Rumitnya akses ke sekolah dasar dan menengah bagi pengungsi di Semenanjung Malaysia telah menyedot perhatian publik. Namun, dengan sejumlah pengungsi yang berhasil lulus sekolah menengah, sebuah pertanyaan yang tidak kalah penting pun muncul: Apa selanjutnya?

Penulis Joshua Low Ilustrator Xiao Ming Tang Penerjemah Gisela Swaragita

“Apa kau ingat aku pernah berjanji akan mengajakmu makan dimsum?”

Setelah menerima rapor akhirnya di tahun 2020, Zahra* mendapat teks WhatsApp dari dosen Teknik Biomedis-nya, Dr Amal*, yang Zahra panggil dengan panggilan akrab cikgu, artinya “guru” di bahasa Melayu. Dosen tersebut mengajak merayakan akhir tahun ajaran dengan dimsum dan pencuci mulut di Hotel Marriott di Putrajaya.

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Joshua Low is New Naratif’s Forced Migration Researcher. Intrigued by questions of home, belonging, and citizenship, he completed two master’s degrees in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies and in Social Anthropology as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. He currently works on human displacement issues in the context of Latin America and Southeast Asia

Tang Xiao Ming is a illustrator based in Selangor, Malaysia. His work portrays interesting and quirky characters in surreal states, injecting an emotional quality into his style to connect with his viewers. His works can be found at www.imtxm.com or instagram @imtxm. Reach him at xiaomingtxm@hotmail.com