discourse and the struggle for power

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013

Lokasundari V. Sankar. Discourse and the struggle for power. International Journal of Academic Research Part B; 2013; 5(4), 520-527. DOI: 10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-4/B.74

DISCOURSE AND THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER Lokasundari Vijaya Sankar Taylor’s University (MALAYSIA) [email protected] DOI: 10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-4/B.74 ABSTRACT Malaysia, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, ruled by the same coalition of parties since Independence from the British in 1957, is on the verge of political changes. The ruling Barisan Nasional (the party in power) has faced unprecedented opposition from a coalition of parties, Pakatan Rakyat or the People’s Coalition, which made inroads in the 2008 general elections, denying the ruling coalition a two thirds majority in parliament. This paper takes a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach to examine elite discourse in the struggle to maintain political power. An analysis of textual data from the 2011 speech made by the Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Najib bin Tun Razak at the UMNO General Assembly in 2011 is made, in order to study how discourse is used by the Prime Minister (PM) in order to maintain power and dominance within his party and at the same time maneuver the intricate and delicate balance that shapes the Malaysian multi-religious and multi-racial political and social scene. Findings indicate that intertexuality, historical analogies, song lyrics and quotations from the Quran were strategies used to win over colleagues from within the party. Linguistic structures showed that the Prime Minister’s motives were to: maintain power and dominance of the Malay race, to change the mindset of UMNO members to face a challenging new world and to gear up UMNO members for a fight at the 13 General Elections. Key words: critical discourse analysis, power, discourse, speech analysis 1. INTRODUCTION Political discourse has attracted much attention from those analyzing language. Language is indeed an extremely powerful way of disseminating messages. Much area has been covered in the areas of using language for hedging, evasion, using the media, spreading ideology etcetera [1]. In this paper, I examine a speech made by the Prime Minister Dato Najib Razak at the United Malays National Organisation’s (UMNO) General Assembly in 2011. Malaysia, a small South East Asian multicultural nation, is not so different in the manner in which politicians use language. It is a nation on the edge of political changes. The country has practiced a form of democracy called Consociationalism since independence from Great Britain in 1957. This type of democracy works on power sharing among race based parties and the leaders of each race based party negotiates on behalf of their party with other parties for their share of political power [2]. Gudeman [3] says that a very simplistic model was proposed by the British to neatly place Malaysians into racial categories as Malays, Chinese or Indians while the reality was a lot more diverse that this simplistic division and it therefore caused a lot of tension among races. The reasons for disharmony in inter-ethnic relations and discontent among the Malaysian public can be attributed to the perceived inequality of rights between Muslim and non- Muslim Malaysians, special rights for Malays, citizenship rights of non-Malays and laws that repress democratic rights (see for example: [4], [5], [6] and [2]). Mohd. Sani [2] further argues that the 2008 elections which clearly showed the displeasure of the Malaysian public by voting for the Opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat (or the People’s Coalition) in a big way, has paved the way for a new type of political model which he calls deliberative democracy. In order to work towards this new model, the present Prime Minister (PM) Najib Razak implemented the 1Malaysia Concept soon after the 2008 general election where the ruling coalition, The Barisan Nasional (or the National Coalition) lost a number of states to the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat. In an interview, the then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said that the government had not taken into account the increasing influence of the Internet especially among young voters [7]. This can be attributed to the fact that the government maintains strict control over the Press and that he did not see the internet as a challenge to the free flow of information through new media. Najib Razak, started the 1Malaysia Concept which was planned with the idea of fostering better ties with the citizenry and to promote better relations among the various races. The 1Malaysia Concept which aims to bring forth a united Malaysian race, also underpins the need for economic stability if the country is move forward towards economic prosperity and self sufficiency by the year 2020 [8]. It is also largely a vehicle for the PM to be in close touch with the citizenry. He has his own website where Malaysians can communicate with him. The Concept is given much publicity in the press and is seen mostly as a measure to garner support from the electorate.

520 | PART B. SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES


Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013

Given the political scenario described above, it is then imperative to discover the extent to which the Prime Minister is able to bring together Malaysians who are clamoring for change. The objective of this study is to discover whether the Prime Minister Najib Razak is able to retain power as a viable leader given the challenges posed by the opposition coalition. To find an answer the above, I ask the following research questions: 1. What are the strategies used by Najib Razak in order to maintain power as the leader of the Malaysia nation and as leader of UMNO? 2. What objectives drive the strategies used to maintain power as the leader of the Malaysian nation and UMNO? 2. THEORETICAL APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY This paper takes a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach to examine elite (van Dijk, 1992)[9] discourse in the struggle to maintain and keep power. Elite discourse in this study refers to discourse produced by people with power over access to communication and control over minorities. A linguistic analysis of the 2011 speech made by the Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Najib bin Tun Razak (hereafter Najib Razak) at the UMNO General Assembly in 2011 is made in order to study how discourse is used by the Prime Minister (PM) in order to maintain power and dominance over his party. Wodak [10] defines CDA as a study fundamentally concerned with analyzing structural relationships (both opaque and transparent) of power, discrimination and dominance that is manifested in language and social inequalities that are legitimized and instituted. Meyer [11] adds that in CDA endeavours to make explicit power relationships that are usually hidden, take note of extralinguistic factors such as culture, society and ideology and uses concepts such as intertextuality and interdiscursivity so that the broadest range of factors that exert an influence on texts is taken into account. CDA sees language as a social practice and views the context as crucial in its analysis. Of particular interest to CDA is the relationship between language and power. The linguistic approach used in CDA is to view the larger discursive unit of the text as the basic communication unit [12] Van Dijk says that the aim of CDA is to go beyond superficial description of discourse and ask questions based on responsibility and ideology. It starts with social problems and ‘chooses the perspective of those who suffer the most and critically analyses those in power, those who are responsible and those who have the means and the opportunity to solve such problems’ [10]. Analysts are urged to take a strong position in order to both understand as well as resist inequality and dominance (van Dijk,1993)[13]. Hidden social practices are believed to work in the construction of discourse and CDA specialist Wodak [10] claims that language is a social practice which is used in the construction of power and therefore the context of language is crucial in CDA. The study of language in the production and struggle for power is important because as Fairclough [14] says ‘common sense’ assumptions and ideologies exist in the production of language He further asserts that other theorists such as Foucault and Habermas, who introduced important social theories of hegemony and public space, have given language an important position in the study of power and ideology. In sum, CDA presupposes the existence of power and inequality and promotes a multidisciplinary approach to its analysis because the social and political context of the study of language is very important in CDA. Power can exist in many ways according to Fairclough [14]: physical force, coercion and the manufacture of consent. This study looks at some of the strategies that the PM uses his power as the Head of the government and the Chair of his political party to maintain power and stay in office. The analysis is done through a framework suggested by Faircough [14] which he calls critical language study (CLS). Fairclough uses the word critical ‘in a sense aiming to show up connections that may be hidden from people – such as the connections between language, power and ideology. This involved analysing the following (which are deemed important to answer the research questions mentioned above): 1. Power and Dominance: here the nature of social power and dominance enjoyed by power elites is examined 2. Access: privileged access to communication and discourse, a social resource on which power and domination is examined 3. Discourse structures: the text is examined to analyze the discursive structures and strategies used to maintain power Of the above strategies used to study PM Najib Razak’s speech, the first two will attempt to provide a social and cognitive framework, through a review of literature, within which the actual textual structures work in the construction of power and domination. Power and Dominance While Malaysia has a Muslim Malay majority who make up 54.6% [15], of the population, the country has Chinese, Indian and other native populations that make up the rest of its peoples. The country has been ruled by a race-based coalition of political parties made up of UMNO (United Malays National Organisation), MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) and MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress) which were the original members of this ruling coalition called The Alliance Party. They ruled from 1957 to 1969 when race riots broke out after the third federal elections in May 1969. After the riots, some of the Opposition parties were co-opted into this alliance and a new party called the Barisan Nasional (National Coalition) has been ruling Malaysia since then.

Baku, Azerbaijan| 521


Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013

It is widely thought that the National Economic Policy (NEP) which came on the heels of the racial riots, in May 1969, was implemented to instill Malay hegemony in the guise of poverty eradication and restructuring society for ‘national unity [16]. Lim [17] agrees and states that Malay political control was secured through domination of the legislature, political executive and public administration services. The NEP was specifically designed to increase bumiputra (sons of the soil - Sanskrit - and generally referring to ethnic Malays and other native communities) wealth ownership to 30% from its original 1.5% in 1969. In practice the NEP’s ‘restructuring strategy mainly involves the redistribution of corporate stock ownership, employment and education’ to Malay elites using the public sector and government intervention extensively[16]. Brown, Ali and Wan Muda [6] add that while the Malaysian constitution has all the characteristics of a western liberal democracy, a range of repressive machinery make it difficult to call it a functioning democracy. Among the factors that inhibit the democratic process are laws that inhibit personal freedoms of mainly the members of the Opposition parties, such as the Internal Security Act, The Police Act, The Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act. The Constitution has been amended several hundred times as the ruling government sees it fit and the Judiciary is controlled by the Executive. Elections held are ‘free but not fair’ and the Press is heavily controlled and owned by government agencies. Privileged Access to Communication Ramanathan and Nadason [18] state that in Malaysia the principle doctrine of separation of power among the legislative, executive and the judiciary (as per democratic ideals in order to promote checks and balances on one another) is a little skewed. The legislature has become more powerful than the other two branches. This has eroded the independence of the judiciary and the executive. During the time of past Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, two Chief Justices were fired for not towing the government line. They further assert that the authorities exert substantial control over the media and restrictions may be imposed in the name of national security. Mohd. Sani [2] comments that because all mainstream media are directly controlled by the government or through companies that have a close link to the Barisan Nasional’s top leadership, news is almost always favourable to the government. Compounded by repressive laws that restrict people’s rights to political freedom and freedom of speech, civil society and opposition parties criticize the state of democracy in the country. The Centre for Independent Journalism [19] which advocates freedom of expression, freedom of information and media freedom in Malaysia reports that Malaysia has slipped in global rankings for internet freedom. Freedom House [20] in its 2012 Report states that there are troubling infringements on internet freedom have emerged. They report that ‘prominent online news outlets and opposition-related websites have faced cyber attacks at politically critical moments, and legal amendments rendering intermediaries liable for seditious comments posted by other users were passed in April 2012’. The Discourse The speech, analysed in this paper, was made in the Malay language on national radio and television stations while translations in English, Chinese and Tamil are available on the internet on several online newspapers and also in the main print newspapers. Political speech is defined by as a speech or writing that is intended to influence people using the skill of using language in speech or writing in a special way that influences or incites people. Political speeches are meant influence, educate, inform, persuade, incite, or entertain people [21]. The presidential address at the UMNO General Assembly by the Prime Minister is done on a yearly basis. The 2011 speech is considered important as the General Elections which was thought to be held in 2012, but was not held. However it should be held before April 2013 when the 4 year term is over for the present government. The fight to retain power will be a real battle for the PM who needs to win the confidence of his party as well as the public who are becoming more and more aware of their democratic rights and are holding street demonstrations despite the threat of arrests under repressive laws that prohibit peaceful assemblies [22]. Given the greater access to information afforded by the new media such as internet, social networking sites, cell phones etcetera, the 2008 elections saw the Opposition parties making inroads in the 2008 elections and denying the incumbent Barisan Nasional a two thirds majority [23]. The following is a discussion on the findings on how the Presidential Speech is used by the PM to maintain his power as the top politician in Malaysia. Table 1 below gives a summary of the findings which help to answer the two research questions.



Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013

Table 1. Summary of Findings Discourse Practice Intertextuality

Feature of textual production Quotes from Quran Stories from Islamic literature Historical analogies (Tun Tuah and Tun Fatimah) P.Ramlee song lyrics

Objective For obedience and loyalty To show dutiful nature To show bravery For love and affection

Use of slogans

‘Hidup Melayu’(Long live the Malay race) ‘Merdeka’ (Independence)

To remind listeners of UMNO’s achievements

Metaphors

In English The proof of the pudding is in the eating managed to debunk the domino theory In Malay/Indonesian If you have bathed in a well, do not forget who dug the well(kalau mandi dikali jangan lupa pada siapa yang menggalinya) UMNO ‘skippered the country’s ship of independence’(UMNO telah mengemudi pelayaran bahtera merdeka) Do not stab from the back or shove from the back (jangan tikam dari belakang dan jangan pulak main belakang) No room for polygamous love (berbagi cinta …tak mungkin Pak…engga’ bisa Pak…) Making empty promises (lidah tidak bertulang)

Expressions of subtle dominance

To urge competition and quality To show UMNO’s struggle Show gratefulness To show leadership of UMNO in attaining independance To request for straightforwardness Undivided loyalty Be truthful and keep your word

Safeguarding the position of the Malay Rulers, the Malay Race and the sanctity of Islam A large pool of Malay middle class achieved Increase in Malay professionals from 5% to 45% in 40 years

To show dominance

Positive representation of own group – giving ‘others’ parliamentary seats in Malay areas. Pioneer in promoting racial harmony Negative representation of other group – ‘they’ are shallow in their interpretations of the NEP

To show Malays in positive light

Us/Them modes of expression

Argumentation of ‘facts’ Enhancement of ‘their’ negative actions and ‘our’ positive actions Lexical style to imply negative ‘other’ and positive ‘us’

Selfless acts of Malays To debunk Opposition party’s statements in the press Sarcasm/Irony leveled at Opposition party’s aims and goals Accusing Opposition party of starting May 13 riots

Listing of achievements Calling for change of mindset

Sequentially Statistics of wireless, social network media use Statistics of educational institutions and new generation of Malaysians who demand more of the government game changers principle of wasatiyah ‘supremacy of ideas’ Drop arrogant attitude

To emphasise UMNO’s achievements To change mindset of UMNO people UMNO must change to win the coming elections To change with the times To change old party mindsets To go the moderate way To compete with the best To win over an increasingly discerning public To be successful in forming the next government

Justification/Denial of inequality

Co-operate with component parties Battle-cry rhetoric

‘Battered’ by the Opposition, have not dampened our spirit, we will never surrender Who will defend Islam? Who will defend the rights and agenda of the Malays? Who can be counted upon to continue honouring our Rulers? … are battle ready …. The people of UMNO who are waiting to do battle … Stand up people of UMNO! Let us march onwards to the battle field Long live UMNO, Long live UMNO, Long live UMNO

To show dominance To show dominance

To deny racism

To build up a fight mode for elections To gear up the Malays for race, religion and rulers To get the UMNO people stoked up for a fight

To wake up UMNO To rally the troops

The following discourse strategies were seen when analyzing the speech of the PM. They help to answer Research Question 1: What are the strategies used by Najib Razak in order to maintain power as the leader of the Malaysia nation and as leader of UMNO? Intertexuality The notion of intertexuality refers to how utterances are produced and understood against context and which can involve the intrusion of ‘aspects of previous texts into a new text through citation, attribution or reference, and also the hybridization of one genre or text type with another’ [24]. Najib Razak’s speech had quotations and stories from the Quran (Islamic holy book), historical analogies (stories about Malay heroes – Tun Fatima and Tun Tuah), slogans from the past and a reference to a song by a famous Malay singer (P. Ramlee). The objectives of intertexual references were to bring party members together for the love of the country and to show a dutiful nature, loyalty, bravery and affection and love for both the leader and the party.



Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013

In his speech, Najib makes a plea to the assembly to become UMNO people and not just be UMNO members. He makes a distinction of the two by saying that UMNO people will have admirable characteristics of character, actions and value systems as distinguishing features. He describes the characteristics using the following methods: Quotations from the Quran and Islamic stories Very early on in the speech (Para 3,4,5) Najib uses the analogy of the Prophet and his able Caliphs who were loyal, steadfast and religious in nature. He borrows the term ‘Lion of Allah’ to bring forth the analogy of bravery and the need to uphold Islam. This has the twofold aim of asking for loyalty from his UMNO colleagues and also to stand up and fight to retain power. The analogies from the Quran are very suited to the occasion as it is an UMNO meeting and in Malaysia all Malays are of the Islamic faith. The stories of the Prophet and his followers are meant to strike a chord among the Muslim brotherhood. Stories from Islamic literature are used to bring forth the need for obedience and loyalty (see Appendix 1 under OBEDIENCE AND LOYALTY) to show that UMNO people will never betray the party and be ‘true blue fighters’. A metaphor is also used in the same call to ensure that there is no backstabbing within the party – “ do not stab from the back and do not shove from the back”. This I believe is a direct reference to reported (see next paragraph) plots for his downfall The call for loyalty can be seen from the context of defections from the Barisan National to the Opposition coalition [25] and the increasing lack of confidence in Najib by some quarters within UMNO who would prefer to see others heading UMNO and the Prime Ministership [see for example, [26] and [27]. Previous Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is seen as a mastermind within UMNO who is trying to place his son Mukhiz Mahathir at the top echelons of UMNO and also bring down Najib who is not seen as a ‘winnable’ candidate for the next elections [28]). This is mainly because of scandals attached to the PM regarding the purchase of Scorpene submarines and the murder of a Mongolian model (see for instance [29], [30] and [31]. Historical analogies Historical analogies of Tun Tuah and Tun Fatimah (see Appendix 1 under UNTIRING SERVICE AND th th SACRIFICE) two legendary warriors from the state of Malacca during the 15 and 17 centuries respectively are also used to bring forth the picture of bravery and loyalty to king and country. Tun Fatimah – a legendary heroic th woman of the Malacca sultanate in the 17 Century was known for both her beauty as well as her skill in Silat a form of martial art. Her defense of the Malacca sultanate had chased away invading Portuguese soldiers [32] while Tun Tuah (also known as Hang Tuah) is a legendary warrior known for his bravery and loyalty to the Sultan of th Malacca during the 15 Century. He was an admiral of the Sultan’s navy [33]. The above analogies can be seen in the context of the political climate for the Barisan National which is rather cloudy with the looming General Elections which should be held by April 2013. There is much talk in the alternative internet media (which has sprouted in recent times as a result of the tight regulations surrounding the print media) of corruption and money politics in the government circles [34] and[35]. The Centre for Independent Journalism [18] says that in Malaysia the PPPA (Printing Presses and Publications Act) regulates who can own a media company or a newspaper, preventing the democratization of media ownership. The fact that the government, now, finds it hard to control access to information has created fear among those in UMNO and other th affiliated government parties that they will fare badly in the forthcoming 13 general elections [36]. This has urged the PM to rally his troops with a call to bravery and loyalty among UMNO. Song lyrics of P. Ramlee A third type of intertextuality seen is in the repetition of song lyrics from an iconic Malay singer of the past, P. Ramlee. The PM uses the words ‘it is love and affection, genuine and noble’ (see Appendix 1 under ‘LOVE and AFFECTION’). This analogy using a revered Malay icon, is to make an impassioned plea to his UMNO colleagues to put party interests ahead of other goals and see it as the only means of safeguarding the future of the Malays. Here too he uses a Malay metaphor – ‘there is no room for polygamous love’ to tell his party members that they should not think of jumping ship. This analogy refers to the threat posed by the Opposition coalition – the Pakatan Rakyat (Peoples’ Alliance) – which consists of the Democratic Action Party (DAP- a multiracial party long in existence as a strong Opposition voice in Parliament), the Parti Sa Islam Malaysia (PAS) which is a Party based on Islamic principles and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (or Peoples’ Justice Party) which is led by ousted former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, during the Premiership of Mahathir Mohamad. There have been many incidences of party hopping from the ruling Barisan National to Pakatan Rakyat party [37] and [38]) and vice-versa – this poses a real worry for the PM if UMNO candidates start joining the Opposition parties. In an incident that caused an uproar in 2009, soon after the 2008 general elections; the State of Perak’ which went to the Opposition coalition’ was brought back to the Government coalition by persuading elected representatives to hop over to the government [39]. This started an outcry as the people who were voted in were voted on an Opposition ticket and not a Government ticket. UMNO probably that fears the same could now happen to them. Discourse structure and objectives The PM had several objectives in mind when making his speech and for this he used the following strategies to impart his messages. The following answer Research Question 2:



Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013

What objectives drive the strategies used to maintain power as the leader of the Malaysian nation and UMNO? 1. To maintain power and dominance as a Malay race To achieve this, he firstly used carefully selected words that showed an Us/Them division. For this several instances of the negative ‘Other’ and positive ‘Us’ were seen. In addition to the above Us/Them division there were instances of a denial of inequality: to do this, the selfless acts of Malays listed and justification of unequal policies (such as the National Economic Policy) were dramatized. The third type of strategy used was subtle expressions of dominance such as the need to safeguard the position of the Malays, the status of Islam and the need to ensure that the Malay middle class is extended over and above the above races. 2. To change the mind set of UMNO people to a challenging new world The Malaysian social and political scene is changing rapidly due to technology. The PM urges his colleagues to face up to a new world; where increasingly, educated young citizens who are politically savvy know how to get information from new media. He stresses the need to keep up with competing minds who have ‘supremacy of ideas’ and to drop the arrogant attitude, ingrained through the years as unchallenged leaders; he urges UMNO people start working sincerely with component parties (which are not Malay). To do this he uses metaphors such as ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’ to urge competition and quality and lidah tidak bertulang or keep your word always to those whom you make promises and not make empty promises. 3. Defense of UMNO’s achievements Another important objective of the PM’s speech is to remind UMNO members and the public at large of the various achievements that the country attained through under the leadership of UMNO. To achieve this objective, he lists sequentially as well as chronologically all of UMNO’s achievements from 1946 when they united the Malays as a race to 2011 where he personally uses the latest social networking sites to stay connected with the Malaysian citizenry. He also used the metaphor ‘UMNO skippered the country’s ship of independence’ to show that it was UMNO that got independence for Malaysians from the British. th 4. To gear up UMNO members for a fight in the coming 13 General Elections His last and most important objective was to ensure that UMNO and its allies retain power. To achieve this objective, he uses battle cry rhetoric to whip up sentiments among UMNO members by asking them to get battle ready. To do this he used slogans such as ‘Hidup Melayu!’ (long live the Malay race), ‘Merdeka!’ (Independence). The battle cry rhetoric was sometimes aimed at the Opposition parties with questions such as Who will defend Islam? Who will defend the rights and agenda of the Malays? Who can be counted upon to continue honouring our Rulers? These inflammatory questions are meant to whip up Malay-Muslim sentiments so that they fight ‘the other’. Additional war rhetoric seen are ‘we will never surrender’ (to the Opposition), ‘Battered by the Opposition……have not dampened our spirit, we will never surrender’. Further instances are … are battle ready …. The people of UMNO who are waiting to do battle …. Stand up people of UMNO! Let us march onwards to the battle field. Long live UMNO, Long live UMNO, Long live UMNO 3. CONCLUSION Manipulation is one of the crucial notions of CDA says Teun van Djik [40]. This notion of manipulating language to maintain power was investigated in this paper. The above analysis of the discourse of the Speech by the Malaysian PM, shows the struggle to maintain power in a changing political climate. As the leader of the ruling party that has ruled for decades as a single party in power, he is now faced with opposition and rally cries for greater democratic rights and access to information. The government and especially the PM is now faced with the power of modern technology that has changed the rules of the game and he is faced with an increasingly demanding population that has become more and more aware of their civil and democratic rights. This speech shows the struggle to maintain power through the use of intertexuality (using the Quran, Islamic literature, metaphors and slogans), battle cry rhetoric (to spur the fighting spirit among his party members), makes subtle references to Malay domination (to appease those who have had special rights as bumiputras0 and makes a denial of inequality and a lists the achievements made by his government. The above techniques are used as a political strategy to maintain power among colleagues within his party and the general population at large. REFERENCES 1. Bhatia, Aditi (2006). Critical discourse analysis of political press conferences. Discourse and Society.Sage Journals. March 2006 vol. 17 no. 2 pp 173-203. 2. Mohd. Sani, Mohd. Azizuddin (2009). The Emergence of New Politics in Malaysia From Consociational to Deliberative Democracy. Taiwan Journal of Democracy, Volume 5, No. 2: 97-125. 3. Gudeman R.H. (2002). Multiculturalism in Malaysia:Individual Harmony, Group Tension. Macalester International Vol. 12:138-160. 4. Lal V. (2006). Multiculturalism at Risk: The Indian Minority in Malaysia. Economic and Political Weekly. September 2.



Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013

5. Ahmad, Salbiah. (2004). Islam in Malaysia, Constitutional and Human Rights Perspectives. www.law.emory.edu/ihr/wrkpaper/s_ahmad.doc 6. [Brown, Graham K. and Siti Hawa Ali and Wan Manan Wan Muda, 2004. Policy Levers in Malaysia. Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, CRISE. Queen Elizabeth House: University of Oxford. CRISE Policy Context Paper: 4 May 2004 7. New Straits Times (2008)“Internet Served a Painful Lesson,” New Straits Times, March 26, 2008, 2. 8. Malaysia.com.my (2009). IMalaysia Initiatives. http://www.1malaysia.com.my/my-record/1-malaysia/ 9. Van Dijk, Teun (1992). Deiscourse and the Denial of Racism. Discourse and Society 3 (1992), 87-118 10. Wodak, Ruth (2005) What CDA Is About. In Wodak, Ruth and Meyer, Michael, (2009). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, SAGE publications Ltd: London. Pp 2-13 11. Meyer, Michael (2005) Between Theory, Method and Politics. In Wodak, Ruth and Meyer, Michael, (2009). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, SAGE publications Ltd.: London, pp14-31 12. Wodak, Ruth and Meyer, Michael, (2009). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, SAGE publications Ltd.: London. 13. Van Dijk, Teun (1993). Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis. Discourse and Society. SAGE (London, Newbury Park and New Delhi), vol(4): 249-283. 14. Faircough, Norman (1996). Language and Power. Longman: Essex, England 15. Department of Statistics, Malaysia (2010). Population Distribution and Basic Demographic Characteristics. www.statistics.gov.my 16. Jomo.K.S.(2004) The New Economic Policy and Interethnic Relations in Malaysia. In Identities,Conflict and Cohesion Programme Paper 7, Sept 2004. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. 17. Lim Hong Hai (2002), “Public Administration: The Effects of Executive Dominance,” in 18. Francis Loh Kok Wah and Khoo Boo Teik (eds.), Democracy in Malaysia: Discourses and 19. Practices. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. 20. Ramanathan, Sankaran and Nadason, Marimuthu (2012). Media, Democracy and Civil Society. Consumer Resource and Research Centre: Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Centre for Independent Journalism (2010) Media Ownership. September 25 http://cijmalaysia.org/ miniportal/2010/09/media-ownership/ Freedom House (2012). Freedom on the Internet: A Global Assessment of Internet and the Media. http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/FOTN%202012%20FINAL.pdf pp. 350 -353) 21. Ayeomoni, Omoniyi Moses and Akinkuolere, Olajoke Susan (2012). A Pragmatic Analysis of Victory and Inaugural Speeches of President Umaru Musa Yar Adua. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol 2, No 3 (2012), 461-468, Mar 2012 22. Loh, James, 2012. Elections and Democracy in Malaysia. Aliran Monthly, 16 March, http://aliran.com/8527.html 23. Liow, Joseph Chinyong (2012). Malaysia's March 2008 general election: understanding the new media factor. Taylor and Francis Group. The Pacific Review, Volume 25, Issue 3, pp.293-315. 24. Bloor, Meriel and Bloor, Thomas (2007). The Practice of Critical Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. Hodder Arnold: London. 25. Ali, Amir (2012) Reverse defections hurting BN. FMT News: Free and Independent. September 12. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2012/09/12/reverse-defections-hurting-bn/ 26. Mohd. Noor (2011). Ex-UMNO MPs want Najib out. FMT News: Free and Independent. August 3. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2011/08/03/ex-umno-mps-want-najib-out/ 27. Vinod G. (2011) They want to oust Najib before GE. FMT News: Free and Independent.4 August. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2011/08/04/they-want-to-oust-najib-before-ge/ 28. Aw, Nigel (2011). Mahathir 'sees Najib as a liability'. Malaysiakini: News and Views that Matter. September 14. http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/175760 29. Ramakrishnan P. (2012). Suaram hounded, harassed for trying to expose corruption. Aliran Monthly, Vol.32 (8) pp.40 30. Kuek Ser Kwang Keng (2012) Altantuya murder trial notes for Scorpene inquiry? Malaysiakini: news and views that matter. November 27. http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/215252 31. Kua Kia Soong (2012). Scorpene scandal: Who’s Terasasi? Malaysiakini: news and views that matter. May 5. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/05/05/scorpene-scandal-whos-terasasi/ 32. Nazlan, Nurul Farinah (2010) Tun Fatimah Srikanda Melayu Berita Harian Online. 13 October 2010 http://www.bharian.com.my/bharian/articles/TunFatimahSrikandiMelayu/Article/print_html 33. Resam Melayu (2010). Hang Tuah – Antara Sejarah, Mitos atau Hikayat? 24 March http://resammelayu.com/2010/03/hang-tuah-antara-sejarah-mitos-atau-hikayat.html 34. Lim Kit Siang (2004) 18 “high profile corruption cases: no cover up” dapmalaysia.org 8 July, http://dapmalaysia.org/all-archive/English/2004/jun04/lks/lks3076.htm 35. Chua Jui Meng (2012) Najib must come clean on Petronas money. FMT News. Free and Independent. December 9 http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2012/12/09/najib-must-come-cleanon-petronas-money/ 36. Pasputrajaya (2012) Shahrizat’s May 13 statement sign of UMNO’s fear. November 30. PAS Kawasan Putrajaya. http://www.pasputrajaya.com/2012/11/shahrizats-may-13-statement-sign-of.html



Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013

37. Noor. Farish A. (2012) Malaysian election: time for an anti party-hopping rule. The Nation. September 15. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Malaysian-election-time-for-an-anti-party-hopping--30190407.html 38. Zaki,Syed Jaymal (2012). Pakatan: Sabah defections not party-hopping. FMT News: Free and Independent, August 28. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/08/28/pakatansabah-defections-not-party-hopping/ 39. Loh, Debra (2009) Anti-hopping laws vs 5 year ban. The Nutgraph, 25 February http://www.thenutgraph.com/anti-hopping-laws-versus-five-year-ban/ 40. Van Djik, Teun (2006). Discourse and Manipulation. Discourse and Society. Sage Publications: London Vol.17(2): 359-383.
