Malaysia’s 2020 Twin Crises: Opportunity to Shape a National Identity Through Creative Narratives

This paper presents the writer’s perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic as it affects Malaysia. The health crisis eclipsed the political crisis that hit the nation just as the disease began to spread in Malaysia. This paper proposes the use of creative narratives built upon commonalities among Malaysians as a more effective route to recovery in post-crisis Malaysia than the power narratives of local politics. Creative narratives are advo- cated as a nurturing space for the depiction and sharing of such common- alities. Creative narratives are personal stories of life-being-lived that can, for Malaysians, lay out the possibilities for shaping a truly Malaysian iden- tity that includes all Malaysians.