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Vol. 12, No. 2, (2019), pp.181-205

p-ISSN: 1979-8903 ; e-ISSN : 2503-040X
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Themes in South-East Asian Newspaper

Headlines on Rohingya Issue: Critical Discourse
Analysis

Arina Isti’anah
Universitas Sanata Dharma
[email protected]

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v12i2.181-205

Submission Track:
Received: 20-07-2019
Final Revision: 21-11-2019
Available online: 01-12-2019

ABSTRACT

Language is regarded as a tool to present the ideologies of its users, including

how media portray a particular issue in their headlines. Rohingya has gained
much attention from media, including South-East Asian newspapers. The
massive clearing done by Myanmar government triggers the attention of
media. Headlines are regarded as the important element of news since their
jobs are to attract the readers and frame the ideologies of the readers as well
as the media themselves. This paper attempts at discussing how South-East
Asian media present Rohingya in their headlines. Five newspapers were
involved: The Jakarta Post from Indonesia, Malaysia Kini from Malaysia,
Mmtimes from Myanmar, The Nation from Thailand, and Daily Star from
Bangladesh, taken during 2017. The analysis was focused on the choice of
Theme in the headlines as it is the departing message of the headlines. The
approach conducted was Faiclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis utilizing the
textual function of language offered by Halliday. The analysis revealed that
South-East Asian media had similarities and differences in portraying

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Rohingya issue. The similarities were seen from the reflected ideologies,
responsibility and blame, and the types of employed Themes. The difference
was found in the way each media portrayed the ideologies. However, all media
agreed to show their responsibility to end and solve Rohingya crisis to achieve
peace and harmony amongst South-East Asian countries.
Keywords: headlines, critical discourse analysis, Rohingya

INTRODUCTION
Rohingya case is one of the humanity issues that attracts media’s
attention, particularly in South-East Asia. News on Rohingya has been
published for years since the case seems unfinished. The number of refugees
keeps increasing and the clearing still happens until now. Rohingya’s attempt
to flee to Malaysia by sea are denied by Myanmar government, thus the
government called them as Bengalis and refused them as a national race
(James, 2006, p. 22). It is also reported that Rohingyas never have any type of
citizen and ethnic group (Steinberg, 2010, p. 73). Furthermore, the clearing has
sustained until early 2005, when “some 20.000 Muslim refugees from
Myanmar still remained refugee camps in Bangladesh. Malaysia has offered
political asylum to about 10.000 such persons” (Ganesan & Hlaing, 2007, p.
191). The facts mentioned previously triggers media to share information
related to Rohingya in the form of news.
Online newspapers are chosen by people nowadays since they are
easily accessed from their gadgets. “Newspapers function as a special tool of
language to propagate agendas of different social, political, and economic
pillars of power” (Lodhi, et al., 2019, p. 325). Hence, what is written in
newspaper reflects not only the writers’ or editors’ ideologies but also the
parties behind the media. Media news is described as “a news item or news
report, i.e. a text or discourse on radio, TV, or in the newspaper, in which new

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information is given about recent events” (Dijk, 1988, p. 4). The term “news
discourse” is thus preferred since media news involves the whole discourse:
physical shape and its contents which has a more semantic nature (Dijk, 1988).
What is interesting in “news discourse” is the choice of words as the title of
news, called headlines. Reah defines headlines as “the story in a minimum
number of words, attract the reader to the story and, if it appears on the front
page, attract the reader to the paper” (Mapunda & Keya, 2015, p. 59). Thus,
readers will catch the departing message of news from the headlines.
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) facilitates news discourse analysis
by considering how texts strive for social practice (Fairclough, 1995).
Fairclough proposes that careful analysis of textual form, structure, and
organization at all levels is needed for text interpretation. In news discourse,
the existence of headlines cannot be ignored as they portray the news summary.
The departing message in headlines is called Theme. Halliday defines theme
as “the initial part of a clause which gives prominence to particular information
and which, in CDA terms, is often an indication of taken-for-granted or
‘common sense’ assumption about the nature of things” (Locke, 2004, p. 49).
Finding out the Themes in news discourse can reveal newspaper’s ideology
since ideology is found in the discursive event itself (Fairclough, 1995).
Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) facilitates CDA by considering
language as a vehicle to express people’s thoughts in various ways and
purposes by means of wordings (Mathiessen and Halliday, 1997). Analyzing
text covers not only the linguistic feature description but also ideologies
brought by language use. The choice of text features “is regarded as potentially
ideological, including features of vocabulary and metaphors, grammar,

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presuppositions and implicatures, politeness conventions, speech exchange

(turn-taking) systems, generic structure and style” (Fairclough, 1995, pp. 1-2).
Halliday figures out that language functions to ideationally represent the
experience of the world, interpersonally constitute social interaction between
participants, and textually put the parts of text together into a coherent whole
(Fairclough, 1995, p. 6).
In the textual function, the linguistic features used to signpost the
speaker’s meaning are Theme and Rheme. Theme is the initial part of a clause.
It is the starting point for the message since it is what the clause is about
(Halliday,2004). Downing and Locke (2006) add that a Theme is the
communicative point of departure of the message. Eggins (2004) summarizes
three types of Themes: topical or experiential, interpersonal, and textual
themes. A topical Theme is the clause element in which a transitivity function
can be assigned in the first position in a clause (Eggins, 2004). Participants and
Circumstances as Themes in a clause are categorized as topical or experiential
theme. Interpersonal theme is in the form of “the unfused finite (in
interrogative) and modal adjuncts (mood, vocative, polarity, and comment).
Textual theme has a cohesive function to relate clause to its context, realized
in the form of continuity and conjunctive adjunct (Eggins, 2004).
Newspaper headlines are chosen as the main data since headlines serve
some functions, one of which is to present the truth (Metila, 2013). However,
Turner (2009) mentions that “headlines can be notoriously misleading,
inaccurate, or ambiguous” (cited in Metila, 2013). To avoid what mentioned
earlier, CDA is seen as the appropriate way to conduct as it analyses the
discourse to find the hidden meanings or ideologies (McGregor, 2003 as cited
in Taiwo, 2007). This paper focuses on figuring out Themes employed by the
South-East Asian newspaper regarding Rohingya issue. The dominance of

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Themes employed in the news discourse can reveal how South-East Asian
media regard Rohingya issue. As the case happens in South-East Asia, the
researcher expects that there will be some similarities among the media. To
prove the hypothesis, CDA is employed by focusing on the textual structure of
text, or how the message is packaged by media.
Studies on CDA have been exercised by some scholars. Umami (2013)
observed the discourse devices utilized in an opinion column title on
Polycarpus case. The research employed the meta-functions analysis, including
the appraisal and thematic analyses. The data were taken from news features
in The Jakarta Post newspaper, analyzed in terms of their micro level and
macro level of analysis. The employment of topic sentence, fullness
development, and coherence among paragraphs are used in the analysis. In the
textual analysis, the research paid attention to the use of conjunction and
theme. The use of marked theme is benefited by the writers to make the readers
easier grasp the meanings and plot of the articles (Umami, 2013).
Rohingya crisis also attracted the study by Afzal (2016) by concerning
the media’s strategies to frame Rohingya issue in the international stage. The
data were taken from Pakistani, British and American editorial opinions. The
research believes that frame may be used in a biased way to interpret different
political events. The Nation, a Pakistani newspaper, criticizes the Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for showing her dislike to the Muslims. The
newspaper also encourages readers’ emotions by framing Aung San Suu Kyi
as a discriminative leader. The similar frame is also shown in The Guardian
newspaper. Several emotional appeals (pathos) are used to frame Rohingya
crisis. From the Western point of view, The New York Times keeps the readers

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on the side of Rohingya Muslims. The research found that Rohingya crisis
itself is covered up by the readers’ emotions framed by the media (Afzal,
2016).
Bolte & Keong (2014) involved Fairclough’s CDA to observe the
representation of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants (RASIM) in three
Malaysian newspaper reports. The textual analysis covering Themes reveals
three main attributes to RASIM: refugee protection, people smuggling and
human trafficking, and policy and national security. The paper found that the
discourse in the three newspapers is influenced by its situational context and
ideological differences between newspapers. RASIM is represented in a
positive supporting way as the media is on the side of Malaysian government,
or pro-government. Malaysia Kini is concluded to have more balanced report
since it fulfills the ethics of proper journalism (Bolte & Keong, 2014).
Research on textual analysis, focusing Theme and Information parts of
clauses in Arabic and English news reports was utilized by Potter (2016). The
research compares how Arabic and English news presents Syrian refugees.
Influenced by the different language target readers, English news reports
present the ‘accusation’ against Syria and signpost the ‘evidence’ against Syria.
On the other hand, Arabic news employs new information as Themes to
emphasize Syria’s ‘cooperation’. Syria’s innocence is also shown in Arabic
news reports. The paper concludes that Arabic news tends to be a pro-Syria by
encouraging readers to perceive Syria as an innocent victim, whereas English
news favors a negative representation of Syria and encourages readers to
perceive Syria as the logical perpetrator of Hariri’s murder (Potter, 2016).
The papers reviewed above agree that ideology is embodied inside the
wordings. The presence of news discourse welcomes linguistic scholars to
criticize the representation of an issue, in this case is refugees, in various

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media. Headlines, analyzed in their textual functions, are designed in such a

way that readers are grasped to read the news. The textual analyses of
headlines, editorials, or news reports support Fairclough’s claim about
language, ideology, and power. The presence of discursive and social practices
cannot be ignored in the analysis. News media are also capable of framing an
issue and encouraging readers’ emotions. Thus, the analysis of textual
meanings of headlines is urgently needed. To be specific, this paper attempts
at figuring out how Themes are exercised in five online newspaper headlines
in South-East Asia regarding refugee case, Rohingya.

RESEARCH METHOD
This paper employed Fairclough’s CDA as its approach. Fairclough
argues that language is exercised to express ideology in various code, structure,
system, or formation (1995, p. 71). In Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG),
meanings are represented into three functions: ideational, interpersonal, and
textual functions. The textual function of language provokes the reading
positions ‘inscribed’ in texts (Talbot, 2007, p. 46). It is about how the message
is packaged. Fairclough proposes that wordings change or affect the
ideological meaning embedded in the text. The lexico-grammar structures are
ideologically chosen (cited in Bolte & Keong, 2014). Van Dijk adds that
reports are expected to be highly topicalized and intertwined with the notion of
positive US versus negative THEM construction (2000).
The data were taken from the online newspapers published by five
South-East Asian countries: The Jakarta Post from Indonesia, Malaysia Kini
from Malaysia, Mmtimes from Myanmar, The Nation from Thailand, and Daily

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Star from Bangladesh, taken during 2017. Those five countries were chosen
due to the close border to Rakhine, the place where Rohingyans stayed. The
headlines are coded as follows: INA refers to the Indonesia, H refers to
headline, 1 refer to the number of headlines. The same code is used for the
other countries: MAL for Malaysia, THAI for Thailand, MYAN for Myanmar
and BANG for Bangladesh. There were twenty headlines chosen for each
country. Thus, the number used in the third code will range from 1 to 20.
Each headline was carefully analyzed and categorized into its type:
experiential, interpersonal, or textual theme (Eggins, 2004). Since all headlines
were experiential, each participant or circumstance in the headline was grouped
in terms of its newspaper. Since five newspapers were included as the data, the
variations of Theme are displayed in a table to figure out how the wordings in
each newspaper similar to and different from the others. The participants
performing as Themes were thus related to the social context in which the
discursive event happened. This analysis is helpful to reveal the ideologies
embodied in the text.

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

The analysis shows that the observed headlines have experiential Theme,
meaning the Theme in which transitivity participants are involved. However,
the participants chosen as the Themes are different. The table below depicts
the participants in the headlines of the five newspapers.
Table 1. Summary of Participants in South-East Asian Newspaper
Headlines
Theme INA MAL MYAN BANG THAI
Actor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

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Goal ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Carrier ✓ ✓ ✓
Token ✓
Attribute
Sayer ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Verbiage ✓ ✓
Patient ✓
Circumstance ✓ ✓

The table above shows that Malaysian newspaper headlines have the
most various participants. Indonesian and Bangladesh newspaper headlines
have the same number of variants in their participants. Token is absent in
Indonesian headlines, but present in Bangladesh newspaper headlines. On the
other hand, Circumstance is found in Indonesian newspaper headlines, but not
in Bangladesh. Myanmar and Thailand newspaper headlines employ the least
variant of participants in their Themes. Both involve Actor, Goal, and Sayer.
Carrier is present in Thailand newspaper headlines, but absent in Myanmar.
Verbiage, on the other hand, is found in Myanmar newspaper headlines, but
not in Thailand.
There are two main ideological perspectives shared by the observed
media: responsibility and blame. In general, the South-East Asian newspaper
headlines portray Rohingya issue as “responsibility” that they have to fulfill.
The conflict in this region is seen as a serious one, thus the media choose
particular linguistic features to show their responsibility to put it as the
departing message in the media. The table below shows the representation of
responsibility and blame by the South-East Asian media.

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Table 2. Summary of Ideologies in South-East Asian Newspapers

“Blame” “Responsibility”
11
Indonesia 9
12
Malaysia 8
18
Myanmar 2
14
Bangladesh 6
13
Thailand 7
68
Total 32

The table above displays that all of the headlines in the five countries are
dominated by “responsibility” as the Theme. However, the linguistic choice in
the headlines is different from one newspaper to the others. The discussion
below shows proof.

Responsibility
Responsibility is the dominant ideology reflected in all media. The
table below shows the type of Theme which shows responsibility.
Table 3 Summary of Theme Showing Responsibility
South-East Asian Type of Theme Examples
Media
Indonesia Actor, Goal, Sayer Indonesia, Jokowi-Suu Kyi, More
Rohingyans refugee
Myanmar Actor, Goal, Sayer Government, refugee deal,
ministry, a strong commitment
Malaysia Actor, Sayer, Patient A mercy mission, Najib, DPM,
Malaysia
Bangladesh Actor, Sayer Bangladesh, Home minister,
Bangladesh-Myanmar

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Thailand Actor, Goal, Sayer, ASEAN credibility, ASEAN,

Carrier Thailand, ASEAN minister

The first Theme revealing responsibility is the employment of Actor which

refers to government as the Theme. The examples are as follows.
INA.H.2 Indonesia urged to initiate conflict resolution for
Rohingya
INA.H.16 Jokowi, Suu Kyi discuss Rohingya crisis
In the data above, the use of Indonesia and Jokowi-Suu Kyi indicates that the
newspaper intends to show the responsibility to solve Rohingya crisis. Jokowi
and Suu Kyi are the leaders in Indonesia and Myanmar. Their statement and
action regarding Rohingya issue are important to represent the position of the
country. The involvement of the Actors above strengthens the responsibility
which is seriously conducted by Indonesian and Myanmar government.
Another existence of Actor in Indonesian media takes “Indonesia” as
Actors. Below are the examples.
INA.H.2 Indonesia urged to initiate conflict resolution for
Rohingya
INA.H.10 Indonesia carries out intensive diplomacy on Rohingya
The above headlines employ “Indonesia” as the Actor. In the first datum above,
Indonesia is presented to have the power to initiate the conflict resolution for
Rohingya. As one of ASEAN initiators and Moslem country, Indonesia shows
its responsibility to overcome the issue. The previous analysis is supported by
the second headline shown above. Instead of initiating the discussion,
Indonesian media also spreads the country’s concrete action to carry out
intensive diplomacy.

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Responsibility is also seen in Myanmar newspaper headlines. However,

the Themes used in the headlines which reveal responsibility are different from
Indonesian headlines. In Myanmar newspaper, Goal and Sayer are also chosen
to show the government responsibility. Below are the evidence.
MYAN.H.11 Government team to visit Bangladesh to discuss
refugee repatriation
MYAN.H.7 Ministry vows speedier info release on Rakhine crisis
MYAN.H.8 Peace, stability restored in northern Rakhine, some
troops withdrawn
MYAN.H.9 Plans to repatriate refugees agreed
The use of Actor as the Theme in the first datum above signifies the Myanmar
government’s responsibility in relation to the crisis. By choosing an Actor,
Myanmar media aims at emphasizing the action done by the Actor. Bringing
similar ideology, headline 7 above is represented in different Theme. The use
of Sayer as Theme signals responsibility in terms of saying. Myanmar
government is represented in different Themes shown in headlines 8 and 9
above. The Themes in headlines 8 and 9 are Goals. In addition to mentioning
the references of Myanmar government, the media also picks the results of
what the government did as seen in headlines 8 and 9.
Similar to Myanmar newspaper headlines, the Malaysian newspaper
also employs Goal to show its government responsibility.
MAL.H.2 A mercy mission to the Rohingya refugees
There is an ellipsis found in the above headline. However, the preposition to
above indicates that the first phrase can be regarded as the Patient. The headline
can be paraphrased into A mercy mission is given to the Rohingya refugees.
The second phrase above, the Rohingya refugees, performs as the Goal. The
use of lexical choice “mercy” above is to emphasize the good deeds by the

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government to help Rohingyans. The media put action to help the refugees as
something “mercy”. In other words, praise is also attached to Malaysian
government.
Another type of Theme showing Malaysian responsibility is the
employment of Actor. In the Malaysian newspaper headline, the Actor is
attached to the government official to show their responsibility in accordance
with Rohingya crisis. Below is the datum.
MAL.H.18 Najib came through for Rohingya, give credit where
due
The use of material verb “came through” marks the material process. The
action done by Najib is a portrayal of Malaysian government responsibility.
The media intends to choose Najib as the Theme in order to emphasize
responsibility made by the government.
The other distinctive participant in the Malaysian headline is
Circumstance of place as seen below.
MAL.H.7 From Malaysian backrooms, Rohingya send what
little they can to fleeing relatives
The Theme in the above headline is in the form of prepositional phrase “from
Malaysian backrooms”. In transitivity process, it is categorized as
Circumstance of place. Instead of displaying Rohingya as the Actor who sends
their expectation, Malaysian media chose to put the circumstance as the
Theme. The effect inferred from the structure is readers can pay more attention
to Malaysian backrooms as the place in which Rohingya seeks helps.

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Bangladesh newspaper headline also uses Actor which refers to its

government to show responsibility dealing with the Rohingya crisis. Below are
the examples.
BANG.H.6 Bangladesh draws global attention to Myanmar
Rohingya crisis issue
BANG.H.8 Rohingya Refugees: Govt plans big to ease plight
The use of Bangladesh and government explicitly in the headlines signifies
responsibility by the Bangladesh government. An actor is presented as the
clause constituent which conducts an action. The use of verbs “draw” and
“plan” in the data above refer to the government’s concrete deeds to help
Rohingyans. In Bangladesh newspaper headlines, other Actors found in the
data are “Home Minister” and “Bangladesh”. The systematic actions done by
the government refer to their responsibility to Rohingyans since they are
located near the area where Rohingyans live. Moreover, the label that
Rohingyans are Bengalis also triggers Bangladesh’ actions.
Different from the previous linguistic features showing responsibility,
Thailand newspaper headlines show their neutral commitment towards
Rohingyans. In the headlines, Thailand media choose ASEAN and ASEAN
ministers as Actors in the Themes to show responsibility. Below are the proofs.
THAI.H.7 ASEAN has an obvious role in Rohingya crisis
THAI.H.17 Asean ministers express concern over Rohingya crisis
The involvement of ASEAN and ASEAN ministers as the Themes in Thailand
newspaper headlines show that Thailand as one of the founders of ASEAN is
involved in showing responsibility toward the Rohingya crisis. The indirect
involvement in the decision can be interpreted that Thailand is in a neutral
position.

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Blame
Despite the responsibility represented in various linguistic features in
South-East Asian newspaper headlines, “blame” is also found from the
employment of linguistic features in the data. The table below points out the
type of Theme showing “blame” in the headlines.

Table 4 Summary of Theme Showing Blame

South-East Asian Type of Theme Examples
Media
Indonesia Actor, Carrier, Goal Rohingya crisis, Rohingya
refugee influx, 600,000 Rohingya
children
Myanmar Verbiage Illegal immigration, terrorism new
global threats; over 70
Malaysia Actor, Goal, At least 6,700 Rohingya; at least
Verbiage 100 Rohingya; Suu Kyi
Bangladesh Actor, Carrier Nearly 90,000 Rohingyas;
Rohingya; 1992 criteria
Thailand Actor, Carrier Both Myanmar and Bangladesh,
Rohingya forced from Myanmar

In Indonesian newspaper headlines, “blame” is represented in the form

of Actor, Carrier, and Goal as the departing messages in the headlines. Below
are the examples.
INA.H.1 Rohingya crisis could affect ASEAN stability: Jokowi
INA.H.4 Rohingya refugee influx in Bangladesh now 507,000:
Report
In the Indonesian newspaper, “blame” is shown in the form of Actor and
Carrier. The Actor in the first datum displayed above shows the ability of the

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crisis to affect ASEAN stability. The serious issue which happens in Myanmar
is seen as blame towards the crisis. The solid and intimate relationships among
ASEAN countries is not stable due to the crisis. Here, Jokowi as the president
of the Republic of Indonesia shows his political statement regarding Rohingya
issue. As one of the founders of ASEAN, Indonesia takes its responsibility to
keep stability among ASEAN countries. The similar “blame” is shown as
Carrier in the second datum above. The huge number of refugees in Bangladesh
shows the failure of Myanmar government to solve the crisis. Bangladesh is
seen as the affected country which has to provide place for Rohingyans.
The other linguistic features showing blame by Indonesian media is
shown as a Goal in the headline. Below is the datum.
INA.H.14 Rohingya lives and limbs shattered by mines at
Myanmar frontier
The existence of the Goal above also shows “blame” since Rohingyans become
the participants directed to by the Actor, Myanmar frontier. The presence of
Goal instead of Actor above signifies that the media intends to portray
Rohingyans as the victim of the action. Herewith, blame is shown by the media.
The choice of the name Rohingya instead of refugees also shows that
Indonesian media acknowledges the existence of the race.
Unlike Indonesian media which show blame and responsibility in
almost equal existence, Myanmar media only put a few headlines which show
blame. Below is the datum.
MYAN.H.13 Over 70 killed in Rakhine after militants attack
The participant bold above is the Theme, represented as the Goal. The number
of people shown as the Goal above shows “blame” to the militants. What the
Actor did, militants, results in more than 70 people died. Myanmar media
blames the militant to kill more than 70 people in Rakhine. The choice of

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Rakhine instead of Rohingya shows Myanmar’s decision to follow the

government. The word “Rohingya” is prohibited to mention in Myanmar,
meaning they never acknowledge the existence of the race. Instead of showing
the enormous number of Rohingyans suffering from the clearing, Myanmar
media intends to share the news about what militants did in Rakhine. The
“blame” has different reference in Myanmar media. While other media blame
Myanmar government, Myanmar media blames the militants which refer to
Rohingyans who fought for their rights to stay in Rakhine.
In Malaysian media, the choice of Goal and Actor as the Themes in the
headlines is to show “blame” to the Myanmar government. Below are the data,
MAL.H.6 At least 100 Rohingyas drowned fleeing Myanmar last
2 months: UN
MAL.H.17 Suu Kyi condemns all rights violations in Rakhine state
Goal as the Theme is shown in “at least 100 Rohingyans”. The use of the
number as the departing message in the headline is to blame Myanmar
government. The Sayer in that headline is the UN. The involvement of what
UN utters also shows global attention toward the crisis. The number of
Rohingyans who were drowned when fleeing Myanmar is the responsibility of
Myanmar. The ignorance and clearing by the government result in the violation
of human rights. It is also strengthened by the second headline above.
Malaysian media chooses the name “Suu Kyi” as the Actor who is responsible
for the crisis. Blame is shown strongly in Malaysian media, referring to Suu
Kyi.

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In Bangladesh's newspaper media, domination is also responsibility to

solve the crisis. However, “blame” is also found in the headlines. Below are
the examples.
BANG.H.1 Nearly 90,000 Rohingyas escape Myanmar violence as
humanitarian crisis looms
BANG.H.2 Rohingya refugee crisis: Thousands take shelter in
no-man's land
The use of the number as shown in Malaysian media also appears here.
Furthermore, the use of Actor as the Theme in Bangladesh headline also shows
“blame” to Myanmar government. The number of refugees escaping and
suffering from the crisis is repeated in Bangladesh headlines, which signifies
that the crisis creates serious problems. To save themselves, Rohinyans are
represented as the Actor who conducts material actions. The only way for them
to keep alive is by escaping from Rakhine. Despite died, they choose to look
for protection by the neighbouring countries. Bangladesh is the first country
they choose since they are given camps and food by Bangladesh government.
In the headlines, Carrier is also selected as the Theme in Bangladesh
media to show blame. Below are the examples.
BANG.H.18 1992 criteria not realistic now
BANG.H.20 200,000 Rohingya children at risk in Bangladesh
camps: Unicef
The employment of “1992 criteria” as the Carrier above is attached to the
attribute “not realistic now”. This signifies “blame” to the Myanmar
government since the number of Rohingyans who died and escaped from the
country keeps increasing. It is proven in the following headlines which mention
the massive number of Rohingya children who are now at risk. The camps and
food provided by Bangladesh government are no longer able to provide healthy

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p-ISSN: 1979-8903 ; e-ISSN : 2503-040X
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life to the children. Camps are not the best place for children as they need clean
environment to grow as healthy children. The limitation in the camps is
portrayed as the result of the clearing by Myanmar government.
In Thailand newspaper headlines, Patient is the only participant found
among South-East Asian media. It is shown in the datum below.
THAI.H.14 Myanmar beauty queen dethroned 'after posting
Rohingya video'
What Myanmar beauty queen accepted, being dethroned, is a result of her
action posting Rohingya video. Thailand media portrays that event as blame to
the government. The strict rule which forbids its citizens to mention Rohingya
is experienced by the beauty queen. She is portrayed as the affected participant
because of the rule.
Another participant revealing blame is Sayer, the participant who says.
The Sayer in Thailand media refers to Rohingyas as seen below.
THAI.H.18 Rohingya forced from Myanmar say army redoubling
push to clear villages
As the Sayer, Rohingya forced from Myanmar utters their experience of
clearing by the army. Thailand media portrays that event as blame to the
Myanmar army since Rohingyans experience unpleasant treatment by the
government. The systematic clearing has continued and become more severe.
The employment of “redoubling push” emphasizes the sad witness by
Rohingyans. They do not have another choice but leave the area.
Thailand newspaper media also shows its fair view of the crisis. The
employment of Carrier which involves both Bangladesh and Myanmar below
are the proof.

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THAI.H.19 Both Bangladesh and Myanmar are responsible for

the Rohingya
Blame is not only directed to the Myanmar government but also Bangladesh.
The initial conflict regarding the occupation of Myanmar territory by
Bangladesh is regarded as the initial conflict of Rohingya crisis. Thailand
newspaper media sees this as the blame of both countries. The negotiation
which should have been done a long time ago never happened. That is, why
the media put both countries as the Carrier which is attached to the
responsibility they have to make.
The five newspapers analyzed above reveal similar ideologies,
responsibility and blame. That finding can be understood since the South-East
Asian newspapers are produced in the same spirit as ASEAN members. The
presence of society cannot be ignored in discourse analysis. Rohingya issue is
seen as a shared problem by South-East Asian countries, thus the headlines
presented in five newspapers reveal similar ideology. This supports
Fairclough’s argument that CDA can be employed to describe, interpret, and
explain the language and power. CDA regards language as creating ideology
and revealing concealed agendas in language that may be ideological (Montejo
& Adriano, 2018). The language choice in the headlines is powerful to show
the countries’ responsibility and arise their readers’ emotion in the form of
blame.
In South-East Asian newspaper headlines, the Themes are represented
in different linguistic features. In Indonesian media, the employment of Actor,
Goal, Carrier, Sayer, and Circumstance is to represent different messages the
readers should pay attention to. The involvement of Indonesia and its
government as the dominating Theme is to show responsibility toward
Rohingya issue. The media also share some activities held in Indonesia to show

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its people’s responsibility as human beings who feel sympathy for the victims.
Indonesian newspaper presents as a pro-government organization to support
what the government conducts to solve the crisis. The finding supports Bolte
& Keong (2014) research on how media is influenced by its situational and
ideological context. As the biggest Muslim country, Indonesian newspaper
attempts at showing its government responsibility to protect Rohingyans.
Though the readers’ sympathy is not obviously inscribed in the headlines, the
readers are grasped to observe their government action regarding Rohingya
issue. Nevertheless, the choice of Actor referring to Myanmar is used by
Indonesian media to show “blame” toward Myanmar. The employment of
“Myanmar troops” and “Myanmar army” are some examples.
Malaysian newspaper headlines are rich in linguistic features put in the
headlines. The domination of Actor in the headlines at the same time show
responsibility and blame. The responsibility shared by the media is represented
by government official who shows its power to take particular decision toward
Rohingya issues, such as the choice of “Najib, DPM, and Shahidan”. To show
blame, Malaysian media repeats the choice of “Suu Kyi” as the Actor behind
the clearing. The representation of Suu Kyi as the Actor is in line with Afzal's
(2016) analysis of how Pakistani media frames Suu Kyi as a discriminative
leader. This also arouses the readers’ emotional appeals (pathos) toward
Rohingya crisis. It emphasizes that media produced in Muslim countries share
similar attitude toward Rohingya case.
Bangladesh's media has different referents of Actor though Actor also
dominates the headlines. Bangladesh chooses the number of Rohingya to be
the Themes in order to show how Rohingyans make effort to save themselves,

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which results in “blame” shown by the Theme. However, Bangladesh's media

also shows responsibility by means of Actor shown in the word “Bangladesh”.
Similar to Indonesian newspaper headlines, Malaysian and Bangladesh
newspapers are pro-government media. What their government and its
representatives conduct regarding Rohingya issue is signposted in their
headlines. Malaysia is also a country dominated by Muslims, while Bangladesh
shares its solidarity due to the close border to Rakhine. “Blame” is embodied
in Malaysian and Bangladesh media to encourage readers’ emotions toward
the actions done by Rohingya refugees. What triggers Rohingya crisis is
covered up by the emotions framed by the media (Afzal, 2016).
Different from the four media mentioned above, Myanmar newspaper
headlines are dominated by the Theme referring to responsibility by the
Myanmar government. The choice of Goal refers to things done by the
Government to recover Rohingya crisis, such as “refugee deal, peace, stability,
and plans to repatriate refugee”. The media intends to share the good points
Myanmar government makes. The use of Actor and Sayer referring to the
government also shows its responsibility. Similar to the other three newspapers
discussed previously, Myanmar newspaper is also on the side of its
government, seen from the absence of the word “Rohingya”. The newspaper
intends not to acknowledge Rohingya as a national race (James, 2006). The
neglect of race is intentionally and systematically conducted in Myanmar.
In the last media, Thailand newspaper headlines, it is found that the
media also shows its responsibility and blame toward the Rohingya crisis.
However, blame is not only directed to Myanmar government, but also
Bangladesh. Thailand newspaper headlines also involve ASEAN as the official
association among South-East Asian countries to solve the crisis together.
What is concerned in the media is the stability amongst South-East Asian

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countries. The readers are encouraged to recall the spirit of ASEAN which can
unite them. The conflict happens in South-East Asia is the countries’
responsibility. The “neutral” position Thailand newspaper headlines show is
influenced by the socio-political context in Thailand, as a country that is not
affected directly by the crisis. As one of the founders of ASEAN, Thailand
government is portrayed as the one mediates the conflict. The analysis
emphasizes that newspapers propagate agendas of different social, political,
and economic pillars of power (Lodhi, et al., 2019).

CONCLUSION
This research concludes the choice of wordings in the headlines can
create different discursive effects to the readers. Even though the textual
structures of the headlines are represented in the same type, they can bring
different ideological perspectives depending on how the texts are distributed.
The language choice in the headlines is capable of revealing the position of the
media, whether they are pro-government or not. Language is also benefited to
exercise power and encourage the readers’ emotions. The event behind the case
may be hidden by the emotions and actions signposted in the headlines. This
emphasizes that language choice in media is socially and politically influenced
by the social context. This research invites future scholars to enrich the present
findings so that the studies on how media bring Rohingya issue in the world.

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Note: Some parts of this article were presented in LOOW 6 by Petra Christian
University, entitled “Rohingya in Media: Critical Discourse Analysis in
Myanmar and Bangladesh Newspaper Headlines”

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