In September 2013, I mentioned that I have been fighting an intense battle for my future, my dreams, my life and my liberty, and that who I am as a person is at stake, and my freedoms are at stake. This battle is far from over.

I think it's about time I made the details of this battle public.

I am an asylum seeker.

And I know first-hand what it's like to be tarred with the same brush as many other people seeking asylum, to be called a benefit scrounger, although I have never claimed any finances from the state. That is only the stigma, and only part of the problem...

I am originally from Malaysia. For a long time there, I had been abused for my race in various situations in which the authorities could have intervened -- in school, as a conscript for a three-month National Service stint, and elsewhere. The abuse is physical, verbal, mental and emotional. I have also written articles and human rights dossiers detailing the extent of human rights abuses in Malaysia, both during my time in Malaysia and during my time in Britain.

Malaysia has draconian security laws, and every human rights organisation I have searched on the internet testifies to this. The most notorious of these laws, which is used to prosecute people who don't remotely have a case, is the Sedition Act 1948. In an era of the internet, globalisation, and increased awareness of human rights, it's hard to believe that sedition is really a thing. But it is... and it's scary. Say the wrong thing, and you could be tried -- and if you're let off, you'd perhaps be imprisoned without trial. This is what I face, and it scares me to death.

So anyone who is even slightly critical of the government could be done in under Malaysian law.

I am currently fighting an appeal against a decision from the Home Office, which I read and found severely lacking in research, and also failed to mention all the sources that I presented during the process so far.

Up till now, I had been so afraid of even mentioning it... because of the stigma, and because of the notion that if I ever said anything which was critical of the Malaysian government, I would be a traitor and a coward. I am tossing all that aside now, while writing this post.

In addition, the only immediate family I have left is my dad... who is still in Malaysia and heavens know where he is. Honestly, I don't know where he lives. The only communication I have with him is via e-mail, and that in itself is sporadic. Go to Human Rights Watch and you'll find a report or two of people of Indian descent being shot sporadically in the streets in Malaysia by the police, who subsequently make allegations that these people approached the police with machetes. There is a long-running stereotype that any leader of a gang is of Indian descent, and because they target the Malay majority and make it unsafe for them, there is now a "shoot first, talk later" policy. I am of Indian descent, and so is my dad..... he could be shot for going out one evening just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. And, if I ever go back there, the same could happen to me. I am terrified.

I ask for your prayers and good thoughts, and anything you can muster. Thanks.

I will admit I am writing this while tired and weary, but it's about time all this was made known.