Paper short abstract:

The Lun Bawang practice and express their Christian values in the context of the Malay state. In this context, the character of their values are best understood when we appreciate the entanglement of their ideational, emotional and temporal aspects. These values challenge notions of "resistance".

Paper long abstract:

The Lun Bawang, living in the Sarawak highlands near the Indonesian border, are located at the physical and ideological margins of the Malaysian state. Nevertheless, the ubiquitous presence of border staff, government officers and state structures of economic and political power serve as powerful reminders that they too are subjects of the Malaysian state building project and programs directed toward the Malayinisation of its citizens. The Lun Bawang are proud evangelical Christians and it is therefore not surprising that my interlocutors would sometimes give voice to a general sentiment of discontent about this situation. However, some interlocutors also took such discussions as an opportunity to articulate Christian values which directly addressed their relationship with the Malaysian state. Amongst other things, I was told Christian must "love all people", "turn the other cheek" and "must endure God's tests". To illustrate these comments my interlocutors would sometimes draw on examples from the bible where Christians were persecuted or lived under hostile regimes. However, to appreciate the character of these values, I argue it is important to recognise the entanglement of its ideational and emotional elements with Christian temporality. Christianity situates the lives of Lun Bawang in a spiritual world that is imagined to have existed before, and will continue to exist after, the life of the nation state and the individual's corporeal body. Drawing on examples, I will discuss how this entanglement often gave my interlocutors the "strength" to de-value and reinterpret the significance of state interventions as opposed to "resisting" them.