Author Weilee Yap Illustrator Charis Loke

Content warning: This article includes references to domestic violence and suicide.

Aulia* entered the police station one night in 2017, after her husband threw a standing fan at her head during a midnight tantrum, causing it to swell. It was her first time filing a police report, but it was not the first time he had been violent towards her. 

An Indonesian woman married to a Singaporean man, Aulia has been living in Singapore since 2000. The mistreatment started early in their marriage. At first, there was constant verbal abuse, with her husband calling her useless and threatening to send her back to Indonesia. 

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Weilee Yap is New Naratif’s Singapore reporter. She is passionate about using storytelling and the arts as a way to promote understanding, reclaim narratives and build a more inclusive society. While not working, you can find her in nature, with animals, or upside down on a trapeze.

Charis is an illustrator, comics editor, and programme designer based in Malaysia. Her interests include how comic artists and illustrators exchange resources in their networks, capacity-building for comic artists and illustrators, and drawing as a research method. Charis was formerly Comics Editor and Illustrations Editor for New Naratif.