影片首幕，2016 年馬來西亞吉隆坡「Bersih 5.0 集會」畫面，廣播中傳來號召者被捕消息，法令名稱浮現，一道法令承襲自另一道，時間不斷往前推移，回到1948 年的緊急條例，串起馬來西亞 80 年歷史。來自新村的青年世代導演黃淑珺，重返故鄉採訪第一代村民，手持攝影小心跟隨長者行走的軌跡，聆聽他們娓娓述說記憶：1942 年日據馬來亞、1948 年英政權到來、山林裡的屠殺、「趕搬家」、緊急狀態下的隔離生活，回憶雖無法還原歷史，記憶卻是唯一的抵抗。旅程穿梭於 1948 年到 2017 年之間，沿途風景是前進亦是回顧，老人們看似平穩的口述歷史，透露了無數遷移與離散的血淚，如今戒嚴解除，但恐懼的幽魂仍在‧‧‧‧‧‧。

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This film looks at the legacy of Malaysia’s “Chinese New Villages”, and their connection to Malaysia’s ongoing quest for a more open democracy today. The new villages were resettlement camps for Malaysian peasants in the 1950s. The British military created the camps as part of an effort to quash a guerilla insurgency by armed communist fighters who had originally banded together to resist the Japanese occupation. The heavily guarded camps were used to separate peasants from the communist fighters, who were largely based in rural areas.

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Ng Shu Jun, who hails from one of these New Village settlements, interviews first generation residents. They recount life in the villages, and reflect on how they were affected by the Japanese occupation of Malaysia in 1942 and subsequent British colonial rule.

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The interviewees talk about the their forced resettlement into the New Villages, and a life of isolation during the “Malayan Emergency,” the British term for the brutal anti-communist campaign, which lasted until 1960 but still has reverberating consequences to date.