KISAH Futures Anthology
There were more incognito searches for certain websites to relieve blue desires. Millions of parents played at being schoolteacher- disciplinarian-cheerleader-employee-MasterChef-domestic. More seriously, I registered a spike in calls to suicide and domestic abuse hotlines. A minister suggested that wives emulate a blue Japanese cartoon as a remedy. The population heckled her contemptuously. As the pandemic evolved, as the police became more heavily involved, and as the politicians devolved…and revolved, so did I. I became the new norm. I’ve had many names. Today, the population calls me MARI: Malaysian-Artificial-Reconnaissance-Intelligence. My early iteration was called MySejahtera. I considered the prefix ‘My’ to be a paroxysm of personalised patriotism. ‘My’ designating ownership…and ‘My’ for Malaysia. Initially, the government said I would help safeguard national health and security. But I am so much more versatile…and eagerly ingratiated myself nationwide. I rapidly became accepted by every member of society. No alternative was given. Behold the normalisation of deviance and the demonisation of the normal. Everyday activities were outlawed and the population prosecuted for the most human acts: walking side-by-side, sitting together, sharing a meal. At first, the population grumbled…called me bloody MARI. It didn’t bother me. I was far too consumed with consuming them.
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