By the second day of their remand, those arrested at the music venue Rumah Api last week felt like they were broken.

"Quite patah semangat (broken spirit), you know. We were just tired. A lot of us came out really jaded.

"We just went to see a gig but we were charged with conspiring to topple the government,” said one of those remanded, a woman, who spoke to Malaysiakini on condition she is not named.