Silence is Death

Recent events in my country of birth, Malaysia, have convinced me that to remain silent is to invite the slow death of acceptance into our lives.

"Stay safe," they say, "and they won't come for you."

The investigation, arrest, and imprisonment of Melissa Gooi, Alvin Tan, and Vivian Lee confirm to a chilling certainty that this is a lie.

No one is safe, and it frustrates me to no end that no one seems to feel the same urgency in speaking out against this creeping insidious tide of silencing.

Then again, maybe they've already succeeded in shutting us up.

The day we hung them out to die, and kept quiet, we had already lost our right to speak.

I am 24 years old.

I am scared shitless about what will happen next.

But I will not be silenced.

Not like this.