play the primary role in caregiving and take time off work for parenting”, and said that occupational segregation is “due to inherent gender differences”: “differing personality traits and skills, psychological attributes, and choices of field of study”. Sigh—it’s too bad performing unpaid comes so naturally to us women.

4. SG Nasi Lemak

SG Nasi Lemak was a Telegram group where members shared explicit and non-consensual sexual images of women and girls.The group had around 44,000 members at its peak. The material they shared ranged from so-called “revenge porn” to actual child pornography to random photos of teenage girls, captured without permission. They also used multi-level marketing techniques to induce members to keep “contributing content”. Despite a handful of arrests and the closure of SG Nasi Lemak, it seems that participants just set up new Telegram groups and carried on.

Big thanks to Chestnuts for another entertaining year of Alamak! Awards! For more information about the Alamak! Awards, click here.