Today I finally became a US citizen after 10 long years. 🇺🇸

It has been a difficult journey for me.

In 2013, I was arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned in my home country for posting political satire on Facebook that was deemed insulting to the state religion of Islam.

My post went viral within hours -- hundreds of police reports were made against me, I received dozens of death threats from angry Muslims, my address was doxxed/leaked, I was accosted and assaulted in public, and I had to go into hiding because I feared for my life.

Within days, the police arrested me, interrogated me, harassed my family as well, ransacked my apartment, and they charged me with multiple counts of insulting religion, sedition, and misuse of the internet.

I was facing 5-10 years in federal prison in my mid-20s, and I'd likely only be released in my 30s, facing a bleak future with no career prospects, the stigma of being an ex-convict, and a broken-down spirit.

I had to make a choice, and I had to make it fast.

I decided to escape to the US and leave behind everything and everyone that I've ever known... forever.

It was the toughest and scariest decision that I had to make in my life.

I first slipped out to Singapore. Then to the UK. Then to Mexico.

From Mexico, I literally walked up to the CBP officer at the US-Mexico border and said:

"Sir, I don't have a passport or a visa. I'm here to beg for asylum because I'm being persecuted in my home country for my political views."

And then I waited.

Moment of truth.

He stared at me for 5 seconds, dumbfounded, and then he radioed it in.

Within a minute, 2 more CBP officers showed up.

They took my belongings and put me in handcuffs.

The other people in line were so perplexed and watched in bewilderment as I was taken away in handcuffs, they must have wondered what the hell I did. 😂

Anyway, CBP processed me and handed me over to ICE.

I spent many months in immigration detention, not knowing my eventual fate.

I was sleepless for months.

Eventually I was allowed to plead my case for asylum before a judge.

Judge Lee O'Connor. I remember his name very clearly.

Because everything hinged on his approval of my asylum, otherwise I get deported back to face added charges and a lengthier prison sentence.

An asylum hearing isn't just me and the judge.

DHS has an attorney and are legally obliged to oppose my asylum case.

The DHS attorney did ample research on my case and did an impressive job painting me as an agent provocateur who decided to just recklessly poke the bear of Islam, despite knowing that it was the state religion.

She made such a compelling case that I thought I was toast for sure.

The judge, however, disagreed.

He said, "Well if it's something that's protected or ought to be protected, then the petitioner (me) should have been allowed to say whatever he wants."

His final words brought tears to my eye:

"And with that, I approve your case for asylum. Welcome to America."

I heaved a massive sigh of relief.

I hugged my lawyer tightly, I thanked him profusely, and after that, I was pacing up and down the hall in utter disbelief (and jubilation) for 20 minutes -- I simply couldn't contain my excitement.

After that, I got my Green Card and eventually my citizenship. 😎

Looking back, everything that happened in the last 10 years just felt so surreal.

Very few people understand how alone it feels when you have the whole world against you.

Fleeing from Islamic tyranny and the Muslim mob. The whole country rejoicing witnessing your downfall. Your closest friends and family members deserting you, because they didn't want any trouble with the regime.

Yet America gave me a second chance when no one else would even touch a criminal fugitive like me.

Thank you, America, for giving me a new lease on life.

I can never set foot in my native soil ever again, and I'm fine with that.

America is now home.

And from the bottom of my heart, I can truly say, God bless America. ❤️

Oh believe me, he was.

He couldn't believe they made such a huge hoo-ha over a picture.

He also agreed with my lawyer that "sedition" is a BS law.

If he agreed with the DHS prosecutor that I was a sh*t-stirrer, I would have been deported instead. 😭

Bah Kut Teh 🤣

Not that easy, remember Ali Abdul Jalil?

He has been applying for Swedish citizenship for 4 years now.

Still they don't want to give him.

Not sure why, but he has been on PR for way too long already, far longer than I have.

Of course I would do it all over again, that's a total no-brainer.

I wouldn't have any other way to become a US citizen.

You have no idea how much people pay and what they sacrifice just to get a US passport!

Yeah lol, the government lawyer and my lawyer had to explain in court what BKT is and also why it would be so offensive to Muslims and Islam.

Of course it was a tense courtroom, but deep down inside I was laughing my ass off.

2 angmoh lang in US court debating over BKT. 🤣

You know... People always said Trump is anti-immigrant.

And Democrats are pro-immigrant.

I can't say this is true from my experience.

In 2015, Obama denied my work permit application.

But in 2018, Trump granted me asylum and PR.

In 2024, Biden denied my initial citizenship application (because I did porno and didn't disclose in my application).

Yet in 2025, Trump let me be a citizen.

So how do you explain it?

I don't think Trump is anti-immigrant, he just follows the law. Period.

Hey, speaking of the DHS attorney...

She went and print out my entire Alvivi FB page posts. No joke. Brought them into court.

She asked me, "So everything was written in English, every post was in English. Why was this post in particular (referring to the BKT post) written in Malaysian language? What was your intention?"

I didn't know how to answer. 🤣

Correct, everything was dependent on the asylum grant.

PR and citizenship you'll get in due course so long as you behave yourself, but you must get asylum to begin with to solidify your legal status in the US.

This is why that hearing with the judge was so important.

Either I was going to become a citizen eventually, or I was going to get deported back to Malaysia with added charges and lengthier sentence.

There's no in-between.

Correct, everything was dependent on the asylum grant.

PR and citizenship you'll get in due course so long as you behave yourself, but you must get asylum to begin with to solidify your legal status in the US.

This is why that hearing with the judge was so important.

Either I was going to become a citizen eventually, or I was going to get deported back to Malaysia with added charges and lengthier sentence.

There's no in-between.

Remain as PR, with the right to reapply for citizenship again the following year.

They couldn't revoke my asylum if they wanted to, because my asylum wasn't granted by them, but by a judge.

In a way, asylum granted by a judge is a lot stronger than asylum granted by a government bureaucrat -- they will need another judge to overturn my asylum, and even then only on grounds of fraud (which doesn't apply to me, as my case is real, genuine, and well-documented).

I don't think Malaysia is moving in the right direction demographically.

Malaysia is becoming more conservative, not more progressive, and in the Malaysian context, that means more religious and non-secular.

Chinese and Indians are becoming even smaller minorities compared to just 20 years ago, so it's becoming harder to justify any significant representation of non-Bumis in the government.

We've changed government 2-3x now, with PH in power for 2 of those administrations, and I don't see any major reform in terms of 3R, freedom of speech, or electoral reforms, for example.

Which means that changing government in Malaysia is a mirage -- you'll get the same kind of policies just with a different logo.

Every party or coalition that wins the election has to fight tooth and nail to appease the lowest common denominator of the Bumis, otherwise they can say goodbye to reelection.

This is exactly why Anwar seems like a totally different person after ascending to power.

He knows where power emanates from, and it's not from the Chinese and Indians.

In short, we've become politically irrelevant. It's their country now. Deal with it.

Not much, but I had a bit of history with our DPM Zahid Hamidi lol.

He hated me and wanted to see me die.

Yup, people don't understand what life is like for people like me.

I'm walking on eggshells all the time.

For the rest, they can just go back to their home country if anything happens in the US.

For me, I have nothing -- it's the US or just be a ghost, stateless and without home.

As long as I was on work permit, asylum, PR, I constantly felt like I was on parole.

A little mistake, and they'll just revoke everything and send me back, and I can't risk that ever.

This is why my criminal record is so clean in the US, even traffic tickets I've only ever had 2 in 10 years.

No arrests, no charges, no nothing.

Now that I'm a citizen, I can never be deported anymore, but that doesn't mean I start acting like a fool and start courting trouble.

It's a good idea to stay on the good side of the law, citizen or not, deportable or not.

US healthcare system is tip-top.

Best doctors, best medication, best med tech, and also no long waiting periods.

The only problem is cost.

Healthcare *can* bankrupt you in the US if you're not careful; in fact, it's the #1 leading cause for bankruptcy in the US.

Your choice is to either pay for expensive insurance with shitty coverage and high deductibles (meaning insurance will only "kick in" after you pay a certain X amount out of pocket first), or just pay out of pocket, which is not advisable at all.

US hospital bills are priced to fleece insurance companies, they're not priced for regular people to pay out of pocket.

If you have good insurance, that's great, you'll get treatment with any specialist you want, and it will be mostly covered.

However such good insurance typically cost $500-1,000/mo.

You pay even if you don't use it for the whole year.

There must be a better way, but sadly the US government has never figured it out.

I already am. 😎

Keeping it all under wraps for now, but it's in progress.

Anything to escape America's healthcare system, tipping system, shady opaque pricing system, and worst of all, child support/family court system, not to mention double taxation (state and federal income taxes, f*ck that...).

I didn't have steak, I had something more American.

St Louis style ribs!

Yes, but there's a foreign earned income exclusion, which means the first $150k or so is free, so long as you can prove you live abroad for more than 6 months in that year.

Nope, that's too close.

Europe actually.

Child support is punitive in the US, and here's why:

1. If DNA test reveals that the child isn't yours, you still have to pay.

2. Even if you lose your job, you still have to pay.

3. Go to jail, you still have to pay.

4. Even if you voluntarily paid child support, the mother can take you to court and officially make you pay, including BACK-PAY FROM THE TIME THE BABY WAS BORN, and past payments don't count.

5. Fall back on child support? They'll garnish your wages, impound your car, take away your driver's license, take away your passport, put you in jail, etc.

The government is so complicit in making men pay women child support, because they get a cut from all child support payments.

The incentives are perverse, and it's definitely "not in the best interest of the child."

1. There's a waiting period for guns, but it's not hard. I could have legally purchased one even as a PR.

2. Dental care is fully covered if you have good insurance. I did 4 wisdom tooth extractions plus a root canal + crown, it was all covered and completely free.

3. Celebrities I met while working in F&B include Kristen Stewart, Kendall Jenner, Jack Black, Steve Martin, and a shit ton of NBA and MLB players. I think there must be more, just can't remember. They're just normal human beings. They become less mystical and special when you literally live in the same city as them, shop in the same supermarkets as them, drive on the same roads as them, eat at the same restaurants as them, etc.

4. I love Louisianian Cajun cuisine for sure. It's unique and delicious. Southern food is cool, but I love Southern seafood boil the most. Tex-Mex is also damn good. There are some regional specials that are honorable mentions, like Philly cheese steak, NY pizza, Chicago deep dish pizza.

But the best American food that one should never miss out on is barbecue. Try southern barbecue, try Texas brisket, and then try St Louis-style ribs. They're all magnificent. Slightly different from one another, but they're all tantalizing.

Yes, I do.

There are Malaysian and Indonesian restaurants here, obviously nothing as elaborate as back home in Malaysia, but it will do.

One thing you'll quickly learn while living overseas is that your palate can change quite quickly.

Now I find myself yearning for Mexican food more than Asian food most of the time.

Good question, most likely I'll be in Malaysia.

Running my software business like a good boy.

I definitely wouldn't be in the US or even abroad, because I wouldn't really have the means to make the move.

I know right?

It felt like so long ago.

But yes, only about 10 years.

The difference is I kept a clean record and went all the way to become a US citizen.

Amos Yee is currently serving a 6-year prison sentence in Illinois for possession of child porn and grooming of a minor.

I haven't talked to her in 10 years.

Last time I talked to her was in 2015, I messaged her on WhatsApp to see if she would like to escape to the US like I did.

I entered the US in 2014, but I haven't stabilized myself yet at that time, but in 2015, I felt stable enough to bring her over.

But she refused to leave and wanted to just "finish the court case in Malaysia" and move on with her life.

The truth is, if she had come back then, she would also have a valid case for asylum just like I did.

She would have also become a US citizen by now like me.

As for the path she chose, I know from our common friends that she dated a few guys after me, I'm not sure if she got married, but I highly doubt it.

She bought a new Perodua Axia not long after I left, so I don't think she's doing that poorly.

She probably works in a normal office job now and lives a quiet life.

Anyone follows her on Facebook or Instagram?