Representation of Social Actors in COVID-19 Speeches by Southeast Asian Political Leaders

Abstract

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as an infectious disease outbreak that started in Wuhan, and it became a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. A significant number of studies have been done on this disease. However, scholarly research on the representation of social actors in the Southeast Asia political discourse is limited. Thus, this study examines how social actors in relation to COVID-19 are represented in speeches by Southeast Asian political leaders from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. A selection of two categories adopted from van Leeuwen’s (2008) Representational of Social Actors is chosen to examine the representation of social actors on COVID-19 portrayed in Southeast Asia. A total of 32 transcripts of speeches on COVID-19 were gathered from official government websites over seven months, from 11 March 2020 until 30 September 2020. The speeches are analysed and categorised accordingly into exclusion and role allocation. It was discovered that despite the inclusion of all social actors as playing dynamic and active roles, the government, citizens, and COVID-19 are excluded in the discourse in accentuating the actions rather than the doers. The results of this research are valuable in understanding the ideology and power status in the ways political leaders view and address social actors in their speeches, particularly in Southeast Asia.