Hard Choice-Literary Works In Cheinese And Malay By The Malaysian Cheinese Writers Its Issue On Identity

Malaysia is a multiracial nation.Since its independence,the status of Malaysian Chinese has gradually been marginalized.This thesis is going to examine,under marginalized repression,how the written texts of Malaysian Chinese Literature written in different languages present their sense of national identity and cultural identity,the differences in identity recognition and the causes that lead to these differences.Identity issues have widely been discussed in the frame of Chinese Malaysian Literature(literary works written in Chinese Language),but the voices of other languages(Malay Language and English Language)have so far been ignored.Those written texts in Chinese cannot really portray the diversity of the works of Malaysian Chinese Literature and the complexity of identity recognition.In view of this,this thesis attempts to compare the written texts between the Chinese Malaysian Literature written in Malay and Chinese Languages.Malay Literature by the Malaysian Chinese(hereinafter referred to as("the MLMC"),Chinese Literature by the Malaysian Chinese(hereinafter referred to as "the CLMC"),.In the Introduction,the names of the MLMC and the CLMC are defined and explained.The scope of text discussion is also confined to those written after independence.This is because this period has seen the increasing interest in identity issues which bring about collective presentation in literary works.In the First and Second Chapters,representative written texts are selected from both the MLMC and the CLMC.This is to give an account of different identity views elaborated in the texts as well as analyzing the writers' stands and attitudes.In fact,the attitudes towards Nation,Mixed Marriages and Conversion to Islam play an important role in national and cultural identities.As such,this thesis will have these three aspects as important trails to review how the writers of different languages deal with identity issues.Text classification and detailed analysis are two important methods used in these two chapters.The Third Chapter focuses on comparison between the MLMC and the CLMC.Both writers of different languages manifest dual recognition,that of national and cultural identities,though there is a slight difference in degrees.To Chinese writers who write in Malay Language,their recognition towards national identity and Malay culture is stronger than writers who write in Chinese Language.This is because most writers in Malay live in Malay environment,and thus they have the inclination towards national identity,and they have least difficulty in accepting Malay culture.On the other hand,the ethnic surrounding greatly influences the national and cultural consciousness among writers in Chinese.They tend to narrate the reality of Chinese being marginalized and their emphasis is mainly on preserving ethnic culture.