• Research • Journalism • Art • Film • Media Advocacy •

About

Liani MK is a journalist and artist based in Malaysia. 

Shaped by her mixed indigenous-diasporic heritage, Liani’s work often focuses on the environment, human rights, culture, language and migration — with stories that centre women, migrant and indigenous experiences. She is most interested in community-led initiatives and society’s relationship with land and water, in the context of broader political and environmental shifts.

​​Her commitment to community-centred storytelling is also reflected through her creative pursuits in visual art, comics and film. Across these media, she has assumed professional roles as a producer, screenwriter, script editor, translator, proofreader, designer, photographer, editor and researcher.

In recent years, she has collaborated on media advocacy initiatives with journalists and grassroots organisations at the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). This includes mentoring and supporting their media fellowship programme after once being a fellow herself.

Her background includes history and Southeast Asian studies — where as an undergraduate, she learnt Thai, played Indonesian gamelan, and researched a precolonial Tagalog writing script called baybayin. Outside of work, Liani tinkers with art, organises informal learning exchanges, and dreams of her next journeys along forest trails, caves and rivers.

  • Exploring a cave in Sarawak.
  • A year of learning gamelan on an Indonesian government scholarship in 2016.

​​​​​​​​Awards​

​Fellowships

Grants​

Interviews

Performance/Recording

Selected Clients and Platforms

  • International/Global — The New York Times, NPR, Rest of World
  • Asia–Pacific — Kontinentalist, New Naratif, Project Multatuli, Southeast Asia Globe
  • Malaysia — Macaranga, Malaysiakini, Family Frontiers, Justice for Sisters, KRYSS Network, Penang Monthly, Yahoo! News​ Malaysia