he relationship between narrative and identity has been the subject of substantial post-modern reflection.As will become clear in this article, what I mean by narrative identity is a sense of identity rooted less in the persistence of certain fixed characteristics and more in participation in a particular social trajectory toward an emerging goal.That trajectory is not defined purely from within the community.Particularly in the post-colonial context, it is a trajectory plotted in relationship to the "other;" in this case not so much the Western or secular "other" external to the nation that plays such an important role in post-colonial studies, but the non-Malay, non-Muslim resident in Malaysian society that both preceded the colonial era and yet whose presence was strengthened and transformed by colonialism.Narratives of this sort are particularly relevant to Malay-Muslim identity in the post-colonial period.Older descriptions of Malay identity that were referenced to possessing a core language, religion, and traditional culture are inadequate for describing the contemporary Malay reality. 1 They have been displaced in the public realm by descriptions of Malay identity, generated largely by political parties focused on defining Malay aspirations and the characteristic ways that Malays should engage their situation to achieve these Can Muslims Engage in Interreligious Dialogue?
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Robert Hunt (2009) studied this question.