“Petaling Street almost Malaysian”- A Discourse Analysis of News on Illegal Immigrants

This paper explores ideological representations of illegal immigrants present in six Malaysian newspapers. The discourse analysis shows specific lexicalization and the one-sided relationship between the government of Malaysia and illegal immigrants. The Malaysian government is repeatedly positioned as the savior of the nation and agent who verbalize actions through the use of lexical items such as —implementing,‖ and —door-to-door checks.‖ Secondly, the lexico-grammatical analysis reveals binary oppositions such as —violence vs. peace‖ and —citizenry vs. non-citizenry.‖ This study lends support to the claim that political institutions exert influence and power through discursive spaces in media discourse.