Citizenship is generally understood as an adult experience. Being young is seen as a transitional stage between 'childhood' and 'adulthood ' where young people either learn about becoming adults or where they pass through certain 'rites of passage'. This paper draws on some of the findings from a larger project on citizenship and citizenship education experiences among student teachers in multi-ethnic Malaysia. This article attempts to explore the citizenship experiences through the student teachers participation during the community service placement and their understanding of good citizens in multi-ethnic culture. It also intends to explore the young generations’ point of view as being citizens of Malaysia, such as their rights and duties, how they perceived good and bad citizenship and how they understand the language of citizenship. In the spirit of ethnographic design, twenty eight multi-ethnic student teachers (year 2 and year 4) who enrolled into citizenship and citizenship education course in Sultan Idris Education University (SIEU) had been interviewed and observed at university and on placement. The data was analysed using a thematic analysis.The findings revealed that student teachers ‘lived citizenship’ marked comprehensive yet complex elements of citizenship. They have clear understandings of citizenship in ‘Malaysian way’ that pointed more towards communitarian than liberal or civic-republican citizenship paradigms. They drew clear distinctions between what it means to be a ‘good’ and a ‘bad ‘citizen’. They also underlined how everyday understandings of citizenship can have both inclusionary and exclusionary implications. Further study need to be done as some of student teachers faced difficulty articulating their rights than their responsibilities.