An Ideological Construction of the Indigenous Community: The Orang Asli as Portrayed in The Star Newspaper

Abstract

Abstract. Powerful western nations, especially those which control global news media, tend to portray less powerful nations through a Western-centric lens or perspective in globalised space. As such, less powerful nations are depicted as weak and powerless victims, reinforcing in the process prevailing power structures or unequal relations between powerful nations and less powerful ones. Minority groups are also not spared as they are, more often than not, depicted in a similar negative way. Interestingly, this is where the global connects with the local as mainstream media in the local front are inclined to construct minority groups such as the Orang Asli or indigenous community through the lens or perspective of the powerful elite. They are not given the space to speak for themselves and as such portrayed as weak and disempowered. The indigenous people are often marginalised by the mainstream media because they in part do not constitute a constituency considered politically important; neither are they regarded crucial by profit-oriented media because they do not have the purchasing power which advertisers relentlessly seek via the media. Given this scenario, this study examines the portrayal of the Orang Asli in a mainstream paper, The Star newspaper, from a critical discourse analysis perspective. Utilising van Dijk's Theory of Semantic Macrostructures and Theory of Ideology, the projection of the community is inspected through the analysis of macro elements that is thematic structure and micro elements comprising lexical, syntactic and rhetorical structures. Findings reveal that the "self" group members comprising the ruling or powerful elite and governmental organisations were positively depicted while the Orang Asli were portrayed in a negative and stereotypical fashion. Needless to say, media coverage of indigenous people 40 Marlina Jamal and Shakila Abdul Manan globally has also often revolved around similar stereotypical images that are both pejorative and discriminatory.

THE NEUTRALITY OF MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN REPORTING REJECTION OF #2019GANTIPRESIDEN (Kenetralan Media Arus Utama dalam Memberitakan Penolakan #2019Gantipresiden)

“…These features use to marginalize the figures of house representative of Indonesia. The marginalization of the media also found in Jamal & Manan (2016) research which analyzed the thematic structure and lexical, syntactic and rhetorical structures. Their study explained that orang asli or indigenous community are portrayed negatively with the stereotypical image of being traditional, primitive and responsible for their own pitiful life by Star Newspaper.…”

The Orang Asli in Malaysian Media: An Approach from Transitivity Perspective

“…Much of the literature has revolved around the historical background, sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and more recently the contemporary issues surrounding the Orang Asli such as social issues concerning their land rights, health, and education. Thus far, studies which have examined the representation of the Orang Asli in the media have revealed that the community does not enjoy a fair and balanced portrayal by the mainstream media and is consistently represented in a stereotypical and demeaning manner [4,16,17,18,19,36,37]. Despite the findings, both journalists and JAKOA themselves have strongly refuted the claim that the Orang Asli are represented in such a manner [36].…”

“…Several existing studies have consistently revealed the discursive practices of the media in constructing the indigenous communities as stereotypical and troublesome [12], primitive [13], emotional and aggressive [14], and paternalistically [15]. Likewise, in the Malaysian context, the Orang Asli as the indigenous peoples of the country have received similar treatment by the local mainstream media which portrays them in a prejudiced and inferior manner [4,16,17,18,19]. Hence, these past literature reveals that the media tends to position and emphasise the negative attributes and qualities of these communities as the significant "Other" or outcasts of society.…”

“…Hence, the present study aims to conduct a comparative study from a CDA approach by comparing how the Orang Asli are represented in both mainstream and alternative media since the existing studies have only focused on examining the mainstream media e.g. [4,16,17,18,19]. Therefore, the objectives of the study are as presented as follows:…”

Between Us and Them: Examining The Indigenous People of Malaysia as Represented in The Mainstream News Media

“…Patterns of bias or misrepresentation are found in studies conducted in Malaysia where negativity appears to be the pulling factor of newsworthiness for stories about the Orang Asli (Mustafa, 1994), and their portrayal are depicted in a stereotypical way (Jamal & Manan, 2016). Often they are portrayed as "victim or beneficiary" (Alagappar, 2010, p. 12).…”