This study examines how British colonial writers penned on their views towards the native Malays during colonial time. Thematic Content Analysis is used and the findings portraying Malays were deliberated. The extracts and full articles taken from Singapore Free Press (from the beginning till the last edition before Second World War), revealed the Malays were portrayed negatively in many aspects. Amongst were lazy (or lassitude, lethargic or peasant or indolent) stupid, uneducated, barbaric and ferocious. The language in the agenda was set to indoctrinate the Malays with a sense of dependency and inferiority. This had imperative allegations for the post-colonial nation states. It indicated that issue attributes salient in the media was functioning as a significant dimension to legalise the colonialism and how Agenda Setting playes its role.
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In-Text Citation: (Embong, Bakar, Merican, & Hussain, 2019)
To Cite this Article: Embong, A. M., Bakar, Z. B. A., Merican, A. M. N., & Hussain, L. (2019). Setting the Public Agenda: An Analysis of the Singapore Free Press Portraying the Malays during Colonial Period. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(2), 1024–1033.
Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
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