Immigration Archives – New Naratif

An illustration in colour pencil and watercolour, divided into one large central image and three panels on the left and right sides. In the centre, a woman in a t-shirt and skirt bows her head and reaches out to her partner, a man in a t-shirt and slacks who is wiping tears off his face. A Malaysian flag hangs in the background, red and white stripes forming bars behind the couple. In the six panels, three on the left and three on the right, the same couple stand at a counter, speaking to different immigration officers in each panel. There are small Malaysian flags on the countertop. The first officer looks stern; the second holds up their paperwork, laughing at it; the third shakes a form at the man angrily; the fourth beckons to another officer; the fifth looks apprehensively at another set of documents; the sixth points to a counter off in the distance, directing them into another series of altercations.

Amid Tourism Push, Malaysia Keeps Binational Families Apart

Pandemic travel and immigration rules in Malaysia have left many binational families stressed, strained and separated for months, with officials deemi…

Liani MK 21 January 2022

Can Malaysia’s Cycle of Statelessness Be Broken?

Deborah Augustin speaks to Haijan Omar, Dr. Vilashini Somiah and Wong Kueng Hui, one of the many stateless people in the Malaysian state of Sabah, abo…

Chen Yih Wen 5 November 2021

The Anti-Vietnamese Legacy of Kem Ley

There were two sides to Kem Ley, the beloved Cambodian activist who was murdered five years ago: the calm, insightful public intellectual, and the hyp…

Tim Frewer 16 July 2021

The Plight of Transnational Families in Malaysia

Deborah Augustin speaks to Bina Ramanand, founding member of Family Frontiers and co-founder of the Foreign Spouses Support Group; and Naz, a Malaysia…

Yi Peng Yap 30 April 2021