Ringing the bells: Christianity and the Kadazan-Dusun identity under the rule of the alliance government in Sabah, East Malaysia (1967-1976)

• Main Author: Aphrodite, Sharmini
• Other Authors: Michael Yeo
• Format: Thesis-Master by Research
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities; Indigeneity; Borneo
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174074
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This thesis charts the development of the ethnic identity of the Kadazan-Dusun community, indigenous to Sabah, East Malaysia, from the years 1967 to 1976. This period was one in which Sabah was under the tenure of Chief Minister Mustapha Harun, who led the United Sabah Nationalist Organisation and the coalition it was part of, the Sabah Alliance. Under this government, Kadazan-Dusuns in Sabah were subject to state-backed attempted assimilation to a larger Malay-Muslim identity. These processes of attempted assimilation included the imposition of the Malay language and Islam in Sabah, parallel to the suppression of Kadazan Dusun languages and Christianity. I argue that, in response to this attempted assimilation, Christianity became a key part of a developing Kadazan-Dusun consciousness instead. This thesis analyses political documents, mass media materials, biographies, and personal writings to understand how a Kadazan-Dusun Christian consciousness was cultivated during this period, with particular attention paid to the sensorial elements of this process.