The euphoria over the surprise victory of the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad-led Pakatan Harapan coalition last year has been swiftly replaced by a surprisingly bitter disappointment. For the past two months, Team Ceritalah has been criss-crossing the country: everywhere from Kuala Kangsar to Penampang. It’s been a Herculean effort for the young team: listening and recording stories from the ground. We tried to revisit all the people we interviewed before last year’s polls. Team Ceritalah aren’t pollsters. We weren’t trying to do a scientific survey. Rather, we sought to take a snapshot of a country coming to terms with both immense change and the more mundane challenges of making a living.

There's a brief snap – the sound of a hammer hitting a nail: metallic but light. A man – his limbs are bound to a life-sized cross – winces as the metal pierces the palm of his hands. There is no blood. Another man, dressed as a Roman soldier, holds the hammer. It’s Good Friday, April 19, and Team Ceritalah is in Pampanga, two hours to the north-west of the Philippine capital of Manila. This is a rich agricultural country and the heart of Luzon island. For Christians, and especially Catholics, Holy Week – commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – is the high point of the religious calendar.