Sabah is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. Hakka has been the major spoken language in Sabah’s Chinese communities since 1920. This study investigated Hakka individuals’ language choices and their identities in Sandakan, Sabah. Fifty-two Hakka individuals across three generations were interviewed and observed. The data revealed that the Hakka language faces several challenges, and its survival is threatened. Hakka was neither the primary language nor the preferred choice of many of the participants; however, they claimed to have an unwavering Hakka identity. This paper draws from studies on language maintenance and shifts in sociolinguistics fields and examined ethnic identity, which appears to be the counterforce affecting Hakka language loss. The conflicts between the Hakka language shift and Hakka identity maintenance are discussed.