Everyone locked in the humid, crowded cell of 11 men of varying ages had to answer a sharply asked question in Malay, “Kau salah apa?” (What did you do wrong?). Some grunted in response to each tale of woe, while some were asked for more details in follow-up questioning.
For me, after decades of sticking diligently to the journalists’ maxim that “You are not the story”, it was a jarring moment.
How to not sound awkward and explain my arrest earlier that day for my banned book, after hearing the alleged tales of the other men?