Rhetorical Appeals Used by The New Generation of Malaysian Politicians in Their Social Media Communication

Vol. 13, No. 6, 2023


Introduction
Social media serves as a powerful instrument for social interactions. Numerous international and socio-economic contexts reported that social media users spend a significant proportion of their time on social media (Meel & Vishwakarma, 2020), driving the contemporary, participatory and user-driven online culture. It was reported that 86% of Malaysian are active social media users, with a penetration rate as high as 89% on Facebook and 75% on Instagram (Statista, 2021). Given the significance of social media in modern society, many individuals and organisations use these platforms to reach their target audiences and persuade users in order to achieve their goals. For instance, most-followed social media users, known as social media influencers, post marketed content to persuade and influence consumer purchase intention towards certain brands (Hudders et al., 2020).
Politicians have also jumped on the bandwagon by utilizing the social media to reach out to the public and disseminate political contents. For example, over 4,500 United States (U.S) political members, consisting of Congress members, state officials and governors, use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (Pew Research Centre, 2020). These platforms enable political candidates to engage with voters, reach out and influence the general public (Stier et al., 2018). These politicians have been utilising different linguistic strategies on their social media platforms to appeal to public opinion (Fanani et al., 2020). Persuasive language is used to reinforce, shape, or even change the audience's views by utilising the language resources that appeal to the audience. For example, during the United States of America presidential election in 2008, Barack Obama utilised digital technology on various networking platforms and launched a powerful, persuasive strategy to lead in the race during the election, raising awareness and financial support for his campaign (Enli, 2017).
Many studies have been conducted on rhetorical appeals used by politician on days leading to the general election (Fanani et al., 2020;Enli, 2017). Meanwhile, other scholars (e.g., Rossini et al., 2018;Yoo & Zúñiga, 2019) have been more interested on broader patterns of political persuasion and communicative strategies in the social mediascape and looked beyond the period of campaigns and general elections to better understand the nuances of politicians' communicative practices in digital means. The motivation for conducting this study was to examine the different communicative practices utilized by a few selected Malaysian politicians dubbed as 'the new generation of politicians' beyond the election period. Their social media communication on a specific issue which was the Taman Sri Muda flood crisis in December 2021 was the subject of this study. The flood crisis went viral on the internet and these politicians were among those who had been actively posting updates on the issue on their social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter during the crisis.

Research Objectives
This research was carried out to explore the persuasive strategies and rhetorical appeals used by a few selected Malaysian politicians on social media to influence public opinion. Politicians often use social media platforms to persuade the general public by applying techniques that stimulate public reactions. The posts are strategically curated to strengthen the exposure and reinforce their image in the public sphere.
Hence, the objectives of the current studies are a) To analysed the different communicative practices used in the media posts of the new generation of Malaysian politicians. b) To determine which type of rhetorical appeals was most commonly used among the selected politicians. To address the research objectives, two research questions were formulated: a) What were the different communicative practices used in the media posts of the new generation of Malaysian politicians? b) Which type of rhetorical appeals was most commonly used among the selected Malaysian politicians?

New Generation of Politician
The term 'new generation of politicians' in this study is used to refer to young politicians who seem to be potentially influential political forces that reshape the political realm (Towler et al., 2019;Zummo et al., 2020). These breed of politicians are keen in reforming the existing system or institution (Olsen, 2018). In Malaysia, the new generation of politicians are often the ones who draw closer attention to the issues of corruption, cronyism, and nepotism (Kamaruddin & Rogers, 2020).

Rhetorical Appeals
Rhetoric is a means to persuade the audience through speech, language, and stylistic techniques (La Torre et al., 2020). Using the three Aristotelian rhetoric forms of ethos, pathos and logos, scholars argued that persuasion relies on a rhetorical strategy "starting with pathos, followed by logos, and ending with the ethos" (p.3) as a process to shape common beliefs and persuade an audience for different purposes in various ways. Ethos, in general, focuses on appealing to the readers' belief system to convince them and change their thinking (Saaty, 2020). The appeals using ethos are generally framed by establishing the credibility of the communicator. For instance, politicians seek to attract and appeal to voters by establishing and improving their credibility and reputation. Next, pathos is described as the appeal to elicit and trigger audiences' emotions (Hill, 2019). Saaty (2020) affirmed that pathos is a rhetorical device that an individual uses to invoke the audience's feelings, and places the audience into the right frame of mind to be receptive to a message. In the use of pathos for political purposes on social media, these posts present emotional and motivational appeals. On the other hand, logos refers to the appeals of reasons and facts (Mshvenieradze, 2013). For instance, Isai et al (2020) stressed that logos uses logic, justification, argumentation, and evidence. In a political context, posts categorised in this type of appeal present facts and evidence to support the politicians' claims.

Communicative Practices and Social Media Platform
Communicative practice is a form of interaction between two or more individuals. Social media sites are interactive communication systems that enable internet users to create, communicate and exchange content with one another across platforms (Swani & Milne, 2017) In understanding the association between politics and social media use, Rossini et al (2018) conducted a study on the contents politicians put up on different online platforms. It was found that candidates are inclined to use Twitter as a site to post persuasive content as well as negative political attacks on their opponents. In contrast, Facebook, is used to curate posts more on personal traits.

Methodology
This study adopted Zhang and Wildermuth's (2009) qualitative content analysis approach, which is a research method for the subjective interpretation of text data content through the systematic classification process of coding and detecting themes or patterns. The results of the study were then presented quantitatively using frequency count.

Data for the Study
The data for the study were Facebook posts and Twitter tweets posted by five (5) selected Malaysian politicians. The researcher used purposive sampling for this study as proposed by Campbell et al (2020), since this method is best suited to meet the study objectives. This study revolved around five (5)  To better understand the communicative practices of these politicians in relation to Aristotle's mode of persuasion, research data were collected from the politicians' open Facebook and Twitter pages. The researcher went online and selectively collected relevant Facebook and Twitter posts on a specific issue which was the Taman Sri Muda flood crisis. Taman Sri Muda, a residential area in the state of Selangor, Malaysia, experienced the worst flash flood in December 2021. Many residents lost their homes and even lives as parts of the residential area were inundated in flood waters as deep as four metres. The incident caught the local government off guard and caused an uproar among the public for the lack of coordination in the rescue efforts during the crisis. Facebook and Twitter posts put up by the selected politicians dated from the 17th of December 2021 to the 10th of January 2022 were used for the study. The selected posts were those which contains reasonable evidence of calls for more government accountability on the issue. The data collection procedure is shown in the Figure 1.

Data Analysis
Thematic data analysis was adopted for the study. The first phase of data analysis involved sorting the identified posts and tweets according to a criteria set for the study. These posts were then coded and the main themes were identified in relation to ethos, pathos and logos. The emerging sub-themes from the main themes were then identified. Seventy-four (74) Facebook posts and Tweeter 'tweets' were collected for this study. Table 1 shows the total number of posts for each politician. Based on Table 1, it can be seen that Amirudin Shari (P4) being the Menteri Besar at the time of study, put up the highest number of related posts during the study period, which was forty (40) posts altogether. It was followed by Syed Saddiq (P1) who put up twenty (20) Table 2 summarises the sub-themes which emerged from data analysis.

Findings
Examples of the use of ethos, pathos and logos found in the politicians' Facebook and Twitter posts will be discussed in the following section. Some of the posts and tweets were in Malay, thus, they were translated into English. The excerpts were taken directly from the politician's social media sites and had not been edited or paraphrased.

The Use of Ethos to Portray Credibility
During the period of the Taman Sri Muda flood crisis, the politicians posted updates of their humanitarian activities in response to the crisis. For example, Syed Saddiq [1] informed the general public from time to time about his activities in response to the situation.
"Saya singgah beli barang-barang keperluan untuk mangsa banjir. Saya akan masuk balik kawasan Sri Muda untuk sampaikan barang-barang keperluan untuk manga banjir." (P1/POST12/T/19-12) Translation: "I stopped by to buy necessities for the flood victims. I will go back to the Sri Muda area to deliver the necessary items to the flood victims." In the excerpt, the politician used the word "saya" which means "I" to portray that he personally dealt with the issue and highlighted his timely response to the plight of Taman Sri Muda flood victims. Another example of ethos was a post by Amirudin Shari [4] highlighting his achievement as a government minister who led the search and rescue activities. This is to portray that he was efficient in dealing with the crisis.
"Setakat pagi ini seramai 300 org penduduk di kawasan Sri Muda telah berjaya diselamatkan dan dipindahkan ke pusat penempatan sementara…" P4/POST25/T/19-12 Translation: "As of this morning 300 residents from Sri Muda area have been successfully rescued and moved to the temporary shelter…" Common occurrences of ethos can also be seen through stories being posted by these politicians. It is believed politicians used this persuasive appeal in the hope of building a connection with the public. Hence, based on a post by Syed Saddiq [P1], he tried to depict the story of hard work by both his team and the public to emphasise good camaraderie.
Our tiredness disappeared when we met them. " In addition, it was also found that the use of stories can be one of the persuasive elements as it portrays credibility when informing the public about a situation. Another example was a post made by Hannah Yeoh [2]. She related her rescue effort by detailing the incident as a narrative.
"By the time I left at about 430pm, my team was very tired. I also needed to rest. 2 out of my 3 kayaks suffered some damage on the undercarriage as we got stuck at some of the sharp fences…" P2/POST3/F/20-12 Her narrative was meant to portray her credibility as a politician. Her detailed account of the rescue efforts proved that she was actually there at the scene working side by side with her team members.

Building Trustworthiness With Future Plans
Trustworthiness is a valuable component in politics. Based on the analysis, it can be seen that Hannah Yeoh [2] built trustworthiness with the general public by providing information on plans to mitigate the risk of future crises through the use of phrases like "urgent actions by Government to help flood victims". Regardless of the issue being discussed, an audience is more likely to be convinced by someone they trust. Hannah Yeoh [2] also posted the following updates:

"Press conference in Parliament today on urgent actions by Government to help flood victims: (1) paid leave for flood victims to clean up home, (2) waive water bill and electricity bill, (3) announce financial assistance and how to apply, (4) use SMS MKN correctly, (5) military assistance for rescue mission" (P2/POST1/F/20-12)
The post was meant to convince the public that she was aware of what needed at the ground where the victims were suffering and in dire need of assistance especially from the government. Thus, the post was a way of convincing the public that she was on their side, and she was in parliament as their representative.

Pathos Used as Emotional and Motivational Appeal
Pathos affects the emotions of the audience. In this study, pathos was used in a variety of ways, which include its use as emotional and motivational appeals.

Describing Situations to Maximise Emotion and Motivation
In relation to Aristotle's pathos, persuasion with the use of emotions as a strategy can also create an action when the audience is moved by the context. Based on the findings, it was found that Syed Saddiq [1] often utilised pathos in his appeal to the public to take action and provide aid to the flood victims. The choice of words in both posts can invoke a sense of motivation among the audience to help the victims. During the crisis, the flood victims' struggles were placed at the centre of the messages to maximise the impact on public's emotions, and thus, motivate them to take action.

Logos as a Persuasive Appeal
Logos is an appeal based on logic or facts. In other words, logos use facts and evidence to persuade a reader to see the validity of the argument. For instance, Amirudin Shari [4] presented the statistics of his rescue efforts. He also provided detailed updates with regard to the assistance given by the government as well as the numbers of aid allocated for the victims of Taman Sri Muda flood crisis. Translation: "UPDATE 02.19pm: RM306,834.00! Each ringgit and sen ONLY for the purpose of helping flood victims all over the country. An AUDIT will be conducted and the outcome will be shared with everybody."

Adopting Rational Reasoning to Persuade
The fact that these new generation of Malaysian politicians dared to question the government's inaction during the tragedy strongly planted their credibility among the audience. In the excerpt below, Syed Saddiq [P1] highlighted the government's failure in taking timely actions. He provided rational reasoning by drawing a parallel between the government's response to the flood crisis and another government-sponsored programme which was heavily promoted. Translation: " Ya Allah!!! It has been 24 hours but there is still no update from @MKNJPM. Where is the SMS blasting? Where is the whole-of-nation coordination? During Expo Keluarga Malaysia there were major spamming of SMS.
Our people are tired, sick and hungry. Show leadership please." Hannah Yeoh [P2] also drew the public's attention to the fact that although Malaysia is known for owning a submarine, the government failed to provide boats for the rescue mission during the tragedy.
"A nation known for submarine purchase but cannot deploy rescue boats fast enough to save citizens" (P2/POST5/F/20-12)

Difference in Communicative Practices
During the Taman Sri Muda flood crisis, it was found that different politicians adopted different rhetorical appeals in conveying their messages to the audience. Table 2 summarises the frequency of ethos, pathos and logos being utilised by the five politicians.  Table 3 it can be seen that the most common rhetorical appeal used was logos. The politicians prefer to use facts and rational reasoning to convince the audience and to make their points.

Discussion
The first research question of the study is: What were the different communicative practices used in the media posts of the new generation of Malaysian politicians? As outlined in the findings, the politicians used either logos, pathos or ethos to appeal to the audience for financial assistance, to communicate with the audience about the government's lack of action and rationality, and more. The study revealed that these politicians used rational reasoning or logos most in their attempts to persuade the general public. According to Lewis and Weigert (2012), cognitive trust is built on rational reasoning. Hence, when the message is understood with clarity and purposes, it gives a sense of trustworthiness and credibility reflected on the politician. These results resonated with past studies conducted by Stucki and Seger (2018) which concluded that backing arguments with evidence increases their trustworthiness. The study found that ethos was the second most common appeal adopted by the new generation of Malaysian politicians in their social media posts during the Taman Sri Muda flood crisis. According to Varpio (2018), ethos is a personal appeal that speaks of the writer's character, reliability, and trustworthiness. It demonstrates the sender's authority and credibility. In the study, the politicians adopted ethos in portraying credibility in the context of their humanitarian activities, personal accomplishments and stories.  provided an in-depth analysis of Wisse's (1989) work in which ethos has two variants in rhetoric: (a) the speaker's reliability in suggesting that he will tell the truth and (b) the quality of the speaker in winning the sympathy of the hearers. As politicians are public figures, it is important for them to showcase their involvement in any events. The use of ethos would further establish their credibility, leading to these politicians being perceived as trustworthy by the audience, which is a central aspect of this rhetorical appeal.
The selected politicians in the study used pathos to appeal to the audience's emotion. In certain circumstances, emotional appeal can be more effective at persuading the audience than a rational message. This is achieved by triggering the human senses and providing selfsatisfaction to the readers (Saylors, 2019). Politicians would construct their messages to generate more emotional reactions. It was evident in the study that the politicians had used the flood victims' situations or sufferings to further invoke the audience's emotions which would subsequently create a motivational appeal. This finding is similar to Bronstein et al.
(2018)'s study in which politicians used pathos to post information in areas such as economy, society and security issues to create an effective alliance with the public.
One other major finding based on the data analysis was that Amirudin Shari [P4] posted more on the progress being made after the crisis as compared to other politicians. The explanation for these disparities is that as the national Member of Parliment and the then Menteri Besar of Selangor, he had more official work on which he could report to the general public. The finding resonates that of Kelm's (2020) who concluded that there are differences in the amount of broadcast information among politicians depending on their positions in the government.
Next, the study revealed that each politician has different communicative practices based on the objectives of the communicative acts. For instance, it is revealed that Syed Saddiq [P1] used more ethos in his posts across his social media platforms during the Taman Sri Muda flood crisis. Whereas Hannah Yeoh [P2], Amirudin Shari [P4] and Kasthuri Patto [P5] used more logos. Last but not least, it is also found that Fahmi Fadzil [P3] adopted more pathos in his social media posts to achieve his persuasive aims.
Finally, the second research question which was; a)Which type of rhetorical appeals was most commonly used among the selected Malaysian politicians? Based on Table 2, it was found that the most commonly used rhetorical appeal in the posts by these politicians was logos. During the study period, forty-two (42) posts had used logos, eighteen (18) posts had utilised ethos while seventeen (17) posts had used pathos rhetorical appeals.

Conclusion
It can be concluded based on the findings that the politicians' rhetorical appeal as well as the differences in their communicative practices depend on their persuasive aims and their position in the ruling government. Additionally, while the distinction of these communicative practices seems apparent on the surface, establishing the boundaries between logos, ethos, and pathos could be tricky as they overlap and co-exist throughout the persuasive acts. This implies that the speaker may express their thoughts in favour of rational arguments while at the same time invoke the audience's emotion (Cockcroft et al., 2014, Romanova & Sminova, 2019.

Study Limitation and Future Research
This study has a few limitations that can be improved in future research. The impact of the use of rhetorical appeals by the new generation of Malaysian politician such as ethos, pathos and logos, during the Taman Sri Muda flood crisis on the readers was interpreted by the researchers themselves. Therefore, it is recommended for future research, the general public's opinion and response could be included in the data collection so that the effects of the persuasive appeals can be analysed from the perspective of the general public. In addition, the current study only looked at the texts in the posts without considering whether the posts were accompanied by pictures or videos. Therefore, it is recommended that the aspect of vividness in the communicative acts should also be considered in future research.