Queer as Punk

“Shh diam!” simply means “Shut up!” in Malay. The punk band Shh...Diam refuses to be silenced, spreading the message of recalcitrant “lonely lesbians” and other marginalised groups at their rousing concerts: “Electric Boogie in my Underwear!” Off stage, too, as director Yihwen Chen shows, the band members are committed to LGBTQ rights in a conservative, Muslim-dominated state where human rights and freedoms are severely restricted. This raises the question of the “pink migration”: Is leaving the country the only solution?