Abstract
This study examines how the term rakyat, ‘the people’, is constructed in the first presidential speech of Prabowo Subianto. This article uses a mixed-method that includes quantitative corpus analysis and qualitative Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Data were obtained from a transcribed official document and constituted as a corpus, which Liu’s three- dimensional CDA model analyzed. There are five discourses articulated to the term rakyat: nationalism, sacrifice, pro- commoners, popular sovereignty, and human rights. Nationalism is developed in five instances (16.5%), among which three perspectives are employed: national honor discourse, national ethics, and the people as the nation’s soul. The narrative of sacrifice is made twice (6.6%) by the level of their sacrifice. Pro-commoner narratives are framed seven times (23.3%) through four angles: food for the people, jobs for the people, subsidies for the people, and people’s welfare. The popular sovereignty narrative is invoked 8 times (34.9%) with the three perspectives: of the people, by the people, and for the people. The discourse of human rights is constructed in three ways (9.9%) from the prism of human rights principles. The findings suggest that political rhetoric constructs public opinion, legitimation of rule, and civic activity, as well as social solidarity and trust in the leadership, providing implications for policymakers and scholars on how language produces ideology. This study recommends that policymakers and political actors strategically consider their language choices to enhance transparency, inclusivity, and legitimacy in public communication.
Keywords: Discourse, Ideology, Indonesia, People, President’s Speech.