“Threat of global conflict imminent”
“Bank Negara has collapsed: Residents panicking”
“Riots in streets”
“Ringgit drops to .004 to the dollar”
“Malaysian Government rolls out new plan to save ringgit”
“Our resources are severely depleted”
“Interim military presence takes charge of KL”
Daniel woke up with a start. Another nightmare. They were becoming more frequent. He switched on his flashlight to make his way to the bathroom.
Then, filled a small bucket from the water tank to clean himself. There was no running water, nor was there any electricity anywhere in this part of the city.
Dead Zone was what the government called it because it was just that. No power. No laws.
“Ma?” he called out.
No answer. He could hear the radio crackling in the dingy living room. He opened the door to find his mother sitting on a chair, staring blankly at a painting on the wall. He sighed.
“Ma, I’m going out.”
There was no response. He didn’t expect any. She had been unaccepting of what was going on, unaccepting of the current situation. He put on a singlet and strode outside with the various items he wanted to trade. He jumped over some red plastic road barriers and took a shortcut to the market via an abandoned building.
“Hey, Daniel!”
He was so deep in thought that the greeting made him jump. He looked up to see a tall boy coming towards him, his arms crossed with a grin on his face. Next to him was another tall boy with spectacles.
“Ayyy, Boon, Rajit, what’s up, guys?” Daniel smiled, pulling his friends in for a bro-hug. “Haven’t seen y’all in a bit.”
“We’re going to the market now. Same like you lah,” Boon Jin replied, smirking.
“Okay, okay. Let’s go,” said Daniel.
The market was bustling, just like the day before. People of all walks of life went there to exchange commodities for necessities.
“Auntie, how are you?” Daniel called out, walking up to an elderly woman manning the first stall.
“I have some rice for you. Can I have some salt, please?”
Daniel spent most of his working hours, if it could even be considered working hours, at the market. It was a charming place where a small community gathered to exchange goods.
They had reverted to the archaic barter system when the ringgit became near worthless. The citizens of a few suburbs had banded together so that they could weather this financial crisis. However, it soon became their new way of life.
***
When he returned to the room, Isabella explained a bit more about the camps.
“It would be better to show you. Do you have a computer or some device?” She pulled out a flash drive from her pocket, gesturing to it.
Daniel pulled out a tablet-like computer that worked on batteries. The computer booted up, and Isabella inserted the flash drive. Several images and videos flashed across the screen.
“They take kids. Adults. They tell your family some ridiculous lie, and poof … just like that, you’re gone. Just like that. I was one of them and—”
Documents such as memos and blacklists scrolled by; videos of abuse were enough to make Daniel sick. He saw one video that particularly piqued his interest. There were rats scurrying about what seemed to be a prison cell, where people were sleeping on broken bunk beds. They looked pale and dirty.
***
The next hurdle they faced was formulating a plan to expose the truth about the regime.
“It’s the only way,” Isabella snorted.
“No, that’s not true,” said Daniel, passionately. “We could play the long game.”
“What the heck does that mean, Daniel? We need to spark a rebellion.”
“Do you know Malaysians? We don’t rebel. We sit and we wait, and we plan, and we do things slowly. No one will rise up quickly. We need to do it another way…”
“Okay,” Isabella sighed, grimacing. “Fine. Find someone who can hack into the digital labyrinth. That is beyond my skills.”
Daniel quickly set to work. It was imperative that they found someone to pull this off. His first thoughts were of the people in the market square. It wasn’t that hard to find someone who could do it, given the sheer amount of talent that could be found there.
And so they did …
This is an excerpt from ‘The System’ by Jaden Kun Shen Tan. The story is part of ‘Broken’, a collection of short stories by young writers. ‘Broken’ is priced at RM33.90 and is available at BookXcess outlets and on its website.
To give the younger generation a platform to express themselves, Twentytwo13 runs a dedicated space called Young Voices. Young writers aged 18 and below who wish to have their work published may submit their contributions to editor@twentytwo13.my.
The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of Twentytwo13.
