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Title of thesis
The Representation of Malaysian History in Online Newspapers
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Date : _____________________ Date : __________________
NORENA BT. ABDUL KARIM ZAMRI
Dr.Muhaimin Bin Sulam
No.20, Jalan
Beranang 3, 27/14c, Taman Bunga
Negara, 40400, Shah Alam, Selangor
Darul Ehsan
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS
THE REPRESENTATION OF MALAYSIAN HISTORY IN ONLINE
NEWSPAPERS
by
NORENA BT. ABDUL KARIM ZAMRI
The undersigned certify that they have read and recommend to the Postgraduate Studies
Programme for acceptance this thesis for the fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
stated.
Signature: ______________________________________
Main Supervisor: ______________________________________
Signature: ______________________________________
Co-Supervisor: ______________________________________
Signature: ______________________________________
Head of Department: ______________________________________
Date: ______________________________________
Dr. Muhaimin Bin Sulam
Prof. Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Murad Bin Merican
Associate Professor Dr. Lai Fong Woon
THE REPRESENTATION OF MALAYSIAN HISTORY IN ONLINE
NEWSPAPERS
by
NORENA BT. ABDUL KARIM ZAMRI
A Thesis
Submitted to the Postgraduate Studies Programme
as a Requirement for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS
BANDAR SERI ISKANDAR,
PERAK
JUNE 2019
v
DECLARATION OF THESIS
Title of thesis The Representation of Malaysian History in Online Newspapers
I _________________________________________________________________________
hereby declare that the thesis is based on my original work except for quotations and citations
which have been duly acknowledged. I also declare that it has not been previously or
concurrently submitted for any other degree at UTP or other institutions.
Witnessed by
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Signature of Author Signature of Supervisor
Permanent address:________________ Name of Supervisor
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Date : _____________________ Date : __________________
NORENA BT. ABDUL KARIM ZAMRI
No.20, Jalan
Beranang 3, 27/14c, Taman Bunga
Negara, 40400, Shah Alam, Selangor
Darul Ehsan
Dr. Muhaimin Bin Sulam
vi
DEDICATION
To my dear Dhia Adriana Binti Faisal
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to the almighty Allah S.W.T, who allows and enables me to reach
this success.
My utmost gratitude goes to my wonderful husband for his unconditional love
and support. I am forever grateful for the sacrifices he has made to make this journey
possible for me. My eternal love goes to my daughter who constantly makes me
believe that nothing is impossible in this world. My heartfelt thanks to my family,
parents and in-laws for the everlasting love, dua, and such a strong faith in me that I
could complete this journey.
I express my sincere thanks and gratitude to my respected supervisor, Dr.
Muhaimin Bin Sulam and also co-supervisor, Prof. Datuk Dr. Ahmad Murad Merican.
This study would not have been possible without their kind and generous support and
advice. Their continuous encouragement and guidance, strong support and patience
not only empowered me to endure this study with dedication but allowed me to
cultivate my intellectual aptitude. They are both like my second father whose wisdom
and intellect have tremendously influenced my academic growth.
I am deeply indebted to all the researchers and project members in MCMC
collaborative programme especially Mrs. Filzah Salim, who helped me in analysing
and supporting my study.
Finally, I am grateful for the financial support by the Ministry of Higher
Education whose scholarship programme made my doctorate journey possible.
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ABSTRACT
National narrative is the key element in the construction of history consumption
and also knowledge production. However, the eruption of the Internet had shaken the
mainstream history. These developments have created and characterised the mutually
informed popular, academic and policy discourses. One such ramifications of the
‘New Malaysian Discourse’ is the past, offering numerous ways toward the past with
the future of the nation in mind. Thus, a new consciousness expressed was created
through new technologies, new media, and social media. This brings to the national
imagination a host of perspectives, subjugating the national narrative and the received
history of the nation, creating new histories, and many histories. The knowledge of
the history of Malaysia then has become much ethnicised and regionalised. Thus, this
thesis explores the ways Malaysia’s history is represented through the lens of which
online newspapers (The Star Online and Utusan Malaysia Online). This thesis was
epistemologically fed by Stuart Hall’s (1997) theory of representation, Michel
Foucault’s (1972) power and knowledge and Edward Said’s (1978) theory of
Orientalism that focused on ‘otherness’. This thesis provided an understanding of the
representation of Malaysia’s national narrative and also added to the present
knowledge by demonstrating how national narrative is morally judged. It provided
further support through the employment of interpretive and the qualitative methods in
examining how Malaysia’s history is represented in the online newspapers. A total of
223 articles published from 2010 to 2015 were collected via a key word search and
analysed using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA). The analysis showed that the
online newspapers used in promoting the discourse was ideologically significant to
the political parties while uncovering the operation of power and subjugation
knowledge. The analysis further unveiled that the discourse of “Ketuanan Melayu”
and history textbooks were part of a political ideology. Hence, the result posits a
positive Us and Them distinction as articulated by Edward Said which was rooted
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from the colonial discourse that continues to shape public discourse and in turn,
produces the contested version of the national narrative. This thesis argued that the
process of social constructionism constitutes an approach that not only add the
construction of the self to form the power relationship, but also involves ethnic
consciousness. Epistemologically, this thesis extended the position of knowledge in
society, by highlighting ethnic consciousness to exclusively determine the produced
discourse while holding that knowledge of reality is also determined by the ethnic
itself.
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ABSTRAK
Naratif Kebangsaan (rangkaian cerita mengenai sejarah negara) adalah unsur utama
dalam membentuk penggunaan sejarah dan juga penghasilan ilmu pengetahuan.
Walau bagaimanapun, dengan keghairahan Internet, ia telah menggugat
perkembangan sejarah arus perdana. Perkembangan ini telah membentuk dan hanya
bercirikan wacana popular, wacana akademik serta wacana mengenai dasar-dasar.
Salah satu ramalan "Wacana Malaysia Baharu" adalah mengenai masa lampau. Ia
telah membuka banyak cabang mengenai masa lampau melalui penaklukan minda
untuk masa hadapan negara. Maka itu, terbentuk kesedaran baharu yang dimanifestasi
melalui teknologi baharu, iaitu media baharu dan media sosial. Ini membawa ke pada
imiginasi nasional yang bertindak sebagai pencetus kepada kepelbagaian perspektif
mengenai sejarah dan penindasan narasi nasional, yang akhirnya diterima sebagai
sejarah negara. Atas dasar itu, ia kemudian diterima sebagai sejarah baharu pada masa
yang sama ia juga wujud dalam pelbagai versi sejarah. Lantas, pengetahuan mengenai
sejarah Malaysia kemudiannya berunjurkan kepada aspek etnik dan serantau. Sejajar
dengan itu, kajian ini meneroka dan membentangkan bagaimana penyiaran akhbar
dalam talian (The Star dan Utusan Malaysia Online) menggambarkan sejarah
Malaysia melalui lensa editorial. Kajian ini secara epistemologi berdasarkan dari
Stuart Hall’s (1997) teori representasi (theory of representation), kuasa dan
pengetahuan (power and knowledge) Michel Foucault (1972) dan teori orientalisma,
dari Edward Said (1978), yang memberi tumpuan terhadap ‘othering’. Kajian ini
memberi pemahaman holistik tentang gambaran naratif negara Malaysia dan juga
menambah pengetahuan terkini dengan menunjukkan bagaimana naratif kebangsaan
dinilai secara moral (Dragonas & Frangoudaki, 2001). Ia menyokong kajian lepas
untuk menggunakan interpretasi dan kaedah kualitatif dalam mengkaji bagaimana
sejarah Malaysia digambarkan dalam akhbar dalam talian. Sejumlah 223 artikel telah
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dikumpulkan melalui carian perkataan utama dan dianalisis dengan menggunakan
Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) dari 2010-2015. Analisis menunjukkan
bahawa akhbar-akhbar dalam talian yang digunakan menghasilkan wacana yang
berunsurkan ideologi daripada parti-parti politik. Pada masa yang sama, operasi
kekuasaan, pengetahuan yang ditakluki telah ditemui dari hasil dapatan. Analisis itu
seterusnya menunjukkan bahawa wacana Ketuanan Melayu dan wacana buku teks
sejarah telah menjadi sebahagian daripada ideologi politik. Dengan itu, hasil kajian
mengukuhkan lagi perbezaan ‘us’ vs ‘them’ sebagaimana yang digambarkan oleh
Edward Said yang berakar dari wacana kolonial yang kemudiannya membentuk
wacana umum dan seterusnya menghasilkan versi naratif yang kini ditentang. Kajian
ini berpendapat bahawa proses pembinaan sosial merupakan pendekatan yang bukan
hanya membentuk jati diri (self- construction) yang kemudian membina hubungan
kekuasaan, tetapi juga melibatkan kesedaran etnik. Secara epistemologi, kajian ini
memperluaskan kedudukan pengetahuan di dalam masyarakat, dengan menonjolkan
kesedaran etnik ditentukan secara eksklusif melalui wacana yang dihasilkan, yakni
pengetahuan mengenai realiti juga dihasilkan oleh kumpulan etnik itu sendiri.
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In compliance with the terms of the Copyright Act 1987 and the IP Policy of the
university, the copyright of this thesis has been reassigned by the author to the legal
entity of the university,
Institute of Technology PETRONAS Sdn Bhd.
Due acknowledgement shall always be made of the use of any material contained
in, or derived from, this thesis.
© Norena Abdul Karim Zamri, 2019
Institute of Technology PETRONAS Sdn Bhd
All rights reserved.
xiii
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ viii
ABSTRAK ................................................................................................................................. x
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ xvi
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ xviii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1
1.1 General Background of History and its Representation .................................... 1
1.1.1 Online News Defined..................................................................................... 5
1.1.2 Differences Between Printed and Online News ............................................ 7
1.2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................. 8
1.3 Research Objectives......................................................................................... 11
1.4 Significance of the Study ................................................................................. 12
1.5 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................... 13
1.6 Limitations ....................................................................................................... 13
1.7 Data Collection and Analysis .......................................................................... 14
1.8 Organisation of Thesis ..................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 17
REPRESENTATION, HISTORY, AND MEDIA ...................................................... 17
2.1 What is Representation .................................................................................... 17
2.2 Representation and Related Studies................................................................. 20
2.2.1 Representation and Media ........................................................................... 20
2.2.2 Memory and Online News Media ................................................................ 25
2.3 ‘Otherness’ and Nation Building ..................................................................... 30
2.4 Representation of History ................................................................................ 34
2.5 History Consciousness ..................................................................................... 37
2.6 Personal Reflections on the Problem: Why Representation Matters? ............. 40
2.7 Proposed Conceptual Framework and Research Gaps .................................... 41
2.8 Summary .......................................................................................................... 45
CHAPTER 3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................ 46
POWER, KNOWLEDGE, AND OTHERNESS ......................................................... 46
3.1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 46
xiv
3.1.1 Orientalism................................................................................................... 49
3.1.2 Gaps and Merits of Orientalism ................................................................... 51
3.2 Foucauldian Philosophical Position ................................................................. 55
3.2.1 Foucault’s Discourse.................................................................................... 55
3.2.2 Power and Knowledge ................................................................................. 58
3.3 Foucauldian Approach ..................................................................................... 60
3.4 Summary .......................................................................................................... 62
CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................... 64
4.1 Research Paradigm .......................................................................................... 64
4.2 Discourse ......................................................................................................... 67
4.3 Data Collection and Sampling ......................................................................... 68
4.3.1 Unit of Analysis ........................................................................................... 69
4.3.2 Sampling and Stratifications ........................................................................ 69
4.4 Discourse Analysis as Method......................................................................... 75
4.4.1 Data Analysis Approach: Foucauldian Discourse Analysis ........................ 77
4.4.1.1 Stage one: Discursive Constructions ....................................... 78
4.4.1.2 Stage two: Discourses .............................................................. 78
4.4.1.3 Stage three: Action Orientation ............................................... 79
4.5 Data Organization and Analysis ...................................................................... 79
4.6 Building Trustworthiness................................................................................. 80
4.7 Ethical Considerations ..................................................................................... 83
4.8 Reflections and Reflexivity ............................................................................. 83
4.9 Final Considerations ........................................................................................ 84
4.10 Summary ........................................................................................................ 85
CHAPTER 5 AN OVERVIEW ANALYSIS ON THE STAR AND UTUSAN
MALAYSIA ONLINE .......................................................................................... 86
5.1 Articles Published from January 2010 – December 2015 ............................... 86
5.2 Categories of Authors and Sections Representing the Malaysia’s History ..... 93
5.2.1 The type of the Author and Written Article ................................................. 94
5.3 Summary .......................................................................................................... 96
CHAPTER 6 ISSUES AND POLEMICS IN MALAYSIA’S HISTORY-
UNFINISHED INTERPRETATION .................................................................... 97
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6.1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 97
6.2 Ketuanan Melayu ............................................................................................. 98
6.3 History Textbook an Introduction ................................................................. 107
6.3.1 The Discourse of History Textbook........................................................... 110
6.4 Otherness in History ...................................................................................... 121
6.4.1 Exploring ‘Us’ vs ‘Them’ in Malaysia’s History ...................................... 121
6.5 Summary ........................................................................................................ 126
CHAPTER 7 MULTIPERSPECTIVE IN HISTORY: DIFFERENT
REPRESENTATION BY THE STAR AND UTUSAN MALAYSIA ONLINE128
7.1 A Brief History of Utusan Malaysia Online .................................................. 128
7.2 A Brief History of The Star Online ............................................................... 130
7.3 Summary ........................................................................................................ 131
7.4 Ethnic Centrism ............................................................................................. 131
7.5 Summary ........................................................................................................ 138
CHAPTER 8 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ................................................. 140
8.1 Summary of the Main Findings ..................................................................... 140
8.2 Multitude Discourses of Malaysia’s History Represented in The Star and
Utusan Malaysia Online ............................................................................. 141
8.3 ‘Otherness’ in Representing the Malaysia’s History ..................................... 144
8.4 Research Contributions .................................................................................. 146
8.4.1 Theoretical and Methodological Contributions ......................................... 147
8.4.2 Limitation of the Study .............................................................................. 150
8.5 Future Research and Recommendations ........................................................ 151
8.6 Reflexivity ..................................................................................................... 152
Appendix A List of Publications................................................................................ 194
Appendix B Research Journal .................................................................................... 195
Appendix C List of Codes Generated by Atlas.Ti ..................................................... 196
Appendix D List of Articles Published in Utusan Malaysia Online From
2010-2015 ............................................................................................................ 197
Appendix E List of Articles Published in The Star Online From 2010-2015 ............ 208
Appendix F List of Authors in Utusan Malaysia Online From 2010-2015 ............... 215
Appendix G List of Authors in The Star Online From 2010-2015 ............................ 218
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Hall’s Representation Circuit .................................................................... 18
Figure 2.2: Conceptual Framework: The Representation of Malaysia History in the
Online News................................................................................................................. 44
Figure 3.1: Diagram of discourse definition ................................................................ 58
Figure 4.1: Elements of the research process, adapted from Crotty (1998) ................ 66
Figure 4.2: Screen capture of Wayback Machine for article search ............................ 72
Figure 4.3: Stratification of news articles .................................................................... 74
Figure 4.4: Stages in conducting analysis .................................................................... 78
Figure 4.5: Coding Function ........................................................................................ 82
Figure 5.1: The Star Online by Section and Year Analysis ......................................... 89
Figure 5.2: Utusan Malaysia Online by Section and Year.......................................... 92
Figure 5.3: Number of Articles Published by the Author from 2010-2015 ................. 94
Figure 6.1: Extract 1 .................................................................................................. 100
Figure 6.2: First Three Stages of Analysis................................................................. 101
Figure 6.3: Extract 2 .................................................................................................. 102
Figure 6.4: Article by Said Zahari ............................................................................. 103
Figure 6.5: Screenshot from the article p292 ............................................................. 104
Figure 6.6: Extract 4 .................................................................................................. 105
Figure 6.7: Extract 5 .................................................................................................. 106
Figure 6.8: Extract 6 .................................................................................................. 107
Figure 6.9: Extract 7 .................................................................................................. 110
Figure 6.10: Extract 8 ................................................................................................ 111
Figure 6.11: Extract 9 ................................................................................................ 112
Figure 6.12: Key Elements in discourse .................................................................... 113
Figure 6.13: Extract 10 .............................................................................................. 114
Figure 6.14: Extract 11 .............................................................................................. 115
Figure 6.15: Extract 12 .............................................................................................. 117
Figure 6.16: Extract 13 .............................................................................................. 118
Figure 6.17: Extract 14 .............................................................................................. 119
Figure 6.18: List of articles related to history textbook ............................................. 120
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Figure 6.19: Extract 15 .............................................................................................. 122
Figure 6.20: Extract 16 .............................................................................................. 123
Figure 6.21: Extract 17 .............................................................................................. 125
Figure 7.1: Extract 18 ................................................................................................ 132
Figure 7.2: Extract 19 ................................................................................................ 133
Figure 7.3: Extract 20 ................................................................................................ 133
Figure 7. 4: Extract 21 ............................................................................................... 134
Figure 7.5: Extract 22 ................................................................................................ 135
Figure 7.6: Extract 23 ................................................................................................ 136
xviii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Top 30 combined websites, source: Malaysian Digital Association, 2013 70
Table 5.1: Total number of articles published from 2010-2015 .................................. 87
Table 5.2: The Star Online by Section and Year Analysis .......................................... 88
Table 5.3: Utusan Malaysia Online by Section and Year ............................................ 90
Table 5.4: Number of Author from the Year 2010-2015 ............................................. 93
Table 5.5: Category of Author ..................................................................................... 95
Table 8.1: The Aims of the Study .............................................................................. 140
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
As the objective of this introductory chapter was to present an overview of the
thesis and research topic, it began with a background on the representation of
Malaysia’s history and their general significance. Subsequently, the aims and the
significance of this thesis were explained followed by the description on the approach
adopted in this thesis. Additionally, some background information about Malaysia, its
socio-cultural aspects, as well as the current scenario of evolution of contestation of
history were presented. This background information is vital for an understanding of
the discussions within the analysis chapters. This introductory chapter also provided
an overview of the methods used in the study, the data collection process, and the
analysis techniques. The final part provided the details and structure of the thesis.
1.1 General Background of History and its Representation
Malaysia is particularly interesting for its enormous potential in both the unity and
division between the ethnic and national groups in this region. It has a pluralism
society comprising three major ethnic communities, where the Malays constitutes
about 50 per cent of the population, the Chinese comprises 37 per cent, and the Indian
11 per cent. The total population in Malaysia in 2014 is 30 million (Department of
Statistics, 2014). The terms Bumiputera, Malay (Melayu), Chinese, and Indian are
widely used in Malaysia, but each of these ethnic groups is highly distinct. Each
group has its own native language, accent (loghat), culture, and religion. The Malays
and some other indigenous ethnic groups are Muslims, while the religions of the other
ethnic groups are Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity. Particularly, each ethnic in
Malaysia has its own rich history, consisting of hindsight perspectives from various
people that build up today’s nation. Therefore, in a modern Malaysia, it is crucial for
the present generation to understand and view history from different perspectives.
2
The history of Malaysia was never neat (Matheson-Hooker, 2003), as various
version and perspectives on the history of Malaysia were presented to the public
(Andaya & Andaya, 2001; Dartford, 1963; Kheng, 1996; Noor, 2002; Shamsul,
2001). The growing interest in the parsing of historical knowledge had created new
dimensions of knowledge from the past. Historically, Malaya was first colonised by
the Portuguese in 1511, followed by the Dutch in 1641 and then by the British in
1726. Malaya was under British rule for more than 150 years and continued to be a
member of the Commonwealth (Andaya & Andaya, 2001).
Unlike the British, the Portuguese and the Dutch were only interested in
monopolising the trade. Under the British colonialism, they used Divide et
impera or in the sciences of politics and sociology, “divide and rule” or “divide
and conquer” policy (Admin, 2011). The coming of the British had transformed
the history of Malaysia as they altered the shape, ethnic, and religious pluralism
based on their policy. The plural society turned into a culture divided along labour
lines. According to Zawawi Ibrahim, a Malaysian social anthropologist, “it was the
subsequent elaborations by colonialism upon this ’initial pluralism’ (pre-colonial
pluralism) which gave rise to the ethnicism and competing ethnicities currently
inherited by the modern Malaysian nation-state” (Zawawi, 1997, p. 116).
In the British Era, different ethnic groups were not allowed to intermingle with
each other, instead they existed mainly within their own ethnic spheres. The Malays
were primarily in the rural areas doing agricultural work while most of the educated
Malays were hired as government servants. Chinese people dominated the trade
industry while Indians remained in the plantation sector (Hefner, 2001). The policy
introduced by the British was to benefit themselves and not for the society. The
British only created a symbolically plural society, which caused each ethnic group to
identify itself with its motherland.
In fact, the “divide and rule” policy caused all the ethnic groups to freely practise
their religion. The Sultans acted as the symbolic rulers of the Malay states and
3
protectors of the Islamic faith. Their role was to ensure that the Malay culture and
their religion of Islam were not disparaged in the midst of this influx of other
religions.
However, no socio-economic protective measures were introduced to help the
Malays to compete with the thriving Chinese-dominated merchant community who
had already established a network of capital and credit through their connections with
different Chinese associations and chambers of commerce already established as early
as 1906 (Heng, 1996, p. 55).
The pluralism society continues after Malaya gained independence in 1957. The
British surrendered their sovereignty over Malaya and the peninsula became
independent that year with the name ‘Federation of Malaysia’. Later in May 1969, the
racial clashes changed the socio-economic setting of Malaysia. The new Malay-
dominated rightist government under the helm of Tun Abdul Razak introduced the
New Economic Policy (NEP), an affirmative action based policy to eradicate poverty
among the Malays (R. W Hefner, 2001). The NEP was one of the measures adopted
by the government to achieve the objective of national unity in preventing clashes and
violence among the ethnic groups (Milne, 1976).
Consequently, the end of the Cold war affected the Malaysian political and
intellectual landscape in that it also ends the Communist Party of Malaya struggle in
1989. The Cold War formally ended in 1991. Hence the Communist ideology, seen to
be no longer a threat to the nation, was disbanded. Books on communism and the
communist struggle was easily accessible in the market. During that time too, books
by and about members of the Communist Party of Malaya, initially published
elsewhere, but subsequently published locally were celebrated by certain segments of
the Malaysia population. This coincided with the ease in which society can produced
and reproduce views and opinions through the internet. Hence, what has perhaps been
accepted as a Malay-centric, with some using the term UMNO-centric view, not to
mention the monolithic Eurocentric basis of history now has competitors. The Malay-
4
centric view of Malaysia, as represented in school history textbooks and a number of
history and historiographical writings could not be contained much longer.
Towards the last few years of the 1990s decade and transcending the decade that
follows, the nation has been overwhelmed by many histories, rather many
perspectives that want to maintain or strengthen, or lay claim to nation building and
nationhood. The Malay, and UMNO-centric perspective is now complemented and
competing with Chinese, Tamil, Islamic, PAS, DAP, Istana, Iban, Kadazan, Thai, etc
–centric history of Malaysia. Initiatives and books by the Chinese community in
laying claim of participation and contribution to Malaya’s economic and social
development represent a Chinese perspective. Chinese educationist movement Dong
Zong is a manifestation of such a perspective. Books in the like of the Chinese
Dilemma, The Chinese Contribution to Nation-Building appeared in the market.
A similar perspective can be said with regard to HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action
Force). Subsequent to HINDRAF capturing the national consciousness, numerous
books on the Indians in Malaysia were published in the like of The Problems of the
Tamils, Indians in Malaysia suddenly emerged. Arising from such developments,
criticisms were made accusing the Malaysian government through the Ministry of
Education as bias in the contents on history school textbooks. The books were said to
be skewed toward Malay and Islamic civilization giving scant attention toward other
civilizations such as Buddhism and Hinduism.
As these issues penetrated the national consciousness, the social contract
discourses also began to reappear. This is more so due to the spate of ethnic sensitive
comments that imply a poor knowledge of the nation’s history and many blames the
school system. Some has called for a reintroducing History or the Social Contract as
subjects, or a component in History solve the problem of national unity and facilitate
the path toward nation-building and nationhood in all its imperfections? Can Social
Contact be part of the subject of History and should History be a stand-alone subject
through primary and secondary schools? If so, should History be made a compulsory
subject from primary school to the university?
5
Are we missing something here? The consumption of history at the popular level
is of utmost critical importance. And it is at this level - through popular periodicals,
the mass media, and the new media– that the different communities would see its
representation, misrepresentation or under- representation. What all this means is that
even, and especially for a nation like Malaysia, there is no one history but many
histories.
Accordingly, the process of community development, how society becomes
systemised into the political, economic, and social realms of the Malaysian society
was based on contribution from past history. Each ethnic group contributes to the sub-
story of historiography generic.
1.1.1 Online News Defined
Before going into explaining the problem statement, it is important to provide an
understanding of the concept of online news. Following describe the concept that
related to this study.
Entering the 21st century, Internet users in Malaysia increased from 24.1 million
to 24.5 million since 2015 (MCMC, 2017). With that modern technologies, it has
given mass communication media the ability to adopt new forms of publication never
explored before. At the present time, newspapers have the opportunity to include
audio and video on their web publications. In fact, broadcast stations now have the
opportunity to include text on their web publications. This approach to new types of
unexplored formats is what we call media convergence. Media convergence relies on
the fact that the members of a given, and particular media will have the capacity to
work with different formats. According to Denis Mcquail, he defined media
convergence as what is related to technological advances. He also expresses that there
is no complete definition of what regulations can be applied from old media to the
new media (2005, p. 551).
6
Broadcasting and newspapers are the main sources of news in our society. The
convergence phenomenon is most obvious in the newspaper industry. According to
Cortada (2005), “The main activities happened in newspaprs can be explained in
short. In the physical production of the newspaper, reporters gather and write up
information. Then, the editorial staff picks what stories to run, clean up the writing
style, and decide how much emphasis to give a story by deciding where it is placed in
the newspaper, the paper is composed, and the production unit sets up pages and
prints the newspaper” (p. 314). In recent years, however, newspapers have launched
their online versions, creating new questions regarding the format those newspapers
should take. In fact, online news’s potential for quick global reach and interactivity
with users among other traits, that has made the Internet a likely contender for the
next dominant media outlet.
At the present time newspapers are exploring new opportunities in publishing
content in different formats. If you go to any newspaper webpage, you will find not
only the traditional photos and text, but also video, audio, and animation. Online news
provides a different way and experience to present journalism. Interactivity is the key
of differentiating between conventional newspaper and online news. It is one of the
abilities for a user to provide feedback and at the same time allowed the users to
participate in the production of information (Rafaeli & Sudweeks, 1997).
Unlike letters to the editor in the print newspapers, the online news comment
sections allow users to be anonymous and offer unlimited amount of space for readers
to present their feedback and respond to the news they receive. This ‘quality’
provided by the online news fueled extraordinary anticipation over the adoption of
two-way communication model and challenges the traditional one-way directional
flow of news production. The commenting section, social sharing features and links to
related stories are examples of the features built in the online news layout. According
to a survey in United States published in 2010, 72 percent of news consumers
reported that they tend to follow the news because they enjoy socializing with other
people (Purcell et al., 2010, p. 4). This shows that online news provides spaces for
public discourse and deliberation. Multimedia on the other hand provides a form of
7
presentation that uses audio, video, graphics, or other methods to give users different
pieces of a story. In other words, using the media beyond simple text to tell a story.
However, the relevant questions for this section are: How extensive are sharing
options? Study shows that unrestricted format provided in the online news encourages
offensive and abusive discourse by the users, as they are known as anonymous
(Diakopoulos & Naaman, 2011).
Media technologies especially online news technologies specifically are
constantly progressing and therefore what this study deals with is just a still from
continuous movie. Thus, the future of the online news seems to be challenged
traditional newspapers, but still the implications of these new developments are
difficult to predict. Changes happen in many different layers and their consequences
are part of an unsolved puzzle yet.
1.1.2 Differences Between Printed and Online News
There are some differences between online and print newspapers, for instance, it is
likely that encounters fewer articles, and certainly fewer complete articles while
surfing an online newspaper compared to printed version. Of course, online
newspaper is mostly still free of charge, often updated throughout the day, easily
accessible for everyone with an Internet connection, and they can be visited while
working at one’s PC anyway. In fact, online newspapers present more leisure
information and sometimes reduced to favour of service and transactions (Sparks,
2000).
In terms of structure, online newspapers consist of teasers and tables of contents.
In order to access complete articles, readers need to scroll and use links. By clicking
on the links or icons, it may draw the readers to the selected articles and away from
other articles. However, in printed newspapers, the stories will remain visible to the
reader to go back and forth. In other words, online newspaper readers are encouraged
to be more active and selective (Boczkowski, 2002). In contrast, print newspaper
8
readers should be more often surprised by articles they would probably not click on
when only offered a headline in an online newspaper.
Consequently, printed news is consciously favour to guide their readers through
the content, by ranking the news to socially relevant, suggesting which topics readers
should aware of. Positioning the news articles within the paper by using headlines,
typographical, colours, pictures and graphs. These cues are actually appeared through
online news as teasers and icons. Nevertheless, online newspaper is exposed to small
number of cues compared to printed news, thus provide less guidance to online
readers (Eveland, Marton, and Seo, 2004).
Online newspaper may not relevant as printed news especially in projecting the
topics to all types of audience, it is because online news according Schönbach and
Lauf (2004), are more suited to refer as ‘research medium’, especially to gather in
depth information on certain issues. In fact, online news may work as ‘alarm
medium’, whereby it only useful to gather breaking news at quick glance. Due to the
function, Tewksbury (2003) felt anxious of the impact of online reading for “the long-
term health of democratic nations”.
1.2 Problem Statement
In the age of globalisation, the Internet holds significant media power over the
modern societies. The World Wide Web has become a phenomenon. If initially the
Internet was invented solely for the army’s use, in the last decade of the second
millennium it was introduced for public use. In 1995, the Internet was considered the
new platform of communication to be developed in Malaysia. It began in 1996 when
there was a growth in the number of Internet hosts (Paynter & Lim, 2001). The
emergence of the Internet in 1998 had caused a major transformation in Malaysia. The
Reformation Movement (Reformasi) had brought significant change to the Malaysian
political landscape (Rajaratnam, 2009).
As a result, the online media surged and affected government as a whole. During
that period, numerous web sites sprang up supporting Anwar Ibrahim. The new media
9
gained popularity and acceptance because of the need to have free flow of information
as the mainstream media was perceived to be regulated by the government (Salman et
al., 2011). Many alternative online news and blogs appeared as alternative source of
information. In fact, what had been reported by both the mainstream and alternative
media were framed differently and thus each media had different styles of reporting
(Loh, 2011).
The Internet introduced a new element to the audience understanding of the
concept of freedom of expression. Consequently, the Internet emerged as an important
factor that led to a historical transformation. Surprisingly, the advent or enhancement
of new forms of communication helped to foster changes in the political action as
communication is at the heart of mobilisation. The emergence of the Internet had
created a platform and space for cyber-communities to critique and shared their
perspectives on various issues including claiming history to be written based on their
ancestors’ or ethnic version. The rise of today’s new media encourages anonymity,
which allows a person to create new virtual identity, knitted together with various
group of people in the world. This is one of the features provided in the online news
portal. Online news provides the opportunity to develop a different way to present
journalism in which the online version newspapers included features that were not
possible in its former medium.
Recently, there has been growing interest about the public’s understanding and
attitudes towards understanding the past, which is history. Public historians (amateur
historian) are increasingly aware to produce and debate about the past, means having
historical consciousness and memory and reflected it to the public. Unfortunately,
history demands facts and evidence and not merely based on ethnicity of the writers.
Critique and history favouring one particular ethnic was recently brought up in
Malaysia (Ting, 2014). The issues on the contents of history curriculum and textbooks
were discussed through online medium. The contents are well critized and as to
include the role of all ethnic groups in achieving independency and harmonizing the
country to be addressed in representing the Malaysia history. The common issues
such as contributions and sacrifices of other races should also be looked into and
10
included.
These contestations and debate brought up through online has open up the
horizons looking into history not just merely from school curriculum. In fact, after
years of independence, Malaysia still does not have an official national history, like
Indonesia (Abu Talib Ahmad, 2015; Adam, 2016). In consequence, the historiography
seems to be segmented and divided into ethnic interest, eliminating Malaysia centric
as the historical discourse. Ethnicity characterised the very basic of Malaysian politics
that often faced political struggles on issues related to ethnicity (Ishak, 1999). Hence,
the prevailing phenomenon in the Malaysia polity occurred since Malaysia achieved
its independence in 1957 and thus the aspiration of the nation building development
projects was not fully accomplished by the government (Ishak, 1999).
The preliminary discussion emphasised that media representation is important in
shaping people’s views and perceptions; thus, it is much needed in building unity in
diversity especially in the case of representing Malaysia’s history. Nevertheless, the
language and images selected by the media to tell stories to the readers are not neutral
but are reflective and formative of values and ideology. Without an examination of
how power operates within a societal location, the power often remains invisible.
Thus, the invisibility of power does not mean that it has been neutralized or shared
among all interested parties. It is deeming important to debunk the usage of power in
producing the knowledge of history, especially using the online media as the medium
in representing.
Previous studies on representation of Malaysian history was only highlighted in
museums, brochures, and films (A. T. Ahmad, 2008; Y. Ahmad & Film, 2008; Chun
& Abdul, 2006; Razak, 2012; Worden, 2014). Other studies related to the history of
Malaysia merely repeated the content of history textbooks (Cullip, 2007; Kheng,
2003; Rajandran, 2012; Santhiram, 1997). These studies only reported a few aspects
of the national history, which was partly adapted from history textbooks, in line with
the political aspirations. However, a study on the history discourse presented by the
new media is relatively scarce as the Internet was a relatively new medium for
11
alternative discourses (Postill, 2014; Tan & Zawawi, 2008). On the other hand, the
study by Rusalina Idrus, (2016) on cyber myth simply described part of the national
history, debunking silently the myth on cyberspace.
Despite the different accounts and conceptions of the past in the new media, this
study will add to the debate, providing empirical insights from (Idrus, 2016; Ting,
2014; M. L. Weiss, 2013) in representing Malaysia’s national history. The main
objective in this study is to investigate and capture how online newspapers represent
Malaysia’s history, particularly on the contemporary understanding of the history as
represented by Malaysians. In examining how Malaysia’s history is constructed by
media discourses, the discussion is shaped by identifying the issues emphasised and
the way these issues were discussed, as well as determining the ideological order.
The result of this study may likely be revolutionary and could entrench the
existing patterns of national unity. After all, Malaysian historiography seems to
involve different interest groups of society with an ideology. It is an articulation of the
‘unfinished’ cultural/ethnic nationalist project in Malaysia (Shamsul, 2001). Hence, it
probably provides background or context to historical issues facilitating the audience
understanding of Malaysia’s history.
1.3 Research Objectives
Based mainly on a qualitative analysis of Malaysian online newspaper, the aim of this
study is to examine the representation of Malaysia’s national history in the online
newspaper. It is primarily concerned with the contemporary understanding of the
history as reported by the two online newspapers and the dynamic changes of
globalisation. This study not only attempts to reach a deeper understanding of the
representation of Malaysia’s history, but also to compare the two online newspapers.
Hence, it attempts to address the following concerns:
1) To analyse how Malaysia’s history was represented in The Star and Utusan
Malaysia Online from 2010 to 2015.
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2) To examine the underlying knowledge and discourses that represent
Malaysia’s history in The Star and Utusan Malaysia Online from 2010 to
2015.
Following are the research questions raised in this study:
1) How was Malaysia’s history constructed and represented in The Star and
Utusan Malaysia Online from 2010 to 2015?
2) What are the underlying knowledge and discourses that represent Malaysia’s
history in The Star and Utusan Malaysia Online from 2010 to 2015?
1.4 Significance of the Study
There is a significant need to document and look critically at how Malaysia’s national
narrative is represented especially in the media, as history is an important tool to build
national identity and nation (Anderson, 1983; Lopez, Carretero, & Rodriguez-Moneo,
2014). Unlike previous studies which focused on Malaysia’s history in the context of
school history textbook (Kheng, 2003; Rajandran, 2012; Ting, 2014), this study
intends to provide an understanding of representation of Malaysia’s national narrative
in the online news, which is a component in constructing history consciousness
among pluralistic society. It also adds to the present knowledge by demonstrating how
national narrative is morally judged. In other words, the past is presented in an
ethnocentric biased manner (Dragonas & Frangoudaki, 2001), through the lens of a
multicultural society. This work also adds to the current debate by providing
empirical insights, deconstructing the Malaysia’s national narrative from the aspect of
media discourse.
In addition, the representation of national narrative in the online news lacks
longitudinal research. Most existing research focuses on short timeframes, using
quantitative content analysis, with the conclusion that the national narratives portrayal
of certain events and period (Tong & Robertson, 2008; Worden, 2001; Yang & Ishak,
13
2013). Accordingly, this study concentrates on the representation of national
narratives from the online news medium using synthesize discourse analysis by
deconstructing the media discourse on national narrative.
As the world is becoming more globalised and moving into technology savvy, the
issue of how online newspaper represents Malaysia’s history is still neglected and
new to Malaysia. Thus, this study is a current effort to compare how different online
newspaper represents history. It will further boost Malaysia’s image and to provide
empirical support for the theoretical proposition. The differences in media
organisation have a profound impact on the way historical images are framed in the
online newspaper. This study aimed to foster media awareness on the need for
reorientation of their role towards promoting integration.
1.5 Theoretical Framework
This study used a post-positivist, discourse analytic framework to gain an
understanding of the representation of Malaysian history in online newspapers as the
proposed period of study. The approach taken was drawn from Michel Foucault,
Stuart Hall, and Edward Said. Orientalism was in parallel to the processes of dwelling
on the trajectories, perspectives, and representation of Malaysia’s history, which took
this theory as a useful framework for this thesis. The examination will be limited to
Said’s (1935-2003) major controversial book: Orientalism (1978, 2003). As this study
emerges from cultural discourses and narratives of memory involving the relationship
between personal subjectivity and Malaysia national narrative, the study will also rely
on Foucault’s theory of the relationship of knowledge and Stuart Hall’s
representation.
1.6 Limitations
The first limitation of this study is that a non-random sample (purposive sampling)
was implemented. Due to time, language, and resource constraints, it is not possible to
collect a random sample from all online news articles about Malaysia’s history, Thus,
14
the findings are not applicable to ‘online newspaper representations’ or ‘media
representations. In order to overcome this, a researcher make a conclusion of the
results based on the related online news articles reviewed in this study. Since the study
is the first of its kind, it should be viewed as an exploration into the topic and not as an
all-encompassing study of media representations.
The second limitation of the study is the data source. According to the social
constructionist perspectives, documents develop meaning when someone interprets
them. These interpretations vary depending on a number of factors, including personal
experiences and biases (Krippendorff, 2004, p. 19). Although these interpretations
may still differ from someone else, completing a systematic analysis should exclude
most bias, allow for a comprehensive study, and ensure that someone else could repeat
the research findings.
1.7 Data Collection and Analysis
This thesis qualitatively investigated how Malaysia’s history was represented in two
online newspapers – The Star and Utusan Malaysia Online. In achieving the research
aim, the best type of research design was a comparative design. Since the aim of this
thesis was to describe and discuss how the two online newspapers represent
Malaysia’s history, the primary research question was a descriptive nature. When
conducting research of a descriptive nature, describing the material is insufficient, the
research should also use the material in an interesting way. More importantly, the
analysis needs to be based on a clear analytical tool in order to draw conclusions
besides those explicitly showed in the material (Ottosson & Cheng, 2012)
Analysing more than two online newspapers was not feasible for this study due to
time constraints, in order to produce enough analysis and discussion about the media
representation to fulfil the research objective. This is a combination of library
research and representation study. A proportion of 20% of the findings will be part of
the thesis and the rest are discussion and analysis about the issues of Malaysia’s
history. Based on the research design, this study is unable to state broad
15
generalisations about media representation. However, the researcher believes that this
study adds to the overall literature regarding media representation.
Discourse analysis used to uncover the discourses represented by the online
newspapers was one of the methods employed by previous researchers within this
field and seemingly the best suited in responding to this type of research question.
Discourse analysis involves the systematic study of texts to find out how the meaning
and presentation of words create social reality. Theorists engaged in discourse
analysis were often intentionally ambiguous about the specific methods involved in
this methodology, providing a flexible set of methods with a significant divergence in
their execution by scholars (Hoy, 1999).
This flexibility allowed the researcher to analyse the underlying assumptions and
power dynamics involved in the production of the text, providing a more
contextualised interpretation (Rose, 2014). Quantitative content analysis used in
media studies was inappropriate because it did not focus on the frequency of certain
aspects but on the detail that the researcher believes is better completed with
discourse analysis. As mentioned in the theory, the main theoretical approach and
concepts are social constructivism as well as representation approach.
1.8 Organisation of Thesis
Eight chapters constitute the body of this study. The first chapter offered a
background of the study, including problem statements, theoretical frameworks, and
the significance of the study and research methodology. It also discussed issues
associated with the problem of archival research, especially online materials. Moving
in a parallel direction, the second chapter began with a discussion of mainstream
history. The arguments presented pertained to the content of history textbooks and
historical consciousness. The chapter proceeded to explore the paradigm of the new
media in Malaysia. It further explored newly emerging practices in the representations
of news and investigated how the design of the online newspapers alters the
construction of the meaning in of news representation. Chapter 3 focused on the
16
theoretical perspectives and approach in the discourse studies. In light of this study, it
tries to reflect the usage of discourse study in the text media and controversies among
various approaches in discourse analysis.
Chapter 4 presented the methods employed to answer the research aims
developed in this study. The chapter started with the research paradigm followed by
the adopted approach in conducting the study. Credibility issues were also mentioned
before describing how Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was employed. Research
processes, data collection, and data selection carried out during fieldwork were also
explained.
The following Chapter 5, 6 and 7 are chapters on findings. The findings presented
in Chapter 5 are based on the assessment of the quantitative analysis, where Chapter 6
and 7 provide findings from the Foucauldian Discourse Analysis that discussed the
discourse created by Utusan Malaysia and The Star Online was presented in Chapter
6 and 7. It draws attention to the politics underlined in the online news production and
the significant episodes in the narration of Malaysian history. This research presented
a study that will provide a perspective of what representations means and integrates
history as the main background by using online newspaper as a medium to perpetuate
audience receptions. At the same time, it deliberated the otherness constructed within
the representation of Malaysia’s history.
The concluding chapter provided a summary of the key findings associated with
the research aims and discussed the contributions of the study to academic knowledge
while making suggestions for future research in the field.
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
REPRESENTATION, HISTORY, AND MEDIA
The discussions in this chapter revolved around the aspects of representation.
Firstly, it is important to explore the concept of ‘representation’ in detail as the
analysis of Malaysia’s national history is based on this theoretical context. This
chapter started by defining ‘representation’ together with its importance and uses. The
second part of the chapter looked into the representation that has evolved in the media
with the concept of Otherness and stereotypes associated with Oriental Other were
reviewed. The next part examined past works related to representation of history in
two different areas: 1) Western 2) Malaysia. Existing gaps in the study of historical
representation and the conceptual framework of the thesis are presented in the final
part of the chapter.
2.1 What is Representation
Representation is the term used in various discipline of studies especially in cultural
studies. Culture, on the other hand, refers to a set of common beliefs that holds people
together. Thus, this common belief embedded in human life gives rise to social
practices that are imbued with meaning. The construction of meaning and making
sense of the social practices is what cultural theorist, Stuart Hall defined as
‘representation’. Representation concept has helped scholars to understand media
messages beyond what is portrayed to the mass audiences (Fürsich, 2010).
Hall (1997) argued that representation is an operation in which meaning is
generated and exchanged between members of a culture. The process of making
18
meaning involves the usage of signs, images, and language to represent things. He
further presents the circuit of cultural model as a way of understanding the process of
representational (signifying) system (refer Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1: Hall’s Representation Circuit
Likewise, Chris (2007) explained that representation is how the media constructs
realities in terms of certain key markers of identity. Meanwhile, Connor (2001) as
cited by Chris (2007) stated that:
“... representation is not just about the way the world is presented to us,
but also about how we engage with media texts... representation is,
therefore, just as much about audience interpretation as it is about the
portrayals that are offered to us by the media”.
production
consumption
regulationidentity
representation
19
This concept of representation had been highlighted in various studies and has
significance in our everyday life, making meaning through the projection of the
language and described through the most essential instrument such as a discourse
(Dyer, 2002; Kelly, 2004; Reid, 2007). Foucault (1972), a post-structuralist remarked
that what is being represented always involves people’s knowledge and beliefs.
Hence, representations may affect many aspects of human lives including social,
political, and economic contexts.
In the context of film, Kelly (2004) argued that representation has the capability
of strengthening, changing, and even to complement images of places as it “reinforces
a set of societal structures by helping individual to make sense of their surroundings”
(p.28). Apart from that, human has been relying heavily on representation especially
in making sense of object and images, which we encounter in our daily lives (Dyer,
2002). Reid (2007) addressed the usage of representation in deconstructing the
contemporary myth in fictional content, which is important in our social life. While
Kelly (2004) contended that representation has the ability to alter, strengthen or
complement images of places. She further argued that “among other things,
representation reinforces a set of societal structures which help individuals to make
sense of their surroundings that are otherwise chaotic and random, and to define and
locate themselves with respect to those surroundings.” (Kelly, 2004, p. 28)
Thus far, representation generally works as a way of interpreting the signs,
images, and objects, where they are extensively consumed and employed in a
human’s daily life It has become part of societal tool in constructing and
deconstructing the societal order. In other words, the objective of representation is to
construct meaning and to capture in some way the ‘reality’ in signs. Ideology, on the
other hand, arises on the surface when using representation. It helps in understanding
hegemonic, a concept of ideology (Eagleton, 1991).
20
2.2 Representation and Related Studies
In the next section, diverse approaches of representations and other related studies
were outlined. The use of the concept by Stuart Hall was defined and explained and
the relevance to actual field of media and history and current trends in Malaysia was
established. The relationship between media and representation was highlighted,
linking it with the memory in building the representation from the society. Part of the
researcher’s contribution to this section exploring and building cohesive argument on
the current relationship between representation and history. Overall, this section
interpolated the material from the researcher’s published paper, which was co-
authored with her supervisor and co-supervisor. The data was gathered from MCMC
collaboration study with the project title, “The New Media and the Consciousness of
History in Malaysia: Ideas on National History and Other Histories”. This paper was
published in Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vol. 25, February
2017. The other paper was accepted for publication, with the title “Another History of
Malaysia? Expression From ‘Negara’ Sarawak”.
2.2.1 Representation and Media
What we see, watch, hear, and read from the media is a projection that is not merely a
coincident when it happens. They take form of a representation, created and
constructed by people with a certain agenda. The agenda relies on who wants to
inform, to persuade, to challenge – what should be in or out, what words or sentences
to use and to describe the issue. Books and museums are examples of media
representation. Media is viewed as one of the most powerful institutional forces that
shaped the values and attitudes in modern civilisation. Therefore, whatever is depicted
in the media deserves attention and attraction. The why and how the media represents
and portrays certain issues or people often shape people’s views and perceptions.
Whether we realize or not, most of the characters, perceptions, and experiences that
we face are received from the media. The concept of creating meaning and the way
the media represents issues or affairs is what we address today as representation.
21
Unfortunately, the media often turns excludes reality. The media does not signify
that what we perceived as lacking fairness and balance to be bias even though it
probably is. Hall (1997) contended that the notions of studying media representations
as “false” or “misrepresentations” as the reality of experience. The concept applied
under “misrepresentation” assumes a “true” or “fixed” meaning that connects with the
external “reality” of media texts. Ironically, the connotation and denotation of that
external “reality” is constructed by the media. Media texts does not simply portray the
external “reality” to the audience, they actually consist of the connotation and
denotation of “reality”. Deleuze (1999) connoted that human representation is
complex as it is about partiality and relativity; the reality itself often revolves in the
human mind, whether consciously or unconsciously. In short, media is central to the
representation of social realities.
Scholars such as Van Dijk & Kintsch (1983) believed that representation is a
personal reproduction of an individual’s knowledge, ideas, values, and beliefs. It
depends on one own’s perception to interpret realities. Apart from that, other
influences such as cultural, political, and economic backgrounds contribute to the
construction of reality. Such representation of reality is sometimes influenced by
values and priorities (Fairclough, 1995). Therefore, different people will have
different representations based on their social, cultural, aims, values, and the
environment around them.
Following that, questions arise such as: “Do the media have any impact? What
will the society gain from the media representation? Given the influential impact of
the media to the human being, Hall (1981) proposed that the media is a principal
form of ideological dissemination. In agreement with Hall, there are a few significant
studies suggesting that the media is a key transmitter of representation and source for
the society (Fürsich, 2010; Johnson & Avery, 1999). It produces representation of the
social world via images and portrayals. Thus, it creates an understanding of “how the
world is and why it works as it is said and shown to work” (p.11). This is the stage
where representation holds the power to mould human beliefs in the societal world.
22
However, with the understanding that the social world is usually embedded with
ideology, we ‘speak through’ ideology and that ideology enables us to ‘make sense’
of our social reality and our position within it. He added that the ideologies that have
become ‘naturalised’ and ideologically motivated representations that mask
themselves as ‘common sense’, thus within the ideology, politically constructed
representation, such representations of ethnic, for example, is conveyed as ‘given by
nature’ (Eagleton, 1991). This argument is also supported by (Branston & Stafford,
1999, p. 15):
“The media give us ways of imagining particular identities and groups
which can have material effects on how people experience the world, and
how they get understood, or legislated for or perhaps beaten up in the
street by others…this is partly because the mass media have the power to
re-present, over and over, some identities, some imaginings, and to
exclude others, and thereby make them seem unfamiliar or even.”
Ideological connotation constructed within represented images contains shared
meanings and have consequences to the society. This is sometimes translated as
negative representations implicated through social and political inequalities. These
inequalities reflected through representation, or known as representations of Other
(ethnic, gender, racial or sexual minorities) has become a focal point for the media.
This regime of stereotyping by distorting the social reality of a certain social
group by portraying desired image has cause tangible effects (Grossberg et al., 1998,
p. 224). Many studies conducted on media portrayal of minority groups revealed that
most groups have been represented negatively and ignored by the majority
(Alagappar, David, & Hui, 2010; Harding, 2006; Mahadeo & Mckinney, 2007;
Rahim, 2005; Wardell, Fitzgerald, Legge, & Clift, 2014).
Such portrayal indicates that the ‘other’ represents an ultimatum to the social
order. According to Hall, (1997), “stereotyping reduces people to a few, simple,
essential characteristics, which is represented as fixed by nature” (p.257).
23
Stereotyping makes people ignore the differences among individuals and tends to
generalise. Since it creates a barrier between individuals of the other group, the
labelling of ‘other’ has become a system of classification in maintaining social and
symbolic order.
The media on the other hand play its role as ideological mechanism in creating a
homogeneous perception of the ‘other’, which may eventually affect society as a
whole (Avraham & First, 2010). This ideological mechanism to place, angle, and re-
angle the ‘facts’ to a certain point of objectives refers to media framing. According to
Griffin et al., (2003), framing is a “process of calling attention to some aspects of
reality while obscuring others, which might lead different reactions”. Entman (1993)
defined framing as:
“To select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more
salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular
problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or
treatment recommendation for the item described” (p. 52).
The framing of certain ‘facts’ or components perceived as ‘reality” by the news
people construct the peoples' perceptions of certain groups of people, by highlighting
the perception of ‘us and ‘them’ (Kellner, 1995). The work by Edward Said (1978)
mentioned on ‘other’, the dominant Occident and the inferior Orient. In his book of
Orientalism, Said (1978) highlighted/exposed the chauvinism of western scholars and
the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ Orientals’ paradigm. As such, Orientalism has become a
pertinent frame in presenting nationality of people, race, and ethnicity.
Ironically, the repertoire of representations of other groups of minorities are
likely related with past history, for example slavery, colonial, and orientalism
(Fürsich, 2010). A major dimension of representation has been published by the
contemporary media, the normalising forum for the social construction of reality due
to globalisation (Downey & Fenton, 2003; Fürsich, 2010; Hellman & Wagnsson,
2015; Rahim, 2005). The representation has survived across the contemporary media
24
to the new media, generating more and more debate among the public sphere.
Similarly, Fürsich (2010) questioned whether the digital technology and Internet that
could diminish the impact of negative representations remain unresolved. Perhaps, the
representations chosen and circulated within the public arena were not dictated by the
elites, but also through public opinion.
The new media hyped as the space for contestations has existed before the term
social media was coined. Beforehand, it was known as ‘alternative media’, a medium
by the oppressed group to challenge dominant hierarchies and systems of power
(Atton, 2002, 2004; Couldry & Curran, 2003). Fifty years ago, Marshall Mcluhan
warned us about the impact of technology on human being leading to the term ‘global
village’ that has becomes surreal (Mcluhan & Powers, 1989, p. 8). The new media has
radically transforms the new era of public participation, thus creating a whole new
democratic world (Morozov, 2011; Sheehy, 2008). In Malaysia, the ‘alternative
media’ is often considered ‘politically contentious’, signifying challenging dominant
ideologies over political parties (Azizuddin, Sani, & Zengeni, 2008; B. Pepinsky,
2013; Sani, 2014; Tapsell, 2013; M. L. Weiss, 2013). Hence, the wave of the new
media is said to be more articulated and easily heard as it provides more open space
and vibrant discourse (Tapsell, 2013; M. L. Weiss, 2013).
Media plays a role in selecting and representing the reality. The new media, on
the other hand, has now become a digital weapon of dissent that is used as a speaker
by the oppressed group. The powerless are often obliged to adopt strategies by using
new media as a tool to voice out, defend, and attack the present authority. The ‘hidden
transcript’, as coined by Scott (1990), appears in today’s the new media world as part
of contestation. Thus, the above concepts of representation are relevant to describe
representation. The main concern of representation in online news is whose ‘reality’ is
portrayed in the news (Allan, 2006). As we know, media is allied to the government
and political parties.
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2.2.2 Memory and Online News Media
Media is a very powerful tool to influence people and those images presented by the
media could be entrenched in audience’s memory. Eventually, many media outputs,
whether audio, text or visuals, are largely engaged with the past. It manifested the
media’s conscious assumption of the ‘role of public historians’ (Kitch, 2005, p. 5). By
making the reader an eyewitness to history, the role played by the media in narrating
history in the audience minds cannot be denied.
In fact, media may project influence on how audience interlink images that they
perceived with the past, in which they participate in constructing a narrative of
collective memory (Ebbrecht, 2007). Each mass media has its own content types, its
own creative artists and technicians, and its own business models. Many studies
account various media forms such as movies, books, magazines, and television as
tools of historical narrative (Ashkenazi, 2014; Ebbrecht, 2007; Finander, 2010;
Hussin, 2008; Kitch, 2005). Likewise, the online news media could have the same
impact as film, television, and docu-drama in providing images of the past.
Even though television has been widely known as an ideal facilitator of cultural
memory Ebbrecht (2007), the power that online news media could offer might have
the same mode of teaching of past to the audience. With the emergence of Internet,
journalists need to equip themselves to adapt to the latest changes in/of technology.
Journalists predicted that Internet might change the content of the news and the
medium of transmission of information (Barnhurst, 2002). Barnhurst also argued on
the importance of images portrayed in online news media, and his argument was
supported in previous study by Arant & Anderson (2001).
Other studies conducted in Malaysia on online newspapers found declining trends
of readership due to Internet access from 2002-2006 (Ariffin & Jaafar, 2009). It can
be further conclude/assume that the emergence of Internet has brought conventional
news media into new horizons which affect readership at a glance. Thus, editors and
newspapers agencies need to prepare websites that are attractive and noticeable by
users.
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Online news media is interactive compared to mainstream or older version of
newspaper as it provides richness of visual images and video clippings to enhance the
news impact to the audience. Online news media has also brought mainstream news
media into a new horizon. For example, the MDA- Malaysian Digital Association
responsible in determining the ranking of Malaysian Web revealed that The Star
online newspaper was in the highest rank of the most visited news web sites among
all online newspapers (MDA, 2013). From the data given, online news media could be
one of the media agents that play as a mediator to establish the image of the past and
to convey the history to the audience.
Journalists, on the other hand, find the frames as their writing bible to depict an
issue to the readers. (Entman, 1993) defined frames as an output of strategic
communication decisions through which information is purposely selected to capture
salient points when crafting a message. Frames influence people’s opinions. Every
event reported in the news has essentially been framed, and whether this news has the
value of ‘truth’ or reality depends greatly on the readers to interpret.
The news that readers received has been spun various times by the news media
editor according to their respective objective (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996), thus
making the value of ‘truthiness’ of news decay the ‘reality’ of what happened in the
actual place. Edward Said, in his book, Orientalism, mentioned about ‘truth’ and
‘representation’, and on how the West adopted various modes and techniques to
represent the images of the Orient accessible to the West (Said, 1978). The portrayal
by the West on the Orient might or might not be the true images or reality faced by
the Orient. He observed:
“In any instance of at least written language, there is no such thing as a
delivered presence, but a re-presence, or a representation. The value,
efficacy, strength, apparent veracity of a written statement about the
Orient therefore relies very little, and cannot instrumentally depend, on
27
the Orient as such. On the contrary, the written statement is a presence to
the reader by virtue of its having excluded, displaced, and made
supererogatory any such real thing as “the Orient”
As such, the construction and development of ‘reality’ always involve
representation and it could affect how people perceived things and events. This was
supported by Foucault (1980) who claimed that a representation is a knowledge
production and re-created ideologies and ‘truth’. ‘Truth’ in that sense of what Hall
mentioned earlier is that ‘reality’ and the real images represented may not be the
actual event. Sometimes, they have been depicted and moulded into ideologies of a
certain body for others to comprehend. For example, people normally would not
associate history with a certain kind of words and images but with things from past
experiences. Metaphorically, it is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
On how convincing and newsworthy the news is especially in representing
history in the eyes of the audience are selective and depends on the journalist.
However, the acceleration of new media technologies will undermine the fundamental
structure of narrative by making the space of media representations endless (Orgad,
2012).
Notably with the globalised world, my argument about the challenge of today’s
world in representing the nation’s history and how the online news media depicts
history was constructed based on the contemporary arguments by Stuart Hall and
Hayden White about media representations. White (2009) critically analysed media
representations by connecting both in terms of historiography and narrative and found
that narrative is the most likely form used in representations. In fact, the usage of
narrative in carving messages is only a mask that we can only imagine but unable to
experience (White, 2009). Those images that have been represented can be envisioned
and visualized in our mind without knowing the truth of the actual images or the
ability to experience them.
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Take the MH370 incident as an example, we sometimes imagine and put
ourselves in that situation after being exposed to various sorts of news and images of
plane crashes. Thus, based on those images, we tend to visualise the situation and
relate it to our everyday life by sharing with others those fears from our visualisation.
However, what White (2009) argued as “people can imagine, but never experience” is
basically true and make sense. Representations are greatly influenced by how people
articulate their experience and comprehend the world around them.
The devoted argument made by White (2009) had also become a foundation for
(Orgad, 2012) to use global imagination as theoretical framework in analysing the
process of media representations in global media. If television and movies are the
most effective institutional vehicles for shaping historical consciousness (Kaes, 1992),
to continue in delivering memory of the past, discussions are required to add on the
body of knowledge and the online news media will likely be a part of the history
vehicles.
The selection of news is accompanied by transformation, with different treatment
of presentation by examining various aspects such as political, economic, and social
factors. Yet, journalism practice is usually beyond ordinary and is a continuous
process. Consequently, a ‘bias’ or tendency to believe or hold partial perspective on
certain issues will create news. The reader will view it as a source by believing the
news as reported even when there is doubt on the novelty of the source or the facts are
twisted. Accordingly, the readers will make sense and develop various cognitive
representations based on their reading and evaluation.
There has been a debate on taking journalism as a form of culture articulating
memory with news as the tools of narration (Kitch, 2008; Zelizer, 2008) and the role
of journalists is as agents of memory (Zandberg, 2015). Media research acknowledges
the resemblance of journalistic practice and shaping of collective memory. As Barbie
Zelizer (1992) noted:
29
“The function of narration in the production of historical text
constitutes a viable and effective way for the narrators to position and
uphold themselves as authorities in culture”
Journalist has the authority to use the past as their reference to provide meaningful
output of information which may or may not be associated with social memory of the
audience. In fact, they represent and construct social values and discourses to the
audience based on their cultural, historical, and political worldviews. Study conducted
by Schudson (1995) pointed out that news a cultural form. Further analysis reveals that
journalistic is part of cultural construction of reality. Hence, culture is seen to shape
the society, with the news itself transmitting the political aspect through journalistic
practice.
The relationship between media and memory is undeniable, as memory is a social
and cultural product. Human lives possess memory and form a part of culture. For
example, Shin (2016) noted that newspapers are as storytellers that construct and
maintain the collective memory of certain events of the past through news stories.
However, he further argued that certain aspects of the past were omitted to meet
political purposes. This leads to the manipulation of collective memory and the abuse
of the past for the purpose of power. Hence, it is significant to note that the
newspapers used selected event to construct memory of the past and represent them
through their coverage.
There are occasions when remembering is part of conscious activity of the media,
where society learns both current and the past history (Schuman & Rodgers, 2004).
Schwalbe, (2006) explored news images representing past events (Iraq War on United
States) in shaping collective memory of Americans. As images are constantly linked
with the memory familiar with past scenario, using images along with the news sparks
emotional feelings. The use of images facilitates reader’s collective memory of past
events (Perlmutter & Wagner, 2004), and create longetivity in creating reader’s
understanding. In other words, newspapers work as a site of memory where political,
social, and cultural forces become part of constructing discourses of collective
30
memory. These studies, however, only focused on printed newspapers. Online news
media are rarely discussed as an academic subject to be one of the tools of historical
representations.
Similarly, most studies conducted to study online journalism were merely looking
into pictorial, images and design, comparison of framing structure (Janssen, 2010;
Knox, 2009; Nguyen & Western, 2007; Sundar, 2000; Deuze, 2003), and the
consequences of multimedia graphic towards audience (Cheng & Lo, 2012; Deuze,
2003). As such, a study on historical representation in online newspapers has been left
out of memory scholarship which has a tendency to be a vehicle of memory placement
in the audience mind.
Social memory construction is a long-term process and long lasting as it sparks
upon an individual’s identity. It is an ongoing process that involves political, cultural
formation, and different individual or group interpretations from representation as part
of history construction. The role of a journalist is to link the past through writing
suggests that the future may resemble a historical experience (Edy, 1999), and the
placing of relevant events in conjuctions with cultural and political significance
(Meyers, 2007).
2.3 ‘Otherness’ and Nation Building
Forging the nation’s collective memory is actually hard work and an integral process
of nation building. Hence, the powerful link between history and memory is relatively
new to be explored in the new media. However, if the completion of this task is
successful, the people is assumed to turn into loyal citizens, which helps instill shared
identity.
When writing news that includes history, the manipulation of the past often
involves the use of stereotypes and prejudice in describing the ‘other’. The news
media eventually helps us, as human, to construct our perception and judgment
towards the ‘other’. Subsequently, news stories sometimes contain issues and present
images that include various ethnic diversity and group identification. Kellner (1995)
31
asserted that news constructs audience views to a certain group of people, by
highlighting our perception of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Said (1978), in his work also
mentioned about the ‘other’, the dominant Occident and the inferior Orient. In his
book of Orientalism, Said (1978) displayed the chauvinism of western scholars and
the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ Orientals’ paradigm. It is important to understand the
dichotomy between the West and Orient, which is subsequently implied in the context
of stereotyping. Thus, Said (1978) also recounted various forms of media to show the
evidence of ‘other’. As such, Orientalism has become a pertinent frame in presenting
nationality of people, race, and ethnicity.
When we talk about stereotyping, various researches conducted was in paradigm
of cultural-critical (Harding, 2006; Trivundza, 2004). Media often demonstrated
stereotype on non-white, non-elite groups and minorities by excluding them from
coverage and limited representations. As a result, the media seems to create a
homogeneous perception of the ‘other’, which may affect society as a whole.
According to Hall (1997), “stereotyping reduces people to a few, simple, essential
characteristics, which represented as fixed by nature” (p.257).
Stereotyping makes people ignore the differences between individuals and tends
to create generalisations. Profoundly, the construction of otherness is actually a form
of differences in society, whereby the other is cast as the outsider such as ‘criminal’,
‘invaders’, ‘dirty’, and ‘undesirable’ (Orgad, 2012). This signifying practice of
casting differences of certain groups of the society often constructed as an object for
the benefit of one society, as part of gaining self-definition (Pickering, 2001, p. 71).
Since it creates a barrier between individuals of the other group, the labelling of
‘other’ has become a system of classification in maintaining social and symbolic
order.
Ironically, the repertoire of representations of other group of minorities is likely
related with past history, for example slavery, colonialism, and orientalism (Fürsich,
2010).
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In the context of Malaysia, various versions of history have been questioned ever
since the emergence of Internet. The new media technology seems to have open up a
space for a wider audience and oppress a front-stage position in the Malaysian
society. Previous studies conducted in Malaysia highlighted national identity and
nationalism including (Milner, 1998, 2005; Shamsul, 1997; Watson, 1996) looking
back at the root of history to present the facts to the present event. Norena, Sulam, &
Murad (2017) discussed on how people in Sarawak perceive and understand Malaysia
history. Surprisingly, it revealed that most of the people in Sarawak considered their
state as not part of Malaysia until the formation of Malaysia 1963. Likewise, the
phrase “Sarawak Merdeka Dalam Malaysia” symbolises different interpretation to the
natives. These interpretations mapped out the sense of ‘Negara Sarawak’, based on
the notion of Orientalism by Edward Said. At the same time, it posits a positive binary
opposition of ‘Us’ vs ‘Them’ which articulated the explanation in making sense.
Reflecting on the past, the historiography of Sarawak during the reign of
Brooke’s family was written mainly by Western historians, who were intrigued with
and often sympathised with Brooke’s rule (Lockard, 1973; Pringle, 1970). Hence, the
construction of the orientalist images portrayed through history textbook written by
the Western scholars (Pringle, 1970; Walker, 2002) is a strain of imperialism, by
imparting a set of orientalist discourses and representations on less developed and
non-Western countries (Philip, 2012). Although Malaysia has gained Independence or
‘Merdeka’, the colonial strategies of racial ‘othering’, e.g. categorising races into
Malay, Chinese, and Indian continue to be used to legitimise the power of exclusion
(Gabriel, 2014). This symbolic process of othering places negative duality such as
‘indigenous’ and ‘non-indigenous’ groups in Malaysia, which somehow regulates the
cultural membership of the nation (Gabriel, 2014).
The modern public thought of ‘otherness’ is actually articulated by the media. As
Mustafa (1994) was concerned that the media is only concern about major political
and economic powers in cities, and he labelled this phenomenon as ‘urban bias’ media
reporting. It is not surprising that the concept of otherness encountered was not only
based on race and identity, but also on the distance and areas that have influence and
33
major highlights in the society. It is important that to understand the society, one has
to understand the system of classification (Durkheim & Mauss, 1963). This include
the classification of origins that divides the race. In Malaysia, race is fundamental in
organising the Malaysian society written in the public policies and constitutions
(Crouch, 2001). It derives from epistemological roots via the colonial modes of
knowledge construction in which race is the main referent of difference during
colonial period. Geoffrey Stafford (1999) regarded the race segregation in Malaysia
as classical example of consociationalism derived from Arend Lijphart. Lijphart
(1977) described the model of consociationalism in which the ethnic structure is
represented in the structure of political parties in order to reduce interethnic tension
and enhance social harmony.
The social imaginary of otherness was also reflected in history textbooks. The
introduction of the term ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ in the latest edition of secondary history
textbooks have been the subject of contestation in Malaysia. The term Malay
sovereignty or ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ as classified by Helen Ting (2009) as “ an
indication of the significant shift in the ethnic balance of power within the ruling
coalition, or a political blunder due to hijacking by ultra-Malay nationalist
bureaucrats or historians.” These nuances and different perspectives in Malaysian
history textbooks shows the consciousness of Malaysian towards their past. At the
same time, the introduction of the term itself is perpetuated as to suppress the
minority, buttressed the Malay views of their dominant position, by amplifying their
hegemony over minority.
The bias over minority also shows in a study conducted by Alagappar et al.
(2010) whereby the coverage of Orang Asli shows less than five published articles in
a month and they are considered as the victim of beneficiary. This is because many
corporate social responsibility projects run by corporate organisations only emphasise
the Orang Asli as beneficiaries. Hence, this indigenous and non-indigenous difference
of dichotomy is not only racialised, but also politicised. It is only when the minority is
portrayed in the news, it is deemed connected to mainstream society (Mustafa, 1994)
34
The Malaysian society is unique in its ways, which contradicts with its policies.
However, if we cannot combat the volume of Internet and technology effects in
Malaysia, it tends to evoke the unity and patriotic nationalism espoused by the
government and thus creates turbulence of racial politics in the future.
2.4 Representation of History
Malaysian history has been represented and documented in various forms, although
Malaysia does not have an ‘official’ national history until today, unlike our neighbour,
Indonesia (Abu Talib Ahmad, 2015; Adam, 2016). Studies of the representation of
Malaysia history are conducted through the museum (A. T. Ahmad, 2008; Matheson-
Hooker, 2003; Worden, 2001, 2014), brochures (Hanita Hassan, 2014; Razak, 2012),
history textbooks (Hussin, 2008; Kheng, 2003; Manickam, 2003; Rajandran, 2012;
Ting, 2014) and films (Y. Ahmad & Film, 2008; Chun & Abdul, 2006). Yet, the
analysis comprising the role of media in disseminating the history discourse to the
public is still scarce especially in Malaysia. Rusaslina (2016) for example, delved into
the significance of cyber myth, how the topic of Hang Tuah had led to a discussion in
cyber space. The re-interpretation of history is through re-making of history.
Although the study touched on re-interpreting the hero (Hang Tuah) in a different
narrative, the study only represented part of the saga of national history, indicating
that Malaysian are conscious about their history brought forward through an
unofficial history to the public sphere.
Films and television, for example, imply historical events as a narrative
background. It constructs the representation of the national past and transforms into a
storyline that could be digested by the audience by inserting appealing motion and
sounds. Motion pictures may provide the best verification of what was happening
during the Japanese Occupation, what British colonisation looked like or how the life
of people in Malaya were like before. All of the phases of life in the past could be
staged and distorted in various ways through motions and sounds. Since the late
twentieth century, films and television programmess are gaining popularity as a
historical reference (De Groot, 2009).
35
In Malaysia, the trend of adapting narrative background in a film is not new to the
film industry. Tan Sri P. Ramlee was one of the popular film makers who produced
films that examined into the construction of Malaysian history during the Japanese
Occupation. “Matahari” (1958) and “Sergeant Hassan” (1958) were the first two
movies that projected the era of World World II (Amir Muhammad, 2010:16). To this
day, the production of film that encompasses the narrative of history is still relatively
few and far between. “Bukit Kepong” (1981), “Darah Satria” (1983), “Leftenan
Adnan” (2000), “Embun” (2002), “Paloh” (2003), “1957: Hati Malaya” (2007), and
“Tanda Putera” (2013) were the films that featured history and the spirit of patriotic-
emotional attachment to the nation (Hidayah, 2008). Apparently, the role of repetition
of these images from the film are taken by television programmes, where these films
were played several times specifically during the month of the Independence Day.
Seemingly, television programmes have also play their part in promoting
representation of Malaysia’s history. Consequently, these media were considered as
part of historical culture where they act as artefacts that hold and convey significant
meaning to the audience (Thorp, 2014). Nowadays, people will tend to believe
whatever news reported by the media, especially those sourced from the Internet.
However, these representations of history only represent part of the saga of
Malaysian history. The question is, what represent Malaysia’s history? Malaysia’s
historiography is described as an ethnic narrative, divided and segmented into various
ethnic history and beliefs, as it adheres to the political purposes (Adam, 2016). This
political interference is echoed by the argument by (Fürsich, 2010; Khalid & Razzaq,
2012) who stated that in the relationship between the media and the governments and
elites, power and control over information distribution reflect the authoritarian
system.
So, what is ‘official history’? According to Wertsch and Rozin (1998), “official
history” has three main functions: (a) providing a cognitive instrument for envisioning
the nation, (b) enhancing group identity, and (c) fostering loyalty in its citizens. The
explanations were important to understand other unofficial histories embedded in the
36
Malaysia’s history narrative. For example, as Tulviste and Wertsch (1994) have
outlined, unofficial histories in Estonia during the Soviet era served these functions in
a more effective way than the official history taught in schools. The study shows that
how these people deal with different history narrative, between official and unofficial.
It agrees with Ahonen's (1992) “double consciousness” concept. Thus, the above
example reflects the human ability to deal with both versions of history to represent
their past.
Lopez et al., (2014) presented three key characteristics of national narrative. One
such characteristics is the otherness of the group, where the actions of the national
group are always judged morally positive in contrast to foreign actions. In other
words, the past is presented in an ethnocentric, biased manner (Dragonas &
Frangoudaki, 2001). In doing so, the past is interpreted and re-constructed to align
with the political objectives. Some of the ethnic or groups are absent in this
historiography (Alagappar et al., 2010; Cheah, 2007; Kheng, 1996; Ting, 2014), and
the act of choosing of what is considered important and what to exclude seems
appropriate to represent the past.
Although Malaysia does not have ‘official’ national history, the perceptions and
understanding the role of history textbook in reflecting the Malaysian history is
undeniable, as what Wertsch (2004) called “schematic narrative templates”. However,
the history narrative taught in school seems to diminish the original characteristics of
being full of essentialist, naturalised, and nationalistic features (Carretero & Kriger,
2011). Analyses of school history contents, whether from a disciplinary historical
perspective (Berger, 2012) or from the history education point of view (Foster, 2012),
revealed their close resemblance to “official narratives” aiming at historically
legitimising the present and future political agenda.
Previous studies on early history textbooks in secondary schools revealed that the
representation of the Malaysian history favours one Asian group as the early history
textbooks were written by the British. The Malays were side-lined and their roles in
the development of the country were distorted. While reflecting on the modern history
37
textbooks, the Malaysian history is also represented to favour one group (Manickam,
2003; Rajandran, 2012; Ting, 2014), only this time, the Malays are the main actor in
the narrative, distorting other ethnic contributions. The notion of writing and working
as a cultural tool in cultivating the identity and building nations underlie a power.
Thus, colonialism created a nation with many conflicting views of understanding the
past (Hussin, 2008).
2.5 History Consciousness
The knowledge of the past is crucial for understanding the present. In order to be
conscious of history, one person should not only be aware of the past event but should
also think critically about history. The concept of historical consciousness or
historical awareness was commonly recognised as a fuzzy concept established by the
European and was not unfamiliar in North America in the olden days (Thorp, 2014).
Various scholars and historians agreed that historical consciousness or historical
awareness can be understood as a nexus of relationships of the interpretations of the
past, present, and the future. It helps people to link the past experience to the present
change in narrative structure (Seixas, 2012; Thorp, 2015; Rüsen, 2006).
This concept presumes that people not only appreciate their history but also
consciously allow it to influence their actions and their future. Malcolm (1980)
pointed out that historical consciousness is about “the understanding of reality”,
whereby it is about historical knowledge that constructs the knowledge of reality. It
forms the knowledge we gained and used later to construct the worldview for future
reference. This historical knowledge is transferred through the process of socialisation
instead of through the education system (Seixas, 2002; Vance, 2001).
Seemingly, this process of historical consciousness is more or less shaped by the
media, as Vance (2001) lamented, “That perception of the past is shaped by many
forces -- commercialism, political struggles, the news media -- but probably least of
all by historical research”. The influence of the media especially the new media has
been a factor that shapes people’s awareness about history and the past, connecting
38
one own’s memory and enhancing the historical knowledge. This explanation of
historical consciousness was also echoed by Rusen (2001) who mentioned,
“Historical consciousness includes the mental operations (emotional and cognitive,
conscious and unconscious), through which experienced time in the form of memory
is used as a means of orientation in everyday life.” This is an essential cultural factor
in human life as it works as an orientation, the course in which the chain of memory
becomes a fundamental form in linking with the past. The media has emerged to be a
factor that sparks historical consciousness.
Various studies have been conducted and taking a more direct approach on the
rising issue of historical consciousness, where people engage the past events to their
daily routines ( Liew et al., 2015; Sheehy, 2008; Ho, 2008; Cohen & Rosenzweig,
2005; Ho, 2008; Rosenzweig, 2006). Most of these studies revealed that the new
media sparks and engages public opinion on history. Roy Rosenzweig’s 2006 article
‘Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past’ argued that the
new media have challenged historians to rethink the ways that they research, write,
present, and teach the past (Rosenzweig, 2006). They envisage the value and the
impact of amateur history on Wikipedia.
Thus, the issue of historical consciousness raises many questions, hence through
the lens of the local for instance, studies in exploring historical consciousness of
people in Sarawak revealed that they were aware of the history (Norena et al., 2017).
It is unique how people make sense of the past and trying to link it with the present.
Looking back from where it started, the historiography of Sarawak during the reign of
Brooke’s family was written mainly by Western historians, who were intrigued with
and often sympathised with Brooke’s rule (Lockard, 1973; Pringle, 1970). The
orientalist images perpetuated in the history books depicted by Western scholars
(Pringle, 1970; Walker, 2002) is a form of imperialism, by imparting a set of
orientalist discourses and representations on less developed and non-Western
countries (Cunliffe, 2012). Thus, the continuation of the narrative avidly used the
same discourse during colonialism.
39
The history of Sarawak began as a colony when an English adventurer, Captain
James Brooke, arrived in Sarawak in 1840. During that period, the indigenous
communities lived along the coasts, rivers, forests and plateaus with their own
ecological niche and culture. The Sultan of Brunei surrendered the Borneo territory to
Brooke in return for his assistance in subduing ‘pirates’. James Brooke was installed
as the first Rajah of Sarawak which to led to the reign of the White Rajah under the
Brooke’s family for more than a century (Barley, 2002). The end of the Pacific War
led to Sarawak being ceded to the British and Sarawak achieved its independence
before the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
Several studies looked at Sarawak history from the local perspectives to counter
the master discourse of the West (Langub & Chew, 2014). Chew and Langub for
instance looked at personal narratives in examining the Chinese-Iban intermarriages
in Engkelili and Lubuk Antu (Langub & Chew, 2014). Efforts were made to link the
present with the past by studying local perspectives were taken seriously by The
Society for Rights of Indigenous People of Sarawak (SCRIPS). Telling the history of
Sarawak through the lens of the native’s collective memory is deeply significant to
the contemporary social and political aspect. Thus, a series of oral histories from the
Lepo’ Kenyah, Tebalau, Iban, Malay, Bisaya, and Bidayuh communities were
published to provide an opportunity for communities to narrate their stories (Then,
2015). Surprisingly, the analysis from the study reveals that the youngsters were
aware about their own history, culture, and identity. In fact, their knowledge of the
past, the intimacy between the past and the present, have led them to participate in
history making. This process of history making, was not only driven by historical
consciousness, but also driven by the eruption of the Internet, a site where historical
society consume and share historical knowledge. It is interesting to observe how
people make sense of the past as how Jorn Rüsen (2006) described to be historical
awareness.
On the other hand, Ho’s article ’Blogging as Popular History Making, Blogs as
Public History: A Singapore Case Study’ was focused on how blogging enables
personal engagement with public history-making processes in Singapore (Ho, 2007).
40
The blogging phenomenon currently happening in Singapore is similar to Malaysia.
However, the bloggers in Singapore have not used the medium to challenge the
mainstream history as what is currently arising in Malaysia. Singapore has the
monopoly over the construction of Singapore’s political past. In Malaysia, a study that
focused on ‘Digital History’ investigated the receptivity of history teachers subsuming
the new media in their teaching pedagogy (Yacob et al., 2014), rather than the usage
of new media in engaging public history. It draws from Rosenzweig’s definition of
Digital History and the current debates on teaching and learning history in Malaysia.
Central to this process of history making, and history sensing, there is still much
to be understood as not purely on the operational meaning of the historical
consciousness (e.g. Seixas, 2005, 2006; Straub, 2005), but to link critically how do
people gain a sense of historical consciousness? How does it influence, and what
factors contributes to it? In other words, questions to get people started to think about
the relationship of the past and connecting it with collective memory is essential and
critically analysed. Today, the concept of historical awareness or historical
consciousness is globally accepted with the emergence of the Internet. People in the
world are sharing and connecting their culture together and this phenomenon is what
Marshall McLuhan called the concept of ‘global village’.
2.6 Personal Reflections on the Problem: Why Representation Matters?
The study conducted is within various theoretical framework, one of them is based on
the work of Micheal Foucault (1972). His philosophical works are well known in
understanding the repressive power, as such the Foucauldian theory is selected as the
most suitable in providing necessary research tools and method in analysing the data.
Hence, it also focused on contestations, power struggles, and domination in
representing Malaysian history. Notably, this study is not to critique Foucault’s work,
nor involve in the debates over other studies involving Foucault, but to uncover the
underpinning discourse that evolves in representing the Malaysia history.
Given the focus of power, the theoretical framework and research tools in the
investigation were carefully selected. The field of discourse is wide and involves
41
various disciplines, thus careful selection is needed to suit this study. Even though the
study is about representation, the phenomenon of power is involved and manifested in
representing the history to the audience. Power is always encoded in the media
representations, and in turn the media representations often produce power relations.
As such, the outcome of power relations is segregated and mediated through
knowledge production, values, and beliefs. Therefore, much concentration was given
to the power from the work of Foucault.
Foucault was not only preoccupied with the analysis of the power, but also on the
research method that was developed in his work. The developed framework which
was a combination between Stuart Hall’s Representation and Edward Said’s
‘Otherness’ are connected to each other as these theories have the same thought
involving construction of power. Ironically, language and representation are the
building blocks of discourses. The discourse is built upon interconnected systems of
knowledge, which particularly formed from our shared values and knowledge in order
to construct the desired reality. As such, the approach in understanding the social
reality is consistent with the work of Foucault. At the same time, Stuart Hall extended
the work of Foucault regarding the relationship of power and ideology. Thus,
Foucauldian discourse is most suitable in this study. Although Foucault’s theory
refers to discourse, his theory suggests that the act of representation, which involves
meaning-making transforms the power of relations. It can be said that the
representation constitutes power.
2.7 Proposed Conceptual Framework and Research Gaps
The literature review provides an understanding on media representation and history
besides identifying several gaps in this area. Based on the past studies, it is evident
that topics on representation of the nation’s history through online medium are under-
researched, especially in Asia and Malaysia. To date, representation is mainly focused
on ethnic, gender, and culture of the society and other attributes (Fürsich, 2010).
Meanwhile, studies on the representation of Malaysian history are focused on
museum (A. T. Ahmad, 2008; Matheson-Hooker, 2003; Worden, 2001, 2014),
42
brochures (Hanita Hassan, 2014; Razak, 2012), history textbooks (Hussin, 2008;
Kheng, 2003; Manickam, 2003; Rajandran, 2012; Ting, 2014) and films (Y. Ahmad
& Film, 2008; Chun & Abdul, 2006).
Nevertheless, studies that assessed blogs as the medium of contestation of national
history and the lack of study on the myth were identified (Idrus, 2016). Another gap
identified within the existing literature is the limited attention given to the
representation of history using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, as most applied
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Bakhshandeh, 2014; Hobday, 2006). However,
several studies that adopted Foucauldian Discourse Analysis were mainly
concentrated on health sciences and education (T. Lewis, 2005; McSherry, 2013). As
discourse analysis is a wide discipline and there is no right or wrong approach in
conducting the discourse, the method can involve various school of thoughts provided
in the objective of the study (Gee, 2011).
The two-way communication provided through the cyberspace are offering the
basis by which to facilitate rational-critical discourse and hence develop public
opinion that may hold state power accountable. However, this seems gone unrealized
as the cyber-interaction as dominated by private conversation and individualized
forms of politics. Hence, there is not enough evidence to tell whether the Internet, or
specifically online news has the potential to foster a public sphere of rational debate
(Al-Saggaf, 2006; Albrecht, 2003). Specifically, the influence of the online news on
history consumptions through public sphere.
Past studies had been found intensely discussing whether social media functions
primarily as a “safe haven” for groups and individuals to produce and spread
counternarratives in conflict with the hegemonic values and ideologies of the
mainstream society (see e.g. Brunsting & Postmes, 2002; Cammaerts, 2012; De
Koster & Houtman, 2008; Diani, 2000). Most research so far is based on speculation
rather than on broad-scope empirical work, and thus, more attention is needed to
address this evolving relationship (Sayre et al., 2010) as it is in the context of
Malaysia.
43
Through this shift towards user-driven, participatory information exchange, there
are reasons to assume that the growth of new social media may bring with its new
media dynamics, which could relocate the construction and formulation of societal
discourses. Thus, traditional media no longer has a “privileged access to discourse”
(Van Dijk, 1993, p. 255), where power and discursive dominance are simply imposed
from the elite who use mass media as channels. Therefore, more attention and focus is
needed on how power and dominance can be jointly produced through mass
interaction from the bottom up. Based on the identification of the gaps in the area of
history and representation, it was imperative for this thesis to examine the
representation of national history in the online news, as the new media had become
pervasive in this modern world.
As part of history discourse in today’s world, this study aimed at exploring both
how online news that constitute a bricolage conjoining individual and collective
memories, which create socially pervasive racial thinking as well as on how online
news mediate and shape contemporary conceptions of representation of Malaysian
history. In that sense, it embraced Garth Myers (2000) arguments that ‘how the story
is told has become as interesting and enlightening as a recounting of what actually
happened.”
The proposed conceptual framework of representation of Malaysian history in the
online news can be drawn from the literature reviews. Hence, a few propositions in
representing the Malaysian history had been adopted in this study (see Figure 2.2).
Power is the main force that construct the knowledge production, representation and
also discourse. The idea that knowledge is always infuse with power and politics,
hence the knowledge here refers to narration of Malaysia history. It is proposed that
the representation of Malaysia history is framed within traditional Orientalism
(otherness), which is one of the attributes that employed to denote Oriental other. It is
hypothesized that representation of Malaysia history combining with constructed
discourses can be incorporated to reinforce the otherness attributes. At the same time,
the contestation of Malaysia history is hypothesized to contribute to the
multiperspectives of history, collective memory and consciousness.
44
The paradigm of this study was chosen based on where the study was situated.
Rooted in philosophy of knowledge, the study is best situated within a qualitative
social constructionist paradigm as explained in Chapter 4.
Figure 2.2: Conceptual Framework: The Representation of Malaysia History in the
Online News
Online News
Narration of
Malaysia
History
Discourses
Power
Knowledge
Production
Representation
Multiperspective in History
Collective Memory
Ethnic History
Consciousness
45
2.8 Summary
The point of this chapter was to provide an understanding about representation,
including a discussion on representation in the media, memory and online news,
otherness and nation building, representation of history, and history consciousness. In
addition, past studies on representation were discussed specifically in the field of
media and history. Overall, the review of the existing literature made it possible to
identify gaps in the research.
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
POWER, KNOWLEDGE, AND OTHERNESS
This section discussed in detail another two-theoretical framework employed in
this study. Theoretical framework for this study was drawn from several sources. The
main theorists, besides Stuart Hall, whose theories were used in this study were
Michel Foucault and Edward Said. The theories help determine the methodology,
scope, and interpretation of data resulting from the analysis. Orientalism is parallel to
the processes of dwelling the trajectories, perspectives, and representation of
Malaysia’s history and the theory can be used as a valuable framework for this thesis.
The examination will be limited to Said’s (1935-2003) major controversial book:
Orientalism (1978, 2003). As this study emerged from cultural discourses and
narratives of memory involving the relationship between personal subjectivity and
Malaysia’s national narrative, the study will also rely on Foucault’s theory on the
relationship of power and knowledge to explain the constructed discourse.
3.1 Introduction
Before starting with the broad outline of ‘Orientalism’, it is necessary to elaborate on
the discourse and discursive formation. Both Said, and Foucault were concerned with
the production of knowledge and meaning and the relation between knowledge and
power. Discourse is defined as ‘ways of referring to or constructing knowledge about
a particular topic of practice; a cluster of ideas, images and practices, which provide
ways of talking about, forms of knowledge and conduct associated with a particular
topic, social activity or institutional site in society’ (Hall, 1997, p. 6). The
construction of knowledge through what we perceived determines how we see the
world and helps us to understand the world and society.
47
Apparently, these discourses did not reflect reality as what were portrayed.
Discourse defines the things that represent other things, for example, the crisis
incident in May 1969, limiting and restricting how we talk about those things by
‘ruling out’ other ways of talking, thinking, and representing (Hall, 1997), thus
leading to multi-perspective in interpreting the incident. However, discourses always
strive for hegemony, or ‘most powerful’ and widely accepted discourse. Different
discourses can therefore exist at the same time and hegemonic discourses can be
challenged and possibly superseded by alternative discourses (Schrøder & Phillips,
2007), as discourse is never absolute, and resistance is possible.
The discourse that has been prevalent in the West when talking, thinking,
portraying, and representing ‘the East’, including Malaysia, are known as Orientalism.
Although Said was not the first scholar to write about Orientalism, his polemical work
was the first book that popularised the term. Therefore, it is important to discuss the
‘Orientalism’ and the practice of power and ‘Othering’ to show the influence in
representation of Malaysia’s history, trajectories, and perspectives pertaining to this
study.
Edward Said’s Orientalism has long been celebrated for its groundbreaking
analysis of the encounters between Western Orientalists and the Orient. It is still an
extremely powerful polemic, a rich source of inspiration for scholars and intellectual
interested in the relationship between ‘the self’ and ‘the other’. The success was due
to the use of Foucauldian discourse as a core methodology in Said’s theorisation of
Orientalism, allowing Said to refer to the massive corpus of Orientalist writings as a
form of Orientalist discourse and a representation of the East. The ‘Orientalism’
introduced by Said was considered as “most influential scholarly work published in
the last quarter of the twentieth century” (Lockman, 2010, p. 184). ‘Orientalism’ that
was introduced by Edward Said had inspired many scholars to ponder critically about
how they imagine other societies and unconsciously disseminate specific geopolitical
messages in their daily activities. The criticism and debate encompassed various field
of studies, i.e. East Asia (Dirlik, 1996; Hill, 2000; Merican, 2011; Miharja, 2014;
48
Wan-Ahmad, 2010); Eastern Europe (Hassan, 2008; Ooi et al 2004) and Africa
(Jeyifo 2000; Als-andersson et al., 2014). In fact, Orientalism had paved the way for a
development of post-colonial studies that combined studies of ‘other’ cultures and
societies grounded in the experience of colonialism (Wan-Ahmad, 2010).
By relying on the Foucauldian concept, Said talked about Orientalism as a body of
texts that operates through a network of textual referent. He referred to Antonio
Gramsci’s concept of hegemony to explain the power-differentials between the East
and the West. The idea concerns the issue of power brought by Said as useful for this
study specifically on how the narration of Malaysia’s history is constructed and the
complicity that lead to contestation of multi-perspective of history. Since power
politics and discourse of culture in Orientalism are interdependent, this study
attempted to reveal the significance of multi-perspective of Malaysia’s history by
speaking truth to those in power and to understand the practice of its construction.
Said (1978), in his work also mentioned ‘Otherness’, the dominant Occident, and
the inferior Orient. His book of Orientalism described the chauvinism of westerner
scholars and the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ of the ‘Orientals’ paradigm. It is important to
understand the dichotomy between the West and the Orient and subsequently, apply it
to the context of stereotyping. Thus, Said (1978) also related various forms of media
to show the evidence of ‘other’. As such, Orientalism has become a pertinent frame in
presenting nationality of people in terms of race and ethnicity. Said’s contribution was
his revelation on how the visions of certain societies are “deeply woven into canonical
European literature” (Cooper, 2005), an integral part of European culture, even
though it happened in other parts of the world. Thus, the power of stereotypes will be
highlighted in this study as the narration of Malaysia’s history were presented in the
same way (the domination of one ethnic group over others) since Malaya gained
independence in 1957 (Kheng, 2003; Ting, 2014).
The thesis will have borrowed Said’s Orientalism in addition to Foucault’s work
because Said has already transported these theoretical framework of discourse, power-
knowledge, and applied them to the notions of space and culture in the actual world.
49
While it would be conceivable to only focusing on only one conceptual framework on
Foucault, this study would be forced to articulate other theories-Orientalism by
Edward Said and Representation by Stuart Hall- and apply them into social realities.
Said’s concepts provide a valuable analogue to this study, as a theoretical foundation.
Perhaps, most importantly Said’s Orientalism works as the material that converted
these theoretical building blocks into a recognisable edifice. This study demonstrated
how ‘Orientalism’ was used as a philosophical and theoretical foundation to explain
the representation of Malaysia’s history within the culture space.
3.1.1 Orientalism
The Orientalism brought by Edward Said over the past 30 years often seen as a
foundation for post-colonial theory (Ashcroft & Ahluwalia, 1999) which drew in
broad strokes of a portrait of European scholarship, how the West view the Orient,
based on the study of the languages and texts of the Oriental people. The term
‘Orientalism’ is widely used and has different but interrelated meanings.
‘Orientalism’ as a term is commonly used in researching the Orient, particularly its
language, literature, and cultures from the middle of the eighteenth to the end of the
twentieth century (Heehs, 2003).
Historically, the word ‘Orientalism’ was first coined in 1830s in France during
the era of Romanticism (Koort, 1993). According to Oxford English Dictionary
(1971), the word ‘Orientalism’ was generally used in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries to refer to the work of the orientalist, a scholar versed in the languages and
literatures of the East; and also, in the field of arts in identifying a character, style or
quality commonly associated with the Eastern nations. Similarly, Hanafi Hassan
(2008), described ‘Orientalism’ as the victim of historicism from its formation via
meticulous and microscopic analysis phlegmatic to significance and meaning and
divulges Western thinking more than intuiting Oriental Soul. While Murad Merican
(2011), explains ‘Orientalism’ as the ways, manners, methodologies, discourses and
institutions constructed and produced the entity called “the Orient”. He added further
explanation on ‘Occidentalism’ as a counterpart of ‘Orientalism’. The key principle of
50
such views about the Orient lies in justifying the concept of border, divided, and
separation of the world between the West and East. In this study, Said’s Orientalism
works as a mode of discourse. Thus, the study attempted to explain the relationship
between the narration of Malaysia’s history and Orientalism since the history of
Malaysia demonstrates a continuity of colonialist perspective of history and political
influence (Miharja, 2014; Wan-Ahmad, 2010)
Said presented three inter-dependent meaning of ‘Orientalism’, interpreted as:
1. An education/academic organisation (Teacher/ Student) that deals with the
Orient. According to Said, “Anyone who teaches, writes about or researches
the orient” is an orientalist, and “what he or she does is Orientalism”. (Said,
1978 p.2)
2. A style of thought based upon an ontological distinction between the ‘orient’
and the ‘Occident’. This contrariety became the basis for embellishing the
facets of oriental cultures, society, and mind. In other words, any writing, such
as Malaysia historiography, that accepts the basic dichotomy between the East
and West creates an essentialist.
3. A corporate organisation for dealing with the orient. Orientalism is a discourse
of domination used to manage, restructure, and authorise the orient as objects
of power and control.
Based on Said’s notion (as explained above), he provided three ways in dealing
with the Orient, the subjugated knowledge of the Orient that is referred to as Others.
Despite the groundwork provided by Orientalism, the challenging question of how
Malaysia history is dominated in today’s world with the emergence of the Internet
leads to a multi-perspective of history based on different ethnic, needs to be addressed
with respect to the three major areas of contention discussed above. The notion
appears simultaneously by three major areas; hence it poses the question of why is
this a concern and is representation important in reflecting reality? The representation
of reality is often haunted by misrepresentation. Hence, this study is not about
discovering the reality of the narration of Malaysia’s history, but on how the history is
51
represented and what are the stereotypes that shape and give voice to the multi-
perspective of Malaysia’s history.
In general, ‘Orientalism’ means oriental muteness leads to more oppression of the
orient in this power relationship and the West holds a greater power than the Orient.
Clearly, Said differentiate the term into three forms of meanings as the term
‘Orientalism’ is too vague and broad to be interpreted. Thus, the definition of
corporate ‘Orientalism’ is well explained compared to the general and academic form
of ‘Orientalism’, even though the term is regularly used in academic discipline.
Today, the academic form of ‘Orientalism’ can be seen through the formation of
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in University of London (Rosen,
2000; Phillips, 2013).
Ultimately, geographical aspect is also important in understanding the concept of
‘Orientalism’. The relationship between geography and Orientalism is evident through
the conception of the Orient and the Occident and the opprobrium associated with
these geographical divisions. Jouhki (2006), reflects ‘Orientalism’ concepts in the first
part of the paper by inserting verses by Rudyard Kipling, The Ballard of East and
West, “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet”. The
quoted verse describes the perception and mentality of the west, their gap from the
Orient that will never meet their standards. As part of understanding the Orientalism
discourse, it is important to explore the criticism of Edward Said’s concept as
geographically, Malaysia is still not well known to the world compared to other Asian
countries.
3.1.2 Gaps and Merits of Orientalism
Said’s works has received a multitude of criticism in recent decades (Abdel-Malek,
1963; Clifford, 1988; Kopf, 1980; B. Lewis, 1982; Lowe, 1990; Mellor, 2004;
Prakesh, 1995), although he had different perspectives on how European have
constructed the Orient. The objective of the scholarship of the ‘Orient’ was mainly to
discuss and criticise the racialisation, and affirmation of the cultural pre-dominance of
52
the First World’s way of life that promotes colonial and post-colonial rule. (Dirlik,
1996; Hanafi Hassan, 2008; Jouhki, 2006; Merican, 2011). These critics claimed that
‘Orientalism’ assists in the economic and political domination of the ‘Orient’ by
transforming its cultural and value system. As such, the transformation experienced
by the Third World countries varied under different era and styles of colonisation, in
projecting and proclaiming the superiority of ‘Western knowledge’ as a way of life.
Whilst many have discussed the gaps of Edward Said’s work in ‘Orientalism’, the
purpose of this discussion is merely to understand its importance to this study and not
serve as a critique or an excuse.
In response to Said’s Orientalism, a harsh criticism was made by Bernard Lewis.
Lewis (1982) in his article, “The Question of Orientalism”, attempted to justify
‘Orientalism’ in its present shape, arguing that for the possibility of ‘pure’ scholarship
is beyond politics. He also denounced Said’s the polemics of his work. Lewis did not
believe that someone studying the Orient is not from the Near East. Further, he
compared those who study Hellenism, or the ancient Greeks, to those who study
‘Orientalism’ and succeeded. He also tried to show other cultures and other parts of
the world were studied by outsiders, which disregard the native’s perspectives.
Lewis’s main argument was that various studies on the indigenous or native people,
their perspectives, and views emerged to contradict. Gyan Prakash (1990), an example
of a local scholar who studied from Indian perspectives. He tried to unlock the
domination of the West in urging the local historians to write Indian history from their
own perspectives by providing a brief look of past models of India’s history while
addressing the ‘Orientalist’ ideas derived from Said’s Orientalism.
Scholars from European countries viewed Orientalism in a monolithic way, as
they see it as a threat and creating stereotypes. Kopf (1980) viewed ‘Orientalism’ as
‘sewer category’ of Western intellectual thought and criticised Said’s views as
confusing orientalism for historical scholarship. He added that Said’s work lacked
historical reality. Following that Clifford (1988) argued, “The theoretical status of
representation in Said’s work can be best described as loaded with dilemmas and
ambivalences”. Micheal Richardson (1990), condemned Said’s Orientalism for the
53
lack of mutual relationship between the East and the West while Lowe (1991),
criticised the absence of heterogeneity in Orientalism regarding the difference
between British and French Orientalism in the 18th century. Hence, the provoking
comments revealed their perspective, their self-image, and self-critic resulted in self-
righteousness by undermining the concept introduced by Said.
The binary stereotypes by Lewis and the discourses of deconstruct of Western
superiority and Oriental inferiority by Prakash outlined the relevance of Orientalism
as the theoretical lens for the analysis of Malaysia’s history in online newspapers.
Based on the context of this study, the discourse of power and representation did not
only affect Middle Eastern countries, but also Asian countries (Third-World countries,
which were previously colonised, were re-colonised. The shift from colonialism to
neo-colonialism and postcolonialism where the West dominated the production of
knowledge yielded a highly transparent consciousness of hegemonic behaviour in life,
especially in academic environment. The rise of deconstructionism testifies not only
the power of market and consumer-oriented economy, but also academic production
of knowledge.
Edward Said’s ‘Orientalism’ was not the first to discuss on the images of the
Orient. Tibawi in his works ‘Critique of English-speaking Orientalists’ (1964) and
‘Second Critique of the English-speaking Orientalists’ (1979), both refer
‘Orientalism’ as a ‘cumulative and corporate identity and a ‘saturating hegemonic
system’. Similarly, Abdel- Malek, in his article ‘Orientalism in Crisis, Diogenes’
focused on Orientalism as a mode of understanding and interpreting Islam and Arab
nationalism. He displayed how the Orientalist viewed Asian, as an object to be
defeated and ruled by Westerners in the name of civilisation, and that the once golden
past of Asia was perceived to have vanished forever for a “decadence that is
ineluctable” (Abdel-Malek, 1963).
In the context of Southeast Asian countries, Syed Hussein Alatas (1928-2007) in
his seminal The Myth of the Lazy Native (1977), advanced the idea of ‘colonial
capitalism’, questioning the discourse of Orientalism and its representation of Asia,
54
the East, Islam, and ‘the native’(Venugopal, 2012). Since 1970s, Alatas’s work
reflected the broader discourses ongoing in Southeast Asia and provided a basis for a
wider debate on Orientalism and post-colonial era. Similarly, both studies by Merican
(2011) and Wan-Ahmad (2010), also viewed the West from the Orient’s perspectives
in how the domination of the West in representation during colonial era were
imagined, described, and reproduced.
On the discourse and its representation of Asia, the racial lines in Malaysia
originated from the era of British colonialism. British introduced the colonial power
to the Malay States brought the idea of ‘race’ in segregating the different colour of
people accordingly (Wan-Ahmad, 2010). This permanent essence based on perceived
traits or known as racial essentialisation stems from the orientalist outlook as
described by Edward Said. In Said’s view, racial essences came naturally to the
colonial powers since their subjects were viewed as objects to be studied and
managed; the subjects could be essentialised into the ‘Chinese Man’ or the ‘Arab
Man’. This implies that only their own race belonged to ‘Man’, the collection of
normal behaviours from where all other races had been deviated and corrected by
colonial rule (Said, 1978, p. 97).
Today, the prescriptions for alternative discourses in Southeast Asia emerged.
With the advancement of technology and economy, the view of the past, history, and
narrative has changed. As a result, the basis of Orientalism provided the basis for the
idea of post-colonialism, which may now have evolved as the new era of colonialism.
Hence, ‘Orientalism’ works as a tool in accentuating the discursive dimensions of
colonialism and extensiveness that was brought into the era of postcolonial (Alatas,
2006, p. 42). Under the new era of colonialism, the discourses could explain the
trajectories of Malaysia’s history in multi-perspectives.
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3.2 Foucauldian Philosophical Position
Foucault’s thought covering a wide range of ideas involved many aspects. Thus, this
thesis could not summarise all his work and thus, only relevant key ideas of
Foucault’s work will be briefly discussed. In this section, an overview of the broad
concept is elaborated in Foucault’s work – discourse and power-knowledge.
3.2.1 Foucault’s Discourse
Discourse is a term that is widely used in all disciplines. Discourse is defined in
different ways depending on the subject area or the theoretical orientation of the
researcher (Keller, 2005; Sawyer, 2002). Therefore, it is important to make a
distinction between these different definitions. Discourse is always related with the
interplay of text, context, and the practices of talking and writing. However, they are
different in the degree in which they combine text and context.
A discourse that followed Foucault is best described as social linguistic discourse
as it is based on a strong constructivist thinking, which focuses more on proximal
contexts than power relations-based Antonio Gramsci’s traditional power hegemony.
Foucault’s definition of discourse covers “practices that systematically form the
subjects of which they speak” (Foucault, 1972, p. 49). His concept of discourse
moved beyond the realms of language that encompass all aspects of life and becomes
part of understanding societal process and self-definition. Foucault saw all human
interaction as a form of discourse, and it is through discourse that created human kind.
Our morality, ethics, and understanding of the world are created through the
interaction we have with the world around us (Foucault, 1971, pp. 10–11). A person
can only understand the place that was formed by discourse within the discourse that
they are familiar with.
However, some scholars accused Foucault’s work of lacking consistency and
unity. Surprisingly, although Foucault’s work was regarded as controversial, some
scholars thought that his ideas regarding discourse, knowledge, and power are
56
important in knowledge production (Lock & Strong, 2010). Later, Foucault embraced
inconsistency as being the hallmark of a style of work that was forever controversial
(Paras, 2006). Foucault even highlighted his books as:
“... are little tool-boxes. If people want to open them, to use this
sentence or that idea as a screwdriver or spanner to short-circuit,
discredit or smash systems of power, including eventually those from
which my books have emerged... so much the better.” (Foucault, 1995, p.
115)
Foucault’s focused on the “rules of discourse”, which helps us to make sense on
how we interpret the representation of Malaysia’s history, with the trajectories and
multi-perspective of narration in Malaysia’s history. Foucault combined the
“archaeology” of culture and a “genealogy” of knowledge to reflect certain
understandings of how the history of Malaysia is represented, which is now contested
and transmitted easily through media. Thus, this is what the rubric of Michel
Foucault’s discourse that was/is pivotal to explain power and the production of
knowledge.
Discourse can be defined as a system, a way of interpreting the world through
language, as well as social practices that inherently contains meaning (Hall, 1997).
Foucault’s main theory is the postulation that discourse concern on representation
cannot be separated from the material reality being represented, thus a key emphasis
in this conception of discourse is its function in the production of reality (Mills,
2004).
Society’s interpretation of reality and its organisation of discursive practices such
as chatting, and thinking are determined by discourses interpreted as part of
knowledge production. Human beings are made conscious through discourses; thus, it
constitutes the subject, individually and collectively. Discourses determine people’s
action because human’s consciousness plays a major role in determining the action.
Thus, discourses pave the way on the creation of reality, individually and collectively.
57
The discourses are the markers of the subject, and not as the subject. Discourse in this
concept seems both productive and limiting. The thing we view, and experience are
real and constructed in discourse. Discourse makes possible our current reality,
however conflicting with what we think, say or act, anything outside our current
realm of discourse could be considered as unreasonable, insane, and impossible
(Foucault, 1989).
Consequently, discourse is uncontrollable although each individual and group
have the opportunity to influence and govern the discourse. In the context of this
thesis, there is a wide range of different discourses surrounding the narration of
Malaysia’s history, each with its own perspective. However, some constructions are
more likely to prevail and will eventually be accepted as ‘common sense’. The same
applied to what had been told for years by our ancestors about the independent
struggle of 1957. This is what Foucault concept is, linking knowledge and power to
support and validate our action. In fact, Foucault’s concept of power is different from
the other notion of power possession. The relationships between knowledge and
power will be discussed in detail in the next section. Below is the illustration of what
Foucault’s holds in defining the discourse (Figure 3.1).
58
.
Figure 3.1: Diagram of discourse definition
3.2.2 Power and Knowledge
In this section, it is important to develop a historical understanding of how the
production of knowledge facilitates the strategic use of ‘truth making’ in order to
identify the power struggles implicit in the representation of Malaysia’s history.
Rather than focusing the effects of power, it is important to look at the micro level of
how the power circulates within the discourse. Foucault believed that discourse is
always complicated by power as well as relations of power (Mills, 2003) and thus this
notion was developed in his 1977 work Discipline and Punish. He stressed that in the
process of producing and transmitting knowledge, power is exercised. As mentioned
by Foucault, “it is not possible for power to be exercised without knowledge, and it is
impossible for knowledge not to engender power” (Foucault, 1980, p. 52). Foucault
Foucauldian Discourse
Culturally constructed from
representation of reality
Power is circulated and not a
top-down phenomenon
Construct knowledge and
governs through the
knowledge production
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did not conceptualised power into political nor as subjugation in forming the law. He
was more concerned with the ways in which the position of power affects how we see
social reality. Power is articulated through practices, ideology, and institutions
without a conscious intention (Powers, 2001).
Power and resistance always complement each other, as whenever there is
power, resistance will occur. It is because power shapes domination and oppression.
Resistance, on the other hand, supports power. Resistance may shift the tensions
brought by the domination of power to build new alliance, rebellions, and fractures
(Powers, 2001). In the case of Malaysia’s history, the power hold is under the
authority that disseminates the official history and resistance was formed by the
alternative views of national history. Hence, by analysing the texts from online news,
one can study the power implications as well as the way that the texts may create
different constructions of social identity (Phillips & Hardy, 1997).
The knowledge produced especially through history textbook and maintained
through the work of different institutions and practices through various ways
supported and affirmed certain knowledge as truths, and excluded other statements
(Mills, 2003). Myers (2000) suggested that Raymond William’s typology explains the
relationship between narration representations to the power interests, which is the
authority to tell and retell the narrative. It assumes that dominant forces reproduce the
cultural hegemony into various aspects such as intellectual, philosophical, and moral
to the society. He asserted:
“hegemony is not simply the crude defense of the dominant opinions,
nor the simple manipulation of things from above. It is much more than this:
it embraces the whole of our reality, all our habits and hopes; it is our own
perception of reality.” (Williams, 1977, p. 109)
This concept of hegemony is related with Gramci model, proved to be similar to
culture, but with added values, as culture embraces a distinction in power, hierarchy,
and influence. This echoed Cosgrove’s as cited by Myers (2000) that the hegemony of
the ruling group’s interest is “sustained and reproduced…by (its) ability to project and
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communicate by whatever media are available and across all other social levels and
divisions, an image of the world consonant with [its] own experience, and to have that
image accepted as a true reflection of everyone’s reality”. However, in Foucault’s
view, power is interwoven with knowledge, located in the web of social relationships,
and omnipresent in all human interactions. Power is exercised rather than possessed.
The exercise of power is less about domination and control, but it is about strategic
influences of thoughts, attitudes, and relationships.
Put simply, most of the knowledge existed in the society are formed and
sustained through power articulation. Foucault explained:
“We should admit rather that power produces knowledge (and not simply
by encouraging it because it serves power or by applying it because it is
useful); that power and knowledge directly imply one another; that there is
no power relation without the correlative constitution of a field of knowledge,
nor any knowledge that does not presuppose and constitute at the same time
power relations” (1995, p. 27)
This entails that power cannot be exercised without the existence of knowledge
as knowledge is the product of society which is the nexus between bias and power
structures that is indestructible. Therefore, what is considered as truth created within
the society is created and sustained through power.
3.3 Foucauldian Approach
Foucault’s discourse analysis (FDA) plays a significant role in constructing what is
‘real’ for us as human being, serving as a fundamental methodological premise on
knowledge and truth claims. Although Foucault frequently highlighted the
relationship between discourse, power, and knowledge; however, he rarely articulated
methods for the sociological analysis of discourse within an empirical data. The
closest he came to articulate a framework for identifying discourses was through his
rules for locating ‘discursive formation’, ideological regularities, which is located in
language use among people that produce discourses (Foucault, 1972).
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There are many ways to conduct discourse analysis, as it is not just an approach,
but involves multiple series of interdisciplinary approaches, which can be used in
various fields of studies (Jorgensen & Phillips, 2002). Hence, there are no specific
ways and procedure on how to conduct those (Arribas-Ayllon, Michael, &
Walkerdine, 2008; Wiggins & Riley, 2010).. Due to lack of clear precepts for
conducting Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA), the researcher had to draw upon
Foucault’s theories and use them to best suit this thesis’s thematic research scheme
and theoretical perspectives. Foucault even described his books as:
“... are little tool-boxes. If people want to open them, to use this
sentence or that idea as a screwdriver or spanner to short-circuit,
discredit or smash systems of power, including eventually those from
which my books have emerged... so much the better. (Foucault, 1995, p.
115)
Foucault’s focus on the “rules of discourse” help in making sense of how we
interpret the representation of Malaysia’s history, with the trajectories and multi-
perspective of narration in Malaysia’s history. Foucault combined the “archaeology”
of culture and genealogy” of knowledge to reflect certain understandings of how
history of Malaysia is being represented, which is now being contested and
transmitted easily through the media. Foucauldian helps us to look at how these
discourses are articulated and see which discourse is dominant and which discourse is
suppressed.
Another distinction is detected between discourse analytical research and
qualitative approaches, although the discourse analysis is often attributed to
qualitative research. Both share the concern on the meaningfulness of social life while
traditional qualitative approaches “work to understand or interpret social reality as it
exists, discourse analysis endeavours to uncover the way in which it is produced”
(Phillips & Hardy, 2002, p. 6).
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Discourse can be understood as linguistic and material practices that
‘systematically form the object of which they speak’ (Foucault, 1972, p. 49).
Discourses ‘do not identify objects, they constitute them and in the practice of doing
so conceal their own invention’ (ibid)
Discourse evolve within societies, whereby every culture has its own regimes of
‘truth’ (Foucault, 1980, p. 131) which are a kind of concepts and structures that divide
experiences into that had been taken for granted/the norm or the ‘correct way’ as
opposed to false ‘incorrect’ way of being. The practice of categorisation involving the
knowledge production suggests that meaning is constructed through relationship of
power and domination
Michel Foucault saw all human interaction as a form of discourse, and it is
through discourse that human kind is created. Our morality, ethics, and understanding
of the world are created through the interaction we have with the world around us
(Foucault, 1972, pp. 10–11). A person can only understand the place are formed by
discourse within the discourse that they are familiar with and know.
One aspect of Foucault’s theories on discourse is power. Power is often
associated with negativity but somehow it should not necessarily labelled in such
manner as it is everywhere and pervasive. Power is what shapes the discourse and it
makes decisions on what are legitimate and is allowed to participate in the discourse.
The dominator of the power defines the terms and what should be the discourse. The
domination of one group by another in possessing the power, is one form of
negotiation that shapes the outcome of the discourse. Hence, power holds and
constructs reality.
3.4 Summary
Edward Said’s Orientalism has long been celebrated for its ground-breaking analysis
of the encounters between Western Orientalists and the Orient. It is still an extremely
powerful polemic, a rich source of inspiration for scholars and intellectual interested
in the relationship between ‘the self’ and ‘the other’. The success was due to the use
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of Foucauldian discourse as a core methodology in Said’s theorisation of Orientalism,
allowing Said to refer to the massive body of Orientalist writings as a form of
Orientalist discourse and a representation of the East. The concept of ‘Orientalism’
introduced by Said was considered as “most influential scholarly work published in
the last quarter of the twentieth century” (Lockman, 2010, p. 184).
CHAPTER 4
METHODOLOGY
This chapter contains the explanations and justifications for the chosen method
and the selection of online newspapers as the source to answer the research
questions. This is followed by justification on the use of the post-positivist, discourse
analytic framework to gain understanding of the representation of Malaysia’s history
in online newspapers as the proposed period of study. This discourse analytic
approach draws from the writing of Michel Foucault (1971, 1978), Edward Said
(1978) and Stuart Hall (1997). The next part describes the data collection process and
procedures adopted in data analysis. Finally, the procedures in the assessment of
given data were described.
4.1 Research Paradigm
The research is situated within qualitative social constructionist paradigm, where it is
rooted in the philosophy of knowledge. Social constructionist paradigm challenges
quantitative, positivist approaches to knowledge development within the social
science (Elliott, Fischer, & Rennie, 1999). It is a philosophical approach that
maintains reality as a uniquely experience, interpreted and created by individuals in
the relationships (Gergen, 1999). Owen (1992) that describes social constructionism
as:
“claim and viewpoint that the content of our consciousness and the
mode of relating we have to other, is thought by our culture and society;
all the metaphysical quantities we take for granted are learned from other
around us.” (p.386)
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In other words, reality is constructed through human’s experience. Social
constructionist often adopt critical stance towards assumptions and knowledge about
the world (Burr, 1995). Essentially, human beings make sense of their experience
through the construction of meaning. Discourse, for example, is one of the terms that
refer to the construction of meaning. Thus, it is a way of understanding, and making
sense of experience and seen as historically and culturally relative (Burr, 1995; B.
White, 2004). Thus, as Foucault (1972) put forward, “discourses are practices which
form the objects of which they speak (Foucault, 1972, p. 49).
Social constructionism goal is to make people think critically about the
phenomenon happening around us, by considering each aspect such as perceptions
and the world around us (Mungwini, 2008). Language, on the other hand, works as to
illustrate how knowledge is socially produced. According to Willig (2008), language
can be used to explain phenomenon from various ways which result in different
interpretation and understanding based on the same thing. At the same time, by using
social constructionist approach, it sees human beings as individuals, who are
constructed through cultural, political, and historic evolution in a given and temporal
setting (Owen, 1995). Thus, by examining how Malaysia’s history is represented, it is
important to identify how it is constructed. By giving consideration of a few other
aspects that are constructed within.
Principally, the social constructionist research looks and acknowledges human’s
experience across cultural, historical, and geographical settings, which communicated
through language and construct reality. Hence, this knowledge does not have to be
claimed ‘truth’. Thus, the interventions of social world are mainly from our beliefs.
It is clear that social constructionist paradigm suggests that in disputes over
various perspectives in looking for phenomenon and things, taking into account the
justification and validity based on ‘truth’ is no longer relevant. Rather, the knowledge
acquired is accepted in various forms, as knowledge construct of the social reality.
Hence, the concern is on how Malaysia’s history is constructed in online newspapers,
thus the knowledge constructed is understood in different ways. As a result, creating
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shared meaning in a cultural society. Therefore, using discourse analysis from
Foucault best fitted this qualitative research, as through social constructionist
epistemology it focuses on the language as not just being a mirror of the world, but
reflect the discourse as central in developing various ideas. At the same time, it
constructs the social world (Nikander, 2006). Below is the illustration of the elements
of research process in this study which were adapted from Crotty (1998) (Figure 4.1).
Figure 4.1: Elements of the research process, adapted from Crotty (1998)
Paradigm
Social Constructionist
Ontology
There is no single reality or
truth. Reality is created by
individuals in groups
Epistemology
Reality needs to be interpreted
and to uncover the underlying
meaning.
Theoretical Perspectives
Interpretism
Methodology
Foucauldian Discourse
Analysis
Method
Textual Analysis
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4.2 Discourse
Before further discussion in defining what is discourse analysis and its
epistemological roots, it is best to clarify few underlying considerations in the term’s
usage. The discourse introduced by Michel Foucault is an idea that has been central to
theoretical reference point for post-colonial analysis suitable in the context of this
thesis. As the scope of post-modern thought is wide, this thesis will only cover part of
the scope by highlighting major assumptions related to this thesis. Debates in
discourse research proceeds as proponents of a tradition that continues to challenge
the viewpoints and claims of another, since there are no strict guidelines for analysts
to follow (Burr, 1995). Throughout the thesis, the discourse approach will be applied
based on Foucault studies in Archaeology of Knowledge (1972). Below is a discussion
of the assumptions based on theoretical aspects of discourse analysis on how it is used
as an approach:
a) In the discursive formation, the object of knowledge contains regular act of
communications (speech and written). Thus, knowledge produces discourse.
As Foucault (1972) describes “The statement as an event because it is linked
to the act of writing or speech, it is subject to recurrence and revise and
often appear in cohesion with other statements”. (p.28)
b) Discourse is about how the language functions as a social practice - the
process of constructive, by defining and making the objects as our
knowledge (Hall, 2001). Our action and words carry evaluative shades of
meaning. Thus, the knowledge produced is constructed within the social
world (culture). Hence, language and context are bound together.
c) ‘Power is everywhere’ and ‘comes from everywhere’ so in this sense is
neither an agency nor a structure (Foucault 1998, p.63). Thus, power produce
and reproduce knowledge within various discursive formations. Parker
(1992) described discourses as supporting institutions, reproducing power
relations and having ideological effects. Hence, power is implicated in what
is considered to be “true” or “false”.
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d) The dominator of the discursive formations determines who has the right to
speak in the discourse, through what is considered as “true” or “false”. It
acknowledges that there are other discourses within the discursive formation.
Based on the major assumptions described previously by the researcher, it will
guide and define the purpose of this thesis, explaining what the best discourse analysis
is and how such method fits to explain the representation of Malaysia’s history.
Notably, the thesis uses a ‘modified’ version of Foucault’s model as set out in The
Archaeology of Knowledge (1972); thus, it is merely an outline for this research.
Furthermore, this thesis incorporates theories of Representation by Stuart Hall (1997)
and Orientalism by Edward Said (1978). Further explanation about how these theories
will be used in the data analysis is discussed in the next sub-section.
4.3 Data Collection and Sampling
For most media social studies, the analysis of media language can create a significant
contribution. The ideological work of media language includes mainly three aspects:
the certain social identity constructions, certain constructions of social relations and
the certain ways of representing the world e.g. ethnicity (Fairclough, 1995, p. 5–12).
The researcher will be documenting the arguments of ethnic versions of histories, as
well as stereotypes in the articles and later compare them to the controlling arguments
and debates explained by Arof Ishak (2015) and Helen Ting (2014). Both of these
arguments will be used as the measurement in analysing the data. A combination of
quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods was adopted in the evaluation of
manifest construction of represented history through online newspapers. As this thesis
focuses on the representation of history through online newspapers, only textual
descriptions are examined, and the preliminary of quantitative analysis of articles in
the online newspapers showed the differences of representation between two online
newspapers.
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Eventually, many past studies which analysed representation tended to focus on
the qualitative or interpretative approaches. Although the importance of qualitative
examination in analysing representation and discourse is widely acknowledged, this
thesis adds a quantitative examination to explore the frequency of articles that
represent history, number of authors that published the articles and differences of
sections in online newspapers. In general, the quantitative perspective can provide an
indication of the importance of representation of history in online newspapers.
4.3.1 Unit of Analysis
The time frame of the study begins from January 2010 until December 2015. As the
search produced a disproportionately larger number of articles from the online news
media, a sample from the collection of articles related to Malaysia’s history was
selected using purposive sampling technique.
4.3.2 Sampling and Stratifications
For this study, the data were collected from two online news media: The Star and
Utusan Malaysia Online. These two online news media were selected for several
reasons. Utusan Malaysia Online was chosen to be as a sample in this study as it was
known in the past to be the most influential medium for people to point out their
opinions towards the ruling British Government in Malay. As for today, Utusan
Malaysia has evolved into the nation’s trusted source of news and information.
According to Audit Bureau of Circulations in December 2012, the circulation of the
Utusan Malaysia has decreased to 166,503 readers in 2014 compared to 2013, with
only 191,302 readers (Malaysia.A.B, 2013). In order to prepare themselves for the
evolving of the Internet and the changing of lifestyle, Utusan Malaysia has also come
up with an online version of news media in 1997 (Utusan Malaysia, 2015). It was the
first newspaper company that established its own online version.
Prior to flagship of digital product, a representative body for online publishers,
advertising and digital agencies in Malaysia like MDA (Malaysian Digital
70
Association) measured Utusan Malaysia Online among local websites visited by
551,000 unique visitors since October 2013 (MDA, 2013). The reported unique visitor
numbers only measured desktop-based visitors and did not include those using mobile
and tablet devices.
The other online news media involved in this study is The Star Online. It is the
property of the Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad, which has been publishing The
Star Newspaper since 1971. The Star is an English language newspaper in Malaysia
and the second largest English newspapers after News Straits Times with a circulation
of 289,611 daily and went up to 292,226 for the Sunday Times (Audit Bureau of
Circulations, 2013). Prior to the year of 1991-2000, The Star Online was launched and
it expands a remarkable growth in introducing The Star e-Paper and The Star Mobile
News Services. In line with globalisation and transforming into digital platform, they
also launched The Star’s iPad application for IOS’s users. According to Malaysian
Digital Association, The Star Online was ranked in the top 5 list of the most visited
websites with 969, 000 visitors in 2013. Table 4.1 below shows the list of the top 30
combined websites and their rankings.
Table 4.1: Top 30 combined websites, source: Malaysian Digital Association, 2013
Rank Property Unique Visitors (000)
1 Mudah.my 2,264
2 Maybank2u.com.my 2,188
3 Airasia.com 1,245
4 Cimbclicks.com.my 1090
5 Thestar.com.my 969
6 Malaysiakini.com 906
7 Cari.com.my 884
8 Tonton.com.my 882
9 Jobstreet.com 709
10 Themalaysianinsider.com.my 663
71
11 Mylaunchpad.com.my 656
12 Beautifulnara.com 654
13 Lowyat.net 650
14 Malaysiaairlines.com 649
15 Hmetro.com.my 615
16 Maxis.com.my 596
17 Sinarharian.com.my 568
18 Utusan.com.my 551
19 Pbebank.com 534
20 Bharian.com.my 501
21 Digi.com.my 459
22 Nst.com.my 384
23 Astro.com.my 377
24 Myresipi.com 369
25 Carlist.my 369
26 Weblagu.com 367
27 Lelong.com.my 358
28 Iproperty.com.my 348
29 Gsc.com.my 347
30 Rhb.com.my 338
Even though both online news media are in different languages, these
dissimilarities would eventually generate diverse set of data. Overall, the researcher
believes that these fundamental differences could affect media representations and
generate a more interesting analysis.
Nevertheless, this study depends greatly on the accuracy of archiving. It
considers the difficulties that researcher might face in the context of online news
archives, as Malaysia is new to the World Wide Web. As such, scholars have
recognised the possibilities and efforts in gaining online archive data. Brugger (2009)
in his study of ‘Website History and the Website as an Object of Study’ faced
72
challenges on the live web and preserving online content. The principal drawback was
to delimit the website in spatial terms. He also contended that whether archived here
is in a systematic and even manner (Brugger, 2009).
To encounter the circumstances, a website called the ‘Internet Archive’ that uses
‘The Wayback Machine’ to trace back all archives can be useful instruments in
helping the researcher in collecting data from both online news web sites (see Figure
4.2). This is a non-profit website that works as digital library of the Internet sites.
Nevertheless, there is limitation for outsourcing of the online archive. The calendar
showed on the web only view maps of the number of times The Star and Utusan
Malaysia Online were crawled by Wayback Machine, but not how many times the site
was actually updated. This method has been used by Cawley (2012), in finding his
data on news ecology in online news.
Figure 4.2: Screen capture of Wayback Machine for article search
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However, in a study conducted by Brugger (2009), he argued that the
archived website might seem to be infused with fuzziness and overlapping borders.
Thus, Brugger’s revealed that the archived website is deficient, as it is incomplete
compared to live web and only allow the researcher to search for related article within
the offline version. In fact, it only preserves certain photographs and graphics
compared to live web version. Therefore, this study also retrieved the articles from the
online news media archive as well as ‘Google News Archive’ as a tool for searching
online news articles. Keyword searches were conducted after which 59 articles were
selected from 288 articles. The sorting was done in two phases to ensure that the
articles represent Malaysia’s history (Figure 4.3). The final total number of collected
articles were 223.The articles that were not relevant and does not contain the main
topic representing Malaysia history were eliminated during the sorting process. The
researchers however did not include comments and opinion pieces posted through the
online sites, as the researcher is interested in negotiating “truths” found in discourses
that purport to be objective and unbiased.
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Figure 4.3: Stratification of news articles
Phase 1
• Collected 288 articles
• Based on time- frame: 2010-2015
• Keyword search: ‘sejarah’ ‘isu buku teks sejarah’
‘sejarah malaysia’ ‘sejarah negara’, ‘history’ ‘malaysia
history’ ‘rewrite history ‘textbooks history’
109 Articles 179 articles
Phase 2
Phase 2: Sorting according the criteria
• News report and they contain events or stories represent
national history
• Content related to research objectives
96Articles 127 articles
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4.4 Discourse Analysis as Method
In this research, discourse analysis is adopted as the approach to unveil the
underpinning discourse within the history of Malaysia by looking and understanding
the meaning of content and context prevailing in the online newspapers. Discourse
analysis is one of the methods that is underpinned by social constructionist ontology
and epistemology (Nikander, 2006). The method goes beyond the textual analysis,
whereby it explores power relations from the critical standpoint in an attempt to make
sense of the world by providing new critical insights. Thus, this is a method that
draws attention to the structuring effects of language. Discourse analysis implements
both methodological and conceptual elements (Wood & Kroger, 2000), where it can
function as method as well as theory. Hence, discourse analysis may be situated at any
continuum of epistemological positions, from realist to relativist (Morgan, 2010).
Discourse analysis provides a different way of theorising language. It is more
concerned with the analysis of texts or utterances within specific socio-cultural
context and indicates a method of data analysis that can tell researchers about the
discursive construction of a phenomenon (Willig, 2008).
Discourse analysis is generally an umbrella term for various fields of studies by
which discourse may be analysed. There are critics and debates on how to do the
discourse analysis as it differs according to different schools of thoughts and
perspectives that compete to offer term definition according to their interest
(Jorgensen, M. and Phillips, 2002). Most recent forms of discourse analysis have been
influenced by the philosophy of Foucault (Speed, 2006).
With the vast usage of discourse analysis in various discipline, there is no one
theory that is right or wrong, provided with the tools given that demands individual
aims of study (Gee, 2011). To that end, this thesis is guided in this discourse analysis
76
by Foucault (1972)- The Archaeology of Knowledge with the hybrid modification of
framework based on Willig (2008)-Six Steps in Foucauldian Analysis and other
theories of Representation by Stuart Hall (1997) and Orientalism by Edward Said
(1978). This was not merely a blind approach, as the data was read with the
framework as discussed in the previous chapter. At the same time, modification and
alteration of framework is based on what suited the research aims, and it may not
easily be transferred to other studies.
As such, discourse analysis is one of the methods that examines how the objects
and people are constructed and positioned within a discourse, and explores the
implications of these on subjectivity and experience (Willig, 2008). Hence, it also
pertains to “the role of discourse in wider social processes of legitimation and power”
(Willig, 2008, p. 113). It explains that the dominator of the discourses, who holds the
power to speak favours the construction of social reality and support the existing
power relations and social structures (Willig, 2008). After all, discourse analysis is
actually to deconstruct what is left out from mainstream discourse in the prevalent
social practices (Graham, 2005). Therefore, discourse analysis is deemed the most
suitable approach in unveiling the representation of Malaysia’s history in the online
newspapers.
Although similar studies conducted using the approach of ‘discourse analysis’
despite different approaches and schools of thoughts on the news media
representation (Bardici, 2012; Onifade, 2015; Rose, 2014; Sankar, 2013; Sirmoglou,
2006), these studies claimed that newspaper representation are “inaccurate”. Other
studies that used hybrid approach of discourse analysis (Cartner, 2009; Nanabawa,
2013), incorporated the methods from theories such as (Potter, 1996; Margaret
Wetherell et al., 2001; Willig, 2008). Hence, the sense of variety in doing discourse
analysis provides broader social science literature regardless of different discipline.
Although the variable quality of discourse work is growing in various disciplines, this
research will continue to contribute to the literature and add a hybrid approach of
‘discourse analysis’, focusing on the scope of Malaysia’s national narrative with the
computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS), such as ATLAS.ti.
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4.4.1 Data Analysis Approach: Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
In discourse analysis, there were several approaches used while conducting an
analysis. For the purpose of the research aims, Foucauldian discourse analysis is used,
guided by Foucault ‘The Archaeology of Knowledge’ (1969) and Willig’s ‘Six Steps in
Foucauldian Analysis’. The chosen approach is based on the recommendation by
Wetherell (1998) and Luyt (2015), both arguing for synthesised approach. Wetherell
(1998) argued for the synthesis of the more “molecular” approach of conversational
analysis with more “molar” style of poststructuralist analysis. Thus, combining the
approaches draws attention to how discursive resources are deployed in certain
contexts in order to accomplish specific social actions and on wider social and
institutional frameworks that shape such deployment (Willig, 2003).
Although not all discourse analysts agree that these synthesised approaches of
discourse can be combined (Parker, 1997), but both ways were attended to as
suggested by both Wetherell (1998) and Luyt (2015), in which speakers deploy
discursive resources in certain situations and to the broader social and institutional
contexts that shape such deployment. As such, a top-down approach is emphasised in
the analysis, operated within Willig (2008) procedural stages and guided by Foucault
(1969) as the foundation of analysis. However, these six stages of data analysis were
the interpretations by Willig and did not form a full analysis in the Foucauldian’s
perspective (Willig, 2008). Thus, they provided a useful framework for the data
analysis that charted some of the discursive resources used in the text and identified
various subject positions they contain, enabling further exploration of their
implications for subjectivity and practice. The following (Figure 4.4) is the outline of
the steps taken for the data analysis.
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Figure 4.4: Stages in conducting analysis
4.4.1.1 Stage one: Discursive Constructions
This stage identifies different ways a topic is constructed and represented. Here, the
topic of interest is the object produced within the discourses. The focus is on the
related to the research questions of Malaysia’s history on how it is represented as
highlighted in the online newspapers in the direct and indirect references in the data.
During this stage, it was not simply searching the keywords, instead it searched for
how the discursive object was spoken about. For example, in addition to explicit
references to “history of Malaysia”, there were also indirect references such as
“national narrative”, “mainstream history”, and “nation’s history”, as implied in the
data. Different representations constructing the object provide different points of
knowledge and perspective.
4.4.1.2 Stage two: Discourses
During this stage, differences and similarities in discursive constructions of transition
was examined, focusing on the action orientation of the text, which involved closely
identifying what are the various constructions that resonate. From the perspective of
this study, what was gained from constructing/ representing Malaysia’s history in a
particular way at a particular point within the text was studied (Willig, 2008).
Statements from different online newspaper constructed various centrism and
stereotypes within the ethnic imposed. Bearing in mind the number of existing
Stage 1
Discursive Constructions
How the object comes up
Stage 2
Discourses
Similarities & differences
in constructions-locate in
wider discourses
Stage 3
Action Orientation
Context-what
constructions achieve
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discourses, imposing Foucault’s notion of “regimes of truth” sets a path in
determining certain discourses as the dominant influence.
4.4.1.3 Stage three: Action Orientation
In the third stage of analysis, closer examinations of the discursive context are
performed on how culture, politics, and society portray objects. Action orientation
involves looking at the function and how it relates to text at that time; the function and
the benefits of constructing an object in a particular way may serve as a way of
reinforcing certain ideologies. For example, by constructing the idea that the history
of Malaysia is owned by Malay, it implied that others are neglected, and Malay is the
superior.
4.5 Data Organization and Analysis
In this study, the data was organised and analysed via Qualitative Data Analysis
Software (CAQCAS)- ATLAS.ti. ATLAS.ti is a powerful workbench for qualitative
data analysis, particularly in managing and analysing great amounts of raw data such
as text, visual, and audio. There are a growing number of literatures on (CAQCAS)
(Hwang, 2008; R. M. Lee & Fielding, 2004; Morison & Moir, 1998; Woods, Paulus,
Atkins, & Macklin, 2016), and some scholars claimed that these tools are not useful
for discourse analysis work (Macmillan, 2005). However, contradictory claims around
the use of the CAQCAS especially ATLAS.ti for discourse studies were found, as this
software supports various forms of analysis including discourse analysis (Lee &
Fielding, 1996; Paulus & Lester, 2014).
This study follows Gilbert et al.’s (2014) recommendation to demonstrate the
analytic tasks for discourse’s researchers and how the technology can be leveraged to
successfully complete them. It is extremely helpful in organising data and
systematising the analysis process, annotating the data using the memo, comment, and
coding features. The gathered transcripts were imported into ATLAS.ti, which are
called primary documents.
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The transcripts were carefully read and reread, and all phases were systematically
coded. Memos was used throughout the analysis to describe the process, as this
process ensures transparent and reflective audit trail of all of decisions (Siccama &
Penna, 2014). Since the traditional discourse study do not ‘code’ data and require re-
reading phase by phase which resulted in engaging ‘unmotivated looking’ (Hutchby
& Wooffitt, 2008), the memos and quotation features in ATLAS.ti are useful for
engaging a line-by-line analysis and finding patterns.
Next, hyperlinking tool was used to link together the quotations and memo, to
reflect the use of certain phrases that seem to be sequential. The hyperlinking tool is
particularly beneficial in identifying and linking adjacency pairs, as well as in
establishing “next turn proof” (Schegloff, 2007). Another option for engaging in this
level of analysis is to use the precede and follow operator, as discourse analysts often
work to make sense of how participants orient to conversational turns.
After initially exploring the data through extensive reading and searching by
creating quotations, the next step is to create broad analytic categories. Coding feature
such as auto-code was used to generate code and help to narrow the data-set for
further exploration. Then, a close analysis was conducted using the memos to find the
research questions, guided by Willig’s six steps of analysis to find the patterns.
Hence, it showed the ability of ATLAS.ti to serve as an organisational and project
management tool that is often cited as a strength by researchers who adopt it
(Konopásek, 2008).
4.6 Building Trustworthiness
Validity, reliability, and objectivity are criteria used to evaluate the quality of research
in the conventional positivist research paradigm. This is an interpretative method,
where qualitative researcher is concerned over the quality of their study when it
comes to validity and readability. Recognising this gap, Lincoln and Guba (1985)
proposed four criteria for evaluating interpretive research work: credibility,
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transferability, dependability, and confirmability. A qualitative researcher is
responsible for presenting rigor or thorough research design. Tobin & Begley (2004,
p. 390) described, ‘Rigor is how we demonstrate integrity and competence, a way of
demonstrating the legitimacy of the research process. Without rigor, there is a danger
that research may become fictional journalism, worthless as contributing to
knowledge.’
This study adopted discourse analysis as a way of analysing the data; an issue
regarding how the data is evaluated is subjectivity. In fact, there is no way of knowing
exactly what constitutes a discursive construction or a discourse because there are no
formal guidelines in doing discourse, and making discourse analysis an intuitive type
of data analysis (Lyons & Coyle, 2016). Discourse analysis will be considered as
successful and valid if it is transparent and gives the reader a chance to follow the
stages of the analytic process (Potter & Wetherell, 1988), as presented in this chapter.
It is recommended that discourse analysts adopt a critical frame of mind when reading
texts, constantly questioning what the text is trying to achieve, how people are
positioned, and so on (Potter & Wetherell, 1988). However, a critical frame of mind
differs from person to person. Thus, my interpretation may likely differ from others.
Of course, whether the subjectivity of my data analysis is an issue depends on how
this research conceptualises valid knowledge, i.e. its epistemology.
This study also used ATLAS.ti to support the data analysis process, where some
application of this software helped in producing and enhancing trustworthiness
(Ahmad-tajuddin & Azza, 2002; Hwang, 2008). Code-recode technique was
implemented in this study to increase the credibility and dependability of the study
(Figure 4.5). This procedure was performed during the data analysis phase of the
study whereby Krefting (1991) suggested that after coding a segment of data, a
minimum of two weeks’ interval should be given to the data before recoding it again,
as if coding it for the first time. This technique is helpful in auditing one’s own
thoughts and judgement during data analysis. By using ATLAS.ti, coding and
triangulation process can be carried out rigorously compare to conventional coding
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(Ahmad-tajuddin & Azza, 2002), since all the data were stored in a single project file
(Hermeneutic Unit- HU).
Figure 4.5: Coding Function
To establish credibility in the study, Creswell and Miller (2000) suggested
performing ‘thick description’, by describing the setting, the participants, and the
themes of a qualitative study in rich detail. This can be performed when writing
‘Memo’ and generating ‘Codes’ in ATLAS.ti. Similar themes were coded, and
researcher’s interpretation was included using Memo. Friese (2009, 2012)
recommended that memos should be used to support the researcher in the analytical
work, whereby such use creates spaces for reflection, analysis, integration, and
interpretation.
In overcoming the issue of dependability (reliability), credibility (external
validity), and confirmability (objectivity), this study implemented an audit trail. To
date, an experienced researcher in qualitative research is appointed as the external
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auditor to validate the process of data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Through
this process of documenting, a study and a review of the documentation by the
external auditor and the narrative account become credible (Ahmad-tajuddin & Azza,
2002). Guba (1981, as cited in Krefting, 1991) described the audit strategy as the
major strategy for establishing confirmability and the views that neutrality and not the
researcher’s objectivity is involved in data and interpretational confirmability. As
described above, the potential applications of various features of ATLAS.ti in
facilitating the process of data analysis enhance trustworthiness of and improve the
quality of the research.
4.7 Ethical Considerations
Thought was given to the ethical dimensions of this study by considering questions
such as, ‘in whose interests are the research questions? There are longstanding debate
over the ethical issues of using online content in research, and the consensus
continues to be that public texts are free to use without consent while private texts
require consent (Morris, 2004; Walther, 2002). This dataset consisted of collected
online newspapers that were already in the public domain. Thus, this study did not
include any human participants; nevertheless, the research was conducted with
integrity and of appropriate quality
4.8 Reflections and Reflexivity
The location and position of the researcher stamps its inevitable mark on the study.
Thus, reflexivity is deployed to document the experiences and the role of the
researcher. The acknowledgement of the researcher’s influence on the research
process “as a person” and as a thinker (epistemological reflexivity)” (Willig, 2013,
p.25) is central in the qualitative inquiry. Fine (1992) pointed out the importance of
“positioning the researcher as self-conscious, critical, and participatory analysts,
engaged with but still distinct from our informants” (p.220). Intellectual and academic
observation are not neutral, they are coloured by the subjective lenses of the
researcher and thus reflexivity helps to reflect on experiences, beliefs, and
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preconceived ideas the researcher may hold. In Foucauldian terms, reflexivity can be
understood as a surveillance practice (Foucault, 1977) through which subjects come to
self-regulate towards standards and practices. Hence, in this epistemological context it
is not only important to be reflexive but to also be critical of one’s reflexivity (Butler,
2005). Within the Foucauldian discourse analysis, the researcher’s role is on who is
the author instead of who discovers the knowledge. The research report produced is a
discursive construction evaluated within the discursive framework and cannot be
assessed beyond the scope of its discursive framework.
Chiseri-Strater and Sunstein (2006) posited that a researcher’s journal supports
the researcher when investigating emic and etic matters pertaining to the variety of
theoretical and methodological research perspectives. It is important for a researcher
to keep track of the analysis, findings, emotions, and notes in a journal to maintain
awareness of biases and permits the researcher to remain receptive to the experiences
and perceptions to shape personal member resources.
Silverman and Marvasti (2008) suggested that analysis and writing “coexist” in a
qualitative research and that the knowledge determines the decision on what to
exclude and include in the findings chapter (p.52). Therefore, a researcher’s journal
was used as part of the strategy to mitigate preconceptions during the data analysis. At
the same time, every precaution step was taken to ensure validity, trustworthiness and
the rigor in conducting the study. Despite these adherences, certain personal biases
had contributed to all the stages of this study and the conclusions emanating from this
work were solely the researcher’s own.
4.9 Final Considerations
Having presented above methodology, I wish to briefly outline few issues that arise.
This discourse analysis is a modified version of Foucault’s model as set out in The
Archaeology of Knowledge (2006). Hence, as a researcher, I make no claims to follow
exactly what has deliberated by Micheal Foucault and yet this study still follows and
guided with the hybrid modification of framework based on Willig (2008)-Six Steps in
Foucauldian Analysis and other theories of Representation by Stuart Hall (1997) and
85
Orientalism by Edward Said (1978). Therefore, I recognize this specific form of
discourse analysis that does not necessarily translate into a universal model.
4.10 Summary
This chapter has undertaken to provide an exposition of the methodology that the
study adopted. At the beginning, the social constructivist approach that provides for
the idea of ethnic history were constructed within the new media, challenging the
national narrative (Malaysia’s history). The importance of a critique was validated,
and the qualitative methodology of the study and its interpretative benefits was
elaborated on. How the data was gathered were explained followed by the explication
of the sampling techniques study employed. The data collection techniques were
fleshed out and the discourse analysis as conceptualised by Michel Foucault was used
in the study. This chapter clarified the methodology that defended the scientific and
dependability of the study as intellectual and academic work within the discipline of
psychology. The following chapter delineates the location and reflexivity of the
researcher in relation to the study.
CHAPTER 5
AN OVERVIEW ANALYSIS ON THE STAR AND UTUSAN MALAYSIA
ONLINE
In line with other most discourse studies (Henry & Tator, 2002; Yuan &
Minghe, 2013), this chapter adopts a quantitative technique to provide an overview
of the online news representation, not only in terms of article frequency but also in
terms of each subject’s centrality in representing Malaysia’s history. The first part
revealed findings of the assessment of the number and percentages of articles
published over the period of 2010-2015 related to Malaysia’s history. The second
part examined the author and discussed the sections in the online news media.
5.1 Articles Published from January 2010 – December 2015
This section reveals the total number and percentages of articles contained Malaysia’s
history published throughout the year of 2010 until 2015 from both online news
media e.g The Star Online and Utusan Malaysia Online. The results obtained from the
content analysis shows that there were 223 articles published from both online news
portals.
Referring to the data in Table 5.1, Utusan Malaysia’s Online published higher
number of articles with 56.9 percent compared to The Star Online with only 43
percent. This analysis further demonstrated that the representation of Malaysia’s
history is not disproportionate in every online news portal, although both of these
online news portals are owned by the ruling party or pro-government. It is important
to point out that different organisational structures, ownership, policy, and objectives
may lead to differing media content (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996) in referring to the
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analysis. As such, change in ownership, especially in the media industry, often
construct different values, objectives, culture, and ultimately the content.
Table 5.1: Total number of articles published from 2010-2015
The analysis of the articles published over five years (2010-2015) recognised that
Malaysia’s history is represented in all sections in online news portals. Nevertheless,
the quantity of representation of Malaysia’s history in each section of each online
news portal differs from one another. As shown in Table 5.2, most of the articles that
contains Malaysia’s history published by The Star Online are adopted from Nation
(n=41) and Opinion Letters (n=30) sections. These two sections which included
relatively higher numbers of articles published in 2015, each contributing n=13 and
n=10 out of 96 articles. One of the reasons these two sections contributed to the
higher number of articles is the objective of the section, for example, opinion letters
are where the public post their thought and create public discussions on the issue. The
most surprising aspect of the data is that the education section does not contribute any
article related to Malaysia’s history.
Online News Portal No. of Article Percentage
Utusan Malaysia Online 127 56.9%
The Star Online 96 43.0%
Total 223 100%
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Table 5.2: The Star Online by Section and Year Analysis
The Star Online by Section and Year Analysis
Section / Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total
Education
1
1 2
4
Nation 3 7 6 3 9 13 41
Opinion Letters 8 4 3 3 2 10 30
Lifestyles / Features 2
1
3
Columnists 1
1
4 6
Archives 2
1
3
Lifestyles / Viewpoints
1
1 2
Community
1 1 1 1 1 5
Online Exclusive
1 1
2
TOTAL 16 13 12 11 15 29 96
Based on Table 5.2, the Community section published relatively only one article
per year since 2010, that represent Malaysia’s history. On the other hand, Utusan
Malaysia Online has 19 sections compared to The Star Online, which has only ten
sections. In general, based on Table 5.3, Rencana, Berita Nasional, and Dalam Negeri
Sections showed the most section that represented Malaysia’s history. Rencana
published the highest articles, with (n=44), following Berita Nasional with (n=30) and
Dalam Negeri with a total of (n=13) articles. Meanwhile, Terkini, Keluarga, Utama,
Bicara Agama, Timur and Hiburan are the sections published only one article over
the period of 2010-2015.
Figure 5.1: The Star Online by Section and Year Analysis
Table 5.3: Utusan Malaysia Online by Section and Year
Utusan Malaysia Online: Section and Year Analysis
Section / Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total
Info 1 3 4
Rencana 9 2 1 5 12 15 44
Sastera 1 1 2
Dalam Negeri 1 3 2 7 13
Terkini 1 1
Muka Hadapan 4 4
Pendidikan 1 3 4
Hiburan 1 1
Politik 1 1 2 4
Berita Nasional 6 24 30
Berita Parlimen 1 1 2
Wilayah 2 1 3
Sabah & Sarawak 6 6
Selatan 3 3
Timur 1 1
Bicara Agama 1 1
Utara 1 1
Keluarga 1 1
Mahkamah 2 2
Total 16 6 5 10 42 48
All 127
. This finding suggests that, Utusan Malaysia Online published more articles in
most of the sections compared to the The Star Online. However, further analysis of
both online newspapers demonstrates that the trend of publishing articles that
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represent Malaysia’s history increase rapidly from year 2014-2015 as seen in (Figure
5.1).
Notably, articles subjected to the nation’s history were catching a similar trend in
Japan, as the section appears to invoke people’s memory, at the same time
demonstrates the quality of writing of the journalists (Kulyk, 2011).
Figure 5.2: Utusan Malaysia Online by Section and Year
5.2 Categories of Authors and Sections Representing the Malaysia’s History
This section highlighted the number of articles written by the author. In this thesis, the
word ‘author’ was used not only to refer to the professional journalist but also the
amateur writer who contributed to the writing of the news articles. In short, Charlie
Beckett (2010) defined this type of journalism as ‘networked journalism’, where
everyone including the journalist and the public can take part in writing the news that
is part of a collaborative process. In reference to Table 5.4, there are about 133
authors involved in contributing to the published articles that represent the Malaysia’s
history. Out of 19 sections in Utusan Malaysia Online, there are 73 authors (54.9
percent) involved in creating the news compared to The Star Online, with only 60
authors (45.1%) involved (refer Table 5.4). Note that all the authors who contributed
to the news articles come from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and age.
Table 5.4: Number of Author from the Year 2010-2015
From 2010-2015 No. Author Percentage
Utusan Malaysia Online 73 54.9%
The Star Online 60 45.1%
Total 133
In terms of articles published by the author from year 2010-2015, Figure 5.3
shows that 2014 and 2015 are by far the two highest over the six years, with 20.5
percent (n=45) representing 2014 and 68.5 percent (n=50) representing 2015 from
Utusan Malaysia Online. The smallest number of articles published by the author is
from Utusan Malaysia Online, with 8.2 percent (n=6) in 2012. Meanwhile, for The
Star Online, the highest number of articles published by the author is in the year of
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2015, with 50 percent (n=30). In 2013, The Star Online published the smallest
percentage of articles, with only 18.3 percent (n=11). The overall frequency shows
that 2014 and 2015 changed the course of the previous four years of articles published
by the authors.
Figure 5.3: Number of Articles Published by the Author from 2010-2015
5.2.1 The type of the Author and Written Article
In addition, the type of authors who published the articles was categorised according
to their role were coded as shown in Table 5.5. These authors were coded in eight
categories. The coding sheet for this study also listed “other” which refers to
anonymous author whose name was not available. For both online newspapers,
‘journalists’ produced the highest percentage among all the category of authors, where
Utusan Malaysia Online represent 45.2 percent (n=33) and The Star Online represent
36.67 percent (n=22). “Speaker/ activist” category and “politician” category both
25%21.7% 20% 18.3%
25%
50%
23.3%
13.7%
8.2%12.30%
20.5%
68.5%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
The Star Online Utusan Malaysia Online
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featured the smallest number of percentage (refer Table 5.5). The data also reveal that
citizens category published second highest number of articles, especially for The Star
Online with 21.67 percent (n=13).
This is because, The Star Online has dedicated a section “Opinion Letters” for the
public to express their views to the audience. Although Utusan Malaysia Online has
no such section for public to express their views, the number of articles published by
the citizens was quite alarming, with 8.2 percent (n=6). This data suggests that
although both online newspapers are owned by the ruling party, the percentage of
citizen involvement in putting their thoughts through the news can be seen as at
highest stake especially for The Star Online. It stands to a reason that newspapers
owned by the government group differ in many aspects and content is one of
them.This result is supported by (Beder, 2004), as the news is shaped and influenced
by journalist and editor.
Table 5.5: Category of Author
Category of the Author Utusan Malaysia
Online
The Star Online
Number
of Author
publishing
the article
Percentage
of Author
publishing
the article
Number of
Author
publishing
the article
Percentage
of Author
publishing
the article
Citizen
6 8.20% 13 21.67%
Editorial Board
3 4.10% 4 6.67%
Academician
6 8.20% 5 8.33%
Journalists 33 45.20% 22 36.67%
Politician
5 6.84% 2 6.67%
In House Columnist
5 6.84% 5 3.33%
Speaker / Activist
2 2.74% 4 6.67%
Others
13 17.80% 5 8.33%
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5.3 Summary
This chapter provided findings from the quantitative assessment carried out to provide
an overview of this study. The first part contains the analysis of articles published
from January 2010 until December 2015. The analysis further demonstrated that the
representation of Malaysia’s history is not disproportionate in every online news
portal, as Utusan Malaysia’s Online published higher number of articles with 56.9
percent compared to The Star Online with only 43 percent. This shows although both
online newspapers are allied to the government, the content and objectives were
different. In terms of the specific sections on online news were published the most,
Nation and Opinion Letters sections were shown as the most published articles in The
Star Online. Opinion Letter provides a platform for the public to air their views,
which shows they are conscious about Malaysia’s history. As for Utusan Malaysia
Online, Rencana published the highest articles. By comparing both online
newspapers, it was shown that Utusan Malaysia Online published more articles in
most of the sections compared to The Star Online. However, further analysis based on
both online newspapers demonstrates that the trend of publishing articles that
represent Malaysia’s history increased rapidly from year 2014-2015. The next part of
the analysis revealed that out of 19 sections in Utusan Malaysia Online, there are 73
authors involved in creating the news compared to The Star Online, with only 60
authors involved. Finally, further analysis on the type of authors and the written
article shown that despite the journalist contributing most of the published articles, the
“citizens” category published the second highest number of articles, especially for
The Star Online.
CHAPTER 6
ISSUES AND POLEMICS IN MALAYSIA’S HISTORY-UNFINISHED
INTERPRETATION
This chapter aimed to identify how Malaysia’s history is represented on online
newspaper, namely The Star Online and Utusan Malaysia Online. As such, the
analysis aimed to identify what discourses were constructed to position Malaysia’s
history. What was presented in this section to provide a window into the analysis
process. As discussed earlier in the previous methodology section, the extracts used
below were the most appropriate to illustrate the findings of the analysis. To recap,
this finding was not intended to lead to a definite answer, but to stimulate further
investigation.
6.1 Introduction
In the following discussion, this section deals with the power producing discourse, the
rituals of ‘truth’, ‘knowledge’, and ‘reality using Foucauldian discourse. In his
arguments, the world is always constructed through interpretation and discourse,
which are in turn determined by social and historical conditions. It is us who gave the
meaning to things and also the rules that determine the particular meaning, and not
things themselves (Foucault, 1972). Thus, some value contrasting statements of the
discourse in representing the Malaysia’s history as meaning and interpretation are
deemed important for us to understand a discourse.
During this period of study from 2010-2015, Malaysia was inundated with the
polemics of history, especially through the online sphere. The development of the new
media has changed the way that Malaysia’s history is represented, especially through
the online newspapers. It has created a new consciousness expressed that aligned with
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the emergence/eruption of the Internet and created the national imagination with a
host of perspectives, subjugating the national narrative and the received history of the
nation. As a result, different methods of representing Malaysia’ history were used to
construct a particular version of ‘truth’. The objective of this study was not to
represent all possible discourses, but to illuminate and explore the implication the
forces of dominant discourses that were previously discussed in the literature.
Although many of the sites and junctures in the online sphere published the debates
and arguments of Malaysia’s history, this study only explored a small part of the
online medium, particularly the online newspapers.
The first discourses discovered is what was categorised as “Ketuanan Melayu”,
the discourse of Malay ownership. The second discourse is what was termed as
history textbook discourse, constructed based on discourses expressed through history
textbooks that lead to other contestations. Lastly, the third discourse is ‘otherness’,
derived from the inequalities in representation of history. The names of these
discourses were adapted from the literature and text, notably the consistency which
invoked specific portrayals in representing Malaysia’s history. These discourses will
be discussed as to align with the following questions:
1) How was Malaysia’s history constructed? What were left out?
2) What were being represented through The Star and Utusan Malaysia Online?
3) Were there any power relations in the construction of Malaysia’s history?
4) What were the alternative perspectives that appeared to underpin the
representation of Malaysia’s history?
6.2 Ketuanan Melayu
Based on the analysis, it was revealed that Malaysia’s history was constructed in
various ways. As discussed earlier in the previous chapter, discourse analysis
understands language as a constitutive of meaning, which refers to the way the
sentences and word usage were used in meaning construction (Parker, 1999). In
Foucauldian analysis, it focused on the ways in which a particular language
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normalises the dominant views of ‘reality’. This could be identified through the
discursive formations used in the reference of the subject, where the subject emerged
from the pattern of meaning (Jackson, 2007) . Based on the analysis, terms such as
“Bangsa Malaysia”, “Kuasa Melayu”, “Social Contract”, “Ketuanan Melayu”,
“Constitution”, “Merdeka”, “Buku Sejarah” were often brought up and deployed
within the online newspapers.
As noted by Jackson (2007), when analysing discourses, it is crucial to indicate
that a discourse is not uniform, consistent, and coherent. Consequently, various
discourses appeared to represent Malaysia’s history. Dominant discourses subjugating
the alternatives discourses can be seen through the article’s analysis. This analysis
indicated that Malaysia’s history was being represented from one dominant discourse,
through the ideology of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’. However, this term has not been used in
The Star Online but replaced with ‘Malay Supremacy’. However, for this study, the
term ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ was used as it is the most common term appearing
consistently in most articles in both The Star Online and Utusan Malaysia Online.
Apparently, the term ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ did not exist in any dictionary, but the
word ‘Ketuanan’ is refered to as “the right to rule or control a country (negara), state
(negeri) or a district (daerah), or sovereignty (kedaulatan) (Dewan Bahasa dan
Pustaka, 2017). The root word ‘Tuan, means ‘master’ (in relation to slave) or ‘tuan
punya’ owner. Literally, the term ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ denotes malay domination,
sovereignty or supremacy, which held that Malay owns Malaya. Technically, the
‘Ketuanan Melayu’ is a form of ideology constructed where the Malay have the
dominant power in every aspect including, economy, politic, and social compared to
other minority races.
Based on the analysis, these constructions of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ were presented
in numerous articles whether negatively or positively. The alternative discursive
construction of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ was described as bias, unjust to non-Malays and
dominant over the minority. The clout of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ perpetuated by the
UMNO, relates with the Islamisation together with the discourse of threat has lent the
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narrative of Malaysia’s history to be at stake of greater currency. The intimate
significance between Islamisation and Malay identity dominates the ‘rights and
privileges”. Hence, this is similar to the findings by (Ting, 2009) on the discourse of
‘Ketuanan Melayu’ as the privilege of social power in social production of
knowledge, especially in national history. Here, the social production and the
dissemination of knowledge secured our consent to the systematic new form of
inequity- the new media. The following is an example describing the discursive
construction:
Figure 6.1: Extract 1
Apparently, this statement was made in reaction to the construction of
‘Ketuanan Melayu’ even though the term ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ was not mentioned. It
perpetuated the suppression of the minority, buttressing the Malay views of their
dominant position by amplifying their hegemony over the minority. Hence, it
becomes a narrative of a special birthright and ethnic primacy for years that had
raved through the public sphere without contestation, until the arrival of the new
media. “The one who created the discourse, is also the one in power” (Foucault,
1972). This reflected how Malaysia’s history was represented, especially on the
online newspapers. Based on Said’s perspectives, this sense of language has become
a tool to project domination, holding a power to control over others. As the West has
created the discourse, the East has to adapt to the same discourse, as a force tool.
This concept can be applied to this situation, this contemporary discourse on
Extract 1:
“When “social contract” is used on these shores, it means that Malay political
power must always hold sway and a state of perpetual pro-Malay economic
policies must remain in place and everyone else must keep quiet as their
forefathers had agree to it.”
(The Star, April 2010)
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‘Ketuanan Melayu’ that holds the authority in deciding what to be represented. As
Hall asserts:
“Discourse is a way of talking about or representing something. It
produces knowledge that shapes perceptions and practice. It is part of the
way in which power operates. Therefore, it has consequences for both those
who employ it and those who are ‘subjected’ to it. The West produced many
different ways of talking about itself and ‘the Others’.”(Hall, 1997, p. 318)
On the other hand, the discursive construction of Ketuanan Melayu in some
articles reflected the fears and concerns of a segment of the Malay Community. These
articles exemplify negative construction of Ketuanan Melayu, represented as ‘keliru’,
‘miscontrued’, and ‘confused’ (refer Figure 6.2). These constructions were against
what (Ting, 2009) reflected in her findings through the Malaysian history textbooks.
Figure 6.2: First Three Stages of Analysis
Stage 1
Constructions
Bangsa Malaysia”,
“Kuasa Melayu”, “Social
Contract”,
“Constitution”,
“Merdeka”
Stage 2
Discourses
Ketuanan Melayu
Stage 3
Action Orientation
‘Keliru’, Fear, Bias
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Despite that, this construction was expressed to restore the construction of
‘Ketuanan Melayu’ into a positive perspective. Giving the thought to this construction
also revolves around the Malay position, perceived as the erosion of the Malay
Political Power. These could be traced in the following discursive constructions:
Figure 6.3: Extract 2
Such manifestations in the above illustrated extract are positioned in contrast with
the construction of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ as a dominant cultural order (Leong, 2012;
Ting, 2009). In fact, the extract above indicated that the ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ only
benefits a certain group. Hence, more could be analysed to deconstruct the dominant
representation of reality. This is the stage where the emphasis is to see who is
speaking and how the discourse of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ was manipulated in articles
published on online newspapers. Bear in mind, these two online newspapers are
owned by the political party allied with the government.
Extract 2:
P135: Ketuanan Melayu tercabar -Kaum lain lebih dominan dari segi politik,
ekonomi (Utusan, 2010).
“Orang Melayu kini juga semakin keliru tentang kedudukan benteng kekuatan
mereka dalam usaha mempertahankan hak dan ketuanan Melayu” (Utusan, 2010).
P272: Malay supremacy enriches only a small group: Anwar (The Star 2010)
“The "ketuanan Melayu" or Malay supremacy concept as advocated by certain
groups, benefits and enriches only a small group of Malays, I believe that the
Malays and Bumiputeras should not be sidelined…We should do all we can to help
them together with the Chinese and Indians,” Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said
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At this stage, we can see that it only serves political purposes. Within the
discourse of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’, what is seen as the wider discourse is the possible
abusive of power that intersect the political discourse. Hence, the confusion between
both privilege and power demonstrates how acknowledging the Malay especially
combined with the concept of privilege ‘Hak Melayu’ and power ‘Ketuanan Melayu’
may have the capacity to drive real social and cultural transformation. This thinking
had been a concern of the late Said Zahari, former chief editor of Utusan Melayu
(refer Figure 6.4). Said felt that ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ is only part of a political rhetoric.
In fact, the discourse of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ created only benefited some groups of
Malays. Said further explained:
Extract 3:
Figure 6.4: Article by Said Zahari
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From here we can see that the construction of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’, how it positioned
and manipulated the thoughts and views of the people through power. This similar
thought was also expressed in the following illustration:
Figure 6.5: Screenshot from the article p292
Extract 4:
P292: Nazri: Malay supremacy does not exist (The Star, 2010)
“Malay supremacy does not exist, contends Minister in the Prime Minister’s
Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz. He says the notion has been repeatedly
misinterpreted by certain leaders for political gain. “Politicians should stop using
racial sentiments to gain support from their own race. “They are elected by
Malaysians, therefore Malaysians should come first,” he said. He added that the
idea of Malay supremacy should not be confused with Malay privileges
105
P289: Johor Ruler urges Malays to accept ‘ketuanan Melayu’ (The Star, 2010)
“Sultan Ibrahim said the concept referred to the status of Malay rulers and their
subjects but it should not be misconstrued as a matter of master and slave.” He
added that the idea of Malay supremacy should not be confused with Malay
Privileges…Why do they need privileges if they are more supreme? Privileges are
for handicapped people…He also said there was no master-slave relationship in
Malay supremacy as it was meant to symbolise the sovereignty of the Malay Rulers
Figure 6.6: Extract 4
In explaining the uncertainty pertaining to privilege and power, Utusan Malaysia
Online represented a strong lexical article titled ‘Apa itu kuasa Melayu’. As seen from
the extract, the term ‘kuasa melayu’ is referred to as ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ and the
repeated reference to ‘kuasa melayu’ further indicates a dominant Malay rhetoric.
However, the author claimed that the special privileged ‘kuasa melayu’ will be
extinct or eradicated in the future if the power is abused. The author further explained
that the power ‘kuasa melayu’ is not pro-Malay nor anti-Malay, as it is meant to
cover all citizens. The construction of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ as it is was not merely
mentioned in the above extract, but the positioned as a power, modelling the way as a
mutual sharing power among all ethnics, and not just for the Malays.
Extract 5:
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Figure 6.7: Extract 5
In the exercise in defining the rights, privilege, and power, Utusan Malaysia
Online published an article with the headline ‘Adil, jamin hak semua kaum’. In the
below extract, it explained on how Constitutions were formed and the importance of
Constitution to the citizens. Constitution in the extract below is referred to as
“memberi hak kepada semua rakyat negara ini”. This indicates that Constitution is
as a system that provides equal treatments to all the citizens, by highlighting “bebas
daripada sebarang sentimen dan memberi hak kepada semua masyarakat”. In
this sense, Utusan Malaysia Online represents the Constitution in a positive manner
by mentioning equal rights to all the citizens. In fact, it tried to avoid negative
sentiment such as ‘Ketuanan Melayu’, by positioning it in a positive manner.
Extract 6:
P6: Adil, jamin hak semua kaum (Utusan Malaysia, September 2013)
“Begitu juga dengan sejarah Perlembagaan Malaysia yang digubal melalui
proses berperingkat-peringkat dalam memberi hak kepada semua rakyat negara
ini… Untuk mengekalkan kebebasan dan tidak menyebelahi mana-mana pihak,
suruhanjaya itu turut diwakili oleh lima wakil lain dari Australia, India, Pakistan dan
Kanada. Dari situlah wujudnya perlembagaan yang diguna pakai sehingga hari ini
107
yang bebas daripada sebarang sentimen dan memberi hak kepada semua
masyarakat Tanah Melayu pada ketika itu," jelasnya.”
Figure 6.8: Extract 6
Based on Foucault’s view, the dominant discourse such as ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ is
seen to produce the knowledge, and part of the cultural beliefs and values are
incorporated to become part of this knowledge. Thus, according to Foucault, power
and knowledge cannot be separated and the quest for knowledge and power is
motivated through human interest. Alternative discourse, questioning the mainstream
history, history textbook, and curricula began to rise to this day. As such, the politics
of representation in constructing such discourse lies within what Hall (1997)
described in his work “Notes on Deconstructing ‘the Popular’ argues.
It is at this stage where the cultural makers (the media) constantly reshape,
reangle what they wanted to represent by repeating, selecting, and implanting the
definitions of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ as to fit easily within the cultural society. Based on
what is represented, the writer and media organisation often replicate the negative
normative depictions of the non-dominant cultures, as what has been contested for
years. Moreover, the media actors ‘tend to produce works that they think will sell to a
reasonably wide and affluent audience and are therefore influenced by their
preconceptions of what audience knows and interested in” (Tessa Morris-Suzuki,
2005, p. 17). At the same time, actors with the political authority who have the power
to shape the public opinion are also crucial inanalysing the reproduction and the
dissemination of these discourses. In other words, they control what is represented
and ramicate he facts of the Malaysia’s history.
6.3 History Textbook an Introduction
Before going into further analysis, the background should be set on how the history is
taught in secondary schools in Malaysia. Up until 1990, the Malaysian history after
the fall of Melaka to the Portuguese in 1511 is almost exclusively depicted as the
history of European activity in the Malay peninsula, Sabah, and Sarawak. From the
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colonial period up to 1970s, all the history textbooks used in secondary schools were
written by British civil servants. The history syllabus in Malaysia’s schools was
modelled on the English colonial syllabus and curriculum. From the British colonial
period until 1980s, the focus on Malaysia’s history was very limited and a large
component of the history syllabus was dedicated to the history of Europe, Britain and
the British Commonwealth (Hussin, 2008).
Nevertheless, historians are humans and they try to elicit the truth, confessing
their opinions and dreams/wishes that prone to have biases, prejudice, and stereotype.
As such, their peculiar contributions to our knowledge of history created these
differences that were translated into Otherness, where the other were described
negatively in the Malaysian history written by the colonial historian. Consciously or
unconsciously, those in power used historical knowledge for their own purposes.
Thus, the link between power and knowledge seems to coincide with Michel
Foucault’s concept while inserting the functions of Orientalist representations (Said,
1978) to establish inferiority of the Orient to the Occident. Following the
eurocentrism and biasness recounted in Malaysian history, historian Nordin Hussin
suggested a rewriting of the Malaysian history and avoid the pitfall of concentrating
on the activities of the British administrators, he called for a paradigm shift “to
transform this Eurocentric view and interpret history from local perspective” (Hussin,
2008).
From the beginning of the colonisation of Melaka beginning with the Portuguese,
followed by the Dutch and the British, there has been a misrepresentation of
Malaysian history in textbooks (Abdul Razaq 2007; Hussin, 2008; Philip, 2012;
Rajandran, 2012). This idea of misrepresentation of Malaysian history during the
colonial rule and post- independence contradicts with Cheah Boon Kheng (2003),
who was described as “ open,” impartial, pluralistic accommodated every ethnic
group. This explores the questions that the representation is not synonymous to
everyone and show different meaning and interpretations of the same event.
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Prior to Independence, the influence of British curriculum was declining and a
year before, a Razak Report was submitted to unify the history syllabus in building
nationhood (Razaq, Rahim, & Ali, 2010). Although Malaysian history was given
more prominence in the 1990s, the perspective was still British and not Malaysia-
centric. The treatment of the local history leaves much to be desired. Apart from
colonialism, post-colonial circumstances have created a nationthat is historically
divided with diverse views on the past and current. This results in the weakening of
the national character.
Ironically, this Eurocentric view was twisted into Malay-centric, where the Malay
dominated government imposed Malay history and Malay cultural identity over other
ethnic groups (Kheng, 2003) while projecting the Malay as the main actor in the
narrative, distorting other ethnic contributions (Ting, 2014). The notion of writing the
history and narrative as a cultural tool in cultivating the identity and building of
nations underlie a power. At the same time, the trajectories and contestation over
Malaysia’s history can be seen and represented in other media, such as online
newspapers.
In 2011, the Centre for Policy Initiatives published a blog raising the issue of
“whose history? in Malaysian history textbooks”. It begins by referring to the
announcement by the then Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin that History will be
made a must-pass subject for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia from 2013, which would
put it on par with Bahasa Malaysia in its degree of importance. It was stated that the
Education Ministry would also introduce a revised SPM History curriculum in 2017.
New elements to be incorporated when the History syllabus begins its new cycle are
‘patriotism,’ ‘citizenship’ and the ‘constitution,’ “which by extension implicate the
so-called social contract,’ according to the blog. The initiative received response and
reactions from various groups. This indicated that the online medium tropes and
characterise the ways in which different types of ‘others’ are represented and at the
same time deconstruct the power engaged with it. The discussion below scrutinises
how Malaysia’s history textbook represents history and depicted the history textbook
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as a discourse. Consideration is also given to how this constitutes the ‘othering’,
which is generally associated with stereotyping.
6.3.1 The Discourse of History Textbook
This discussion inevitably refers to the construction of history textbook as a discourse
in representing Malaysia’s history. Based on the analysis, the terms such as
‘prejudice’, two sides of the story’, ‘truth’, ‘rewrite’, ‘kaji semula’ and ‘disemak’ tend
to project an image of bias, where one group is favoured over the others. Apparently,
this textbook is shared by all public schools in Malaysia and it is a centralised
education system. Several constructions arose during the analysis, it includes the
constructions as imbalances. This was presented in numerous articles and frequently
constructed as being ‘bias’ in The Star Online, while Utusan Malaysia Online,
constructed this issue as ‘kaji semula’. The connotation by both online newspapers
differs greatly. The construction of history textbook as imbalances is presented in the
following:
Extract 7:
P219: Glaring Bias in History book (The Star, 2015)
“What disturbs me most is the glaring bias towards glorifying one particular
ethnic group and religion whilst downplaying the role of the other ethnic groups
and religions, a continuing trend which started in the 1990s. Our textbooks in the
1970s and 1980s used to have separate chapters on the impact of Indian
civilisation (e.g. Hinduism and its Impact on Malaysian Society, and Buddhism
and its Heritage in Malaysia) ... The textbook conspicuously avoids stating that the
Malay chiefs themselves took sides in the conflict between these two secret
societies. It is rather unfortunate that my repeated pleas since the 1990s to the
Education Ministry to publish history textbooks which provide a balanced and an
objective account of the origin and development of our beloved nation have fallen
on deaf ears. Malaysia’s history should be written on the premise that our nation
today is the result of numerous sacrifices and contributions by the various ethnic
groups, and not just one ethnic group. Enough is enough!
Figure 6.9: Extract 7
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Extract 8:
P216: Factual Gaps and Biases (The Star, 2011)
Dr Ranjit points out that while the Form Three History textbook highlights the role
of the Malay Regiment and Lieutenant Adnan in defending Malaya against the
Japanese, the contributions of the non-Malays are not mentioned. Historians,
parents and concerned citizens have long complained about the “onesidedness” of
our secondary school history textbooks in its representation of the country’s
history, since the curriculum was reviewed in 1996. According to Dr Lim Teck
Ghee, spokesperson for the Campaign for a Truly Malaysian History, there are
factual gaps as well as serious biases. “The textbooks used at the secondary level
have many shortcomings in content and analysis,” he says…While much has been
said recently on the omission of the role of other factions in the struggle of Malaya
for independence, the downplaying of the roles of the non-Malays in the economic
and social development of our nation in our history school textbooks is also an
issue. Dr Ranjit points out that the previous textbooks used to mention adequately
the contribution of the Chinese and the Indians in the development of the tin mining
and rubber industries, for instance. “Now, it is given scant attention. We talk about
a sense of belonging and loyalty to the country, but how can we have that when the
contributions of our communities are not acknowledged? The government needs to
do something about it,” urges Dr Ranjit. Another problem, highlights Dr Lim, is a
peninsula-oriented approach, which fails to give due recognition to the East
Malaysian contribution to Malaysian history.
Figure 6.10: Extract 8
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Extract 9:
Figure 6.11: Extract 9
The above text published in The Star online are some of the features that
highlight imbalances of content appeared in the history textbook. The word
‘bias’ is used extensively especially in the headlines. The underlying tone are
that “the contributions of the non-Malays are not mentioned” (P216) and “did
not really reflect the contributions of all races” (P233) reflect how other
minority felt that the content has been marginalised. The construction of history
textbook as having ‘imbalances’ draws upon generalising the discourse and
constructing the discursive object on the history content as bias. This is
supported by the facts and arguments by Ting (2014) and Kheng (2003), where
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history textbook reflects the state of affairs of the government’s perspective, and
depicts the Malays as the dominant actor in the narration.
Generally, the history textbook is a tool by which the state or the government
use to transmit its own version of historical narrative. This construction of
knowledge production becomes a direct articulation of what the state considers as an
accurate narrative and a desirable national identity for its citizens. Notably, the above
arguments are parallel with Klerides (2010) and Williams (2014), by which the
history textbook as part of the discourse, and at the same time having a relationship
with political discourse. Hence, the position of the history textbook is one-sided, as it
is the manifestation from the ruling party. Figure 6.12 shows the key elements on this
particular discourse:
Figure 6.12: Key Elements in discourse
Stage 1
Constructions
truth’, ‘rewrite’, ‘kaji
semula’, ‘disemak’,
bias
Stage 2
Discourses
Political, ethnic
Stage 3
Action Orientation
One-sideness
114
This line of thinking is carried through the other articles published in The Star
Online. The contestation over what is represented in history textbook were brought to
the surface and discussed in the public sphere. The construction of history textbook is
part of media text that not only portrays the external “reality” to the audience but also
in connotation and denotation of “reality”. In short, media are central to the
representation of social realities. This analysis also indicates that society is conscious
and recognise the politics of truth and the social construction of knowledge. Below is
the example:
Extract 10:
Figure 6.13: Extract 10
115
It is imperative that the consciousness of Malaysia’s history and how it is
represented in history textbooks becomes a concern. In Foucault’s view, schools
participate in the growth of knowledge production and the exercising the power.
‘Where there is power, there is resistance’ (Foucault, 1990, p.95). Thus, this
resistance over the history was addressed through a campaign calling for an overhaul
of history textbook and syllabus to the Ministry of Education. The following is the
address concerned:
Extract 11:
P 238: More join campaign to change History syllabusation (The Star, 2011)
A PETITION calling for an overhaul of the History syllabus and textbooks is
steadily gaining momentum. Initiated by concerned parents, the History Book
Reform Signature Campaign is proposing that the current History curriculum be
reviewed to provide a balanced, accurate and diverse account of historical facts
that is free from any political agenda. After garnering its first signature on Feb 6,
the campaign’s online petition has since received 3,757 (at time of print) signatures
of support and a further 4,000 signatures have been collected through on-the-
ground circulation. While a number of online petitioners have chosen to remain
anonymous, a good deal of them have included their names and comments.
“Despite the controversy, it is important that the younger generation be
presented as a truthful a picture of the past so they may learn from it and fashion a
better future.” Opining that the current History textbooks are biased and have
“selective information”, petitioner Nirula Selvarajah wrote: “It’s time that due
respect is given to the hundreds of generations of this land and our forefathers. It’s
time that due respect is given to our history and all Malaysians”. Petitioner Lee
Wen Shiow called for more inclusion of world history: “While the world is getting
smaller (due to globalisation), Malaysians with (their) narrow perspective(s) will
not be able to compete with others.”
Figure 6.14: Extract 11
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Lamenting a similar trend is contesting the national history (Kutma, 2012;
Virginia, 2014; Yu, 2010) in other regions and the trend happening in Malaysia
(Kheng, 2003; Manickam, 2003; Ting, 2014), the above example was published in
The Star Online. It described the consciousness of society in history, where people
are making sense by connecting the dots from the past with the present event by
breaking into meaning and operation of historical consciousness (Rüsen, 2006;
Seixas, 2012b). This concept of making sense from the past is also supported and
enhanced by Wodak, Heer, Manoschek, & Pollak (2008). This closely connected the
perspective that historical consciousness affects group and ethnic identity, by which
the trenchant call from the minorities demand the participation, inclusion, and equal
representation of all ethnic in the history textbook. On a similar note, it can be
claimed that the contestation over history textbook conforms well with the view that
the suppression of power, establishing a connection between identity protection and
historical consciousness, how human become aware of their past and present while
determining the preservation of ethnic narrative, resulted in the trajectories of
alternatives history.
However, the construction of the history textbook is different in Utusan Malaysia
Online. Here, 'history' is referred as ' subjek sejarah', 'mengkaji sejarah', 'perjalanan
sejarah', 'jalur sejarah', 'Rukun negara', 'warganegara', 'Kurukulum Sejarah, 'Sejarah
Malaysia', 'Kesedaran Sejarah', 'Buta sejarah' (Refer Figure 6.17). These construct the
way the history subject is important in education, and in building the nation. In fact,
issues of ways to improve the teaching, learning, curriculum, interpretation is
discussed. As Foucault mentioned, discourses are everywhere, and it is mediating all
aspects of life (Ward & Winstanley, 2003). All discourses are constructed to show the
importance of learning history. History also provides a terrain for moral
contemplation. Studying the stories of individuals and situations in the past allows a
student of history to test his or her own moral sense, to hone it against some of the
real complexities individuals have faced in difficult settings. The discourses of
education are linked with the discourses of teacher, the difficulty of teachers in
teaching the subject with insufficient resources, and other issues. The following are
the examples:
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Extract 12:
P175: Subjek sejarah akan dikaji semula (Utusan Malaysia, 2011)
“Sukatan pelajaran subjek sejarah peringkat sekolah akan dikaji semula
selepas didapati beberapa fakta sebelum ini tidak lengkap dan terdapat
percanggahan fakta mengenainya hasil kajian ahli falsafah dan Teologi Negara.”
P61: Kerajaan beri perhatian serius subjek Sejarah (Utusan Malaysia, 2013)
“Kerajaan memandang serius kepentingan mata pelajaran Sejarah, seterusnya
memastikan penghayatan guru dan pelajar dalam mata pelajaran itu bukan sekadar
untuk lulus periksa semata-mata. Timbalan Menteri Pelajaran, Dr. Mohd. Puad
Zarkashi berkata, kerajaan telah mengambil pelbagai langkah proaktif bagi
memastikan keberkesanan pelajaran berkenaan dalam kalangan pelajar… Menurut
Mohd. Puad, antara perkara yang akan diberi perhatian adalah mengenai kaedah
mengajar Sejarah bagi memastikan mata pelajaran itu dapat dihayati oleh pelajar.
Kaedah tersebut antaranya meliputi debat, kuiz dan lawatan. "Sebab itulah kita juga
mempertingkatkan latihan-latihan di Institut Perguruan Guru untuk mata pelajaran
sejarah ini supaya bakal-bakal guru kita yang mengajar Sejarah mampu
menggunakan pendekatan-pendekatan yang tepat," katanya.”
Figure 6.15: Extract 12
In these clusters of statements, we can see that the history textbook is presented
as a curriculum subject. The representation of the history textbook in Utusan
Malaysia Online was with a very high dose of positivism, presenting such knowledge
as part of social representation. Although the word ‘kaji semula’ used to show the
urge to rewrite history, it suggests that only a few facts are to be revised. Through the
analysis and comparisons, it was indicated that the relationship between the discourse
and textbook is intertwined. As Apple & Beyer (1983) asserted, the textbook not only
conveyed the social ideologies, but also legitimised the social practices. In this
situation, the history textbook was used as a tool for political discourse. Complexities
emerged when two online newspapers allied to political parties, represent Malaysia’s
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history from different angles and perspectives. Malaysia’s history has been argued
through the online newspapers to apply ‘fit the facts’ notion, presenting partial truths
based on political and personal beliefs. “textbooks can communicate biased
assumptions and judgements” (Romanowski, 1996, p. 170).
There is more evidence of how the history textbook is constructed as a discourse,
where power is embedded in promoting the dominant views in history. Below are the
extracts:
Extract 13:
P92: Subjek sejarah wajib lulus SPM (Utusan Malaysia, October 2010)
“Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mengumumkan
mata pelajaran Sejarah akan dijadikan subjek wajib lulus di peringkat
peperiksaan Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2013. Beliau yang juga Menteri
Pelajaran berkata, keputusan itu adalah sama seperti langkah menjadikan mata
pelajaran Bahasa Malaysia sebagai syarat untuk mendapatkan sijil SPM”.
Figure 6.16: Extract 13
Based on the Extract 13 (P92) and (P44), it can be seen that the history textbook
was constructed as a school subject. Meanwhile, the intersection of the dominant
power over the history subject shows the enforcement of power through discourse,
gathered through collective consent (Wetherell & Potter, 1992). The usage of
‘kerajaan’ conveys the meaning of the dominant power, implying that it is must be
obliged to be included in the history curriculum. It is used metaphorically to describe
the vast influential over the nation’s history. The issue over contestation in history
textbook in Utusan Malaysia Online was not discussed aggressively unlike in The
Star Online. Since both online newspapers are operated under this authoritarian
model, there is ‘the possibility of having’ their will enforced ‘against the will or
interests of others’ (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009, p. 88).
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Extract 14:
Figure 6.17: Extract 14
Ironically, textbooks transmit powerful discourses (Janmaat, 2007; Klerides,
2010; Yu, 2010), which once instrumentalised by political interests, they have the
potential to manipulate and control the education system. Hence, the analysis agrees
with Hall (1982, p.64), whereby representation ‘implies the active work of selecting
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and presenting and structuring and shaping’ instead of focusing on a neutral
reflection to the world. This indicated that the relationship between the media and
politicians are particularly interlinked. Below is the list of articles related to history
textbook (Figure 6.20).
Figure 6.18: List of articles related to history textbook
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6.4 Otherness in History
Representation does not occur after an event, but it is part of the event.
Reality does not exist outside the process of representation.
- Stuart Hall, “Presentation and Media”
In the last few sections, we saw that the discourses constructed in representing
Malaysia history had repressed and subjugated the voices from the minority, and the
trope of otherness in representing the discourse continued as part of the imperialist
processes and tendencies brought by the colonialist. Orientalism on the other hand, is
a total miss-seeing of the others through the veil of interpretations of reality that are
relatively resistant to change. This form of ethnocentrism has evolved into a cultural
myth that deposit one’s own interpretation and evaluation of others through its own
cultural epistemological screen.
This section displays the interplay between discourses of cultural memory and
myth articulated in history while negotiating and expressing the otherness that has
become part and parcel of history. The use of the term ‘otherness’ conveys the idea of
difference, of separation, and of foreignness. It is tied to space and time as well as to
other criteria such as gender, age, social class, level of education, ethnicity, and
religion (Naguib, 2004). The way the discourse from two online newspapers exert
dominance of power in representing the history had been demonstrated. However, the
researcher’s interest was not solely in identifying, but to show how these powers were
embedded in a larger structure which disguise dominance in a naturalised discourse.
6.4.1 Exploring ‘Us’ vs ‘Them’ in Malaysia’s History
Apart from the construction of Malaysia’s history through discourses as discussed in
the previous chapter, the ethnocentric distinction between “us’ and “them” or othering
binary is part of representing Malaysia’s history. Given that living in multicultural
society, it poses few rhetorical questions.
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Generally, the discourses of the past seem to be extremely related to Orientalism,
the Orient and the Occident, where colonialism had manufactured and instilled the
“us” vs “them” in the early history writing. In fact, the writing of history even after
the Independence 1957 still sustained the idea of ‘othering’ and been embedded
through school textbooks after the riot 1969 (Gabriel, 2015). This intercultural
communication has become highly problematic as long as stereotypes are held within
and ‘other’ culture is seen as foreign and wholly other. Collectively, this sinister
technique of “us” vs “them” also can trace in the following example:
Extract 15:
P22: Fahami bangsa melalui Sejarah Melayu (March 2012) Utusan
JIKA direnung dan dikaji hanya bangsa Melayu sahaja yang mempunyai
sejarah tentang kehidupan bangsanya masa lalu iaitu Sejarah Melayu karya Tun
Seri Lanang. Kehebatan Tun Seri Lanang adalah kemahiran mengarang, mengolah
dan menulis dengan teliti
Dalam pengetahuan orang-orang Melayu, nama Tun Seri Lanang lebih dikenali
sebagai salah seorang bijak pandai dan pengarang ulung bangsa Melayu yang
setaraf dengan Munshi Abdullah (Pengarang HikayatAbdullah)
Memahami manusia Melayu sejak dari Sejarah Melayu terpancar akal budinya,
mengikut alur perasaan dan keindahannya. Ia boleh dijadikan landasan dalam
bidang politik, budaya, sosial, ekonomi, sejarah dan juga pendidikan. Justeru,
terdapat beberapa persoalan dalam kehidupan bangsa Melayu pada zaman silam
yang kini berulang kembali dalam kehidupan masa kini. Membaca Sejarah Melayu
seharusnya dijadikan landasan pemikiran politik dan sosial serta tatacara kehidupan
masa kini. Peta sastera Melayu Nusantara adalah bertapak dan berasal daripada
Sejarah Melayu.
Figure 6.19: Extract 15
The projection of ‘us’ is similarly describing as ethnocentrism. The aim of this
article is to construct the identity of Malay, the dominant group using variables of
power and class in representing Malaysia’s history. The way the writer constructed
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‘us’ and eliminating ‘them’ suggests that the writer was only interested in manifesting
the history from only one ethnic point of view. Thus, the structure manifested
encapsulates an ideology that causes the reader to be partial to one particular subject,
thereby subjugating other possible interpretations of the others. Consequently,
“manusia Melayu” deliberately emphasised only one ethnic group to exist in history.
Such phrase in the article gave the impression that only one discourse represents
Malaysia’s history. Utusam Malaysia was not the only media that signalled and
promoted Malay as the dominating ethnic group, The Star Online depicted similar
position. Below is the example:
Extract 16:
P197: Rebooting Chinese History (June 2013) The Star
“Their energy and enterprise have made the Malay States what they are
today, and it would be impossible to overstate the obligation which the Malay
Government and people are under to these hardworking, capable, and law-
abiding aliens.
Always been the case”? How sad that the many Chinese Special Branch
officers who died fighting the communists are unforgivably forgotten. Online
columnist K. Temoc who took umbrage at this blogger’s “caustic and unfair”
remarks pointed out that five Chinese police officers have been awarded the
nation’s highest gallantry award, the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (SP), two
posthumously. Again, it shows how little is known about non-Malay heroes who
served in the security forces. It’s telling that even Yap Ah Loy’s tok panjang
showcasing the family’s exquisite dinner ware are housed in Singapore’s
Peranakan Museum, not in Kuala Lumpur, the modern city he founded.”
Figure 6.20: Extract 16
The extract above represents how the Chinese considered Malaysia as the Malay
States. In this excerpt, the writer referred to himselfwith the collective term (“us”),
while the Malay was referred to as (“them”). Hence, the use of binary oppositions
constructed by Edward Said constitute the use of Orient vs Occident, in which
stereotyping, racism, and viewing others as foreign illustrates the important link
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between the representation and Others in Malaysia’s history. The experiences of
minorities showed that they are positioned within this hegemonic discourse as
racialised Others or ‘them’. In fact, their contributions in history were severely
constrained and subjugated. This indicated that the projection of othering was
coherent with the views by Bakri Musa, who viewed Malaysian as ethnocentric. All
societies are models of their own culture, and in opposition to other cultures. Living in
a multicultural society, one may have experienced the feeling of discomfort when
entering a place or group of society that he does not belong to. This is similar to
Appadurai (2006, p. 3) view on the notion of ‘national sovereignty is built on some
sort of ethnic genius’ where the minorities are persecuted as ‘small numbers represent
an obstacle between majority and totality or total purity’ (2006, p.53).
Similar trend of textually positioning other ethnics as Others can be observed in
the following excerpt:
Extract 17:
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Figure 6.21: Extract 17
The excerpt describes how much ethnic centrism was evolved in every ethnic
group by trying to protect their own cultural heritage and history. Observing this from
Edward Said’s perspectives, one might have realised language dividing, and
segregating people emerged as a tool to project domination, holding the power to
control over others. Since the West had created the discourse, the East must adopt the
same discourse as the force tool. This concept applied in this situation is the
contemporary discourse on Ketuanan Melayu that holds the authority and the decision
on what to be represented. As Stuart Hall (1997) asserted:
“Discourse is a way of talking about or representing something. It
produces knowledge that shapes perceptions and practice. It is part of the
way in which power operates. Therefore, it has consequences for both
those who employ it and those who are ‘subjected’ to it. The West
produced many different ways of talking about itself and ‘the
Others’.”(Hall, 1997, p. 318)
This narrative of “us” vs “them” was explicit in the extract above. This idea of
“us” vs “them” which rooted from the colonial discourse continues to shape public
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discourse and in turn produces the contested version of national narrative. In brief, the
way both online newspapers expresses the captions, leads, and words may have
powerful ideological effects on reader’s interpretation of Malaysia’s history. Media
reflects what (Couldry, 2004) defined as media power as media is a tool that has the
ability to make ‘factual representations and credible fictions’ and naturalise a
minority’s status as Others and thus part of political exclusion.
6.5 Summary
This chapter provided the findings from the Foucauldian discourse assessment
conducted in this study. The goal of this chapter was to show how social power
represented, constructed and performed the discourses of Malaysia’s history. This
analysis uncovered evidence to show how Malaysia’s history is represented in online
newspapers, mainly The Star Online and Utusan Malaysia Online. Questions
constructed on what is being represented, what discourses represent Malaysia’s
history, and whether any alternative views are available to uncover how the discourse
is used in representing Malaysia’s history are able to exclude or marginalise other
ways of thinking.
At the same time, the operation of power that had subjugated knowledge was
uncovered. Hence, the network of power enabled the discourse to dominate other
discourses. Likewise, the discourse of “Ketuanan Melayu” and history textbooks had
become part of political ideological. The analysis further showed a greater interest in
the continuation of these two discourses to produce knowledge and provide more
autonomy in knowledge production while including ideology and hegemony. Social
agendas such as narration of history are driven by ideologies, which claim their own
knowledge and “truths” to produce dominant discursive assumptions that result in
empowerment. Each culture believes its own knowledge and “truths” as the most
empowering.
History textbooks still plays a major role in formal education, confirming the
views by (Apple & Beyer, 1983) on the role of textbooks in transmitting social
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ideologies. The Star Online discussed more aggressively the issue of contestation of
history textbooks than Utusan Malaysia Online. In a wider discourse, the selection
and omission of what is to be represented in Malaysia’s history is part of recurrent
strategies by the government pertaining to the way racial integration is ensured in a
multi-ethnic society. The rise of national consciousness regarding history forms a
layer of surface knowledge that conceal other narratives or subjugated knowledge of
different perspectives in history, thus intensifying contestation.
On the other hand, racial and ethnic differences often serve as identifying
markers that influence the process of ‘othering’. Thus, it is important to realise that
the analysis revealed the binary of “us” vs “them” rooted from the colonial discourse
continues to shape public discourse and subsequently produces the contested version
of the national narrative. The construction of “otherness” maintains and enhances the
bilateral rivalry while denying the “other” from positing their views. Hence, the
online medium such as the online newspaper become an avenue for them to express
their views. The idea of “othering” not only distorts history through simplification,
but it also constructs negative attitudes that may lead to ethnic conflict.
CHAPTER 7
MULTIPERSPECTIVE IN HISTORY: DIFFERENT REPRESENTATION BY THE
STAR AND UTUSAN MALAYSIA ONLINE
This chapter aimed to compare and contrast the representation of Malaysia’s
history in both The Star Online and Utusan Malaysia Online. The extracts illustrated
in this chapter were selected to explain the findings of the analysis. The chapter
begins with an introduction to a brief history of both online newspapers. Next, it
explored and examined the rise of trajectories in Malaysia’s history on how it
influenced the representation of Malaysia’s history and whether consciousness was
involved in the rivalry.
7.1 A Brief History of Utusan Malaysia Online
As discussed earlier in the chapter on methodology, both online newspapers, namely
The Star and Utusan Malaysia Online were selected based on two factors: popularity
and influence. In terms of influence, Utusan Malaysia is the second major newspaper
group controlled by the government allied to UMNO (United Malays National
Organisations). This malay medium newspapers had been a major voice of Malay
nationalism in the 40s and 50s. During that period, it was published by Utusan
Melayu Press Limited (UMPL) in Singapore since 29 May 1939 and printed in Jawi
Script to serve the Jawi literate in British Malaya (Jia & Rahman, 2016). The
establishment of Utusan Melayu during its early days was as a pivotal movement for
the political organisation, Kesatuan Melayu Singapura (Singapore Malay Union).
oAbdul Rahim Kajai, the first chief editor during that period, expressed the aims of
the constructs:
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“The newspaper Utusan Melayu has been born to compete with other
newspapers but to work together with them to find common ground.
Although it is influenced by notions of race, don’t be mistaken to think this
means it is competing with our Islamic religion. The newspaper Utusan
Melayu is commited to three principles (1) service to race, (2) service to
religion, (3) service to the land” (Maidin, 2013, p. 22)
However, the publication of Utusan Melayu was temporarily suspended during
the Japanese occupation in 1942. Later in 1958, Utusan Melayu moved its
headquarters from Cecil Street to Kuala Lumpur, five months after Malaya gained
Independence (H. Lee & Ansari, 2017). In 1961, a strike by employees of Utusan
Melayu led by Said Zahari lasted for about 93 days, from 21st July to 21st October
1961 (Maidin, 2004). It was a protest against UMNO’s takeover of the newspaper in a
fight to gain press freedom. The strike was meant to ensure that Utusan Melayu will
be an independent national newspaper that fights for the Malay people’s interests
(Siew, 2008). During that time, Utusan Melayu was backed by Asian and African
people who were struggling against the colonialists. After the strike, however, the aim
and objectives carried by Utusan Melayu were not the same as before. Even the
protestors labelled Utusan Melayu as Utusan Celup (Fake Utusan) (Maidin, 2004).
After the incident, The Utusan Group further expanded its interest and
participated actively in economic, social, and political development of the Malays.
Utusan Malaysia started its first publication on 1st September 1967, transforming
from Jawi into the Romanised version (Melayu, 2014). As for today, Utusan Malaysia
has evolved to be the nation’s trusted source of news and information. According to
Audit Bureau of Circulations in December 2012, the circulation of the Utusan
Malaysia had decline to 166,503 readers in 2014 compared to 2013, with only
191,302 readers (Malaysia A. B., 2014). In preparing themselves for the evolving
Internet and changing lifestyle, Utusan Malaysia emerged with an online version of
news media in 1997 and it was the first newspaper company to establish its own
online version
Prior to the arrival of digital products, a representative body for online
publishers, advertising, and digital agencies in Malaysia like MDA (Malaysian Digital
Association) measured Utusan Malaysia Online as among the local websites visited
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by 551,000 unique visitors since October 2013 (MDA, 2013). The reported unique
visitor numbers only measured desktop-based visitors, excluding visitors using mobile
and tablet devices. Utusan subsequently became the medium through which the Malay
voice gained independence. It also played a role in Malay literature as it was a
medium for the Malays to express their views.
7.2 A Brief History of The Star Online
The Star is an English-medium newspaper and a member of Asia News Network. It is
the second largest newspaper in Malaysia and the second largest English-medium
newspaper after The News Straits Times Times with a circulation of 289,611 daily
and went up to 292,226 for the Sunday Times (Audit Bureau of Circulations, 2013).
The Star started its first publication on 9 September 1971 as a regional newspaper
based in Pulau Pinang. In 1976, it expanded its influence through the national
circulation and set up new headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. In terms of ownership, The
Star was once owned by Tun Mustapha Harun, a former chief minister of Sabah and
close friend of late Tunku Abdul Rahman. Later in 1977, Huaren Holdings bought
over The Star company, which until today is owned by the MCA (Malaysian Chinese
Association), the political party that is in alliance with the ruling party (Crouch, 1996)
Ironically, The Star also went through a notorious event in the past. In 1987, the
publishing license of The Star was revoked by the Home Ministry under the
Operation Lalang (Ops Lalang) (Hilley, 2001). After five months of the incident, The
Star resumed its publication and continued to expand and grow. In June 1995, The
Star launched its first news website and recorded a remarkable growth after
introducing The Star ePaper and The Star Mobile News Services. In line with
globalisation and transformation into the digital platform, The Star’s iPad application
for IOS’s users was also launched. According to Malaysian Digital Association, The
Star Online was ranked in the top 5 as the most visited websites with 969, 000 visitors
in 2013.
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7.3 Summary
The business ties between the press and political parties have led to a prevailing belief
that the local press is no longer the watchdog of the executives in power, but a
cheerleader and a mouthpiece for the ruling government.
Looking at the inseparable link between these two online newspapers and the
prominent political parties, it thus gives an impression that that there is power
relationship in knowledge production, especially in representing Malaysia’s history.
The next section will further discuss how the ethnic centrism were constructed and
thus be part of representation of history. Hence, this construction of ethnic centrism
was constructed in different manner and different point of view based on the
organisationn’s ideology, social, and cultural stands.
7.4 Ethnic Centrism
When describing the nation’s history through the online newspaper, the journalists
draw heavily upon ethnic-history discourse. Expressions such as ‘Indian civilisation’,
‘Chinese contribution’, ‘glaring bias’, ‘Indian culture’, ‘Ketuanan Melayu” (Malay
Supremacy) are commonly highlighted to uphold their rights in debating about
Malaysia’s history, especially the content of history textbooks. As such, it should be
clear to the recipients of the information given in these articles that this is not a matter
to be taken lightly. Within the last few decades, arguments contesting Malaysia’s
national history still intensifies instead of abating. The discussion over ‘colonial
influence’ was shifted towards ‘Malay versus non-Malays’ as the main subject in the
articles represented by both The Star Online and Utusan Malaysia Online. As
mentioned by (Shamsul, 2012), the debates over ‘Malays versus non-Malays’ evolved
and became an unsolved matter of ‘ethnic histories’. Both online newspapers have
their own stance and enthusiasm to emphasise the ‘ethnic histories’ from their point of
view. For instance, The Star Online perpetuates the views from the modern liberal
society, where the arguments challenge the mainstream national history. On the other
hand, the contribution of ‘Chinese’ and ‘Indian’ were emphasised, showing an
‘ethnicised’ tendency. Examples of how this discourse is used within the article series
are shown below:
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Extract 18:
P241: Ministry probing racial bias in History textbook.
“The writer said that History textbooks used in the 1970s and 1980s had
separate chapters on the impact of Indian culture (both Hindu and Buddhist aspects)
in Malaysia’s heritage but the current textbook had summarised it into just one
sentence”.
P214: Dr Wee hopes ministry will rectify history textbook that sidelined MCA
“He had highlighted the matter on his Facebook page posting on Friday,
expressing his shock that the late Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee was not mentioned in the
Year Six textbook despite the leader's contributions”.
Figure 7.1: Extract 18
While Utusan Malaysia Online upheld a strong ‘Malay’ pillar with most its
arguments embodying the Malay characteristics. In respect of the representation of the
nation’s history the Utusan Malaysia Online, the discourse of Malayness could not be
argued as Malay is the dominant ethnic group in Malaysia. Moreover, most
Malaysia’s historiography leads to a body of knowledge critically emphasising the
Malays in their writing. The language used in Utusan Malaysia Online is intentionally
protecting. In avoiding the sentiment of bias, the intention to get it interpreted in an
emotional manner. This discourse can be seen in quotations such as:
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Extract 19:
P 9: Antara fakta dan interpretasi
“Malangnya orang Melayu tidak menggunakan sentimen kaum untuk
mempersoalkan apabila nama-nama nasionalis Melayu digugurkan seperti MCA
prihatin terhadap orang-orang Cina. Barangkali MCA kena belajar daripada
orang Melayu bagaimana menilai dan memberi harga kepada kemerdekaan
tanpa mengungkit siapa yang memperjuangkannya. Orang Melayu tidak pernah
menulis surat kepada kerajaan mempersoalkan kenapa ada nasionalis Melayu
yang dipadamkan nama mereka”.
Figure 7.2: Extract 19
Extract 20:
Figure 7.3: Extract 20
134
Extract 21:
Figure 7. 4: Extract 21
135
Extract 22:
Figure 7.5: Extract 22
The articles from Utusan Malaysia Online Extract 21 and 22 touches the
consciousness and sensitivity of the Pulau Pinang Malays towards their history and
heritage. It asserted that the Malays as the founding community on the island instead
of the Eurasians. However, the facts remain unchanged and has challenge the Malay-
centric narratives. The assertion does not necessarily imply a Malay-centric view of
history. Instead it called for a more inclusive approach toward the writing of the
history of Pulau Pinang. In “Selamatkan Sejarah Batu Uban”, A Murad Merican
136
called for a reassessment on the treatment of Pulau Pinang early history, hence
mainstream historiography of the state and the nation (Murad Merican, 2012).
Extract 23:
Figure 7.6: Extract 23
137
Scholars have long accepted the fact that Hang Tuah existed in history, not just in
the Malay history, but also appeared in China and latest in Japan. However, few
articles appeared through online platform especially one of the articles in The Star
Online questioned the existence of Hang Tuah. Surprisingly, new facts emerged and
contesting the Malay-centric narrative of official Malaysian history. The Star
portrayed the Malay hero Hang Tuah as a Chinese. This new interpretation has
transcended the ethnic divide, particularly re-interpreted based on ethnic-centrism.
The text published in The Star Online express quite clearly the new sentiments,
shaken the beliefs of people, especially the mainstream national history
This discourse is, as opposed to the ethnic-centrism discourse earlier, quite tense
and emotional. It includes symbolic representations of each ethnic group in Malaysia,
signaling their contributions and rights, justice and injustice: the explicit language of
the narratives makes those distinctions very clear. Eventually, implicit construction of
discourse is evident when the discourse of power differences is combined with the
discourse of ethnic-centrism. Applying the discursive formation and regarding the
discourse from a wider perspective, constructing the history discourse of Malaysia is
remains unresolved, even in the online version. The results of this study echoed with
study conducted by (Rauf & Bolong, 2017), where it showed that Internet users tend
to communicate with their own ethnic. The attitude of inability to appreciate others
may lead to hostility to out groups, and this phenomenon still exist in the real life of
Malaysian community (Zakaria, 2012).
The ethnic-centrism discourse paired with the construction of the nation’s history
discourse are plagued with controversies and emotions, and detached from the subject
matter it deals with, allowing the reporting writer to appear professional and
objective. In return, it implies credibility and truthfulness. As a result, what is
depicted and published in the media is likely selected. Although both online
newspapers seemed to ally with the ruling power, the perspectives represented in The
Star Online seem to contradict the government. Many articles urged the government
to revise the facts in the articles published in the The Star Online, while in Utusan
138
Malaysia Online, most of the articles published touched on the importance of
patriotism, Ketuanan Melayu (Malay sovereignty), and social contract.
7.5 Summary
The result of this study was unique and shocking as the issue of identity and ethnicity
still prevailed as in the previous studies conducted by the scholars (Yang & Ishak
Ahmad, 2012) revealed that the inter-ethnic relations in Malaysia was viewed as a
challenge in demonstrating national unity and social stability. Both online newspapers
represent the nation history discourse through their own lens, which are heavily
influenced by the organisational ideology, political, social, and cultural background.
Through the lense of multi-perspectivity in narration of history, it serves to portray the
relative character of personal viewpoints or perspectivity in general.
The magnitude of ‘othering’, biasness in protecting cultural beliefs could have
been the factor in determining the volume of representation of ethnic in the article. It
stems from the epitome of divide and rule (divide et impera) policy, which inherited
from the British that had made this racially diverse nation into ethnically divided
country. As such, every ethnic has their own version of history.
Malaysia’s history represented in the online newspapers appeared to reflect
power construction monopolising the whole idea of the nation’s history. This can be
read as an attempt to provide a counter narrative to the Malay-dominant history in
Malaysia. The cyberspace has provided a platform from the conventional a two-way
communication into a multi- way of communication. As a result, different forms of
historical narratives coincide and reflect the relevant social reality.
139
What can be concluded that the rhetoric appeared espouses the impact and
effect of the new media towards new generation, as this generations use this
platform frequently to share and posted their thoughts. Today, media-based
discourse can still be clearly seen in the letters to the editor sections of many
newspapers. As the online medium of news reporting becomes more prevalent,
however, so does the use of online comment sections for voicing one’s opinions
and discussing issues with others.
CHAPTER 8
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
In this concluding chapter, a summary of the key findings associated with the
research aims is discussed. Later, a discussion on the contributions of the study to
academic knowledge and the implications in the context of Malaysia are presented in
this chapter. Finally, suggestions and future recommendations for future researchers
will be discussed.
8.1 Summary of the Main Findings
This study investigated and disclosed the representation of Malaysia history through
online newspapers, by focusing on how these two online newspapers, The Star
Online and Utusan Malaysia Online, constructed Malaysia’s history and presented it
to the readers. The aims of this study are summarised in Table 8.1.
1. To analyse how Malaysia’s history is represented in The Star and Utusan
Malaysia Online from 2010-2015.
2. To examine the underlying knowledge and discourses that represent Malaysia’s
history in The Star and Utusan Malaysia Online from 2010-2015.
Table 8.1: The Aims of the Study
In fulfilling the aims of this study, the Foucauldian discourse was used as an
analytical tool for uncovering the discursive construction of Malaysia’s history
141
followed by a discussion on the ideas underlying the discourse in representing
Malaysia’s history. The major findings are summarised below.
8.2 Multitude Discourses of Malaysia’s History Represented in The Star and
Utusan Malaysia Online
Edward Said’s Orientalism made an enormous impact in/on this study. Said’s theory
corresponds with Foucauldian’s understanding of knowledge as being closely
connected to issues of power. Knowledge is power, and no sciences are politically
innocent. Said then described the field of knowledge about the “Orient” –
Orientalism – as a discursive field that relies on a binary world view. Subsequently,
an overview was conducted via quantitative analysis of the two online newspapers
project the ‘image’ of Malaysia’s history. The quantitative assessment performed
earlier was as an overview of the representation of Malaysia’s history in the online
newspapers.
According to Hasrina and colleagues (2013), politics and ethnicity are the major
factors that landscaped the media in Malaysia. The results revealed that there were
223 articles related to the history of Malaysia published from 2010-2015. The
analysis further revealed that the articles containing Malaysia’s history were
disproportionate every online news portal, as Utusan Malaysia’s Online published
higher number of articles with 56.9 percent compared to The Star Online with only
43 percent. Thus, although both online newspapers are allied to the government, the
content and objectives were different. In terms of which sections on online news
were published the most, Nation and Opinion Letters sections had been shown the
most published articles in The Star Online. The Opinion Letter section provides a
platform for the public to air their views, and this shows they are conscious about
Malaysia’s history. As for Utusan Malaysia Online, Rencana published the highest
articles. Comparing both online newspapers revealed that Utusan Malaysia Online
published more articles in most of the sections compared to The Star Online.
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However, further analysis based on both online newspapers demonstrated that
the trend of publishing articles representing Malaysia’s history increased rapidly in
the 2014-2015 period. The next part of the analysis revealed that for the 19 sections
in Utusan Malaysia Online, 73 authors were involved in creating the news compared
to The Star Online, with only 60 authors involved. Finally, further analysis on the
type of authors and written articles showed that despite having journalists to
contribute to the published articles, the “citizens” category published the second
highest number of articles, especially for The Star Online. This shows that The Star
Online allocated higher priority to citizens to express their thoughts. This result
confirmed other studies by Manivannan (1991); Yang & Ishak (2013); Anuar (2005)
and Randhawa, S., Puah, P., & Loone (2005), as The Star has always been liberal in
its reporting since 1971.
A characteristic of vernacular newspapers in Malaysia found in this study
focusing on The Star Online and Utusan Malaysia Online is that each tends to focus
on events that involve the importance of their own specific communities related to
their ethnic groups (Halimahton et al., 2006). This was rooted from the colonial
British era with each race conditioned to fight for their own interests and rights by
focusing only on their own ethnic problems (Ahmad Sebi, 1991; Mohd Asri bin
Mohamad, 2002). Hence, the published articles in The Star Online that were
contributed by the public caught more attention.
Through the Foucauldian discourse analysis, the first three stages of Carla
Willig’s interpretation were adopted to uncover how the constructed discourse in
representing Malaysia history was able to exclude or marginalise others’ way of
thinking. The operation of power and subjugated knowledge were also uncovered.
Hence, the web of power enables the discourse to dominate other discourses.
Likewise, the discourse of “Ketuanan Melayu” and history textbooks became part
of the political ideology. The analysis further showed that continuation of these two
discourses produces knowledge and increased autonomy in knowledge production,
including ideology and hegemony. This analysis further validates the radical use of
Ketuanan Melayu to justify nationalistic discourse (Ting, 2009; Vickers, 2002).
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Meanwhile, the discourse perpetuated an ethnic view to represent an ideology
embedded in the political party (UMNO) as to garner political and cultural
dominance. For example, social agendas such as narration of history are driven by
ideologies, asserting their own knowledge and “truths” to produce dominant
discursive assumptions that result in emporwerment.
The question that arises at this point is why do the online news represent
history in such a way? Are the published facts absolute truth? Haberland & Mey,
(1977) lamented on why has this discourse come to be produced. In answering this
question, a deeper examination is required on the workings of the media industry,
social psychology and the socio-political forces shaping the contemporary
Malaysia. Today, new media technologies increasingly allow a space for minority
groups to perform what Faye Ginsberg termed ‘cultural activism’, where
theminority groups can re-engage with the power structures that have marginalised
them (Ginsburg, 2008, p. 139).
On the other hand, history textbooks still play a major role in formal education,
confirming the views by (Apple & Beyer, 1983) on the role of textbooks in
transmitting social ideologies. The Star Online discussed more aggressively the
issue of contestation of history textbooks than Utusan Malaysia Online. In a wider
discourse, the selection and omission of what is to be represented in Malaysia’s
history is part of recurrent strategies by the government pertaining to the way racial
integration is ensured in a multi-ethnic society. The rise of national consciousness
regarding history forms a layer of surface knowledge that conceals other narratives
or subjugated knowledge of different perspectives in history, thus intensifying
contestation.
Based on the analysis similar to other studies of this type conducted so far, the
analysis in this study demonstrated that textbooks play an active part in transferring
a particular vision of the world (see: (Apple & Christian-smith, 1991; Hein &
Selden, 2000; Vogrinčič & Čepič, 2009; Popow, 2014).
144
On the other hand, racial and ethnic differences often serve as identifying
markers that influence the process of ‘othering’. Thus, it is important to realise that
the analysis revealed the binary of “us” vs “them” rooted from the colonial
discourse continues to shape public discourse and subsequently produces the
contested version of the national narrative. The construction of “otherness”
maintains and enhances the bilateral rivalry while denying the “other” from positing
their views. Hence, the online medium such as the online newspaper become an
avenue for them to express their views. The idea of “othering” not only distorts
history through simplification, but it also constructs negative attitudes that may lead
to ethnic conflict.
Through the analysis, the interpretation of Malaysia’s history through
representation corresponds to what Jameson (1984) called ‘crisis of
representation’(cited in Natoli & Hutcheon, 1993). This is what the act of
contestation of the dominant representation was about. It emerges from the challenge
to be the positivist paradigm as highlighted by by Jean-Francois Lyotard.
8.3 ‘Otherness’ in Representing the Malaysia’s History
Dominant or oppressed discourses are produced by continuous discursive
construction and reconstruction inside human. At the same time, the working of
power behind the discursive formations raises the open question of non-discursive
identity of power. Hence, by adopting Foucault’s theories, Hall and Said
demonstrated that the often-paradoxical working of power in representing
Malaysia’s history. As such, the findings of this study reveal that the ‘otherness’ has
been treated under the rubric of political and cultural influence.
Dominant cultural or societal ideology often fosters the development of deeply
engrained biases or beliefs such as racism. This perception is often overlooked and
therefore subconsciously subjected onto others. As Stuart Hall asserted, “at different
places, times, in relation to different questions, the boundaries are re-sited” (1990, p
228). The process of ‘othering’ seems inherently fluid and changing over time, even
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though Malaysia has gained independence. Based on the findings, the ‘otherness’ is
manifested within the representation of Malaysia’s history that emerged from the
mix of power structures influencing the construction of the ‘other’ in terms of social
representation. Apart from construction of dominant discourses derived from the
findings, ‘otherness’ has become part of social representation.
New media such as online newspapers has become a medium for resistance and
contestation. They are the tool for knowledge dissemination. Thus, ownership
contributes to knowledge dissemination (Malaysia’s history) in reflecting the social
reality as the editors and journalists are usually the members of the community elite
(Kua, 2002; Lent, 1978; Mansor, 2005). This study justifies a few findings from
previous research on ethnic tensions in Malaysia (Lee, 2002; R. Lee, 2004; Neo,
2006), as they cast the minorities as ‘others’, and create ethnic fracture in the society.
The findings also revealed that although both online newspapers seem to ally with
the ruling power, the perspectives represented in The Star Online were contradictory
and seem to go against the government. Utusan Malaysia Online, on the other hand,
is upheld as a strong ‘Malay’ pillar, with most of the arguments embodying the
Malay characteristics. Apart from that, language usage by both online newspapers
are intentionally protective of each ethnic. At the same time, the conflict arises due
to a biased selection in representing Malaysia’s history in order to meet society’s
ideology and ethos (Liu & Hilton, 2005; Southgate, 2005). Everyone used the past to
meet their purposes and objectives. Some politicians used it to justify their own
political needs, while others gratify it as to embrace own identity and to be accepted
the societal groups.
In view of these controversial findings and heated public debate over Malaysia’s
history, this study provides an exploration of online newspapers. This study echoed
other previous studies on ‘otherness’ (Heehs, 2003; Rajandran, 2012). Hence, this
concept by Edward Said shows that ‘otherness’ has been manufactured within the
social reality, in which culture and identity have significant contributions in directing
the behaviour of stereotypes.
146
The researcher of this study believed that representation of Malaysia’s history
through online newspapers consists of a complex of social constructions, by which
power plays an important part. The divisive effect of this binary opposition of ‘us’
versus ‘them’ forms what the researcher called ‘silent violence’, which enormously
damage the social system. Consequences of this oppressed view regarding the
minorities complicate attempts to reach a national consensus of the past due to the
occurrence of suspicion and disrespect of the experience of others.
Through this study, the researcher attempted to demystify Malaysia’s history
(master narrative) and ethnic narratives (alternative/counter narrative) that have the
potential of arousing controversies. In the pursuit of this, resistance exists in the
course of representing Malaysia’s history. The resistance is a natural reaction to the
power imbalance in Malaysia’s past and present. Foucauldian discourse analysis
performed in this study unveiled that representation via online newspapers are
constituted through this power and resistance is part of power. Burr (1995) remarked
that, “power is not a property of any person or group, but it is something that you can
exercise through discourse” (p.71). Notably, by questioning ‘what if’ instead of
‘what happened’ not only provides different course of approach and understanding,
but shows that history can also be experimental. As we are in the midst of a rapidly
changing world, recognition of the evolution of the plural society and the
contribution of the minorities in Malaysia have to be re-examined and viewed with a
more balanced perspective.
8.4 Research Contributions
The findings of this study have particular theoretical and methodological
implications on cultural studies and media studies. In this concluding chapter, the
implication of this study is discussed before offering some recommendations to
improve the representation of Malaysia’s history through online news based on the
findings. While the theoretical concepts and methodological construction altered to
fit the study presented certain challenges, the result point to possible new direction
147
for the research on the new media, especially online news in representing Malaysia’s
history. Reflexivity when doing the study will also be discussed later in this section.
8.4.1 Theoretical and Methodological Contributions
The current state of knowledge comprises a multitude dimension. The most abundant
in representing Malaysia’s history are sourced from the content of national history
textbooks (Hussin, 2008; Kheng, 2003; Rajandran, 2012; Santhiram, 1997; Ting,
2009), specifically teaching, history curriculum, and nation building (Anuar.A,
Rahman.S.T, & Abdullah.N.A, 2009; Cullip, 2007; Mohamad Rodzi Abd Razak,
2009; Mohd Samsudin & Shahizan Shaharuddin, 2012; Yacob et al., 2014). Previous
studies on representation of Malaysia history only highlighted on museum,
brochures, and films (A. T. Ahmad, 2008; Y. Ahmad & Film, 2008; Chun & Abdul,
2006; Razak, 2012; Worden, 2014).
However, a study on the history discourse represented by the new media is
scarce as the Internet was a relatively new medium for alternative discourses (Postill,
2014; Tan & Zawawi, 2008). On the other hand, Rusalina Idrus’s (2015) study on
cybermyth only represented part of the national history, debunking the silent myth of
the cyberspace. This analysis contributed to unveil the power and knowledge
relations entangled in representing the Malaysia’s history as part of knowledge
production. The study aimed to address a gap in the literature, which explored new
qualitative venues by hybrating few discourse approaches to fit into this study.
This study also extended arguments about the link between media representation
and cultural diversity (Fürsich, 2010), revealing the power and knowledge
construction in disseminating knowledge. It also highlighted the importance of
developing awareness as people are becoming conscious of their own history. The
dominant and alternative cultural discourses circulated in society makes for people’s
different ways-of-being. The construction of discourses discussed in the findings
148
make available dominant and alternative ways-of-being, where they are strongly
implicated in the exercise of power (Willig, 2001).
Consequently, the findings demonstrated that this social constructionism, which
was influenced by various disciplined provides a methodological approach that is
effective in unveiling the knowledge sustained by the social processes. At the same
time, this paradigm of research denies that the knowledge received is a direct
perception of reality. Hence, it should consider specifying historically and culturally,
the knowledge constructed through the society (Burr, 1995).
Social constructionist viewed our knowledge as in this study on Malaysia’s
history constructed through a social world, where the daily interactions between the
people (ethnic society) construct their own interpretations and understanding of the
knowledge that become fabricated. The on-goings between people in the course of
everyday lives are seen as practices during which our shared versions of knowledge
are constructed. Thus, in this study, media plays a major role in representing and
selecting the history of Malaysia as part of knowledge dissemination. Hence, this
study provides further support in employing interpretive and qualitative methods in
examining how Malaysia’s history is represented in the online newspapers. The
study demonstrates that due to the existence and function of dominant and alternative
cultural discourses, certain experiences that people have will become part of their
personal narratives.
These narratives are repeatedly recounted and regarded as privileged knowledge
and practices in their lives, while other experiences do not form part of their
recounted personal narratives. These experiences remain untold and become
subjugated knowledge and practices of their lives, regarded as marginalised
knowledge and practices (Kotzé, E & D.J, 1997). Hence, the knowledge produced
has become complex and create bias, and ‘otherness’. The researcher argued that the
process of social constructionism constitutes an approach that involves construction
of the self that formed the power relationships and ethnic consciousness.
149
Epistemologically, this study extends the position of knowledge in society by
highlighting that ethnic consciousness is exclusively determined by the produced
discourse and that knowledge of reality is determined by ethnic itself. It should be
noted that, social constructionism is applicable as a social theory as it deals with the
nuances of epistemological and ontological realism (Searle, 1995). On the other
hand, this study contributes by providing a perspective on cultural resistance which
integrates the element of power hegemony into the resistance of history contestation.
It argues that the representation of Malaysia history through online news have the
potential of performing counter-discourse against the mainstream history.
This study also makes a contribution to memory scholarship where media
representations of memory, consciousness and online news as sites of memory.
Journalism has been largely ignored as an agent of memory; thus, this study can be
considered an addition to the effort aiming at filing the void. While this academic
study might not be able to suggest solutions to the problems in Malaysia history, this
study can enhance public understanding of the dynamics of memory, contestation in
Malaysia history.
Foucauldian concepts serve to support the main argument. The postcolonial
engagement with Foucault is beyond superficial. The functions of these theories,
representation, power and knowledge, and otherness are coherent in this study. These
notions serve to establish that power relationship constructed through history
knowledge cannot be reduced to the political and economic domination.
Thus, using Foucauldian discourse analysis provides a space for a researcher to
locate himself during the analysing process. Inserting his own voice and thoughts
into the research process adds one’s self into another dimension. As each discourse
has its own school of thoughts and tradition, including concepts, procedures and
understanding, there will always a prospect for new interpretation and experiments.
Since there are no strict guidelines for analysis to follow (Burr, 1995), the researcher
found that using Carla Willig’s first three steps in conducting Foucauldian discourse
150
provides a thorough guide through initial identification in textual analysis, unveiling
the power relations in representing Malaysia’s history.
Willig’s methods in conducting discourse was criticised as being a direct
analysis of the piece of text and ignoring the construction of power and knowledge.
The researcher further incorporated Stuart Hall’s representation (Hall, 2001)
concepts as part of the Foucauldian analysis. Researchers may adopt their own
methodological procedures, as long as they are guided by the research questions and
aims, by explaining detailed procedure with justification of their choices (Taylor,
2001). Hence, the first three steps are deemed suitable for this study as it only
involves documentation without human interactions in phsycological research. It
brings new insights into qualitative nature of these practices to other researchers
interested in performing Foucauldian discourse analysis.
With respect to the coding process using ATLAS.ti, the researcher found that it
was useful in managing the articles and codes (Paulus & Lester, 2014), although it
has been preceded by the archaeological and genealogical critiques (Blismas &
Dainty, 2003). Memos were used as part of reflexivity throughout the study process.
Friese (2014) asserted that reflexivity is essential during the research process as it
helps to avoid biases. Meanwhile, the researcher also conducted a manual analysis in
order to gain readability. In effect, the limitation has become a strength, which led to
a credible and substantiated confirmation of the identified research problem.
8.4.2 Limitation of the Study
When it comes to discourse analysis, there is certain limitations related to the
methodology used. In general, any analysis that deals with text is going to be limited
as the language is not action, nor empirical reality (Mckee, 2009) as in this study,
which deals with subjectivity. For relativists, reality cannot exist outside of
discourse, hence it is through language that we are able to build and have access to
the world (Willig, 2008). Thus, the questions arise on whether the reality exists
outside of the discourse. Willig (2008) argued that Foucauldian discourse analysis
151
conceives the widest sense and attributes to discourse the power in order to construct
the subject’s way of seeing the world.
Secondly, time and space limitations meant this study was beyond the scope.
First, the first proposal by the researcher to retrieve/extract the articles published in
the period 2006-2015 after the emergence of the Internet in Malaysia, However, the
limited availability of the online articles forced the researcher to change the time
frame to 2010-2015 as the archive in the news portal was only available from 2010
onwards. Apart from that, this study only dealt with articles that discussed and
described about Malaysia’s history based on the key words discussed in chapter 4.
8.5 Future Research and Recommendations
The representation of Malaysia’s history could be imagined in markedly different
ways. Many areas remain unexplored in the study of how history should be
represented. This exploratory study suggests several areas that may lead to fruitful
future research.
Celebrating the distinctiveness of one’s group or ethnicity has always been part
of the process in nation building. The hidden agenda in using ‘identity politics’, in
constructing the discourse, may disintegrate the nation into silent antagonistic and
irreconcilable fragments. This study is aware of the disintegrative dangers that might
occur in presenting the results.
This study raises far more questions than answers. News published within
different times may suggest different representations of Malaysia’s history.
Therefore, it is suggested that future research should apply similar framework but
different timeframe. At the same time, the study could be improved by including
various ranges of online newspapers, both from mainstream and alternative, which
could possibly reduce the reliance on two online newspapers. Hence, it could also
increase the number of articles available for future studies.
152
Overall, Foucault’s discourse analysis does not provide any solutions to the
issues raised in this thesis as the aims stated in Chapter 1 that the solutions are only
relevant for a limited time. Hence, it was merely to unveil and understand the
phenomenon in representing the Malaysia’s history. Thus, there is no guarantee that
any solutions offered will contribute and prevent the issue of ethnicity in the future.
The only way is to acknowledge, embrace, and offer it to be revised for the sake of
the nation’s harmony.
Lastly, further investigation and examination is needed of the role of online
news, in constructing collective memory. Despite current study using two
mainstream online news, future research could consider alternative news as unit of
analysis. Like cyberspace itself, collective memory is transitory and unpredictable,
as everyday will become history, thus, which events and what images to be
considered in representing the history could be further investigated, along with the
implications of mass mediated remembering.
8.6 Reflexivity
Reflexivity entails self-awareness (Lambert, Jomeen, & McSherry, 2010) where it
involves reviewing the ways in which our own values, interests, and social identities
have shaped the research. According to Parahoo (2006), reflexivity is a never-ending
process of reflection by the researcher especially about their own values. It is also
about a process of recognising, examining, and understanding how their “social
background, location, and assumptions affect their research practice” (Hesse-biber,
2007, p. 17). Since this study adopted the nature of the qualitative research
paradigm, it explored the deeper elements of social actions. The researcher had to be
constantly mindful of personal reflexivity as she must be aware of her own values
and beliefs that may influence the meaning construction during the research process.
Self-reflexivity also helps to reduce bias, by evaluating the quality of the research
and the reliability of findings. Adopting reflexivity allows researcher to be
transparent (DeSouza, 2004), and at the same time enhance the researcher’s
credibility (Patton, 2002).
153
When analysing the text, the researcher was also mindful of the adopted
research approach that could never be truly objective, neutral or value-free (Oliver et
al., 2005). However, as Ruby (1980) asserted, being reflexive mean “being honest
and ethically mature in research requires researchers to ‘stop being’ “shamans” of
objectivity’” (p.154). In other words, it is important for the researcher to be mindful
of the research aims and gradually question her own subjectivity as the researcher in
relation to her pre-conceptions, motivation, and her own ways of seeing the
construction and relationship in a history discourse. Hence, discourse analysis
honours and acknowledges researcher’s interpretation that silences possible others
(Frost et al., 2010).
Personal bias always exists in interpreting the text as the researcher, being a
Bumiputra and a Malay woman, had discovered. She had initially experienced some
difficulty while reconciling her position as the researcher with her status as a Malay
Bumiputra.
Hence, this could account for why the researcher chose to work within the
social constructionist paradigm out of other research paradigms. This paradigm
concerns the different ways reality is constructed through language and the dominant
discourses that can be deconstructed Burr, 1998).
During this study, the researcher also encountered and incorporated theories
such as representation, power and knowledge, and otherness into her analysis and
discussion. Certain difficulties were encountered in trying to justify the researcher’s
readings. At times, the researcher doubted during the analysis stage because of the
subjective nature of the discourse analysis as that the guidelines “necessarily fall
short of concrete ‘how-you-do-it’ instructions (Burr, 1995, p. 163). Thus, it created
confusion on how to proceed with the study. This is the process where the
Foucauldian discourse analysis was used as a construction (Burr, 1995). There was
also a critique that the discourses did not emerge from the data, but constructed by
the analyst (Harper, 1999). Through an analysis conducted by the researcher, the
154
discourses constructed were based on previous studies that partly emerged from the
researcher’s readings. Subsequently, the nuances in the researcher’s belief and
perspectives have possibly led to bias in interpreting the data.
Finally, by outlining the difficulties and biases encountered in the research, it is
anticipated that an honest, authentic, and genuine approach to the research is
archived, without trying to make any claims to the truth. As stated by Harper (1999),
any report (thesis) produced is considered partial and subjective, while implying that
realisation is merely the way of seeing things. Despite that, the study provided the
researcher with worthwhile experience in conducting research, which boosted her
confidence as a researcher.
155
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194
APPENDIX A
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
Abdul, N., Zamri, K., Murad, A., & Sulam, M. (2018). Another History of
Malaysia? Expression From “Negara” Sarawak. In Asia International
Multidisciplinary Conference (pp. 1–95). The European Proceedings of Social &
Behavioural Sciences EpSBS. http://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2018.05.25
Norena, K. Z., Sulam, M., & Murad, A. M. (2017). Tracing the Trajectories in
History of Malaysia : Exploring Historical Consciousness in Sarawak.
PERTANIKA Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (Special Issue), 25,
219–228.
Zamri, N. A. K. (2016). Portraying the History of Malaysia in Online
Newspapers- A Preliminary Study. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences,
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Abd Karim Zamri, N. (2015). Review of the Representation of History in the
New Media. In Social Science Postgraduate Seminar (SSPIS) 2015 (pp. 125–
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http://media.wix.com/ugd/6efb65_22d4d641a12c45d8b31ae317d5232e1e.pdf
195
APPENDIX B
RESEARCH JOURNAL
The research diary is a powerful tool in qualitative research as it provides the
researcher the opportunity to reflect on the analysis and findings while managing the
study. The following figure is a print screen of the memos generated from Atlas.ti.
The information accumulated in the diary is retrieved easily as provided as output
files to support chapter writing.
196
APPENDIX C
List of Codes Generated by Atlas.Ti
197
Appendix D
List of Articles Published in Utusan Malaysia Online From 2010-2015
No Year Date Section Title Author Code
3 2015 2/12/2015 Rencana
Adakah Kita
Pengemis Dan
Daif Sejarah
Sendiri? Zaini Hassan History
4 2015 12/10/2015
Berita
Nasional
Ajar Subjek
Kontrak Sosial N/A
Social
Contract
5 2010 13/5/2010 Rencana
Ambil Iktibar
Sejarah Untuk
Perkukuhkan
Perpaduan
Antara Kaum N/A
History/
Integration
7 2015 28/11/2015 Rencana
Belajarlah
Daripada
Sejarah N/A History
8 2015 9/2/2015
Berita
Nasional
Belia Jangan
Dipenjarakan
Sejarah N/A
History
Knowledge
10 2015 31/12/2015
Berita
Nasional
Buku Teks
Sejarah Tahun 6
Diedar Sebelum
31 Januari Ini N/A
History
Textbook
11 2015 30/8/2015 Rencana
Cabaran
Kemerdekaan
Rencana Muka
6
Datuk Zainal
Abidin
Borhan
Independenc
e Day
17 2014 8/9/2014
Berita
Nasional
`Expressions of
Merdeka' Boleh
Dijadikan N/A
Independenc
e Day
198
Rujukan Sejarah
31 2015 3/12/2015
Berita
Nasional
Kementerian
Arah Tarik
Balik Buku
Teks Sejarah
Tahun 6
Kementerian
Pendidikan Arah
Tarik Balik Fadzly Izab
History
Textbook
37 2014 30/10/2014 Rencana
Kontrak Sosial
Dan
Perlembagaan
Noor
Mohamad
Shakil
Hameed
Social
Contract/
Constitution
45 2015 27/8/2015 Rencana
Membangun
Masa Depan
Melalui Sejarah
Lampau
Lee Lam
Thye History
46 2015 13/5/2015 Rencana
Mencari
Formula Baru
Perbincangan
Isu Sensitif
Dr. Mohd.
Mahzan
Awang Event/1969
48 2013 28/8/2013 Rencana
Nama Pejuang
Kemerdekaan
Diabadikan Di
Tempat
Sewajarnya
Abdul Razak
Idris
History/Fore
fathers
53 2015 18/2/2015 Rencana
Pendekatan
Baru Urus
Hubungan
Kaum
Anuar
Ahmad
Historical
Knowledge
66 2014 16/9/2014 Rencana
Sejarah
Merdeka Negara
Berdaulat
Dr.
Aminudin
Mansor
Independenc
e Day
73 2013 8/3/2013 Rencana Semua Pihak Tan Sri Social
199
Perlu Faham
Kontrak Sosial
Alimuddin
Mohd. Dom
Contract
84 2010 10/11/2010 Rencana
13 Mei Dan 21
Julai: Fakta
Sejarah,
Mengapa Perlu
Takut? N/A
13 May
1969/Event
85 2010 2/12/2010 Rencana
Adakah Kita
Pengemis Dan
Daif Sejarah
Sendiri? Zaini Hassan
Historical
Knowledge
90 2010 26/9/2010 Rencana
Apa Itu Kuasa
Melayu?
Dr.Hassan
Ahmad
Malay
Supremacy
99 2014 2/9/2014 Rencana
Di Sini Lahirnya
Sebuah Cinta ...
Makna Yang
Perlu Difahami
Jendela Tok
Ki
Independenc
e Day
10
0 2014 4/9/2014
Sabah&
Sarawak
Didik Anak
Tentang Sejarah
Negara N/A
Patriotisme
In Youth
10
1 2014 1/10/2014 Rencana
Didik Rakyat
Hormati
Institusi Raja N/A Kingship
10
2 2014 24/9/2014 Timur
Elak Ungkit
Perkara Telah
Disepakati N/A
Independenc
e Day
10
3 2012 18/3/2012 Sastera
Fahami Bangsa
Melalui Sejarah
Melayu
Aminudin
Mansor
Malay
History
10
4 2001 12/6/2001 Rencana
Guna Sejarah
Untuk Bina
Masa Depan N/A
Historical
Knowledge
10 2000 15/9/2000 Rencana Hak Istimewa Dr. Ahmad Malay
200
5 Melayu Bersifat
Kebal
Atory
Hussain
Rights
10
6 2014 10/4/2014
Sabah&
Sarawak
Hak Istimewa
Sarawak
Dijamin
Ashley
Anggat Sarawak
10
7 2014 2/9/2014 Rencana
Hakikat Cinta
Sebuah
Kemerdekaan N/A
Independenc
e Day
10
8 2004 29/8/2004 Sastera
Hang Tuah
Dianggap
Sebahagian
Sejarah Melaka
- Hebatnya
Sebuah Hikayat
Ku Seman
Ku Hussain Hang Tuah
10
9 2012 17/9/2012
Dalam
Negeri
Hari
Kemerdekaan,
Hari Malaysia
Sama Penting N/A
Independenc
e Day
11
0 2011 16/9/2011 Rencana
Hari Malaysia
Milik Semua Fauziah Arof
Malaysia
Day
11
1 2014 4/9/2014 Rencana
Isu-Isu Akhbar
Cina N/A
Politic/Ethni
c
11
2 2014 5/9/2014
Sabah&
Sarawak
Jangan Pertikai
Tarikh
Kemerdekaan N/A
Independenc
e Day
11
3 2014 19/9/2014
Dalam
Negeri
Kaitkan
Komunis
Dengan
Negaraku
Keterlaluan N/A
National
Anthem/Co
munist
11
4 2010 19/9/2010 Rencana
Kalaulah
Sejarah Jadi
Berlainan Zin Mahmud
Alternative
History
11 2007 1/6/2007 Rencana Ke Arah Reka Marzuki Malaysian
201
5 Bentuk
Beridentitikan
Malaysia
Ibrahim Identity
11
6 2004 31/10/2004 Rencana
11
7 2010 5/9/2010 Rencana
Keistimewaan
Melayu Adalah
Hak
Dr.
Shamrahayu
Abd. Aziz
Malay
Rights
11
8 2005 28/8/2005 Rencana
Kembali
Memahami
Sejarah Mukadimah
Historical
Knowledge
11
9 2015 3/12/2015 Nasional
Kementerian
Arah Tarik
Balik Buku
Teks Sejarah
Tahun 6
Kementerian
Pendidikan Arah
Tarik Balik Fadzly Izab
History
Textbooks
12
0 2005 11/9/2005 Rencana
Kenanglah
Pejuang
Kemerdekaan
Ku Seman
Ku Hussain
Independenc
e Day
Forefathers
12
1 2013 17/1/2013
Dalam
Negeri
Kerajaan Beri
Perhatian Serius
Subjek Sejarah N/A
History
Subject
12
2 2010 31/1/2010 Rencana
Keretakan T
Ugu 13 Mei
Zainuddin
Maidin
13 May
1969-
12
3 2005 26/12/2005 Rencana
Khazanah
Memoir
Bertambah Di
Malaysia
Shaharom
Tm Sulaiman
Historical
Memoir
(Publication
s)
12
4 2013 16/6/2013 Rencana
Kisah Sang Kiai
Yang Berani
Dan Jujur
Saharudin.
Musthafa
Historical
Knowledge
202
12
5 2014 7/9/2014 Rencana
Kita Tak Peduli
Lagi Bahasa
Kebangsaan!
Azman
Anuar
Bahasa
Kebangsaan/
National
Language
12
6 2010 23/9/2010 Rencana
Konsep
Federalisme
Negara Masih
Utuh
Mohd. Ayop
Abd Razid
Historical
Knowledge
12
7 2012 7/9/2012
Dalam
Negeri
Kurikulum
Baharu Subjek
Sejarah
Raja Syahrir
Abu Bakar
History
Subject
12
8 2010 27/11/2010 Terkini
Kurikulum
Subjek Sejarah
Perlu Dikaji
Semula - Nutp N/A
History
Subject
12
9 2009 4/8/2009 Rencana
Melayu Jangan
Jadi Bacul Noor Azam
Malay
Supremacy
13
0 2004 6/3/2004 Rencana
Melayu Tidak
Menghayati
Kontrak Sosial
Pemikiran
Firdaus
Social
Contract
13
1 2009 17/9/2009 Rencana
Mencari Nilai
Hari Malaysia
Khairul
Anwar
Shazali
Malaysia
Day
13
2 2014 15/9/2014 Rencana
Mendalami
Watak Dan Sifat
Jiwa Merdeka
Pandangan
Ikim
Independenc
e Day
13
3 2014 16/9/2014
Sabah&
Sarawak
Merdeka Amat
Bermakna Bagi
Alli N/A
Independenc
e Day
13
4 2010 21/11/2010 Sastera
Merentas
Dilema Adaptasi
Sejarah Razali Endun
History In
Creative
Content
13
5 2016 19/7/2016 Politic
Modul
Hubungan Etnik N/A
Hubungan
Etnik
203
Diteruskan Subject
13
6 2009 29/7/2009
Dalam
Negeri
Nama Malaysia
Mula Diguna
Sebelum
Merdeka N/A
History Of
Malaysia
13
7 2013 29/9/2013 Hiburan
Nostalgia Foto
Tunku Abdul
Rahman
Rasdan
Ahmad
Independenc
e Day
13
8 2010 29/10/2010
Muka
Hadapan
Orang Muda
Buta Sejarah! N/A
Youth And
History
13
9 2014 25/9/2014 Selatan
Pameran
Keganasan
Komunis
Timbul
Kesedaran N/A Communist
14
0 2013 5/3/2013 Politik
Pandang Serius
Usaha
Pembangkang
Hapus Hak
Istimewa Orang
Melayu N/A
Malay
Rights
14
1 2008 14/7/2008 Rencana
Pastikan
Warisan Dunia
Serlahkan
Warisan Melayu N/A
Malay
Heritage
14
2 2014 16/9/2014
Dalam
Negeri
Pembangunan
Pesat Sarawak
Bukti
Pembentukan
Malaysia
Berjaya - Najib N/A Sarawak
14
3 2014 15/9/2014 Politik
Penghasut
Sabah Didalangi
Rakyat Tidak N/A Sabah
204
Setia
14
4 2014 18/9/2014
Sabah&
Sarawak
Penjajahan
Minda Lebih
Berbahaya -
Rosey N/A Sarawak
14
5 2012 24/9/2012 Rencana
Pentingnya
Subjek Sejarah
Diperkasa
Prof. Datuk
Dr. Sidek
Baba
History
Subject
14
6 2014 2/9/2014
Dalam
Negeri
Penubuhan
Malaysia Beri
Kebaikan
Kepada Sarawak N/A
The
Formation
Of Malaysia
14
7 2014 25/9/2014
Bicara
Agama
Peranan Besar
Raja-Raja
Melayu
Zainul Rijal
Abu Bakar
Malay
Rights
14
8 2002 12/2/2002 Rencana
Percanggahan
Suma Oriental
Dengan Sejarah
Melayu
Yusof
Othman
Malay
History
14
9 2010 15/7/2010 Rencana
Percubaan
Manipulasi
Fakta Sejarah
Idris Abdul
Hamid
Historical
Facts
15
0 2008 17/10/2008
Muka
Hadapan
Peringatan Raja
Melayu N/A Kingship
15
1 2015 15/5/2015 Wilayah
Peristiwa 13
Mei Jadikan
Pengajaran N/A
13 May
1969-
15
2 2012 26/20/2012 Rencana
Perlembagaan:
Malaysia Bukan
Sekular
Dr.
Mohamed
Azam
Mohamed
Adil Constitution
15
3 2013 30/8/2013 Rencana
Perlukah
Sejarah Ditulis
Mohd.
Shauki Abd.
Rewrite
History
205
Semula? Majid
15
4 2006 20/8/2006 Rencana
Perpaduan Dan
Perdamaian
Etnik
Prof. Madya
Kamarulzam
an Askandar
Ethnic
Relations
15
5 2001 14/10/2001 Rencana
Polemik
Pertembungan
Tamadun -
Kemarahan,
Ketidakadilan
Mewarnai
Hubungan
Islam-Barat Mukadimah
West
Civilisation
15
6 2009 31/5/2009 Rencana
Realiti, Sejarah
Teras 1
Malaysia
Armizan
Mohd Ali Integration
15
7 2014 4-Sep Rencana
Sabah Tetap
Sebahagian
Daripada
Malaysia
Dr.
Aminudin
Mansor Sabah
15
8 2014 1/9/2014 Utara
Sambutan Hari
Kemerdekaan
Ke-57 Dirai
Penuh
Kesyukuran N/A
Independenc
e Day
15
9 2014 16/9/2014 Rencana
Saya Anak
Malaysia!
Selamat Hari
Malaysia!
Coretan
Marhean
Malaysia
Day
16
0 2014 1/10/2014 Rencana
Segala-Galanya
Tentang Orang
Melayu
Ram Al
Jaffri Saad
Malay
Rights
16
1 2010 4/11/2010 Rencana
Sejarah
Bagaimana
Yang Kita
Dr. Mohd
Ridhuan Tee
Abdullah
History
Subject
206
Mahu?
16
2 2011 24/10/2008 Rencana
Sejarah Bukan
Di Sekolah Saja
Noraini Abd.
Razak
History
Subject
16
3 2012 10/12/2012
Dalam
Negeri
Sejarah
Perjuangan
Tokoh
Terdahulu
Penting
Md. Azrin
Rosly
History
Forefathers
16
4 2010 25/10/2010
Muka
Hadapan
Sejarah Subjek
Teras Sekolah
Rendah 2014
Norizan
Abdul Muhid
History
Subject
16
5 2009 19/4/2009 Rencana
Sejarah Tidak
Boleh
Dipadamkan
Mazlan
Nordin
Historical
Knowledge
16
6 2008 26/11/2008 Rencana
Sejarah Tidak
Pernah
Berbohong N/A
Historical
Knowledge
16
7 2014 4/9/2014 Selatan
Semai Cintai
Negara Kepada
Pelajar N/A
Patriotisme/
Youth
16
8 2002 10/11/2002 Rencana
Semangat
Cintakan Negara
Vs Semangat
Cintakan
Bangsa
Dr. Hassan
Ahmad Patriotisme
16
9 2011 10/9/2011
Dalam
Negeri
Silibus Sejarah
Tentang Alam
Melayu
Disemak N/A
History
Subject
17
0 2011 7/2/2011 Rencana
Singapura Yang
Tidak C Ina Tan Melaka
The
Formation
of Malaysia
17
1 2010 24/10/2010
Muka
Hadapan
Subjek Sejarah
Wajib Lulus N/A
History
Subject
207
Spm
17
2 2011 20/9/2011 Rencana
Tanah Melayu
Tak Pernah Jadi
Koloni
Profesor
Datuk Zainal
Kling
Historical
Knowledge(
Sejarah
Tanah
Melayu)
17
3 2010 27/20/2010 Rencana
Tanpa Sejarah,
Tamatlah Kisah
Manusia Zulkifli Jalil
Historical
Knowledge
17
4 2014 5/7/2014
Dalam
Negeri
Tidak Mustahil
13 Mei 1969
Berulang - Tpm N/A
13 May
1969-
17
5 2010 18/11/2010
Muka
Hadapan
Tidak Perlu
Jadikan 13 Mei
Hari Muhibah N/A
13 May
1969-
17
6 2005 20/9/2005 Rencana
Tidak Setuju
India Muslim
Dapat Status
Melayu Pendapat
Social
Contract
17
7 2012 26/5/2012 Rencana
Tidak Wajar
Bukan Melayu
Memimpin
Tanah Melayu
Prof. Madya
Dr. Mohd.
Ridhuan Tee
Abdullah
Social
Contract
17
8 2014 16/9/2014
Sabah&
Sarawak
Tingkatkan
Penyertaan
Sambutan
Kemerdekaan N/A
Independenc
e Day
17
9 2012 24/9/2012 Rencana
Pentingnya
Subjek Sejarah
Diperkasa
Prof. Datuk
Dr. Sidek
Baba
History
Subject
208
APPENDIX E
List of Articles Published in The Star Online From 2010-2015
The Star Online
No
Yea
r Date Section Author Title Code
1 2010 Dec,
28
Opinion
Letters
Tan Sri
Ramon
Navaratnam
Allegations On
History
Content Need Urgent
Attention
History
Content
2 2010 Dec,
30
Opinion
Letters
Brave New
World
By Azmi
Sharom
Balanced Worldview
Via History
History
Content
4 2015
Dec,
31 Nation None
Chandra Under Fire
Over Stand
History
Content
5 2011
May,
16 Nation None
Watchdog Panel to
Share
Input For History
Revisions
History
Content
6 2009
June,
16 Nation None
Wanita Mca:
Textbooks Must
Be Factual
History
Content
7 2012 June, 1 Nation P, Aruna
Historian: Vital for
Today’s
Youths To Know
Nation’s History
Knowledge
of History
11 2015
Dec,
28
Opinion,
Columnist
s
June H. L.
Wong
This Calls for D.I.Y.
History
History
Content/
209
Ethnicities
12 2011
Sept,
18 Nation
Hariati
Azizan
There Are Two Sides
To the Story
Different
Views
On History
14 2015
March,
9
Opinion
Letters
Joshua
Foong
The Malaysian Story
Must
Be Told by Many
History
Content
16 2015 Dec, 4 Nation Adrian Chan
‘Textbooks Must
Reflect
Truth’
History
Content
17 2015
August
, 15 Nation None
‘Textbooks Must
Reflect
Diversity
History
Content
23 2015
March,
16
Opinion
Letters
Walter
Sandosam Rewriting History
History
Content
25 2015
Dec,
11
Opinion
Letters
Ariff Shah
R. K.
Rectify Errors in
Tamadun
Islam And Titas
History
Content
26 2013
Feb,
20
Opinion
Letters
Dr Ranjit
Singh Malhi
Recognising The Sikh
Community’s History
History
Content
28 2015
Nov,
30 Nation None
‘Professional Body
Shoud
Check History
Textbooks’
History
Content
29 2012
Sept.
19
Opinion
Letters
Liew Shan
Lee
Patriotism Should Be
In
All Subjects
History
Content
30 2015
Nov,
29 Nation
Yee Xiang
Yun
Party’s Contribution
Towards Formation of
M’sia
Sidelined, Says Wee
History
Content
210
31 2011
June,
20 Nation Bernama
Orang Asli History to
Be
Included In
Secondary School
Syllabus: Dpm
History
Content
33 2014
March,
6 Nation None
New History
Textbooks
Needed
New
Curriculum
34 2012 Sept, 6 Nation
Rahimy
Rahim
New History
Curriculum For
Schools Being Drafted
New
Curriculum
35 2015
March,
5
Opinion
Letters Arof Ishak
Narration of History
Of
Nations
Knowledge
of History
38 2015
Nov,
27 Nation None
Ministry to Rectify
History
Book Error
History
Content/Curr
iculum
39 2015
March,
14 Nation None
Ministry Probing
Racial Bias in History
Textbook
History
Content/
Bias
41 2011 Jan, 10 Nation Nation
Liow: Learn History
to Avoid
Past Mistakes
Knowledge
of History
42 2014
May,
20
Opinion
Letters
Noor Ikhsan
Raffii
Let's Not Forget
Sacrifices of Our
Forefathers
Knowledge
of History
43 2015
March,
7
Opinion
Letters
Tan, Ali and
Muthu
Learn from History
and Strive For Better
Future
Knowledge
of History
47 2013
March,
21 Nation
Joseph
Sipalan
It Will Rule in Favour
Of
Malaysia On Sabah,
Says Prof Khoo
Claimed
Over
Sabah
211
49 2010 Nov, 9
Opinion
Letters
Chuah
Seong York
History Should Not
Be
Slanted
History
Content/
Imbalanced
50 2015 Oct, 12 Nation None
History Must Reflect
Our
Diversity, Says Wee
History
Content/
Imbalanced
51 2013
June,
26
Opinion
Letters
Dr Ranjit
Singh
Malhi
History Must Have A
Future
History
Content/
Imbalanced
52 2010 Oct, 31
Opinion
Letters Ruzaini Fikri
History – A Much
Maligned
Subject
History
Content/
Imbalanced
53 2015
Aug,
31 Nation Simrit Kaur
Historian: We Must
Recapture
Vision of Founding
Fathers
History
Content/
Imbalanced
55 2015
March,
13
Opinion
Letters
Dr Ranjit
Singh
Malhi
Glaring Bias in
History
Book
History
Content/
Imbalanced
57 2015
March,
17
Opinion
Letters
Dr. Ranjit
Singh
Malhi
Getting A Clear
Picture Of
The Nation’s History
Knowledge
of History
58 2011
Sept,
25
Opinion
Letters None
Factual Gaps and
Biases
History
Content/
Imbalanced
59 2010
Dec,
20
Opinion
Letters
Dr Ranjit
Singh
Malhi
Factual Errors in
History
Books
History
Content/
Imbalanced
60 2014
May,
24
Opinion
Letters Thomas Kok
Emphasise Diverse
Contributions
History
Content/
Imbalanced
212
62 2015 Dec, 3 Nation Bernama
Education Ministry:
Year
Six History Textbook
Error 'Not Small'
History
Content/
Error
63 2010
Dec,
31
Opinion
Letters
Wong Wai
Keong
Education Ministry
Reply
Does Not Address
Errors and Omissions
History
Content/
Imbalanced
66 2011 May, 3 Nation None
Dpm Meets
Committee On
History Textbook,
Curriculum
History
Content/
Curriculum
69 2010
Dec,
30
Opinion
Letters
Corporate
Communicat
ion
Unit,
Ministry Of
Education
Dbp Panel of Writers
Made
Up Of All Races
History
Content/
Curriculum
71 2014
March,
21 Nation
Kang Soon
Chen
More Passes for Spm
History
History
Content/
Curriculum
77 2014
Nov,
30 Nation None
‘Sabah, Sarawak
Secession
Issue Nonnegotiable’
Sabah/Saraw
ak
81 2015
March,
6
Opinion
Letters
P.
Amaranatha
n
Telling Our History as
It Is
History
Content
83 2015 Jan, 24 Nation None
Right to Secession
Not
Allowed Under
Malaysia Agreement,
Says Attorney-
General
Sabah/Saraw
ak
213
86 2014
Sept,
27 Nation
Tan Yi
Liang
More Intercultural
Dialogue Needed to
Rekindle Malaysia’s
‘Accommodating
Spirit’, Says Expert
Social
Contract
87 2015
March,
11
Opinion
Letters
Tan Sri Dr
Khoo Kay
Kim
History Brought to the
Forefront
History
Content
89 2015 Jan, 26 Opinion
Syahredzan
Johan
Banishing the Spectre
of May 13
13 May
Event
93 2011 Jan, 18 Opinion N/A
History Widens
Students’
Perspective
History
Curriculum
94 2008
Nov,
30 Nation Bernama
Malay Supremacy
Enriches Only A
Small Group: Anwar
Malay
Supremacy
95 2008
May,
11 Opinion
Martin
Vengadesan
May 13, 1969: Truth
and Reconciliation
May, 13
Event
96 2010
Dec,
17 Nation Bernama
Muhyiddin: History
Curriculum
Unchanged Until 2017
History
Curriculum
97 2012 Jan,25 Opinion
P.Gunasegar
am
Myths, Prejudice and
History
History
Knowledge
98 2010
Nov,
15 Nation N/A
No Plans to
Commemorate May
13
May, 13
Event
102 2012
July,
25 Opinion
Brave New
World
Stop Playing Race
Game
13 May
Event
103 2005 Sept, 7 Nation Joceline Tan
The True Fighters for
Merdeka
Independenc
e Day
104 2016 Oct, 8 Opinion Munir Majid
To Ncc2 Or Not To
Ncc2?
13 May
Event
214
105 2013
Sept,
15 Nation
Prof Dr D.S.
Ranjit Singh
Tracing the Origins of
Malaysia
History of
Malaysia
106 2013 Dec, 8 Opinion
Wong Chun
Wai
Waking Up to A Good
History Lesson
Knowledge
of History
107 2010
April,
1 Opinion
Brave New
World by
Azmi
Sharom
What ‘Social
Contract’ Entails
Social
Contract
108 2005 Feb, 6 Opinion N/A
Will Find Kindle
Love for History?
Knowledge
of History
109 2010 Dec, 9 Nation N/A
Nazri: Malay
Supremacy Does Not
Exist
Malay
Supremacy
215
APPENDIX F
List of Authors in Utusan Malaysia Online From 2010-2015
Utusan Malaysia Online: Author Vs Year
Author/Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
A. Murad Merican 1
Abdul Razak Idris 1
Dr. Aminudin Mansor 1 3 1
Amizul Tunizar Ahmad
Termizi 1
Anuar Ahmad 1
Armizan Mohd Ali
Ashley Anggat 1
Azman Anuar 1
Coretan Marhean 1
Dan Rodelio Junjun Taucan 1
Datuk Zainal Abidin Borhan 1
Dr. Ahmad Atory Hussain
Dr. Hassan Ahmad 1
Dr. Mohamed Azam Mohamed Adil 1
Prof. Madya Dr. Mohd.
Ridhuan Tee Abdullah 1 1
Dr. Mohd. Mahzan Awang 1
Dr. Rais Yatim 1
Dr. Shamrahayu Abd. Aziz 1
Fadzly Izab 1
Farhana Joni 1
Fauziah Arof 1
Herman Hamid
Hussaini Amran Dan Mohd. Azraie Md.
Yusof 1
Idris Abdul Hamid 1
Jendela Tok Ki 1
Khairul Anwar Shazali
Ku Seman Ku Hussain 1
216
Lee Lam Thye 1
M. Jasni Majed 1
Marzuki Ibrahim
Mazlan Nordin
Md. Azrin Rosly 1
Mohamed Saari 1
Mohammad Yasir Jaafar 1
Mohd. Asron Mustapha 1
Mohd. Ayop Abd Razid 1
Mohd. Shauki Abd. Majid 1
Muhammad Asyraf Azlan 1
Mukadimah
Other/Not Available 6 2 1 3 28 31
Nazwin Izan Ahmad Nazr 1
Nizam Yatim 1
Noor Azam
Noor Mohamad
Shakil Hameed 1
Noraini Abd. Razak 1
Norizan Abdul Muhid 1 1
Nursuraya Zulkifli 1
Pandangan Ikim 1
Pemikiran Firdaus
Pendapat
Prof. Datuk Dr. Sidek Baba 1
Prof. Madya Dr.
Zafarina Zainuddin 1
Prof. Madya
Kamarulzaman Askandar
Profesor Datuk
Zainal Kling 1
Raja Syahrir Abu Bakar 1
Ram Al Jaffri Saad 1
Rasdan Ahmad 1
Razali Endun 1
Rodelio Junjun Taucan 1
Rosmizan Resdi 1
S.M. Zakir
Saharudin. Musthafa 1
Shaharom Tm Sulaiman
217
Talib Samat 1
Tan Melaka 1
Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd. Dom 1
Yusof Othman
Zaini Hassan 1 1
Zainuddin Maidin 1
Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar 1
Zin Mahmud 1
Zulkifli Jalil 1 1 1
218
APPENDIX G
List of Authors in The Star Online From 2010-2015
The Star Online: Author Vs Year
Author/Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Adrian Chan 1
Andy Chua 1
Ariff Shah R. K. 1
Arof Ishak 1
Baradan Kuppusamy 1
Bernama 1 1 1 1 1
Brave New Worldby Azmi Sharom 1 1
Chuah Seong York 1
Corporate
Communication
Unit, Ministry Of
Education 1
Dr Ranjit Singh
Malhi 1 2 3
Dzof Azmi 1
Hariati Azizan 1 1 3
Hariati Azizan
And Roslina Mohamad 1
Histopy Teacher
Via E-Mail
History Lover
Selangor
Joceline Tan
Joseph Sipalan 1
Joshua Foong 1
June H.L. Wong 1 1
Kang Soon Chen 1
Last Man Standing 1
Liew Shan Lee 1
Louisa Lim 1
219
Manjit Kaur 1
Martin Vengadesan 1
Michelle Tam 2
N. Rama Lohan 1
Nation 1
Neville Spykerman 1
Ng Ai Fern 1
Nigel Edgar 1
Noor Ikhsan
Raffii 1
Oh Bee Leng 1
P, Aruna 1
P. Amaranathan 1
P.Gunasegaram 1 1
Philip Golingai 1
Priya Kulasagaran 2
Priya Kulasagaran
And
Kang Soon Chen 1
Prof Dr D.S. Ranjit Singh 1
Rahimy Rahim 1
Rashvinjeet S.
Bedi 1
Ruzaini Fikri 1
Shaila Koshy 1
Simrit Kaur 1
Syahredzan Johan 1 1
Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay
Kim 1
Tan Sri Ramon
Navaratnam 1
Tan Yi Liang 1
Tan, Ali And
Muthu 1
The Star Says 1
Thomas Kok 1
Walter Sandosam 1
Wong Chun Wai 1
Wong Pek Mei 1
220
Wong Wai Keong 1
Yee Xiang Yun 2
Yu Ji 1