Populism And The Language Of Power: An Analysis Of Critical Discourse On The Political Speech Of The President Of The Republic Of Indonesia

Khotibul Umam

doi:10.65663/jalla.v1i1.87

Authors

Khotibul Umam Madrasah Aliyah An-nur Kembang Jeruk Banyuates Sampang, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.65663/jalla.v1i1.87

Keywords:

Populism And The Language Of Power, Critical Discourse Analysis, Political Speeches Of The President Of Indonesia

Abstract

This research examines the relationship between populism and the language of power through a critical discourse analysis of the President of the Republic of Indonesia's political speeches. The main focus of this research is to identify how linguistic strategies reflect populist narratives and reinforce dominant ideologies in the context of political communication. With a qualitative approach, this research uses Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (AWK) model to analyze the textual, discursive, and social practices contained in the president's official speeches. The data was collected through purposive sampling technique on the state speech of the president of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto taken from kompas.com website.

The results showed that populist rhetoric is reflected in the glorification of “the people,” the moral dichotomy between elites and ordinary people, and the invocation of national identity and sovereignty. The language of power is formed through the process of legitimizing authority, emphasizing collective struggle, and the president's position as a representative and protector of the oppressed. Discursively, the speeches used historical references, emotional appeals for unity, and delegitimization of the opposition through subtle moral frames. At the social level, these practices sustain the existing political order and reinforce the image of a populist who is responsive to public aspirations.

In conclusion, this study contributes to understanding how power is exercised and normalized through language in populist leadership, and highlights the role of discourse in shaping public perception and political legitimacy. Further studies are recommended to extend this analysis to other political regimes and across media for a more comprehensive understanding.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

References

Alisoy, H. (2025). Cohesion, Persuasion, and Ideology: The Pragmatic Functions of Repetition in Trump’s Rhetoric. Porta Universorum, 1(3), 80-86.

https://doi.org/10.69760/portuni.010306

Al-Khawaldeh, N. N., Rababah, L. M., Khawaldeh, A. F., & Banikalef, A. A. (2023). The art of rhetoric: persuasive strategies in Biden’s inauguration speech: a critical discourse analysis. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 1-8.

https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02450-y

Alnjadat, R., Almomani, E., Al Hadid, L., Al-Omari, A., & Fraihat, A. (2024). Confounding factors affecting the clinical decision-making of nursing and midwifery students post-pandemic COVID-19: cross-sectional study in Jordan. BMC nursing, 23(1), 424.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-024-02108-3

Alonso-Muñoz, L., & Casero-Ripollés, A. (2020). Populism against Europe in social media: The Eurosceptic discourse on Twitter in Spain, Italy, France, and United Kingdom during the campaign of the 2019 European Parliament election. Frontiers in communication, 5, 54.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00054

Auriacombe, C. J., & Sithomola, T. (2020). The use of participatory action research in a participative democracy: In critique of mechanisms for citizen participation. International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanity Studies, 12(1), 50-65.

Edwards, G. C., Mayer, K. R., & Wayne, S. J. (2024). Presidential leadership: Politics and policy making. Rowman & Littlefield.

Elzaghal, F. T. (2021). Fields of Text Studies and Discourse Analysis: A Study in light of applying Dell Hymes Speaking Model to Joe Biden's speech on the Middle East (2021). International Journal of Humanities and Language Research, 4(1), 1-39.

https://doi.org/10.21608/ijhlr.2021.225319

Goldsmith, B. E., Horiuchi, Y., & Matush, K. (2021). Does public diplomacy sway foreign public opinion? Identifying the effect of high-level visits. American Political Science Review, 115(4), 1342-1357.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000393

Hager, A., & Hilbig, H. (2020). Does public opinion affect political speech?. American Journal of Political Science, 64(4), 921-937.

https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12516

Hailu, M. F., & Sarubbi, M. (2021). Student resistance movements in higher education: an analysis of the depiction of Black Lives Matter student protests in news media. In Black Liberation in Higher Education (pp. 42-58). Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003155461-4

Harutyunyan, G., & Yeghiazaryan, A. (2021). Persuasion strategies in political discourse. Foreign Languages in Higher Education, 25(2 (31)), 14-29.

https://doi.org/10.46991/FLHE/2021.25.2.014

Jati, W. R. (2024). Critical Analysis of Islamic Populism: Insights from Indonesian Perspectives. Journal of Indonesian Islam, 18(1), 27-48.

https://doi.org/10.15642/JIIS.2024.18.1.27-48

Knott, E., Rao, A. H., Summers, K., & Teeger, C. (2022). Interviews in the social sciences. Nature Reviews Methods Primers, 2(1), 73.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00150-6

Leifeld, P. (2020). Policy debates and discourse network analysis: A research agenda. Politics and Governance, 8(2), 180-183.

https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i2.3249

Lo Piccolo, A. (2023). To make the dominoes fall: A relational-processual approach to societal accountability in the Italian and Spanish anti-corruption arenas.

Mahmoudi, D., & MeghezliI, L. (2022). A Rhetorical Discourse Analysis of Two Motivational Speeches Case Study: Brendon Burchard’s Speeches “How to Succeed” And “How to Stay Focused” (Doctoral dissertation, Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi–Ouzou).

Marzuki, I. (2023). Critical Discourse Analysis (Theory and Practice). University of Education Muhammadiyah Sorong. UNIMUDAPress.

Mergel, I. (2021). Open innovation in the public sector: drivers and barriers for the adoption of Challenge. gov. In Digital Government and Public Management (pp. 94-113). Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003258742-6

Mukminin, M. S., Alya, N. N., Indiraphasa, N. S., Wulandari, N. W. N., & Prasetya, K. (2024). Critical Discourse Analysis on Prabowo Subianto’s Presidential Inauguration Speech. Journal of Language, Literature and Teaching, 6(2), 31-47.

https://doi.org/10.35529/jllte.v6i2.31-47

Nawaz, M. H., Ikhtiar, A., Raza, A. M., & Nouman, M. (2024). Critical Discourse Analysis of Political Speeches in Pakistan: Power, Ideology and Language Manipulation. Futurity Proceedings, 1.

Nicolson, M., & Korkut, U. (2022). The making and the portrayal of Scottish distinctiveness: How does the narrative create its audience?. International Migration, 60(5), 151-164.

https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12944

Nurdin, A., Setiawan, A., & Nugraha, A. R. (2024). The Rise of Populism and Its Impact on Democratic Institutions: A Comparative Analysis of Global Trends. International Journal of Social and Human, 1(2), 67-84.

https://doi.org/10.59613/7843ew44

Oduola, M. O., & Adeleke, J. A. (2025). Discourse of Politics and Politicking with Politeness in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's National Broadcast on Oil Subsidy Removal. Issues in Language and Literary Studies, 10(1), 135-157.

Onyango, G. (2021). Whistleblowing behaviours and anti-corruption approaches in public administration in Kenya. Economic and Political Studies, 9(2), 230-254.

https://doi.org/10.1080/20954816.2020.1800263

Pham, T. Q. (2024). A synopsis of the three most influential approaches of critical discourse analysis. VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, 40(3), 172-181.

https://doi.org/10.63023/2525-2445/jfs.ulis.5217

Rakhmani, I., & Saraswati, M. S. (2021). Authoritarian populism in Indonesia: The role of the political campaign industry in engineering consent and coercion. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 40(3), 436-460.

https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034211027885

Rohmatulloh, M. T., & Setiawati, E. (2025). Power and Discourse: Unraveling the Political Ideology of the News About the "Emergency Warning" on Detik Network. Language: Indonesian Journal of Language and Literature Education, 7(1), 70-88.

Sakib, N. H. (2022). Community organizing in anti-corruption initiatives through spontaneous participation: Bangladesh perspective. Community Development Journal, 57(2), 360-379.

https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsaa027

Saner, R., Yiu, L., & Nguyen, M. (2020). Monitoring The Sdgs: Digital And Social technologies to ensure citizen participation, inclusiveness and transparency. Development policy review, 38(4), 483-500.

https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12433

Santoso, D. H., Aziz, J., Utari, P., & Kartono, D. T. (2020). Populism in new media: The online presidential campaign discourse in Indonesia. Gema Online Journal of Language Studies, 20(2), 115-133.

https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2002-07

Setiawan, I., Nurmiwati, N., & Oktaviani, F. S. (2023). Transitivity of President Jokowi's Speech Text at the G20 Event: Systemic Functional Linguistics Study. Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, 151-168.

https://doi.org/10.21462/ijefl.v8i1.593

Traber, D., Schoonvelde, M., & Schumacher, G. (2020). Errors have been made, others will be blamed: Issue engagement and blame shifting in prime minister speeches during the economic crisis in Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 59(1), 45-67.

https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12340

Ullah, I., Ahmad, M. B., & Sardar, N. (2024). Exploring political rhetoric: Analysing contradictions, ambiguities, and anomalies in political speech by american president joe biden. Educational Research And Innovation, 4(02), 110-125.

Wasow, O. (2020). Agenda seeding: How 1960s black protests moved elites, public opinion and voting. American Political Science Review, 114(3), 638-659.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305542000009X

Widian, R., Satya, P. A. N. I. P., & Yazid, S. (2023). Religion in Indonesia's Elections: An Implementation of a Populist Strategy?. Politics and religion, 16(2), 351-373.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048321000195