A/PART: An Anthology of Queer Southeast Asian Poetry in the Pandemic (2021, SEACQF)

apart.

(adv.) distance, away, separate units, exclusion, into pieces

(adj.) isolated, divided

Apart connotes distance, isolation, separateness, and exclusion. From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary alone, the word exists to describe our lived experiences in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. We have been living for two years now in the middle of lockdowns, health protocols, virus surges, and quarantines. Many of us had dear friends and family dying in the middle of this crisis. Separation birthed an illusion of connectedness, finding ways to contact and catch up with each other through virtual platforms. Gay romances have become a staple source of escape in streaming sites like YouTube and Netflix. Dating and lusting have become more careful and adventurous than ever (with masks on of course!). The world has never been the same since 2020. Our queer lives have become apart yet we continue living our desires everyday.

ASEAN Queer imaginings is a collection of opinion pieces by LGBTQIA activists in SEA, as they articulate their hopes of a more inclusive ASEAN region. Through their writing and their work, these writers and activists navigate the diverse lived experiences of LGBTQIA activism in ASEAN. Their activism is one fraught with difficulty, but also imbued with much hope and optimism. The collection of pieces also illuminate the diverse identities, experiences and activism of LGBTQIA SEA folks. There is no one all encompassing, monolithic identity, but a tapestry of kaleidoscopic voices and people.

Through this book, Anna Onni reaches out to comfort and reassure the queer community that there is space to hold their strengths for realising hope. A hope for a kinder, gentler world that celebrates how humans come to process and embrace queerdom. A hope that despite of struggles, humans live on with their hearts stirring with virtues and passion.

Interesting Times


May you live them,
not just survive them. May
you be their agent, their instigation,
the one they bless / they blame when 
everything goes to hell & back. May you be
captured in a news still, waving the flag or ripping
it down from its ruthless hoist. May you be larger 
than the skin you inhabit. May your romances be epic,
your victories be real, your role in the costume drama 
they make of our now win a Golden Horse. May your 
utterances be remembered / productively misunderstood.
May you inspire action. May you inspire poetry, 
good & mediocre. May your myth inspire terror
in the imperial guard, ten centuries hence. 
& may you escape it all when you need to,
find peace in the peacelessness.
Above all, wreak a lovely
havoc. Leave the 
history textbooks 
stained
with
sweetest
fire.

Ng Yi-Sheng

Ng Yi-Sheng is a Singaporean writer, cultural researcher and LGBT+ activist. He formerly co-organised IndigNation: Singapore's Pride Season and co-edited GASPP: a Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry and Prose. His books include SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century, Last Boy, A Book of Hims and Lion City.

Despite being claimed to bring benefit to the majority of people, the measures adopted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its member states to curb the infection of COVID-19 - ranging from partial/total lockdown, restriction of movement, contact tracing to surveillance – have exacerbated the pre-existing vulnerabilities of marginalised communities, particularly people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC), also known by the term Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ) in the region.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been a complex and challenging political terrain for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer (LGBTIQ) activism. The unholy concoction of conservative religious or traditional discourses and colonial penal laws resulted to criminalization of LGBTIQ persons. Five countries in ASEAN, namely, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore, have domestic laws that criminalize consensual sexual relations, imposing penalties ranging from imprisonment, to public caning, and worse, death. Four countries, namely, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, apply domestic laws that restrict expressions of gender diversity, resulting to arrests, harassment and imprisonment of transgender and gender diverse persons. In many development programs, LGBTIQ and gender diverse persons are left-behind, leveraging on scant local support in the fringes of governance and development aid. These are part of the litany of issues many LGBTIQ groups in the region have been confronting for years.