Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
In 2017, Maryam Lee was facing a lot of heat in the media for her activism and personal ideologies.
Three years later, she wrote Unveiling Choice (2019) to share her experience as a Muslim who took her hijab off.
The police investigated Maryam regarding this at the time.
Still, they could not charge her as she explained that the book was just her perspective on the social and political origins of the Hijab in Malaysia.
Since then, Maryam has only been known for her involvement surrounding feminism and religion, but she has recently started her journey into the tech ecosystem!
This is her experience moving forward from her past.
Maryam admits that many of her viral stories were accidental and not intentionally posted for fame. The first issue that went unexpectedly viral was the chicken rice shop incident as Maryam had only meant to share her story on Facebook.
She shares that her experiences expanded her emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually in ways, she never thought they could.
[Image taken by the author, Armani]
“These events gave me the reputation of being primarily a feminist, and that’s not even all that I am. I didn’t even study feminism until after my degree. It wasn’t something I had to learn about for me, but it’s already who I was. It’s not just something for me to do or advocate. I don’t have to think about it.”
Maryam wrote the book to challenge Muslim women everywhere about their choice and how they came to decide to either wear or take off the hijab.
With the publication of her book, some people supported the authorities for investigating Maryam because “nobody should have the audacity to question Islam”. But some were unhappy because they believed in freedom of expression.
Then, there is the group of unhappy people who were particularly upset that they couldn’t profit from her story.
It wasn’t about wanting to fight for my justice or anything, but it was to have the authorities keep me in pain so there could be an issue to “fight for”.
[Image taken by the author, Armani]
“The media manipulated my tone. It made people see me differently. But this one time, a friend told me he was disappointed when he met me because I was not as advertised.”
Maryam laughs as she shares this. There were many instances where people have admitted to Maryam that she is not like how they had envisioned her (mainly based on what they read about her online). They assumed she would be loud and rude.
Maryam shares that even one organisation interviewed her regarding her book because they wanted to twist her story to support their Islamophobia.
“Right now, I’m working in tech as a project manager, but I also specialise in data analytics.”
Currently, Maryam is part of a non-profit organisation. She explains her job as the work that bridges the gap between the government and civil society.
She has been involved in tech since 2017, but 2020 was when she started looking into it seriously and ventured into it as a career.
[Image taken by the author, Armani]
Maryam speculates that it was because of her journey as an activist and woman that people would box her into the ‘feminist’ label and then end up shocked when she went into tech.
However, Maryam believes that she is still very much involved with human rights issues, where it’s more focused on tech. She shares that she would try to be in the tech ecosystem as much as possible.
[Image taken by the author, Armani]
In the end, Maryam felt that these are her stories to share, and it should end there. She believes that whoever reads it and incorporates that as their own is for them to decide; “It is not my responsibility for what they interpret in these stories.”
Maryam looked back at her past and told us that she would not have done differently if given a chance. She believes those experiences will help her identify the human rights issues that must be addressed in today’s tech world.
Know anyone with an exciting story to share? Drop us an email at hello@inreallife.my, and we may feature the tale!
For more stories like this, read:
“I Secretly Keep My Hijab Off When I’m At Work”—Malaysians Share Their Deepest Confessions
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