Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in Digital Political Communication: A Rhetorical Analysis of Alexander Nanta Linggi's Facebook Posts

Abstract

Social media has become an important arena for political leaders to construct credibility, legitimacy, and public engagement through everyday discourse. This study examines how Alexander Nanta Linggi, Malaysia’s Minister of Works and Member of Parliament for Kapit, employs Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos in Facebook posts to construct political leadership and communicate government policy. Using qualitative rhetorical analysis, purposively selected posts published between May and July 2026 were analysed deductively using an Aristotelian framework. The findings reveal that ethos was constructed through institutional authority, site inspections, and accountability statements; pathos through communal address, cultural symbolism, pantun, and expressions of empathy; and logos through budget figures, project statistics, and data-based justification. These rhetorical appeals frequently operated together within individual posts, demonstrating an integrated rhetorical strategy rather than isolated persuasive techniques. The study concludes that Facebook functions as a hybrid platform for political leadership communication, combining bureaucratic accountability with affective and culturally resonant appeals. By examining a Malaysian state–federal political context, the study extends the application of Aristotelian rhetoric to contemporary digital political communication in Southeast Asia.