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NUR IZZATI BT ROZMAN

BBA11030454

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON PENANG MURDER:

THE ASSASINATION OF MYANMAR NATIONALS

THIS PAPER IS WRITTEN TO FULLFIL THE COURSE REQUIREMENT FOR BEE 3033-LANGUAGE,IDEOOGY AND POWER

1) INTRODUCTION

Living in this world, in which we share it with many races,

with differences in language, culture and religion, the idea of

getting along is what being perpetuate by the world itself. The

idea of living in harmony and prosperity are the element that

being embark ever since. However, there are some internal thought

that is somehow visible in clarity. The matters appear represent

the inner thought of racism in which may be detected with the

help of critical discourse analysis. Racism that about to be

analyze here is not pertaining the physical violence but

involving verbal statement upon some issue. We are now dealing

with a new kind of racism. While physical assault, racial

segregation and lynching are the once known as a racism action,

nowadays racism are more subtle, implied and insidious, according

to Barker.

As physical abuse is now being seen as an immoral action to

be taken, as if the world now is actually more civilize then

before, the nature of racism have revolve, adapting to the new

world situation. Van Dijk in 1992 claim that new racism is

upholding the idea of democratic egalitarianism, but still

negatively perceive racism. A discrimination and bias on races

in which signify the stereotype of a certain races. In other

words, doing racism but rebutting the idea of racism. People

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nowadays may claim that they did saint but actually, they are

labeling people based on their thought on people’s ethnic,

social, economy and differences in cultural practice. A clear

situation in our people, Malaysian to be exact, the idea that

Malay is lazy, Indian is smelly and Chinese is sneaky are the

example that we actually are guilty for new racism. People have

the tendency to blame people based on our stereotype thinking

pertaining a certain culture. When the issue is about Chinese

manipulation on the national economy, we usually say that it is

because the Chinese are bias and always cheating on the deal. We

entirely ignore the idea that the fact is it is because of their

hard work and knowledge in business. When a Malay groceries

store’s owner have his business running well, people might say

that he use ‘something’ to make his business grow, while actually

the real story here have nothing to do with using ‘something’.

This ‘stigma’ is a cancer in our society.

The story in the newspaper that we chose is about the Penang

Myanmar-national murder in which recently happened in Malaysia.

Many English newspapers in Malaysia are reporting on this news as

it is about the non-Malaysian citizen killed in Malaysia. So now,

the focus here is on the way that the newspaper portrays the

story where the people that involved in the story are not

Malaysian. This paper study about the subtlety but still malign

state of racism marked itself in the domain of the newspaper

discourse in Malaysia. Sample of five (5) newspaper which are The

Sun, The Star, The News Strait Times, The Malay Mail and Bernama

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are taken as the material that will be used to be analyzed with

the intention to extract the ideology and ‘new racism’ element in

the newspaper.

1.1) BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Malaysia have received many immigrant from foreign country ever

since. Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam and

many people from Asian nationality do migrate to Malaysia.

According to Mahidol Migration Center, in 2009 only, about 10% of

Myanmar’s population is currently oversea. Registered in March

2012, about 250 000 people from Myanmar migrate to Malaysia. This

statistic is only about the known one, or the one who registered

and migrate legally. Not taking into account the illegal

migrators. They carried a burden of poverty, as in their

country, job vacancy is not as available as in Malaysia. There

may be work for them but the income they earn may not enough

simply to survive. Not to mention regarding the political

atmosphere at their country in which we could say not so

welcoming, with the different in religion and race matter.

Additionally, many Myanmar nationals are in the high skilled

job, and other may fall into semi-skilled and low skilled job. In

Malaysia, the migrant were employed on the semi-skilled job and

preferable in manufacturing factory in which they work as an

operator. In their pursuit of getting a better life, Myanmar

migrant face an extreme and challenging life before they could

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actually take an easy breath. Insufficient in registration and

travelling document, in which they are the victim of the fake

employer and broker make it more difficult for them to actually

live in Malaysia. Even if they got the job, as they are hired

with a promised low wage job, their working conditions were

actually poor and often become the victim of employer’s

greediness as their welfare were ignored.

Malaysia is a country in which particular enough to implement a

policy on immigration. This country do concern about the well-

being of the worker, whom is legally migrate to Malaysia.

Malaysia is not except to this challenge of migrate. Learning

from other countries with similar contexts and benchmarking is

often useful. The government to take account does collect details

from various immigration systems such as in Australia, Canada,

Singapore, United States, South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan.

In a report done by the ministry of human resources of

Malaysia, there are many policy that upholding the justice for

migrant worker. For example, the workers minimum standard housing

and amenities act 1990. This policy state that upon the

recruitment of foreign workers, the employers must sets out clean

and hygienic housing to the migrant workers they employ. This

policy sets out the minimum standard that is a right for the

migrant. As for the health matter, the Malaysian government made

it compulsory for the employer to buy health insurance for the

migrant workers. If there are any cases that violate the right of

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the foreign worker, due to the amendments to the employment act

1955, a special pass was put in place to allow foreign worker

with standing complaints against their employer to stay on

Malaysia while they waited for their cases to be heard. These

policies somehow actually care about the migrant welfare.

Migrant or in other words the foreign worker may have their

own perception from the people around them. Those who work in the

skilled job area may be perceive differently from those who

worked on the semi-skilled and low-skilled. The respected foreign

worker are surely form the skilled worker and as for other than

that, Malaysian like to perceive them as subordinate in the

community. Some may say they are poor, hence the need to find a

job in Malaysia and other may say that the existence of foreign

worker in Malaysia is a trouble. They might cause problem or even

worse, criminal cases in Malaysia. The thought of ‘I am better

than anyone else’ is still lurking in people’s mind.

Regarding this issue of Myanmar worker, it is all started on the

late of December 30, 2013.

1) Dec 30, 2013

Htay Htay Than, 21, and her friend, identified as Than, 41, were

killed at about 12.15pm in Kampung Jawa, near Bukit Mertajam.

Htay Htay’s throat was slit, while Than had injuries on the body

and face. Police ruled out robbery as motive for the killing as

the valuables of both women were intact. Four Myanmar nationals

were arrested at a bus stop near the crime scene about 30 minutes

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after eyewitnesses provided descriptions of the suspects. The

four were charged in court and the case is still pending.

2) Jan 1, 2014

Myanmar national Sadnoor Abdullah, 28, was found dead in some

bushes in Kampung Masjid Timah, Permatang Pauh, Bukit Mertajam.

He suffered head injuries caused by a blunt object.

3) Jan 7, 2014

Myint Kyaw was found dead with his throat slit in Taman Alma Ria,

Machang Bubuk, Bukit Mertajam.

4) Feb 1, 2014

A Maynmar national in his late 20s was killed when assailants

torched his house in Kampung Sri Pinang, Pantai Acheh.

5) April 6, 2014

A Myanmar national in his 30s was killed in Permatang Nibong near

Permatang Pauh.

6) June 14, 2014

A Myanmar national in his 20s was killed when two groups of about

20 Myanmar nationals clashed at about 12.40am in Taman Akasia,

Mengkuang Titi, Bukit Mertajam.

7) June 5, 2014

A Myanmar national in his 20s was found dead with his throat slit

near an ice factory in Taman Nagasari, Bukit Mertajam.

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8) June 22, 2014

An unidentified Myanmar national was found murdered in Kampung

Berapit, Bukit Mertajam.

9) June 25, 2104

Another unidentified Myanmar national was found murdered in Alma,

Bukit Mertajam.

10) June 26, 2104

A Myanmar national in his 30s was found murdered in Jalan Datuk

Keramat in George Town.

11) July 5, 2014

Two Myanmar nationals were found killed near the railway lines in

Taman Nagasari, near Prai Industrial Estate, Bukit Mertajam.

12) July 1, 2014

Theat Niang, in his 30s, was found with his throat slit in Teluk

Tempoyak, Batu Maung.

13) Aug 7, 2014

Myanmar national Abdul Hakim was killed when four men attacked

him with a screwdriver, iron rod and knife. He suffered 13 stab

wounds to his body.

14) Aug 2, 2014

A Myanmar national in his 30s was found murdered in Kampung

Cempedak, Simpang Ampat, Nibong Tebal.

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15) Aug 10, 2014

Ling Ling, a Myanmar national in his 20s, was found murdered in

Kampung Tok Panjang, Bukit Tengah, Bukit Mertajam.

16) Sept 15, 2014

Two Myanmar nationals were found dead with their throats slit at

an oil palm plantation in Kampung Manggis, Permatang Tinggi,

Bukit Mertajam.

17) Oct 25, 2014

The highly decomposed body of a Myanmar national, with his throat

slit, was found at a construction site near Kampung Tiga Kongsi,

Simpang Ampat, Nibong Tebal.

18) Nov 4, 2014

Fisherman found the headless body of a woman, believed to be a

foreigner, floating in the sea near Pulau Kendi.

19) Nov 6, 2014

The headless and limbless body of a naked woman, stuffed in a

suitcase, was found at a carpark near the Botanical Gardens in

George Town. Two days later, police recovered the limbs of the

victim, believed to be a foreigner, at a dump site in Pulau

Burung, Nibong Tebal.

20) Nov 10, 2014

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Myanmar national Hein Lat Kyaw, 34, a construction worker with a

development firm in Seberang Jaya, was found dead with his throat

slit at an oil palm plantation near Tasek Gelugor, Butterworth.

21) Nov 24, 2014

The decapitated head of a man in his 30s, believed to be a

foreigner, was found in a black plastic bag with both ears

severed on the five-foot way of a coffee shop at Lorong Impian

Ria 5, Taman Impian Ria, Bukit Mertajam.

22) Nov 27, 2014

The headless and limbless body of a man, believed to be connected

to the decapitated head in Taman Impian Ria, was found about 15km

away at an irrigation canal opposite a factory in Sungai Bakap.

On the same day, police also fished out two bodies from Sungai

Ara Kuda, near Kampong Tun Sardon, Bukit Mertajam. The body of a

naked man, in his 40s, was discovered at about 6.30pm while

another body found bundled in a blanket was recovered about 4km

upstream about an hour later.

These victims are found to be killed with motive and the

authority is still investigating pertaining this matter. With

this issue getting bigger, rumour also bloom in grape vine,

claiming many thing. But without exact evidence, there is no

reason for us to take it into consideration.

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2.0) METHODOLOGY

The main method used in our analysis is by compare and contrast

between the two newspaper articles presented using the critical

discourse analysis. The paradigms used to evaluate and examine

the implied underlying ideologies inside the surface of the

written paper are based on the literary devices that can be found

inside the articles.

2.1) Theme

The theme of our study is revolved around the issue of Racism. It

is not an easy task to discern the existence of racism trait in

any of the national/government-based publication since we are now

in the age of celebrating the nuance of diversity especially in

Malaysia. However, upon close inspection, we can still implied

the notion of prejudice is after all are still there, inculcate

deeper in the root of the society in which we still regard people

which come from different root are not a part of the inclusive

group. This is what we referred closely as a new racism. A trait

and category of racist in which the media unconsciously adapt and

into their writing convention and this is what we would like to

discern further in the sense of critically examine via the method

of critical discourse.

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2.2) Topic

The topic or subject that were taken into account is basically

based on the issue that currently happen in Malaysia in which

regarding the Myanmar national who faced a murder threat from the

execution squad which ironically from their own countrymen. This

issue is still being debated and discussed among the world leader

because of the increasing figure of death statistic which

tarnishes the image of Malaysia globally.

2.3) Source of Data

The corpuses are mainly taken from all the newspaper publication

in 12 December 2014. The paper chosen as a corpus is taken mainly

from The Star, The Sun, The Malay Mail, The New Straits Times and

Bernama. All the articles are selected based on the same issue

portrayed regarding the Myanmar nationals. Four of the corpuses

are taken from the newspaper while another three are taken from

the respective online news.

2.4) Genre

The main genre of the news publication is the news report.

We would like to see the pattern in which the reporter portray

the nature of the murder itself and therefore the conventional

method that may effectively extract such information would be

from the news report itself.

2.5) Element being Analysed

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In analyzing the article, the main analysis revolved around the

similarities and different found between each traits proposed to

be presented inside the articles. Some linguistic elements are

found and further tabulated into the table and figure. This

analysis consists of two parts. The first part is the analysis of

the article based on the Generalization, Quotation Pattern, Over-

lexicalization and Negativation presented in the seven articles.

As for the second part, the comparison between the article news

from Malay Mail and The Star are conducted based on the element

of Transitivity, Thematization and Lexical cohesion.

Thematizations are further divided into two types of foreground

which is thematic foregrounding and temporal foregrounding.

2.6) Significance of Selected Elements

The element selected in analyzing this article served as the

framework for us in order to further examine the availability of

the themed trait. All the description and explanation are in the

respective part.

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3.0) FINDING

The finding part consist of two different section in which first

section deals with the analysis of the article based on the

Generalization, Quotation Pattern, Over-lexicalization and

Negativation presented in the seven articles. As for the second

part, the comparison between the article news from Malay Mail and

The Star are conducted based on the element of Transitivity,

Thematization and Lexical cohesion. Thematizations are further

divided into two types of foreground which is thematic

foregrounding and temporal foregrounding.

3.1) Summary of News Report under Analysis

S/N DATE SOURCE SUMMARY12 December 2014 New Straits Times,

p.7

Police are looking

for the another

group consisting

three Myanmar

nationals

responsible for a

gruesome murders of

man in Relau on

Monday12 December 2014 The Star, p.1 Two executions

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squads using the

same modus operandi

in the series of

revenge killing are

on the police’s

trail following the

deadly serial

slaying of Myanmar

nationals in Penang.12 December 2014 The Star, p.4 The migrants murder

continue in Penang

and perpetrators are

getting bolder by

challenging the

authorities in a

trend of systematic

serial killing

phenomenon due to

racial tension in

Myanmar12 December 2014 The Star, p.4 Police have launched

a manhunt for

suspected killers

used the same modus

operandi following

the detainment

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concerning 20

Myanmar national in

9 murder cases on

the mainland and a

raid on the

suspect’s house.12 December 2014 Malay Mail The disclosure upon

emergence of a new

group of serial

killers in Penang

whose operated

independently by

recruiting

individuals to

commit murders lead

by the communal

clashes12 December 2014 Bernama Checking criminal

records of foreign

migrants before

allowing them in was

vital as an early

measure to prevent

those involved in

crime from entering

this country and

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local citizen should

play a role by being

the 'eyes and ears'

of the authorities

to curb the problem12 December 2014 The sun Twelve Myanmar

nationals detained

over the past few

weeks have allegedly

confessed to their

involvement in the

spate of Mynamar

national murders in

Penang and the

authority are

liaising with Wisma

Putra, Bukit Aman,

Interpol and the

Immigration

Department to hunt

for more suspects.

Table 1: Summary of News Report under Analysis

3.2) News Headlines, Heads and Captions under Analysis

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SOURCE DATE HEADLINES/CAPTIONS12 December

2014

New Straits

Times, p.7

2nd group sought over killings;

Myanmar Murders: Police looking

for refugee and two other man12 December

2014

The Star, p.1 Hunt for killing squads

12 December

2014

The Star, p.4 Migrants murders continue

12 December

2014

The Star, p.4 Two killer gangs on police radar:

Myanmar group members not

connected but use same modus

operandi, says top cop12 December

2014

Malay Mail New group of Myanmar assassins

identified in Penang12 December

2014

Bernama Check Criminal Records Of Foreign

Migrants Before Allowing Them In

- Lee12 December

2014

The sun Another group involved in grisly

Penang murders

Table 2: News Headlines, Heads and Captions under Analysis

NOTE: Main headlines are represented in bold type to distinguish

them from leads (in Italics) and captions of accompanying

photographs which are in regular script.

3.3) Generalization related to the Suspected Killer

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SOURCE DATE REFERENCES12 December

2014

New Straits

Times, p.7

Group of Myanmar nationals

12 December

2014

The Star, p.1 Killing squads

12 December

2014

The Star, p.1 Perpetrators

12 December

2014

The Star, p.1 Mastermind of execution squad

12 December

2014

Malay Mail Assassins

12 December

2014

Bernama Foreigners

12 December

2014

The sun Myanmar nationals

Table 3: Generalization related to the Myanmar Killing Squad

3.4) Quotation Patterns of News Report under Analysis

S/N REFERENCE DATE SOURCE OF QUOTESETHNIC

MINORITY

ELITE

MINORITY1 12 December

2014

New Straits

Times, p.7

State Police

Chief, (Datuk

Abdul Rahim

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Hanafi)2 12 December

2014

The Star, p.1 Penang Police

Chief Senior

Deputy Comm

(Datuk Wiira

Abdul Rahim

Hanafi)3 12 December

2014

The Star, p.4 Myanmar

Nationals

Penang Police

Chief Senior

Deputy Comm

(Datuk Wiira

Abdul Rahim

Hanafi)Rohingya

construction

worker (Abdul)

Universiti

Sains

Malaysia

Criminologist

(Assoc

Prof.Dr

P.Sundramoort

hy) Penangites

(anonymous)4 12 December

2014

The Star, p.4 Senior Deputy

Comm (Datukk

Wira Abdul

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Rahim Hanafi)5 12 December

2014

Malay Mail Penang police

chief (Datuk

Abdul Rahim

Hanafi)6 12 December

2014

Bernama Crime

Prevention

Foundation

vice

(Chairman Tan

Sri Lee Lam

Thye)Crime analyst

(Kamal

Affendi

Hashim)7 12 December

2014

The sun Chief

Minister (Lim

Guan Eng )State police

chief (Datuk

Abdul Rahim

Hanafi)TABLE 4: Quotation Patterns of News Report under Analysis

3.5) Lexical Cohesion 1: Word Associated with the Act of Execution

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SOURCE DATE REFERENCES TO THE ACT

OF EXECUTION12 December 2014 New Straits Times,

p.7

Responsible for a spate

of gruesome murders of

their countryman;

killing of Myanmar

nationals; killing of

18 of their countrymen;

involved in nine

murders; murder of

Myanmar man12 December 2014 The Star, p.1 Behind the ghastly

serial slaying of

Myanmar nationals;

series of revenge

killings12 December 2014 The Star, p.1 Monday’s brutal murder

came only a day;

workers being murdered;

systematic seriel

killing12 December 2014 The Star, p.1 Involved in the

gruesome murder of

Myanmar nationals; be

responsible for the

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killing; nine murder

case12 December 2014 Malay Mail grisly murder of

Myanmar nationals; more

serial killings;

earlier 18 killings; to

killing three of his

countrymen; revenge

killings12 December 2014 Bernama Brutal crime cases;

gruesome murders12 December 2014 The Sun grisly Penang murders;

Mynamar national

murders; admitted to

nine killings; grisly

killings on revenge

Table 5: Lexical Cohesion 1: The Act of Execution

3.6) Lexical Cohesion 1: References to the Victims of Murder

SOURCE DATE REFERENCES TO THE

VICTIMS OF MURDER12 December 2014 New Straits Times, Myanmar nationals

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p.712 December 2014 The Star, p.1 Countrymen; Myanmar

nationals; Myanmar man12 December 2014 The Star, p.1 Foreign workers;

foreigner; countrymen12 December 2014 The Star, p.1 Myanmar nationals12 December 2014 Malay Mail Foreigner; victims;

countrymen12 December 2014 Bernama Murder victim12 December 2014 The Sun Victim

Table 6: References to the Victims of Murder

3.7) Lexical Cohesion 1: Method of Murder

SOURCE DATE REFERENCES TO THE

METHOD OF MURDER12 December 2014 New Straits Times,

p.7

-

12 December 2014 The Star, p.1 Dismembered body; 5

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parang; slaughterhouse12 December 2014 The Star, p.1 Corpses wrapped in

blanket; body parts

disposed; knifed to

death; 12 December 2014 The Star, p.1 5 parang; bloodstains;

two headless torsos;

four legs; two heads;

two hands; and an arm12 December 2014 Malay Mail body with his throat

slit; kill the victim;

chop off the body and

head; maim the limbs;

dumping the body; three

machetes; abducted from

their homes; murdered

elsewhere; bodies

chopped up; dumped in

isolated areas;

including plantations

and rivers; committed

on the mainland; highly

decomposed body of a

man12 December 2014 Bernama discovery of human body

parts

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12 December 2014 The Sun Their dismembered

remains scattered

throughout the state;

murdered and

dismembered their

victims; blood stains

and recovered three

machetes.

Table 5: Lexical Cohesion 1: The Act of Execution

3.8) Lexical Cohesion 4: Negativization of Myanmar National

SOURCE DATE EPITHET NEGATIVISATION OF

MYANMAR NATIONAL12

December

2014

New Straits

Times, p.7

Cruel Ghastly serial slaying

of Myanmar national in

PenangBrutal Killers who have been

identified belong to

one death squad.Vengeful Use the same modus

operandi in the series

of revenge killing12

December

2014

The Star, p.1 Wicked Responsible for a

spate of gruesome

murders

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Evil Had been detained over

the killing of 18 of

their countrymenGuilty Twelve had admitted to

being involvedDisturbers Two of them had

entered the country

illegallyDangerous We seized 5 parang, a

car and a motorcycle

from the suspectsVicious Had turned one of them

into slaughterhouseUnreasonable Murder cases were

revenge killings over

debt and jealousy12

December

2014

The Star, p.1 Malicious Foreigner, was knifed

to deathHazardous Petrators are getting

bolder and challenging

the authoritiesCoward Most of them went pale

when asked about the

murdersDodger Try to avoid answering

the questionsViolent It’s better not to

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bump into them as they

are very violent

peopleCallous Petrators to go cold

with the media

publicizing the issueHeartless Go cold after

committing several

murderSadistic Offenders are so bold

that they can come to

a foreign land and

kill their own

countrymen12

December

2014

The Star, p.1 Cold-blooded Involved in the

gruesome murders of

Myanmar nationals in

PenangCowardice Trio, who works as

laborers, are now in

hidingMurder Myanmar national

arrested have admitted

to nine murder cases

on the mainlandLawbreaker Been charged under the

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Immigration Act for no

possessing valid

travelling documentsSly Bloodstains were found

in the house, although

the murderer had given

it wash and had it

repainted12

December

2014

Malay Mail Hardhearted operated independently

by recruiting friends

to commit murdersPitiless style of execution was

similar to the earlier

18 killingsAggressive brought their disputes

from Myanmar into the

state and started

seeking revenge by

killing the victimsMerciless saying communal

clashes had been

identified as the

reason behind the

savage killingsRuthless admitted to killing

three of his

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countrymen following

ethnic tensions

between Muslims and

Buddhists12

December

2014

Bernama Coldhearted Brutal crime cases

12

December

2014

The Sun -

Table 4: Negativization of Myanmar National

3.9) Summary of Process Types

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PROCESS TYPE EXAMPLESMaterial Action The lion caught the

touristEvent The mayor resigned

Behavioral She smiled at himMental Perception I hadn’t noticed

thatAffection Mary liked the giftCognition No one believed his

storyVerbal John said he was

hungryRelational Attribution Karen is wise

Identification Matt is the leaderExistential There was a storm

Table 9: Summary of Process Types (Adapted from Halliday, 1994)

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PART 2: COMPARISON

3.10) Transitivity Analysis of Text 1

S/N PARTICIPANT PROCESS PARTICIPANT1 Penang police

chief Datuk Abdul

Rahim Hanafi

{sayer}

said

{verbal}

The new gang, whose members

have yet to be identified,

was believed to be operating

from the island.2 He {sayer} said

{verbal}

the group, comprising mostly

construction workers,

operated independently by

recruiting friends to commit

murders3 They {actor} kill

{material

}

the victim, chop off the

body and head, and maim the

limbs before dumping the

body4 We {actor} believe

{mental}

they are not working hand-

in-hand with the first group5 Abdul Rahim said police got the breakthrough

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{sayer} {verbal} on the new group after

interrogating the Myanmar

nationals who had been

arrested earlier.6 He {sayer} said

{verbal}

the group had brought their

disputes from Myanmar into

the state and started

seeking revenge by killing

the victims.7 He {sayer} said

{verbal}

police also seized a car,

two motorcycles and three

machetes from the suspects.8 The trio {actor} were

identifie

d

{material

}

as Mohd Yahyar Khan Rafie,

24

9 The public

{actor}

does not

{relation

al

attributi

ve}

have to be worried over the

killings

10 the police

{actor}

are

{relation

al

attributi

in full control of the

situation.

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ve}11 Sources {sayer} said

{verbal}

the main suspect admitted to

killing three of his

countrymen following ethnic

tensions between Muslims and

Buddhists in Myanmar12 Abdul Rahim

{sayer}

said

{verbal}

motives of the revenge

killings were debt, jealousy

and other social issues.13 On Wednesday,

police {actor}

recovered

{material

}

a highly decomposed body of

a man from a rubber

plantation in Ara Kuda.

TABLE 10: Transitivity Analysis of Text 1

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3.11) Transitivity Analysis of Text 2

S/N PARTICIPANT PROCESS PARTICIPANT1 Police {Sayer} have

launched

{Material

}

a manhunt

2 The suspect

{Actor}

reportedl

y

{Verbal}

members of the execution

group, are 42-years old Mohd

Yahyar Khan Mohd Rafie3 Penang police

chief senior

deputy comm. Datuk

wira abdul rahim

hanafi {Sayer}

said

{Verbal}

the trio, who worked as

laborers, were now in

hiding.

4 We however {Actor} Believe

{Mental}

the three suspects are still

on the island.

5 He {Sayer} said

{Verbal}

police were also tracking

down this group of Myanmar

35 | P a g e

nationals suspected to be

also responsible for the

killings of Myanmar

nationals on the island.

6 Police here

{Actor}

have

detained

{Material

}

twenty Myanmar nationals

including a women over the

past two weeks in an

operation codenamed Ops

Kelar that was launched to

solved the killing7 Twelves of the

Myanmar nationals

arrested {Actor}

have

admitted

{Material

}

to nine murder case on the

mainland

8 Six of them

{Actor}

have been released on police bail

9 two others {Actor} have been

charged

{Material

}

under the Immigration Act

for not possessing valid

travelling documents

10 He {Sayer} told

{Verbal}

a press conference after the

monthly police gathering at

the state police contingent

headquarters in Penang Road

here yesterday.11 We {Actor} have yet any arrest of members of

36 | P a g e

to make

{Material

}

this second group

12 He said

{Verbal}

the two gangs were not

connected13 Police {Actor} recovered

{Material

}

five parangs believe to be

weapons used by the

suspects, a car and two

motorcycles from the house.

14 The killers had

also {Actor}

returned

{Material

}

the house key to the

unsuspecting owner.

TABLE 11: Transitivity Analysis of Text 2

37 | P a g e

3.12) Thematic Foregrounding

THEMES/N TEXTUAL TOPICAL RHEME1 The grisly murder of

Myanmar nationals

has taken a twist with

the emergence of a new

group of serial

killers in Penang.2 The disclosure was made following

police investigationsand [The disclosure]* after the discovery of

another foreigner’s

body with his throat

slit in front of a

Buddhist temple in

Relau on Monday.3 The existence of a

second gang

has heightened fears

of more serial

killings in the statewhich [The existence of a

second gang]*

has been gripped by

the death of 18

38 | P a g e

Myanmar nationals in

the past 11 months.4 Penang police chief

Datuk Abdul Rahim

Hanafi

said the new gang,

whose members have yet

to be identified, was

believed to be

operating from the

island.5 He said the group,

comprising mostly

construction workers,

operated independently

by recruiting friends

to commit murdersalthough their style of

execution

was similar to the

earlier 18 killingsfor which 20 suspects have been arrested

over the last two

weeks. 6 “Their (members of the

new group) style of

execution

was the same as the

earlier group

- they kill the victim, chop

off the body and head,

and maim the limbs

before dumping the

39 | P a g e

body,” he said.7 We believe they are not working hand-

in-hand with the first

group8 Abdul Rahim said police got the

breakthrough on the

new group after

interrogating the

Myanmar nationals who

had been arrested

earlier.9 He said the group had

brought their disputes

from Myanmar into the

state and started

seeking revenge by

killing the victims.10 Commenting on the 20

suspects, including a

woman, Abdul Rahim

said eight had since

been released

following questioning

by police.11 He said police also

seized a car, two

motorcycles and three

machetes from the

suspects.

40 | P a g e

12 Abdul Rahim said police were

looking for three

other Myanmar

nationals to assist in

investigations.13 The trio were identified as

Mohd Yahyar Khan

Rafie, 24whose last known adress is Taman Tun Sardon

Lokman who is in his 20sand the third known only as “Gemuk

Of the 20 people

arrested, 12

admitted their

involvement in the

killing of nine of

their countrymen,”

Abdul Rahim said.14 The public does not have to be

worried over the

killingsbecause the police are in full control of

the situation.15 We are working with

relevant authorities

including Wisma Putra,

Interpol, Bukit Aman

and immigration

41 | P a g e

authorites.”16 Malay Mail had in its reports

quoted sourcesas saying communal

clashes

had been identified as

the reason behind the

savage killings in the

state.17 The main suspect, a

man

from the Arakan

district in Myanmar,

was among the seven

arrested last month.18 Sources said the main suspect

admitted to killing

three of his

countrymen following

ethnic tensions

between Muslims and

Buddhists in Myanmaras six of his family

members

were killed during the

communal clashes a

year ago.19 Abdul Rahim said motives of the

revenge killings were

debt, jealousy and

other social issues.20 Most of the victims, were believed to have

42 | P a g e

aged between 20 and

40,

been abducted from

their homes, murdered

elsewhere and their

bodies chopped up and

dumped in isolated

areas, including

plantations and

rivers.21 Most of the killings were committed on the

mainland, particularly

around Bukit Mertajam

and Nibong Tebal.22 On Wednesday, police recovered a highly

decomposed body of a

man from a rubber

plantation in Ara

Kuda.23 The body, which has yet to be

identifiedand believed to be that of

a foreigner

was found wrapped in a

sarong in Jalan Jarak

Atas-Jalan Ara Kuda.

Table 10: Thematic Analysis of Text 1(Malay Mail)

Thematization:

43 | P a g e

Thematic foregrounding present in this article are regarding the

identification of Myanmar assassin’s new group

Who are they-4

Who are the suspect-13

What are the motive-19

What is their method of operation-5

What are the method of killing -6

What are the modus operandi- 20

Who is the recent victim-22

Where the killing take place-21

3.13) Foregrounding on Temporal Circumstances

THEMES/N TEXTUAL TOPICAL RHEME1 Police have launched a

manhunt2 for three suspected

killers

believed to be

Rohingyas3 and the mastermind of the

execution squad

involved in the

gruesome murder of

Myanmar nationals in

Penang this year4 The suspect reportedly members of

the execution group,

are 42-years old Mohd

Yahyar Khan Mohd Rafie

44 | P a g e

and two other other identified only

as Lokman who is in

his 20sand Ali Gemuk in his 30s

5 Mohd Yahyar Khan’s

last known address

is Taman Tun Sardon in

Gelugor.

6 Penang police chief

senior deputy comm.

Datuk wira abdul rahim

hanafi

said the trio, who

worked as laborers,

were now in hiding.

7 We however believe, the three

suspects are still on

the island.

8 We have also identified

the mastermind of this

execution squadand we ’re tracking him down,

he said.9 Noting that there are existed another

group of killerand he said police were also

tracking down this

group of Myanmar

nationals suspected to

be also responsible

45 | P a g e

for the killings of

Myanmar nationals on

the island.

10 Police here have detained twenty

Myanmar nationals

including a women over

the past two weeks in

an operation codenamed

Ops Kelar that was

launched to solved the

killing11 Twelves of the Myanmar

nationals

arrested have admitted

to nine murder case on

the mainland12 Investigations reveal that they are

not related to certain

cases on the island

including the recent

murder of a foreign

national in Relau on

Monday, SDCP Abdul

Rahim added.

13 Six of them have been released on

police bail

46 | P a g e

while two others have been charged

under the Immigration

Act for not possessing

valid travelling

documents14 Intelligence gleaned

from

questioning those

detained led us to

believe

that there is another group

of Myanmar nationals

operating in the

island, using the same

modus operandi in the

murders”,he told a press

conference after the

monthly police

gathering at the state

police contingent

headquarters in Penang

Road here yesterday.15 We have yet to make any

arrest of members of

this second groupbut we are confident in

nabbing them soon16 He said the two gangs

47 | P a g e

were not connectedbut members of both group consisted only a

Myanmar nationalsSDCP Abdul Rahim reiterated hs denials

that the murders in this

state

were due to the

spillover of ethnic

and religious conflict

in Myanmar.17 The murder are because of

personal grudge and

other issue from their

home country.18 Those who have seen the trio or

have information on

their whereabouts

should report to the

nearest police

station.19 Last week, police raided a single storey

house in Kampung

isang, machang bubukwhere previous murder involving Myanmar

nationals had

reportedly taken

place.20 Police recovered five parangs

believe to be weapons 48 | P a g e

used by the suspects,

a car and two

motorcycles from the

house.

21 Bloodstains were found in the

house,although the murderer had given it a wash

and had it repainted.22 The killers had also returned the house key

to the unsuspecting

owner.

23 Over the past two

months, two headless

torsos, four legs, two

heads, two hands and a

arm

had been discovered.

24 Penang recorded 52 murder

cases this yearof which 18 victims were Malaysianand the remaining 34 were foreigners.

25 Of the 34 foreigners,

18

were identified as the

Myanmar nationals, 11

yet to be identifiedwhile the remaining 5 comprised Bangladeshi,

Viatnamese and

49 | P a g e

Indonesian.

Table 3.13: Foregrounding on Temporal Circumstances

Foregrounding of temporal circumstances in this context are on

largely based on the chronology of the event and ways the police

efforts are visualized and heroically depicted within the frame

of news. Apart of to show the contribution of the police on the

issue, this piece of writing also suggested by the frequent used

of positive word to denote the cooperation are foregrounded

inside the implied ideology in the surface texture of written

discourse structure..

3.14) Military Motif in Text 2 (The Star)

Military Discourse Example Police have launched a manhunt Launched; manhunt…and we’re tracking him down Tracking;downPolice here has detained… Detained Operation codenames Ops Kelar…

released on police bail…

Operaration codenames; codebail

Two others have been charged… Charged Are yet to make an arrest… Arrest Confident in nabbing them soon Nabbing Police raided a single storey raided

50 | P a g e

Police recovered five parang Discovered

Table 2: Military Motif Text 2

4.0) ANALYSIS OF THE FINDING

The analysis of the finding is comprised of two different stages.

The first stage is the to tabulation of the data in which the

finding are characterized into the elements with the main focus

revolved around the particular discursive strategies that can be

used as a textual devise to elicit the ideological meaning

embedded further inside the articles. Several elements included51 | P a g e

in the analysis of the first part which is the general

characterization of newspaper discourse are newspaper headlines

and leads, generalizations, quotation patterns and last element

would be over lexicalization. In this section, all the seven

newspaper are taken into consideration.

The second stages are the analysis of comparison between the

selected newspaper only which is the articles taken from both

Malay Mail and The Star. In this section, the macro and micro

structural analysis of the two newspaper articles are selected

further for the contrastive purpose which comprises of a

component such as Transitivity, Thematization and lastly Lexical

Cohesion.

4.1) A General Characterization of Newspaper Discourse

Several elements included in this analysis would be the general

characterization of newspaper discourse characterized further by

newspaper headlines and leads, generalizations, quotation

patterns and last element would be over lexicalization. In this

section, all the seven newspaper are taken into consideration.

4.1.1) Newspaper Headlines & Leads

At one glance, ones can always tell the real message want to be

conveyed by the writer in any written text simply by looking at

the title itself. In newspaper article, the title together with

the leads are very important aspect in grabbing the reader’s

attention to read more on the articles beside also serves as the

52 | P a g e

medium of conveying the ideology wish to be communicated by the

author. Several discourse analyst proposed that in the newspaper

discourse, the news organization are always within the schemes of

macro-structure in which the news always organized by principle

of relevance and importance together with dimension of decreasing

prominence. The phenomenon or concept of inverted pyramid world

explains more about thesis nature in which any newsworthy

content of significant info are put at the top while least

significant ones are placed below the first one. In this sense,

readers are said to be cognitively able to process and making

sense of the report in easier way but depend largely on our

historical or background knowledge of what have been discussed

about. Here the presuppositions about the parties involved in one

issue are fairly taken into consideration further to illustrate

recent news event. For instance, one of the articles in (Fatt,

2012):

“New group of Myanmar assassins identified in Penang”

This title, upon reading may suggest that there is another group

of assassin emerged in Penang besides the former established one.

This over-lexicalization of the word “assassin” also presuppose

the idea that those group are deemed as deadly, atrocious and

vicious group which are now currently roaming freely in Penang.

To those whom their interest are first captured by this title

might found that their underlying conception about the issue have

53 | P a g e

been broaden into a new context in which Penang are no longer a

safer place to be lived in.

The way the author correlate the term assassins with the Myanmar

ethnic also embedding some sort of presupposition that this group

are consist the fatal combination of individuals from the same

ethnic that exist as the national threat. The ethnicity of the

assassins are portrayed vividly via the sentence suggesting some

ideology want to be conveyed by the media in which the Myanmar

ethnic are deadly dangerous and for them to have such a gut to

form the killing assemblage must be sourced from the basic

malevolence traits from every one of them. Thus, it can be

conclude further that the news report not only provide an array

of information for the reader to be interpreted, but also come

with the implied interpretation together laced via the usage of

linguistic devices via the textual pattern of the news itself.

Taking into account on the usage of the collective nouns rather

that naming the individuals, the ideology put there by the writer

aimed to elicit some stereotypical representation of the Myanmar

nationals as a ruthless individual. Instead of putting Myanmar

National Clash Group or a milder lexicon such as Myanmar

National’s Conflicting group, the author want to portray the

whole Myanmar Nationals as a vicious individual in a way omitting

the whole record of fact that this assassination as being

suggested by them are mainly involved the Myanmar’s countrymen

and have nothing to do with the local citizen or Malaysian. The

54 | P a g e

ideology embedded here might also take account on to make the

Malaysian aware on this issue and take any necessary precaution

to not being involved in the issue whether consciously or

unconsciously. However, it always depends on the individual on

how they want to interpret the situation. As for those who are

not aware of the this Myanmar nationals issue, this may strike

them back and create a significant chaos perhaps, but as for

those who are already aware of the issue, this article may be

just an additional info for them and nothing should be accounted

on whatsoever headline the news choose to portrayed.

Looking into another aspect, the usage of active verbs also seems

to be signifies more on the actions taken to curbing the issue.

For instance:

“Hunt for killing squads” (Nambiar, 2014)

“Migrants murders continue” (Tan, Two Killer Gangs on PoliceRadar, 2014)

The usage of active verbs hunt by the author implicitly wants to

show the doer of the action which is in this context is the

police itself. however, as for those who are not familiar with

the issue, they might interpreted the headlines differently in

which somebody/someone/ a group of unknown entity are now hunting

for the killing squads that in here are ambiguously defined as

the national intelligence faction squad which is merely a police.

Such ambiguity are presented to the audience mainly because of

the nature of the news itself which is more into utilizing the

55 | P a g e

elements for attention grabbing compared to conveying the precise

impression upon first reading.

Looking at the adjectives used by the writer itself, we may

conclude that the portrayal of the seriousness of the issue are

ranged from mild to intense depending on how strong the adjective

used by the writer. In comparing these elements, let’s take a

look at each of the headlines.

Hunt for killing squad (Hussien, 2014)Two killer gangs on police radar: Myanmar group members not

connected but use same modus operandi, says top cop (Tan, Two Killer

Gangs on Police Radar, 2014)New group of Myanmar assassins identified in Penang (Fatt, 2012)

The table above indicates the portrayal of the Myanmar nationals

who involves in the killing of their fellow countrymen. The range

of extremities between each lexical choice is differs to one

another. While The Star are more positive in grouping the

individuals involved in the murder cases as the squad, another

article also from The Star and Malay Mail are more towards the

negativization sides in which the group are portrayed as Gangs

and Assassin respectively. Squads in general are more positive

but gangs and assassins explicitly display the negative

connotation of the people in the group.

2nd group sought over killings; Myanmar Murders: Police looking for

refugee and two other man (Nambiar, 2014)

56 | P a g e

Migrants murders continue (Tan, 2014, p. 4)Another group involved in grisly Penang murders (Edmund, 2014)

As for this table, the murders are combined with some sort of

adjective choice in order to display the seriousness and level of

threat coming from the Myanmar group. For instance, the word

murders are retained to show formality instead of using more

common word such as killing, slay or execution. However, the

choices of adjective used to accompany the noun of murder are

varied between each publication. In the New Strait Times

publication, the murder are associated directly with the Myannmar

nationals, in which put a high liability on the people with the

nationality. They are straightforwardly overexposed but not in a

good sense in a notion that aims to illustrate that the Myanmar

nationals are the dangerous ethic group after all. However, in

The Star publication, the approach taken in naming the murder are

milder and not aim to overexposed the doer in which presented as

Migrant Murders. Last but not least is the from The Sun. The

writer are trying to portray the seriousness of the problem but

not boldly stated the Myanmar National as the doer. Instead, they

used another overgeneralization approach in which simply state

the cases as the Penang Murders.

To conclude, even at the casual glance upon the headlines we

could immediately conclude that the murder itself or the case is

a serious offense to the society at large. This crime also are

perpetuated in a manner that suggesting the Myanmar nationality57 | P a g e

as the dangerous people in which further elicited via the

frequently stated term such as killing and murder.

4.1.2) Generalization

In determining the particular choice of word used in the

selection and repetition of a particular generalizing attributes

often make by reporter as a convenience means to ascribe certain

quality attached to the certain people or event without being

accompanied by the lengthy tedious details, the selection itself

may connote the different ideology wants to be included into the

reader’s cognitive notion about one particular issues. In the

newspaper discourse under analysis, the generalization of the

crimes by the Myanmar Nationals are directly attached to the

wider group of people which is in this case are associated with

the doer of the crimes itself often describe negatively as the

killing squad, perpetrators, mastermind of execution squad,

assassins, foreigners and commonly used one are Myanmar

Nationals.

In this context, the generalization are made in such a way that

the Myanmar Nationals are portrayed as the group of ethnic

consist of people that mainly act and having a trait of ruthless

attitude suggested by the word killer, anti-freedom suggested by

the word perpetrator, highly skilled executioner suggested by the

mastermind of execution squad, vicious slayer suggested by the

word assassins and last but not least people with different

nationality suggested by the word foreigners. This kind of

58 | P a g e

generalization able to corrode the young mind with the

stereotypical image of Myanmar Nationals as the callous,

heartless and brutal people in which emphasizing the social

schemata into what we are categorizing people. this phenomenon is

related to the Van Dijk (1991) conceptualization of media racism

in which the producers of the news media are often directly

involved with the development of social cognition and schemata

that tend to favor the in group (the local authority, police),

and disfavor the out-group ( the Myanmar Nationals) in general

(Van Dijk, Racism and the Press, 1991).

4.1.3) Quotation Pattern

Quotation pattern serves as the main reference that emphasize

more on the notion of reliance on variety source of information

on which the news report is based on for. Quotes in general can

be divided into the two types, first would be Direct and second

is Indirect. In this context, both quotation types may attribute

to the slanting part of the worldview in which suggested by the

opinion that the quotes from the powerless party would never be

deemed as equal to the one with the power and position. The

notion of disempowers the voice could always be seen from the

higher status level-person that always put into the spotlight,

diminishing the credibility and authenticity of the quotes of

powerless and uneducated shadow of figure. According to Van Dijk

further, one of the attributes that lead to racism in any of the

news is the phenomenon where the minorities are largely silent

59 | P a g e

and hardly quotes by the mainstream press. Even there is any

quoted from the minorities, it’s often handled and framed in a

way that it is full with the suspicion and distrust, where most

of this people are commonly left unnamed (Van Dijk, 1993).

Referring to the quotation pattern in the news report under

analysis, out of seven newspaper articles, only two papers

provide the low-value status quotation from the non-authorities

involved in the issue. Same prominent people are quoted directly

and frequently to show the validity of the sources which in this

context are made by the Chief Police of Penang, Datuk Wira Abdul

Rahim Hanafi. The chief officer is obviously are in the majority

pool of in-group people and in signaling the importance of it

were directly put in the front articles as the reference source.

In contrast, the minority which consists of Myanmar nationals and

one of the subs ethnic called Rohingya people are quoted simply

to give their opinion of the issue and were indirectly reported.

The pattern of quotes also different in which while the authority

or police promise to make a raiding the hunting the killer, the

under deprived people of Rohingya and Myanmar nationals are

solely commenting on the feeling of panic and unsafe condition

they poses today and tomorrow. In further analyzing the context

of how the quotes are reported, it is obvious that verbal quotes

from high-ranking officer consist of opinion from the native

speaker and not from the higher authority of Myanmar people.

Although people might want to hear from the valid source, however

it’s deemed as unreasonable for the opinions of the minority to

60 | P a g e

be apprehended in the capsule of racism and denying their right

as the public. Here, it can be further concluded that the

quotation pattern can be the powerful ideological tool to inject

the sense of manipulation inside the reader’s mind in garnering

the public’s perception and reception on certain issues. The

ideology wished to portrays by the media can always be

conductively instilled via the typical omission of the minority

voice and further be replaced by the abundance of majority voice,

unconsciously sealed the voice of the marginal population.

4.1.4) Over-Lexicalization

According to Fowler(1979), over lexicalisation can served as the

pragmatic strategy in “encoding ideology in news discourse”

(Fowler.R, 1991). Over lexicalization is often used to produce a

sense of over-completeness in which suggested by the usage of

some lexical term that have the function of representing the word

which in this context an issue as bigger that its original

picture. A kind of pejorative effect always caused by this over-

lexicalization that utilized some linguistic device particularly

to emphasize certain common trait possessed by the out-group for

the purpose of fun and puns. For example, looking into ways the

press are conveying the method of the murder itself, it is

evidently obvious that the press continuosly emphasizing more

into the “dismembered” body parts. Frequently inside the

paragrapgh, they keep on mentioning about the dismembered body

parts in which very obvious that behind these explicit reference

61 | P a g e

is to convey such a notion that the act of murder was horrible

and sadistic enough to make the public shiver when they heard

about that. Another types of over-lexicalization items present in

almost articles is the lexical choice of word to represent the

victims of the murderer. Based on the table below, the victims

are associated further with the word like foreugn worker

(unspecified), foreigner (unspecified) countrymen, foreigner

(unspecified), victims and murder victims (unspecified). However,

the words like Myanmar nationals, Myanmar man and Myanmar

victims are frequently portrayed as the victims exceeding another

terms. In a fiirst glance, it connote that they are the victims

of their own countryman’s revenge and the public should be

symphatize with their situation. Upon close inspection, this is

actually not the real ideology want to be insjected by the media

into the public’s mind. To thse who are critical enough, they

will think differently, adopting different kind of ideology

related to this situation. The main ideology revolved around this

issue which has been implied instinctively wovcen deeper into the

textual pattern of the discourse suggest that this kind of people

are very dangerous one. This is because of the fact that they

were murdered by their own countryman suggest that if these

Myanmar killer can boldly take their own brother’s life in other

countries freely without any reasonable judgement and

justification, the issue here would be to what extend the citizen

‘s life is too precious for them to be taken without any mercy?

The answer is vaguely distinct. Some of the critical thinkers out

62 | P a g e

there can easily decode the message and hence will start prepare

for the worst thing to come. Some might conclude that the Myanmar

nationals are the worst immigrant and may proposed to the higher

authority to start mending the loophole in the national migration

security system as apreventative measures to prevent those

Myanmar nationals from entering this country in the future as

evidently being suggested by (Lee, 2012) based on his recent

article publishe by Bernama.

4.1.5) Negativisation of Myannmar Nationals

In portraying the Myanmar national as the threat to the nation,

the writer purposely framed their writing of the article by the

usage of several adjective that directly connote the

negativisationn of thise people in general. The negativisation of

Myanmar national are fully elaborated in the Table 4. Please

refer to the table for further information.

SUMMARY OF THE FIRST PART

1. The analysis of the lexical choice and syntactic structure

of the seven pices of news article from the different

publication reveals an ideology that represent the local

authority action are constantly in position of power and

control while the minority of Myanmar immigrant in the state

are represent as the lower-being that associated with crime

and turmoil with la thinner layer of segregation that

differentiate between the doer of crime with the victim

which apparently lead to the generalization and common

63 | P a g e

stereotypes that immigrant are always being associated

negatively with crimes are further emphasized greatly.

2. The crimes of the Myanmar nationals killing squad are

further emhasized via the generalization of the Myanmar

nationals as the ruthless people as a whole. This represent

stereotyping that all the Myanmar suggested by the phrase

frequently used ( Myanmar National) are all the perpetrators

and violent people, repeated often enough to instill a

belief that being myanmar is synonymous with crime.

3. Analysis of quotation pattern suggested that there are

always a loophole in the media in the fair presentation of

the community regardless of their social segmentation. The

overwhelming disproportion of the majority voice are against

the minority voice in which the effort in silencing those

voice are regard as the authoritative advantage in which

undoubtedly suggesting the method of disempowerment and

powerlessness by the expert towards the minority.

4.2) A Comparative Analysis of the Two Text Samples

64 | P a g e

According to Halliday (1994), Systemic-Functional Grammar is a

lexico-grammatical theory “premised upon the notion of choice

where language, or any other semiotic system for that matter, is

construed as networks of interlocking options” (Halliday, 1994).

By drawing upon the framework of SFG, the underlying meaning

and motivations behind the linguistic realization occurred at the

clause and phrase level are deemed to be uncovered via the

elements of Transitivity, Thematization and lastly Lexical

Cohesion. There are only two news article are chosen for the

comparison which is “The Two Killer Gangs on Police Radar (Tan,

Two Killer Gangs on Police Radar, 2014)” and “New group of

Myanmar assassins identified in Penang” (Fatt, 2012).

4.2.1) Transitivity

According to Iwamoto (1995), transitivity can be defined as

the key analytic components that can be simply understood via the

principle of “who does what to whom” (Iwamoto, 1995). The

transitivity method is the useful tools that foreground the

agency and understanding ways the language represents reality

based on how the primary and dominant agents are constructed.

Text 1 as being presented in The Star news column deal about

the two Myanmar gangs which are currently identified as the

suspect for the mastermind of the execution squad involved in the

gruesome murder of Myanmar nationals in Penang this year. Using

the Halliday’s terminology in the text, the dominant groups which

consist of Actor and Sayer are further classified. As for the

65 | P a g e

Actor, the dominant group is the police. A second group are

presented by the Myanmar nationals and also presented as actor is

the public or Penangite. These participants and processes

attributed to them are presented in Table 10. Please refer to

Table 10 fur further references.

A comparative analysis of the processes related to the

various groups of participants reveals that most processes

especially Material and Verbal are attributed to the Myanmar

Killers. In text 1, the major focus is attributed to the action

done by the Myanmar National in performing the murder process

which is closely acquainted by the same modus operandi for both

groups. Their identification of assassin group are further

consolidated via the several information conveyed by the Chief

Police regarding the potential members of the group, the

suspected individuals, motive of the group, method of operation,

technique of killing, modus operandi, recent victim and the place

in which the killing often take place.

While in text 1 the police are depicted as carrying only the

passive roles, Text 2, however telling the different story. The

police are placed in the Actor role; actively hunt for the

suspected killers with the launching of the operation codenamed

Ops Kelar. Contrastively, police in the text 1 are showed as an

authority with passive roles, unable to curb the crimes. Some of

the extract shows that the police are really chasing the group

back, incorporating all the enemy back in the radar and they

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depicted as not only actors, but also the active doer on the

subject. This impression is communicated by the many means of

Material’s processes in which attributes more by the Police

itself compared to the perpetrators. The comparative transitivity

of Text 1 and 2 reveals a desolate contrast between the ways

Myanmar National and the police are portrayed through the roles

and processes that have been attributed to them.

4.2.2) Thematization

Thematization is a tool that allows the reader to look at

the organization of information within a clause, one of the

components which belong to the Textual Metafunction. The

positioning of any information in a clause may indicate the kind

of foregrounding the writer wishes to attribute to it. There are

two types of thematization found within the first and second text

which is thematic foregrounding and foregrounding of temporal

circumstances. By looking at the thematic development of both

text, we are able to relate the surface realization in the text

with the underlying motivation and ideologiesbehind the writing

of the text.

As for the Text 1, the thematic analysis of a piece of

article by Malay Mail suggested a thematic foregrounding

presented in the article regarding the identification of Myanmar

assassin’s new group. The thematization revolved around the

context of the individuals that inhabit the group, the suspect

related to the organization, the motive of the brutal murder,

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method of operation, method of killing, modus operandi, recent

victims and the place where the murder often take place.

As for the Text 2, the Foregrounding of temporal

circumstances in this context are on largely based on the

chronology of the event and ways the police efforts are

visualized and heroically depicted within the frame of news.

Apart of to show the contribution of the police on the issue,

this piece of writing also suggested by the frequent used of

positive word to denote the cooperation are foregrounded inside

the implied ideology in the surface texture of written discourse

structure.

4.2.3) Lexical Cohesion

Lexical cohesion can be defined as the “is the property that

contributes to the creation of textual coherence” (Hoey, 1991).

Concerned in a way that words in a text are mutually connected,

cohesion is differ to the coherence in the sense that coherence

is more on the ways concepts and relation which underlies the

surface are mutually accessible and relevant (Iwamoto, 1995).

In text 1, the major summarization that can be made as being

discussed earlier is accordingly to the theme itself which

signify the birth of the second assassins group of Myanmar

National. The lexical patterning of Text 1 previously employed

between the two ideologically significant motifs which is

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ethnicity and victimization of the Myanmar national. The

recurrent ethnicity is used to reinforce hidden ideology that the

immigrant possess a serious threat to the country’s freedom and

security while the victimization of the Myanmar national serves

as the twofold ideologies that the immigrant particularly from

Myanmar are the troublemaker and ruthless assassins given that

the fact they preying on the same blood. In text two, lexica

patterning play even greater role in combating the police image

as the active doer in combating the crimes while further

portrayed as the highly professional body that organized the

crime-fighting outfit.

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Halliday, M. (1994). Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.

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