Ho Yock Lin

A relentless leader and passionate advocate for women’s rights, Ho Yock Lin has spent four decades fighting the good fight. As the president of the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM), an NGO that she helped co-found in 1985, she has been at the forefront of transforming women’s rights discourse in Malaysia. Her efforts have yielded tangible results with the passing of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022, a legislation that took 22 years of persistent advocacy to pass.

Under her leadership, AWAM has evolved beyond courtroom battles and has positively impacted the community at large.The organisation's Telenita Helpline, launched in 1997, has been providing free legal information and counselling to survivors of gender-based violence for nearly three decades, while its training programmes have reached healthcare providers, police officers, schools and corporations across Malaysia.

Meanwhile, its Canvas of Change charity art exhibition in 2025 showcased 25 graphite illustrations by artist Hakim Abdullah (Pencil Ninja), chronicling stories of women who shaped Malaysia while raising funds for survivors of gender-based violence.

Ho's four decades of activism have taught her to anticipate where battles will be fought next. Today, she's turning her attention to digital spaces, where online gender-based violence and algorithmic biases create new forms of oppression. Her insistence on structural reforms that dismantle both patriarchy and technological inequalities reflects a leader who understands that true change requires constant evolution.