This paper discusses readings on Malay cultural identities in the Malaysian context. While previous research on Malay cultural identity has presented a broad understanding, this paper attempts to frame this discussion based on three perspectives- elite constructions, socio-cultural worldviews, and resistance to the Malay world. By placing Malay cultural identities in relation to the Malaysian context, it explores the dynamics concerning what is distinctive and worthwhile about Malay cultural identities. In addition, this study forms some of the bases for a renewed understanding and interests on Malay cultural identities in light of the burgeoning industries of popular TV fiction.

In Malaysia, a number of issues have transpired concerning the proliferation of TV fiction. Many of these complications include, but are not limited to concerns regarding feminism, patriarchy, economic imbalance, equity, power, social inequity, and religion. In this paper, we aim to locate TV fiction and Malay cultural identities across mediascape. Two primary objectives are central; firstly, this review embodies contextualization of TV fiction through examining some trajectories in which many popular TV fiction have been established. Secondly, this paper places Malay cultural identities in relation to the development and progress of mediascape. By examining these two central questions, we explore some of the many possibilities in which Malay cultural identities are explored, preserved, contested, and blurred in times of changing and challenging realities of Malaysian mediascape.