May 1988: Kee Thuan Chye's play on the ISA crackdown was staged. In England. With a cast comprising mainly whites who even declaimed some pantun. The address, setting and content of The Big Purge was resolutely Malaysian. It had elements of wayang kulit too.

Singaporean dramatist Robert Yeo reviews: "by telling all, in The Big Purge spilling, albeit artistically his most secret thoughts and not holding back at all, Kee knew that there was no way a Malaysian audience would get to hear what he has to say". To this day at home, the play remains in the Shadowlands, unstaged.

Yeo describes 'Purge' as "a savage political satire", "scurrilous and very funny". It begins with wayang kulit storytelling: "In the kingdom of Equaland, the Chief Minister is king."