Multiple Faultlines and Identity of Indigenous Christians/Catholics in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper explores the complexities of the contested political terrain in Malaysia that
abounds in multiple faultlines within Peninsular Malaysia and between East and Peninsular
Malaysia. The resultant rupture occasioned by the Allah controversy shored up the intricate
interplay and asymmetrical relations between the dominant ‘fictitious self’ and subjugated
‘fragmented self’ of the minority ethnic and religious communities. Such rupture
calls for a reconciliatory praxis by which the ‘subjugated and dominant self’ concertedly
work towards restorative and structure justice instead of the pretentious simulationof a
fictitious unity under 1Malaysia. Amidst the political upheavals, the Christians of the fragmented
indigenous communities constantly negotiate their hybridized or multiple identities
embedded in their crossed religiocultural traditions. By “traditioning,” the indigenous
traditions embrace the diverse religious and local traditions through ‘multiple participation’
while their multiple identitiesremainstaunchly grounded in the Christian faith.