PROCEEDING - Sipeg UNJ

PROCEEDING 29TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LITERATURE

AND HISKI 36TH ANNIVERSARY

IN GORONTALO 2020 (Literature, Tourism, and Multicultural Educaction in The Industrial Era 4.0)

Gorontalo State University, Tuesday, 17 November 2020

Suwardi Endraswara, Dwi Sulistyorini, Elen Inderasari, Dwi Kurniasih, I Gusti Ayu Agung Mas

Triadnyani, I Gusti Ayu Agung Mas Triadnyani, I Nyoman Suaka, Ninawati Syahrul, Novi

Anoegrajekti, Asrumi, Sudartomo Macaryus, Dian Herdiati, Ifan Iskandar, Sance A. Lamusu, Vedia,

Fachria Marasabessy, Alfian Rokhmansyah, Agus Nuryatin, Asep Yusup Hudayat, Lina Meilinawati,

Teddi Muhtadin, Baban Banita, Lina Meilinawati, Ari J. Purwawijana, Dzarna, Eva Dwi Kurniawan,

Septi Riana Dewi, Heru S.P. Saputra, Titik Maslikatin, Edy Hariyadi, Laeli Qadrianti, Muhammad

Ilham, Naim Irmayani, Surastina, Febriyantina Istiara, Effrina Yuricki, Ulinsa, Bani Sudardi,

Istadiyantha, Dwi Sulistyorini, Basuki Sarwo Edi, Brillianing Pratiwi, Dakia N. DjoU, Esti Ismawati,

Warsito, Kun Andyan Anindito, M. Asri B, SitiFatinah, Sitti Harisah, Nanang Rizali, Bani Sudardi,

Nanik Herawati, D. B. Putut Setiadi, Erry Pranawa, Ni Nyoman Tanjung Turaeni, Ni Putu Parmini,

Nur Aina Ahmad, Eka Sartika, Purwaningsih, Siti Gomo Attas, Gres Grasia Azmin, Marwiah, Tamrin,

Nursyamsi, Thera Widyastuti, Ali Mustofa, Fatmah AR. Umar, Indah Fitriani, Lina Meilinawati,

Amaliatun Saleha, Lina Meilinawati Rahayu, Aquarini Priyatna, Baban Banita, Lis Setiawati, M.

Marwiah, Muhammad Akhir, Muhammad Ali, Ratu Badriyah, Rita Inderawati, Nurhayati

SEKRETARIAT PENGURUS PUSAT

d.a. Grha STR, Jalan Ampera Raya Nomor 11, Telepon (021) 7813708, Jakarta Selatan 12550

Website http://hiski.or.id

Rekening Bank Mandiri Nomor: 142 00 1614854 - 5

ii

PROCEEDING 29TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LITERATURE

AND HISKI 36TH ANNIVERSARY IN GORONTALO 2020 (Literature, Tourism, and Multicultural Educaction in The Industrial Era 4.0)

Gorontalo State University, Tuesday, 17 November 2020

SUSUNAN PANITIA

KONFERENSI INTERNASIONAL KESUSASTRAAN (KIK) KE-XXIX

DAN HUT KE-36 HISKI TAHUN 2020 DI GORONTALO

A. Dewan Pengarah (Steering Committee):

1. Prof. Dr. H. Moh. Karmin Baruadi, M.Hum.

2. Prof. Dr. Hj. Moon H. Otoluwa, M.Hum.

3. Prof. Dr. Hj. Sayama Malabar, M.Pd.

4. Prof. Dr. Kartin Lihawa, M.Pd.

5. Prof. Dr. Supriyadi, M.Pd.

6. Prof. Nonny Basalama, M.A., Ph.D.

7. Dr. Muslimin, S.Pd., M.Pd.

8. Dr. H. Harto Malik, M.Hum.

9. Dr. Sukardi Gau, M.Hum.

10. Dr. Hj. Ellyana Hinta, M.Hum.

11. Dr. Sance Lamusu, M.Hum.

B. Panitia Pelaksana (Organizing Committee):

1. Ketua : Dr. Herman Didipu, S.Pd., M.Pd.

2. Sekretaris : Dr. Herson Kadir, S.Pd., M.Pd.

3. Bendahara : Dr. Sitti Rachmi Masie, S.Pd., M.Pd.

4. Wakil Bendahara : Eka Sartika, S.Pd., M.Pd.

5. Seksi-Seksi:

a. Konferensi dan Rakernas:

- Dr. Dakia Djou, M.Hum.

- Dr. Asna Ntelu, M.Hum.

- Darmawati Majid, S.S., M.Hum.

- Isran, S.Pd., M.Hum.

b. Kerja sama dan Koordinasi Eksternal

- Dr. Fatmah AR. Umar, M.Pd.

- Dr. Joseph Yapi Taum, M.Hum.

- Dr. Mery Balango

c. Kesekretariatan

- Jafar Lantowa, S.Pd., M.A.

- Arlan Ibrahim, S.Pd.

- Ayu Hidayati Ali, S.Pd., M.Pd.





iii

d. Tata Acara dan Petunjukan

- Farid Mohamad, S.Pd., M.A.

- Dr. Munkizul Umam KaU, M.Phil.

- Zulkipli, S.Pd., M.Sn.

- Mimy Pulukadang, S.Pd., M.Sn.

- La Ode Karlan, S.Pd., M.Sn.

e. Transportasi, Akomodasi, dan Perlengkapan

- Dr. Salam, S.Pd., M.Pd.

- Rosma Kadir, S.Pd., M.A.

- Lukman Hakim, S.S.

f. Publikasi Ilmiah

- Novriyanto Napu, M.A., Ph.D.

- Dr. Abid, S.S., M.A. TESOL

- Rahmanat Idul, S.S., M.A.

- Mira Mirnawati, S.Pd., M.Pd.

g. Konsumsi

- Zilfa Baghtayan, S.Pd., M.A.

- Widi, S.Pd., M.Pd.

- Gamaria, S.Pd., M.Pd.

Tata Letak

Siti Khumaira Dengo

Desain Cover

Ilham Djafar

Pertama kali diterbitkan

Oleh, Himpunan Sarjana-Kesusastraan Indonesia (HISKI)

Alamat: Jalan Ampera Raya nomor 11, Telepon (021) 7813708, Jakarta Selatan 12550


ISBN: -----------------------------------------

Hak cipta dilindungi undang-undang. Memfoto copy atau memperbayak dengan cara apa

pun, sebagian atau seluruh isi buku ini tanpa seizin penerbit adalah tindakan tidak bermoral

dan melawan hukum.

http://hiski.or.id/





iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS — vii

PREFACE — ix

PERSPECTIVE OF LITERATURE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

UNDER THE SHADOWS OF CORONA LITERATURE — 1

Suwardi Endraswara

SYMBOLIC POTENTIAL OF RAMBUT MONTE LAKE

IN BLITAR EAST JAVA AS A TOURISM INDUSTRY — 17

Dwi Sulistyorini

THE PRESERVATION OF VARIOUS JOKO TINGKIR STORIES

AS THE STRATEGY OF DEVELOPING FOLKLORE-BASED TOURISM — 23

Elen Inderasari, Dwi Kurniasih

TRANSFORMATION OF TOURIST DESTINATION IN POEMS — 39

I Gusti Ayu Agung Mas Triadnyani

REPRESENTATION OF LITERARY TOURISM

IN TEXT STUDY AND THE TOMB CAVE OF SITTI NURBAYA — 49

I Nyoman Suaka

TOURISM-THEMED POETRY A TOURISM PROMOTION MODEL — 59

Ninawati Syahrul

PETIK LAUT MUNCAR

ECOTOURISM AND LITERARY TOURISM — 71

Novi Anoegrajekti, Asrumi, Sudartomo Macaryus, Dian Herdiati, Ifan Iskandar

THE POTENTIAL OF TANGGOMO ORAL LITERATURE

IN DEVELOPING CULTURAL OBJECT AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

IN GORONTALO UTARA REGENCY — 81

Sance A. Lamusu

CULTURE AND TOURISM OF BANTEN

IN A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES “BANTEN: SUATU KETIKA” — 91

Vedia, Fachria Marasabessy

HOMOSEXUAL RESPONSES IN SEMARANG CITY

TOWARDS ANDREI AKSANA’S LELAKI TERINDAH NOVEL — 101

Alfian Rokhmansyah, Agus Nuryatin

LANDSCAPE AND THE SILENCE OF COLONIALISM NARRATIVE

IN THE FIRST SUNDANESE NOVEL (1914) — 111

Asep Yusup Hudayat, Lina Meilinawati, Teddi Muhtadin





v

THE MYSTERY OF DEATH IN THE POEM “PARIKSIT”

BY GOENAWAN MOHAMAD — 121

Baban Banita, Lina Meilinawati, Ari J. Purwawijana

EXPLORING THE MEANING OF REGIONAL LITERATURE

OF JEMBER PENDALUNGAN COMMUNITY — 129

Dzarna

RECOMMENDATION FOR DISASTER MITIGATION

THROUGH THE ANALYSIS OF INDONESIAN NOVELS — 139

Eva Dwi Kurniawan, Septi Riana Dewi

LOCAL LANGUAGE:

THE WORLDVIEW AND LANGUAGE OWNERS’ CULTURAL EXPRESSION — 145

Heru S.P. Saputra, Titik Maslikatin, Edy Hariyadi

MEANING OF DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION

IN MANDAR SEA MANTRA POETRY (ROLAND BARTHES STUDY) — 153

Laeli Qadrianti, Muhammad Ilham, Naim Irmayani

SOCIAL CRITICISM AND LANGUAGE STYLE

IN THE POEM “MALU (I) BECOME INDONESIAN PEOPLE”

AND “RESTORE INDONESIA TO ME” TAUFIQ ISMAIL’S WORKS — 175

Surastina, Febriyantina Istiara, Effrina Yuricki

REPRESENTATION OF VERBAL MEANINGS

IN THE KAILI LANGUAGE SLOGAN — 185

Ulinsa

FUNDAMENTAL IDENTITY OF PANGERAN DIPONEGARA

IN JAVA WAR (1825-1830) AND ITS TRACE IN PASAREAN GUNUNG KAWI — 195

Bani Sudardi, Istadiyantha, Dwi Sulistyorini

HARMONIZATION AND LOCAL INTEREST IN “KULAR KULAR” LEGEND

IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 4.0 — 201

Basuki Sarwo Edi

BANJIHA, ANOTHER SIDE OF KOREAN CULTURE

PARASITE FILM CASE STUDY

ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL STUDIES — 211

Brillianing Pratiwi

STRENGTHENING THE CHARACTER OF THE YOUNG GENERATION

THROUGH VERBAL EXPRESSIONS OF ORAL TRADITIONS

IN THE CUSTOMARY PROCESS — 215

Dakia N. DjoU

LOCAL WISDOM TANGGAP ING SASMITA IN SERAT WULANG REH

AS CONTRIBUTION TO JAVA CULTURE FOR GLOBAL WORLD LIFE — 223

Esti Ismawati, Warsito, Kun Andyan Anindito

THE LOCAL WISDOM VALUES IN THE FOLKLORES

OF CENTRAL SULAWESI: A CHARACTER-BUILDING STUDY — 231

M. Asri B, SitiFatinah, Sitti Harisah





vi

LOCAL IDENTITY IN THE SRAGEN’S BATIK PARANG SUKOWATI LINK — 243

Nanang Rizali, Bani Sudardi

FIGURE OF SEMAR IN THE JAVANESE PUPPET STORY

AS A SYMBOL OF CHARACTER BUILDING IN THE JAVANESE SOCIETY — 249

Nanik Herawati, D. B. Putut Setiadi, Erry Pranawa

PATIWANGI, THE TRADITION OF MARRIAGE

IN CARITA CUTET KATIBÉN BÉN TEBÉN BY I MADÉ SUARSA:

A STUDY OF LITERATURE ANTROPOLOGY — 255

Ni Nyoman Tanjung Turaeni

MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN GEGURITAN SIRNA KERTANING BUMI — 263

Ni Putu Parmini

TABOO IN THE BAJAU TOROSIAJE TRIBE SOCIETY,

POHUWATO DISTRICT, GORONTALO PROVINCE — 269

Nur Aina Ahmad, Eka Sartika

PROTONATIONALISM REPRESENTATION

IN BABAD SUMENEP AND BABAD MADURA — 279

Purwaningsih

DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTERS OF ISLANDS COMMUNITY

THROUGH THE FOLKLORE OF PANGLIMA HITAM AND THE KING

OF TIDUNG AS LOCAL ACTIVITIES OF TIDUNG ISLAND — 289

Siti Gomo Attas, Gres Grasia Azmin, Marwiah

UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL VALUES IN ORAL TRADITION LEGEND

OF KULAWI ETHNIC

AS THE NATION CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT VISION — 299

Tamrin, Nursyamsi

SOCIAL INTERACTION IN BABAD KOPI PARAHYANGAN — 309

Thera Widyastuti

MODERN ASIAN LITERATURE AND ITS ROLE

IN EDUCATION ACROSS ASIA AND BEYOND — 317

Ali Mustofa

DECONSTRUCTION OF HEGEMONY IN LITERATURE LEARNING

IN 4.0 INDUSTRY ERA — 327

Fatmah AR. Umar

CHARACTER EDUCATION

IN POST-WAR JAPANESE CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN THE 1960S PERIOD:

THE POLEMIC BETWEEN REALISM AND DIDACTICISM — 343

Indah Fitriani, Lina Meilinawati, Amaliatun Saleha

LEARNING THROUGH GAME:

A WAY TO IMPROVE INDONESIAN LANGUAGE SKILLS — 355

Lina Meilinawati Rahayu, Aquarini Priyatna, Baban Banita





vii

TEACHERS’ ABILITY TO CAPTURE THE CHARACTERS CONTENT

IN BASIC COMPETENCIES RELATED

TO LITERATURE APPRECIATION LEARNING MATERIALS — 365

Lis Setiawati

DEVELOPMENT OF MODEL TEACHING MATERIALS

FOR BUGIS-MAKASSAR REGIONAL LANGUAGES

BASED ON ANGNGARU LOCAL WISDOM — 373

M. Marwiah, Muhammad Akhir

THE EXISTENCE OF THE INFORMATIONAL FUNCTION

OF THE MAKASSAR ORAL POETRY

IN BUILDING THE STUDENTS CHARACTER — 383

Muhammad Ali

LEARNING LITERATURE BY UTILIZING MEDIA SONG LYRICS — 395

Ratu Badriyah

DEVELOPING MODERN SITI ZUBAIDAH DRAMA SCRIPT LEARNING MATERIAL

WRITING FOR EFL STUDENTS — 401

Rita Inderawati, Nurhayati





viii





ix

PREFACE

Literary Tourism: Splitting The Horizon

ies at the core of the 2020 KIK XXIX proceeding is the notion of literary tourism. This proceeding consists of the collection of marvelous pieces of works presented to “split ‘the

horizon’” that contain rich and yet unimaginable literary aesthetics. The organization of this year’s KIK prioritizes the close relationship between literature and tourism. These links work in synergy with one another through a variety of unique perspectives. The presenters whose papers presented in this proceeding have defended their arguments and given astonishing insights to academia. On the organizers’ initiative, under the leadership of Gorontalo commissariat of Association of Indonesian Literature Scholars (HISKI) and Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, this proceeding’s publication has been accomplished.

On behalf of HISKI, I would like to congratulate you on your sincere, professional, and transparent hard work to contribute to this valuable proceeding. The proceeding is a collection of literary and tourism insights and a number of selected mesmerizing works of HISKI members. Further, the proceeding has been carefully edited; the local committee (HISKI of Gorontalo) collaborates with the Headquarter of HISKI and local and international literary experts have researched, selected, and encompassed the gaps in the horizon of literature and tourism.

This KIK XXIX proceeding has also gone through selection, correction, and various humanist considerations. The conference agenda, which was carefully designed for this face-to-face edition, finally changed entirely after the government gave policies in the Covid-19 era. This vicious virus has affected the pattern of human life, including the holding of KIK in 2020. The pandemic era has forced the committee to prepare online conferences. However, in my opinion, this regular KIK implementation does not reduce the quality of the proceeding.

As this proceeding’s publication is inevitable, it is constructed based on two big themes, namely literature and tourism. Literature has spread its wings and encompassed beyond conventional literary appreciation. Instead, it also emerged as an imaginative phenomenon, as well as a medium for tourism promotion. The literary appeal seems to have reached the core essence of humanity. Therefore, this proceeding discussed many issues related to literature and tourism as an interdisciplinary study.

Interdisciplinary study of literature and tourism is referred to as ‘literary tourism’. This term is analogous to other interdisciplinary terms, such as literary psychology, literary sociology, literary anthropology, and literary archeology. In literary tourism, it is permissible to study tourism literature, i.e., the literary works containing tourist objects. As it only discusses literary works, tourism literature is much narrower. Meanwhile, it is much broader for literary tourism; it can discuss tourism literature, the role of literature for tourism development, literary tourism expressions, and so on.

Whether we realize it or not, there are indeed many literary works that get inspiration or take up the theme of tourism. On the other hand, there are many tourist attractions whose popularity owes a lot to literary works. These may all have hidden forces that lie on the notions of tourism and literature. Both of them do have extraordinary energy, among other things, to entertain humans. Both literature and tourism feature an aspect of entertainment; when the two work together, it will produce a useful life pillar.

The KIK XXIX has proven that literature can be discussed from various aspects, including literary tourism. Literary tourism refers to a literary science that discusses the reciprocity of literature and tourism. Literary studies in this process reveal many aspects of literary reflection related to tourism. Further, literary tourism provides a basis for thinking that there is an intimate

L





x

relationship between literature and tourism. However, the study of the literature’s contribution in the development or promotion of tourism and the contribution of tourism in the inspiration for the creation of literary works is not yet equitable. Literature and tourism studies are often studied partially. Therefore, the publication of this proceeding is expected to provoke all parties to reveal literature and tourism comprehensively.

Through the KIK XXIX proceeding, the researchers of literature are now aware of the mesmerizing appeal of literature as a tourist phenomenon. Humans often need tourism and literature at the same time. For this reason, this proceeding also discusses the great impetus of literature for the development of literary tourism. Literary tourism contains things about literature as an exploratory source to increase the tourism commodity. Literature has an economic role in increasing the country’s foreign exchange capacity. Literature is not only for human consumption but also for tourism.

The KIK presenters have tried to offer their brilliant ideas regarding literary tourism’s ins and outs through this proceeding. There are many studies on literary works of outdoor media; billboards, advertisements, banners about literature as a form of cultural tourism. Literature could excite cultural tourism exploration so that tourists are moved by the hair and staying for a relatively long time. This context builds a promising economic world as well as a business.

Literary toponymy and toponymy literature, such as the origins of a region, especially with many legends’ nuances, also have adorned in this proceeding. The presenter has presented a variety of literary toponymy that can be related to literary tourism. This effort will build high-level memory for tourists. Literary studies that apply a tourism approach and vice versa are not common in Indonesia. Therefore, the use of literary toponymy deserves appreciation.

Literary toponymy will establish the memory of tourists increasingly imprinted to build the image of literary tourism. Initially, the study of social science tourism seemed to be looking for unnecessary things. However, recent developments that have been proven by all HISKI members reveal that literary tourism is appropriate as a new perspective. Literary studies that usually focus on canon literature, serious literature, and seem to ignore popular literature, including those with the theme of tourism, should have changed their focus.

Literary-based tourism studies have emerged since the early 2000s. Literary studies by borrowing from a tourist perspective need not be negotiated. So far, literary activities have always been synonymous with work reviews and writing workshops. However, through this procedure, readers will understand the latest, more unique phenomenon. Various enjoyable literary activities can be related to literary tourism. This activity is called literary tourism, of course, according to its name, this activity is more to explore places related to literature. This is literary tourism that attracts more tourists.

Literary tourism invites us to take a closer look at literature by visiting many existing places in literary works, where writers break their minds and find ideas. The one who has pioneered the literary scene is the city of Belitung, with Laskar Pelangi novel. This novel has also raised the temperature of literary tourism. Many writers have touched on the imaginary axes of literary tourism activities. Thus, through this proceeding, readers will be invited to understand the phenomenon of literary tourism through various perspectives.

Literary tourism activities to produce tourism literature are still in the form of initial ideas. However, this effort has echoed through the pieces of the writers. Leastwise, the presenters have shown that literature and tourism could co-exist recreationally. For example, the house of the writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer in Blora Regency will be used as a tourist attraction for literature. Similarly, the house on Sumbawa Street, Jetis Subdistrict had been cleaned last week. The voluntary work of cleaning the yard and a number of parts of the house and the surrounding environment involves the Blora Regency Government employees with the surrounding community and community groups.

The head of the Department of Youth, Sports, Culture, and Tourism (Dinporabudpar), H. Kunto Aji, argues the idea of making Pram’s house as a literary tourist attraction at the same time supports the Indonesiana program of the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) of the Republic of Indonesia. Indonesiana, according to Kunto Aji, is a cultural





xi

activity platform, which will later be worked on jointly between the Central Government and Regional Governments. “The community service activity of cleaning Pram’s home environment is the start in supporting and succeeding the Indonesiana program from the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. At the same time, this activity was also held to prepare a series of commemorating the birth date of a well-known literary practitioner Pramoedya Ananta Toer, which culminated in April 30, 2018,” said Kunto Aji during the service work. He stated that his party would continue to strive to make Pram’s house a literary tourism attraction in Indonesia. A number of activities, said Kunto, will be held to promote the Indonesiana and Haul Pram programs. Among other things, a poetry competition with the theme of nature and a workshop will be held at its peak.

“The theme of the workshop is Blora Menuju Kota Sastra,” said the former Head of Public Relations and Protocol of the Regional Secretariat of Blora. As one of the attractions of literary tourism, he further explained the cleanliness of the house and the surrounding environment needs to be continuously pursued. Therefore, he said, cleaning Pram’s home environment will sustainably continue by involving related parties. On the same occasion, Pram ’s younger brother, Soesilo Toer, positively appreciated the steps carried out by the Blora Regency Government through the Dinporabudpar. “In my opinion, be positive. Hopefully, it will be orderly and will continue.

Whatever the form of literary tourism is, it is all literary progress. Through this proceeding, HISKI members all over the world have tried “to split the horizon”. Therefore, whether you like it or not, literary tourism will become a pillar of literary studies. Beyond the sky, there is still sky. Therefore, the more branches and scopes of literary studies, HISKI members will be more open-minded. Not only dwelling on the shell but being able “to split the blue horizon”.

Therefore, with the increase of HISKI members starting from friends at UIN Yogyakarta, Sorong West Papua, Aceh, and so on, the ‘layers of sky” are yet to be explored. Even in time, literary tourism will open up new spaces for installation literature. These types of literary approaches can explore literary tourism. That is how cultivating and managing literary science requires clear, futuristic thinking.

Hopefully, this proceeding will be able to present the best inspirational works. Least of all, the reviewers of social and cultural tourism would explore the meaning through several channels, including (1) tourism literature, namely literary works containing messages on marine tourism, zoos, mountains, forests, (2) literary tourism activities, namely literary exploration activities in tourist objects that produce creative literary works on tourism, such as festivals and literary outbound activities, (3) literary tourism events, namely various literary rituals, with mystical nuances, which are carried out on tourist objects, (4) literary tourism visits, namely visiting the houses of literary figures who have become cultural heritage.

Finally, I wish you a happy reading. Salam sastra indah bermakna, Salam HISKI Jaya

Berkarya! Hopefully, this pandemic will end soon so that literature and tourism can continue to

prosper as expected. Last but not least, literature and tourism should be able to soar high up

to the blue horizon, shine, and find their purpose.

Yogyakarta, December 9th, 2020 Chairman of Central HISKI

Suwardi Endraswara





xii





1

PERSPECTIVE OF LITERATURE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

UNDER THE SHADOWS OF CORONA LITERATURE

Suwardi Edraswara

Chairman of the Central HISKI

ABSTRACT

The perspective of developing literary tourism is currently overshadowed by the corona. Since

Covid-19 has spread, literary tourism needs a special strategy. The perspective of developing

literary tourism certainly requires a unique strategy. In this connection, this article attempts to

describe four perspectives of developing literary tourism as an alternative route.

First, literary ethnobotany tourism is always contextual, following the flow of the times as the

development of literary tourism. Nevertheless, with the spread of corona literature, it has

impacted the bargaining power of literary ethnobotany tourism. Ethnobotany tourism will use

local plants as a mainstay of literary tourism. Second, literary sports tourism is a perspective of

understanding and developing literature based on tourism and sports. The focus of this

perspective remains on literature. Third, the perspective of literary spice tourism is the

perspective of understanding and developing functional literary lines. Literature turns out to be

able to adapt and contribute to literary tourism and at the same time, make it healthy. Fourth,

the literary iconology tourism perspective is a literary development perspective related to

literary inspiration sources.

Keywords: literary tourism, corona literature, perspective

A. LITERARY ETHNOBOTANY TOURISM

Literary ethnobotany tourism is a transdisciplinary perspective of developing literary

tourism. It is called transdisciplinary because it links two scientific domains, namely the

humanities and the exact sciences. These two scientific areas have different characteristics and

working areas. When the two of them are met, it turns out that an interesting scientific

collaboration occurs, which is called transdisciplinary (Endraswara, 2020a: 43). Literary

ethnobotany tourism is always contextual, following the flow of times, including the corona

outbreak era. The era of the corona outbreak has overshadowed the development of

ethnobotany-based literary tourism.

The era of the corona outbreak has dramatically influenced the development of literary

ethnobotany tourism. Literary ethnobotany tourism likewise the spread of corona literature has

had an impact on the bargaining power of literary ethnobotany tourism. This article discusses

the instability of the ethnobotany literary tourism movement, which was devastated by the

coronavirus. It turns out that the coronavirus has produced many creative literary works which

I call corona literature. Various literary movements, such as literary festivals, literary camps,

literary outbound tours, and visits to authors, can become literary ethnobotany tours if those

activities are related to ethnic plants. The assumption is that each ethnic group has unique

plants, which have a tourist attraction.

The development of literary tourism should be done carefully. Literary tourism

development can be done through various literary festivals. Literary botanical tourism festival

means literary performances packaged as a unique tourism commodity. Karawitan literature,

usually often held at the Gembira Loka Zoo tourist spot. The use of Ladrang Tebu Sauyun

slendro is a compulsory piece that contains botanical aspects. Gending choices of festivals

related to ethnobotany are smooth Gudheg Yogya slendro sanga which comes from the jackfruit

plant, smooth gending Witing Klapa slendro sanga, and smooth Jamu pelog enem. The plants

in the genig are displayed in a festival of performances in the form of literary botany. Literary

botanicals are works related to plants. Tourist attractions are clearly most familiar with plants.





2

Then the place chosen for the festival may be tourist attractions rich in ethnic plants. Ethnic

plants are also getting better as a vehicle for expression (Smith, 2012: 105-106). For example,

a coastal literary ethnobotany tourism festival surrounded by mangroves would certainly be a

strategic place. Literary botanical tourism festivals, namely work on plants, may select objects

related to agro-tourism. So the festival will provide new color for the development of literary

ethnobotany tourism assets.

The participant of the literary botanical tourism festival may be a tourist at the same time.

The introduction of various kinds of plants will spark tourists’ desire to explore. To spur

competition for the excellence of literary ethnobotany tourism, of course, the festival needs an

assessment from whoever is authorized. The assessment focused on creativity about plants. For

example, using poetry about plants, dressing from plants. Endraswara (2020b: 1) notes that the

ethnic Papuan plant, namely sago, has a myth regarding the origins of Papua. Sago is a food

that contains a good philosophy. Sago is ethnobotany that has the potential for the development

of cultural tourism. So in the perspective of literary ethnobotany tourism, sago plants can be

used as a reference for literary tourism festivals.

Literary ethnobotany tourism festivals may also be formatted in the form of (1) reading

literary books on the tourism of sago, sapodilla, banyan, trunyan, (2) writing creative literature

on literary ethnobotany tourism objects, for example at Nawangwulan parangtritis, there are

trees special manga, (3) exhibiting millennial literary productions that cut literary ethnobotany,

and so on. The following is one of the poems which are classified as containing literary

ethnobotany tourism on the island of Bali.

“The Road of The Water to Trunyan”

Made Edy Arudi

Apart from a sharp drop, crossing the lava rock

There are no other shortcuts

Towards your heart

Trunyan

but I kept going

down the waterway where the fish

children

the trip was even more thrilling;

as far as the feet go

maybe countless

how many holes make me shake

how many twists make complaining

while descending a steep valley

sometimes screaming anxiously

so prone

so prone ...

ah how this trip has fascinated me

bring me together

by meditating on Mount Batur

and the mist-spinning Gods

who every evening murmurs asmaradana,

with the lake breeze caressing the weeds

fly away its white flowers

fly half the soul





3

oh this is Trunyan

with a pine tree that ripens story after story

capable of conjuring a foul smell

be a rose charm?

Trunyan

your face glow

in the sukma lake.

2019 (Poetry, 4th winner

in tourism writing competition, period I 2019)

The poem describes the tourist attraction of Trunyan Bali. Trunyan is a religious-cultural

tourism area, as well as literary ethnobotany tourism because it stores incense plants. This plant

is said to be able to conjure a bad smell to be like roses. This ethnic Balinese plant has a special

attraction for tourists. So even in the era of the corona outbreak, if the poem was anthologized

explicitly to Trunyan’s poetry, it would certainly be even better. Poetry anthology about the

corona, which contains literary ethnobotany, such as plants that are useful for medicine, is

important as a tourist reference. The attractiveness of plants that have ethnic properties is

important to mention. Anthology of literary works containing ethnobotany will certainly attract

tourists. In this regard, Smith (2012: 44) states that books can clearly be seen as a separate

commodity object to be borrowed or purchased and consumed. Of course, the book chosen must

be related to plants. Millions of independent bookstores, chain bookstores, used bookstores,

book exchanges and libraries around the world reflect the state of books as goods with

commercial, cultural and personal value. However, internet technology has abated book

purchases and allowed a greater availability of literary works in Indonesia via electronic format.

These new developments not only increased access to these works but also increased the

cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984) of readers and internet users as potential literary tourists.

However, this does not mean that book production and consumption will decrease, as some

book-centered phenomena show.

Literary ethnobotany tourism festivals are a way of motivating tourists. Because in it there

are activities that are much more interactive so that tourists can experience and celebrate

literature. While these are usually created at the local community level, performances, live

readings, lectures and discussions often include well-known contemporary writers and literary

critics. Literary ethnobotany tourism festivals are needed to excite the cool tourism movement.

Such programs can attract domestic and international tourists. Literary ethnobotany festivals

often celebrate literary books in general or one author in particular, but there are still several

agendas dedicated to a literary work. The use of literary ethnobotany books, for example,

anthologies of plant short stories, certainly has its characteristics.

Such literary ethnobotany tourism festivals allow literary travelers to celebrate, appreciate

and gain experience and learn more about general and specific aspects of the writer’s life.

Through a series of complex and varied formal and informal events, tourists can chat, enjoy the

beauty of plants, while writing literature. This is an interactive and productive tourism type

activity. Festival is also seen as more specialized with regard to creative literary arts. Vacation

writing creative literature about plants, where tourists can strive to become art practitioners, is

often included in the umbrella term educational tourism. Such tourism usually focuses on a

specific genre, such as writing travel stories or a more general literary theme. Itineraries often

include one or more daily training sessions led by a professional writer, as well as free time to

write.

The literary ethnobotany tourism festival arranged in the form of creativity clearly

encourages tourists to join. Especially if the festival is peppered with a door prize, it will

certainly be even more festive. Various outings to interesting locations were also included to





4

spark ideas and provide material for writing. Becoming increasingly popular, creative writing

holidays go beyond visitors to literary locations and serve as an explicit example of how literary

ethnobotany tourism can serve as an educational experience.

B. LITERARY SPORTS TOUR

Literary sports tourism is a perspective of understanding and developing literature based

on tourism and sports. The focus of this perspective remains on literature. Axiologically,

literature has a role to play in enlivening tourism, which is associated with sports. Tourism and

sports basis is an effort to manage a tourist object using the face of sports and literature. Astuti

(2015: 31) states that tourism development requires community participation, and is directed at

spurring increased global competitiveness and foreign exchange earnings, enhancing

Indonesian tourism’s image accompanied by community-based tourism development. Efforts

to advance tourism include the introduction and development of sports tourism.

The role of literature and sports seems difficult to underestimate. Travel, sport, and

literature seem different things. The three of them seemed difficult to collaborate with.

However, if we look closely, the three domains in question can be synergized. These three

things can be worked on to realize literary sports tourism. Tourism based on sports and literature

certainly requires a more solid strategy. The development of literary sports tourism is already

being done. Writers can create any kind of sport to increase tourism commodity.

Literary sports tourism can be packaged in the form of literary activities. Activities can

be started with several activities: (1) healthy walking, (2) mountain climbing, (3) rafting, and

(4) relaxing bicycles. Cycling is often done in groups. There are even times when cycling sports

using door prizes, which are held with gathering points at tourist objects. At that time, literary

activities with sports nuances may be carried out, in order to make them healthy, from the

process of poetry appreciation to the level of poetry creation. The following poetry about

cycling inspires how we need to cultivate sports and literature-based tourism.

“Bike”

By Agayef

cycling ...

I do every day ...

enjoy the morning evenings with him

the beauty of cycling ...

by cycling

I saw the vast earth and the horizon

by cycling

fresh strong body every day

cycling

thousands of benefits from it ...

The poem reminds the link between cycling and a healthy body. The theme of sports in

such literature will indirectly enrich the immunology of the human body as well. While pedaling

a bicycle, you can read short poems, heading to natural, historical, and ritual tourism objects.

Poetry can tell you anything. Such poetry, at the same time, confirms that literature is indeed

expanding into the world of sports. The literature contains the multidimensionality of life,

including the fields of sports, travel and whatever. The same thing has been put forward by

Mawardi (2014: 1) about the relationship between literature and sports. According to him, who





5

tries to explain the development of literary themes, literary texts can vary. These literary themes

have worked on a sport that seems unimaginable.

He informed critically that from time to time the theme of literature may expand. Aneka

magazine as a sports magazine once made a strange column called “tjerpen sports”. We can see

that in the August 1, 1964 edition, there was a short explanation from the editor: “For many

requests from the readers, starting with this number, Aneka will present a short sports story. To

the short story writers, we look forward to your work. The theme conditions for building a new

Indonesian man. through sport “. Bold policies when the literary situation is undergoing heated

debates by ideological camps. Political literature is avoided by inviting them to compose sports-

themed literary texts, although they are still related to Indonesia’s mission.

Short stories on sports themes like that are used as the material of appreciation when we

do literature outbound. Short stories about golf, which are full of grass, can be discussed in

literary sports tourism. Golf sports, including elite sports, can be packaged while cultivating

literature about grass, about golf, and whatever. It could be that we have similar activities with

officials while exercising and traveling. Not only short stories, which can be processed with

sports and tourism, but also rhymes. Pantun is actually more delicious, aesthetically pleasing,

and can provoke rhyme games. The following is an example of a sports rhyme.

(1)

Watermelon mangoes

Sweet fruit

Let’s exercise together

Running in the morning is the answer

(2)

The stomach is full of eating ketupat

Eat ketupat on holidays

If you want to be healthy

Exercise is the answer

(3)

Going to school on a bicycle

Ride the bike until it’s too late

Sport is obligatory

For a body that wants to be healthy

(4)

Breakfast with ketupat

Eaten on holidays

Behind a healthy body

Sport is the support

The four stanzas invite humans to always be healthy. Pantun which uses the name of a

fruit, often called literary pomology, also invites sports. Exercise aesthetically, while talking

about the names of the fruit is certainly fun. Pantun which tells about breakfast is often called

literary gastronomy. Likewise, the poem which tells about the phenomenon of a full stomach

clearly has a gastronomic nature of literature. If that is the case, the pantun can contain various

things, it can give rise to a variety of literary studies, especially transdisciplinary studies of

literature. Most importantly, the poetry will be more fun when processed while traveling.





6

Any sport can actually be associated with a tourist attraction. Pencak silat, boxing,

badminton, volleyball, rowing, and so on can inspire literary tourism. Mawardi (2014: 1) further

related that the first short story in Aneka was entitled “Past and Present” by Husmar Athar.

Perhaps this author’s name has never been recorded in books of literary history or literary

criticism in Indonesia. Husmar Athar tells about life in a boxer family. Exercise ragatinju is a

debate in the family. A character named Badji enters the world of boxing with the hope of

achievement and finding sustenance. Passion is risky. Boxing and life is a dilemma. Badji hopes

to continue boxing and boxing. The victory was won. The mother often worries about Badji’s

fate if she keeps boxing. At the end of the short story, we read the conclusion: “Ajah Badji died

because he was an educated boxer, while Badji was an amateur boxer, where the norms of

humanity were more prominent in every match.”

Furthermore, he stated that since August 1, 1964, Aneka magazine has published short

stories on sports themes. We can read stories about the lives of swimming, tennis, soccer, horse

riding, shooting and athletics athletes. A short story entitled “Perdjoangan” by Wisjnu Adhi

Buana appeared in the August 8, 1964 edition of Aneka. The author tells about the goalkeeper’s

dilemma. Economic life fell apart. The goalkeeper is struggling with decisions to defend

himself against the nation and state or accepting bribes from the enemy to let the opposing

player score a goal. At the same time, the wife is going through the birth process and requires

money. The temptation of money was pushed aside with respect and willingness to defend the

nation and state. Team wins. The goalkeeper managed to thwart several shot opportunities from

the opposing players. Victory requires sacrifice. This attitude is of course intended to give a

message to readers to side with the nation and state rather than money. The short story contains

propaganda.

Years passed. The theme of sports in literature has not yet gotten serious attention. In

1972, Pustaka Jaya published a novel entitled Radja Bola by Min Resmana. This novel displays

the symptoms of sports-themed literature. In the 1980s, Taufiq Ismail composed poetry about

boxing. This choice is different from the public’s recognition that Taufiq Ismail is a famous

poet to Tirani and Benteng, who tells about politics in Indonesia during the 1960s. An interview

in the 10-23 March 1993 issue of Humor magazine revealed the reasons Taufiq Ismail wrote

boxing-themed poetry. Taufiq Ismail said: “I have indeed prepared a book of poetry about

boxing. Just waiting for my turn. Every big boxer, I have written his poetry.” We find a number

of poems about boxing in a book entitled Malu (Aku) Jadi Orang Indonesia (2003). Taufiq

Ismail in the poem “Bell Boxing (1987)” writes: Every time the bell rings / The round mark

starts / Every time they get up / And clench their fists / Every scream of hysteria / Rumbles his

voice / I sound / And feel in a corner / Alone.

The poet was a boxing hater. In the world, boxing is more business and scandal than sport.

Taufiq Ismail thinks there are manipulations in boxing. The purpose of boxing is to “injure and

injure the human body.” His anger is expressed in a poem entitled “Don King Lunches in New

York” (1989). The poem opens with sad lines: Every two months drowns / A boxer enters the

grave / Or in the crematorium / In America there / Brain hemorrhage the main cause / And this

has been going on for a long time / From 1918 to 1988. In Indonesia, boxing matches are loved

by a million people. The poet was increasingly languishing and grieving.

The reality of such poetry can actually be combined with literary sports tourism. Boxing

is a hard sport, which can be worked out with taste, namely soft literature that is meaningful.

Playing boxing in the tourist arena will certainly attract the attention of visitors. People who

want to work on literature in a tourist attraction may be inspired by boxing. Before playing

boxing, doing literary tourism can be preceded by gymnastics. Gymnastics is classified as an

aesthetic exercise, there are even rhythmic exercises, which evoke aesthetics. The following is

a poem about morning exercise as inspiration for a literary sports tour.





7

Gymnastics in the morning

There’s Irvan

Good morning dear.

Beautiful sun this morning.

But you still exceed it.

I’m just a connoisseur.

Enjoy all the flavors that I catch in my heart.

The dilemma always envelops me.

Want to meet you.

Morning, noon and night.

I want to be with you.

In order to give off all imagination.

Imagination of our togetherness.

I shouldn’t hope.

I have to come to you.

Plans have been prepared.

Insa Allah, I will try to achieve it.

To my two dear women.

The poem is about sports in the form of morning exercise. I have done gymnastics at a

tourist attraction in Salatiga. After that, then I did a poetry exploration. A fresh body, when

composing words in poetry about trees, food, animals, rocks, and so on, becomes more fluid.

At that time, I also arranged for badminton activities, while doing literary tours. Various poems

about sports can appear when we are carried away by engaging in tourism by sports literature.

It also reminds me that Taufiq Ismail (Mawardi, 2014: 2) hates boxing but is a fan of a

sport called badminton. This sport is often a mainstay of Indonesia to get respect in the eyes of

the world. In the past, Indonesia was the most resilient country. Now, badminton is experiencing

a decline in achievement. The poet once composed a poem entitled “Badminton” (1973), filled

with praise and hope: Badminton has thrilled my heart for a long time / Badminton has long

thrilled the hearts of millions of Indonesian children, / small children, young people, and also

children. old boy. Taufiq Ismail’s will to write poetry on the theme of sports does not raise the

theme of sports in the development of literature in Indonesia.

In the introduction to my book entitled Literary Tourism Research Methodology, I wrote

about doing literary sports tours. At that time I joined the inter-tertiary badminton team

(Endraswara, 2020d: i-ii). I realized, when I wrote the introduction to this book, I was having a

literary picnic, while doing badminton aesthetics. Aesthetic badminton, which is a condition

for preparing badminton activities, doing badminton, and after badminton which is full of

aesthetic nuances. Aesthetic nuances may be filled with an exploration of the creation of poetry

or other literary works. I call it literary picnic while badminton is aesthetically pleasing because,

in a drizzling place, I write poetry. I created this short poem while staying overnight at the OAK

Tree hotel, Palm Hill Estate, Jl. Papandayan, Gajahmungkur, Semarang 50232. The night

passed so quickly. When I asked the hotel clerk, he said OAK was the name of the tree that the

hotel owner introduced. To the right of the receptionist, there is indeed a replica of an OAK

tree, flowered from a plastic replica.

This phenomenon reminds us that the world is already full of plastic. Plastic world.

Maybe literature is often full of plastic. Badminton has often reached the world of the plastic

tree, which is a completely artificial reality. The clone, turned out to be a play. Copies are also

in great demand by every human being. Artificial lips, artificial flowers, artificial racket and

artificial life. The following badminton poetry is also a clone.





8

Badminton Literature 1

night drizzle wants to drip slowly towards the top

until the cold touches the furrows of warmth

when the badminton racket calls my passion on fire

I wiped sweat in the softness of time

I counted the sweat droplets that were drizzling

above was bustling calling out a beat of breath

have to win combing the wild ball

leave hope that remains

swallow that defeat

destiny rolls

(Semarang, OAK Tree hotel, 8 March 2020)

Such is the poetry, during seconds of playing badminton, while having a literary picnic.

Literary picnics are indeed charming. On March 8, 2020, I actually had to compete in

badminton, a hobby I have been doing since I was little. While exercising, I did a literary picnic.

Maybe I would rather call it sports literature, meaning that while exercising I can do literary

picnics. A literary picnic while exercising does bring out its own preoccupation.

If so, any sport can be a reflection of literary sports tourism. Exercise is a source of health

for the body. Literature as a source of taste health. Tourism is also a source of mental health.

People who are stressed, have too much work, can travel while doing sports, and play literature.

So cultivating functional literature is important. The synergy of literature with sports and

tourism is able to excite human life. at the very least, the assumption that in a healthy soul, there

is a healthy body can be realized. Body and soul health can be fostered using literature, sports,

and tourism.

C. LITERARY SPICE TOURISM

Literary spice tourism is a perspective of understanding and developing literary functional

lines. Literature turns out to be able to adapt and contribute to literary tourism and at the same

time make it healthy. The term literary tourism, once described by Taum (2020: 461), states

that various aspects including literary spices can be a prospect in the future. Literary tourism

that collaborates with literary spices will bring out the perspective of literary spice tourism.

Literary spice tourism will reveal, understand, and create tourist destinations with nuances of

spices.

Turner (Rahman, 2019: 349) states that in ancient times, spices were a symbol of

exoticism, wealth, prestige, and filled sacredness. In various ancient records in Egypt, China,

Mesopotamia, India, Greece, Rome, and the Arabian Peninsula, spices were originally only

believed to be a panacea (healing medicine) rather than a food flavor. For example, it was

revealed by the philosopher Theophrastus (c. 372 - 287 AD), that spices such as pepper were

still widely used by healers rather than cooks. The use of spices then develops into seasonings

to cover up the bad taste and smell of food and maintain the condition of the food to keep it

fresh. When the leaves, seeds, roots and sap of the spices had pleasant tastes and aromas, these

gradually became the forerunners of an economic commodity. This kind of phenomenon, if it

is created with literature and tourism, will be even more interesting. A literary exploration of

spices in certain tourism objects will excite tourists.

Literary works that cultivate the spice route certainly have an attractive appeal to tourists.

The tours that are on the spice route can process literature as a tourism commodity. Poetry about

spices, such as nutmeg, mace, ginger, cloves, laos, and so on can be used as an effort to attract

tourists. The following spice poetry is proof that there is a power of spices that deserves

attention. The human body needs spices to warm it up. The spice comes from plants that are





9

beneficial to humans, especially for maintaining health. Tourists may be invited to write poetry

about spices so that the properties of spices are more engraved. Here is a poem that processes

spices and their properties.

“The Fragrance of Kitchen Crests”

Chataleya Soffa

This time it was very hot. The remaining rays of the sun still

challenged the earth. Cracking loose soil. Dry swelled among the

vast earth that stretches. Plants only curl. Under the shadow of a

mega rushing past midday.

I stretched my leg. Releasing fatigue in the body. I was

sweating tired. In half body. Blown away by the smell of steaming

furnace smoke. The smell of spices is spreading.

I closed my eyes. Inhale as deep as the world’s lungs. Hmm

... the delicious smell of this dish.

Over already. Pick up the rice. Grind pepper and onions.

Burn wood in the stove. No more smoke rising

(Ciputat, 4 July 2018, https://www.kompasina.com)

Such is the spice poem narrating how the delicious fragrance appears. This spice turns

out to arouse anyone’s passion. So, if the tourism manager is able to process such spices, it will

certainly attract tourists. Literary spices are far more captivating to tourists. Literary spices are

the perspective of understanding literary works with nuances of spices. Spice means warmth.

Spice also means plants with medicinal nuances.

In my opinion, literary spices can appear in any literary work that contains a stimulus to

warm the atmosphere (Endraswara, 2020c: 14). Literary spices, if processed aesthetically, can

synergize with tourism. Literary spice tourism is much more attractive for developing literary

ethnobotany tourism, literary health tourism, and literary-cultural tourism. Tourism is a creative

industry that is economical, so profit is always the direction. Through literature and spices, it

will undoubtedly excite the world of tourism.

“Mom Jamu Gendong”

Rg Bagus Warsono

bottles of hope

When the herbs mix with water in the bottle

rice into porridge

the herbs last one leg around the village

fortune-size herbal tactics

lightly carried the bottle hope

heavy carrying the leg muscles of the herbalist

let the sun be ashamed to the west

laugh at herbal medicine thrown away by damn bottles

Mbok herbs smiled bitterly

tomorrow mix again with bottles of hope

with hot water so that my people are healthy





10

The ramu is bitter, bitter sweet, medium and sweet

concocting herbs one time shake the bottle

add the orange sugar water

bid bitter in the tongue

once added more

good at concocting herbs

kencur rice for younger siblings

grow up healthy and strong

which the herbalist selling mother mixes

afternoon sister subscription

so that the night sleeps soundly.

Don’t be afraid of bitter herbs

or mashed herbs

Healthy, ladies, drink

bidding for a body full of preservatives

which is far from tradition

drink herbs when healthy

so far from being sick

give me a glass of herbal medicine mom

not too bitter to learn to accept bitter

and immediately warm brown sugar

so that tomorrow can bear to accept bitter

tough like mother

because of your carrying herbs

Selling Healthy

Mbok herbs sell healthy

holding love

tracing the curb through the doors

sick people as long as the herbal water in your bottle

selling healthy to a sick nation

hard to sell healthy

on the day of the people who don’t want to be healed

by the bottles being carried away directionless

the doors that do not taste bitter herbs

do not feel bitter about meeting jokes

did not feel bitter about meeting Ireng

you are not well

for not drinking herbal medicine.

The jamu gendong uses a lot of spices. If literature is able to empower herbal medicine,

it means that it has developed literary spices. Jamu carrying a portrait of simplicity and

healthfulness. The spices are soaked in the carrying herbs. Literary spice tourism can be

packaged using the herbal medicine format. The richness of spices in the archipelago deserves

a warm welcome. Tourism in the tropics, full of spices, is certainly even more tempting.

Spices are plants that function for medicine, drinks, food, and decoration. Therefore,

polishing literary spice tourism is certainly more attractive to tourists. Robi et al. (2019: 130-

131) states that Indonesia is a country that has the second richest tropical forest area in the world

after Brazil and still has a lot of potential for plants as food, medicine, herbs and spices, building





11

materials and so on. Spices are spices derived from plants, both fresh and dry, mixed in dishes

as a flavoring.

Duke (Robi et al, 2019: 131) stated that spices are a biological resource that has long

played an important role in human life. Spices are also aromatic parts of plants and can be used

as seasonings, flavor enhancers, fragrances, and limited-use food preservatives. It is widely

recognized that the use of spices in the culinary arts is capable of arousing aroma. Literary spice

tourism activities may be combined with the creation of rhymes. Spice rhymes increasingly

encourage tourists to visit tourist objects. The following is a spice poem by Sumintari Dwi

Ratnaningtyas which is interesting when it comes to literary spice tourism.

Slice the fries briefly

Grind the seasoning plus pepper

A mate is looking for the right

Along in line with each other

Garlic mixed with salt

Cut the tempeh, add the coriander

The spirit of life, do not sink

You have to be patient with problems

Cook egg-based stews

Prepare nutmeg as well as hazelnut

Pioneering prosperity armed with honesty

Forget jealousy and jealousy

Coffee roasted in a cauldron

Grind firmly into powder

Let’s be diligent in the Koran

Wrap your heart so you don’t get too late

A spoonful of vanilla pours in the glass

Thirst reliever drinks a sip

Good deeds are reciprocated

Bad charity breaks the heart

29 May 2020

(The Story About The Kayumanis, The Oldest Spice in The World)

The poem above describes a variety of spices, also imparts local knowledge. Local

wisdom is usually applied to rhymes. Various kinds of spices can attract the attention of tourists.

Moreover, many meanings invite a human to be good. For example, in verse one, inviting

humans to be able to choose a mate to look for the right one and to agree with each other. The

spirit of life, do not sink.

The poem contains a lot of suggestions or invitations. Haram should be avoided. Humans

live often have problems, so it is suggested that in order to meet problems, you must be patient.

Honest actions are very much expected while forgetting envy and envy. The poem also invites

people to be diligent in reciting the Koran. Good deeds are definitely reciprocated, on the other

hand, bad deeds make the heart crushed.

Murti (2017: 544) emphasizes that Indonesia has a related oral tradition, namely pantun.

Pantun is spread in various regions in the archipelago and is owned by each ethnic group in

Indonesia with various terms, including panton (Ambon), pantong (Sri Lanka and Sulawesi),





12

pantun (Sundanese), wangsalan (Javanese), wewangsalan ( Bali), peparik (Java), and paparegan

(Madura). The chanted rhymes have their own terms; kejhung papareghan (Madura), parikan

(Java), Kandan, Dedeo, Ngalaok, Karungut, and Salengot - for different chanting contexts -

(Kalimantan). Muhammad Haji Saleh and Bazrul Bahaman (1999) examined the similarities of

the elements of the peninsula and Sumatran pantun from 29 languages in the archipelago.

Nusantara is rich in poetry as well as sensational ingredients of spices. Literary spices actually

attract the attention of tourists, when they are used as a path of literary creation. Various articles

related to tourism can make use of spices.

Although these rhymes have different forms and characteristics, their usage is relatively

the same, namely as part of a ritual or spice for celebrating the human life cycle, variations in

communication, and entertainment. Pantun is a representation of the rhetorical intelligence of

Malay language and literature that is beautiful with the mind, beautiful in rhyme, and graceful

in harmony. Pantun was born of sound playing and strict rhythm consideration with instruments

that are ‘deep’ and ‘enlightening’. Pantun contains the values of wisdom (genius local wisdom)

of the Malay community in reflecting their noble life. This wisdom has been inherent and

symbolizes the identity of the Malay people. That’s how poetry attracts attention and fascinates

researchers of foreign languages and cultures in the archipelago.

D. TOURISM LITERARY IONOLOGY

Literary iconology tourism is a literary development perspective that deals with sources

of literary inspiration. I borrow my lonology from the ideas of Plato’s dialogue when giving a

literary critique of Homer’s poetry. Ion is a part of Plato’s dialogue. Ion book is a book that

contains literary criticism made by Plato on Homer’s literary works (Palmer, 2005: 17). In his

book Ion, Plato focuses on the discussion of inspiration. According to Plato, inspiration needs

interpretation. Writers often interpret reality. To realize reality, writers understand, interpret,

and describe. So literary mastery of ionic tenderness, as an embryo of literary inspiration, is

needed.

The writer also interprets the phenomenon. After becoming a literary work, the literary

reviewer is reinterpreted. Even literary developers, especially when associated with tourism,

also need interpretations that benefit humans economically. So the development of literature

that uses the perspective of literary Ionology tourism is an effort to capture inspiring phenomena

to excite tourism objects. The phenomenon that is currently in a literary concussion is the

outbreak of the coronavirus. This phenomenon is an ion that can be a valuable source of

inspiration and generate profits for the world of tourism.

In the following, one of the poems is coupled with gamelan or musical instruments, which

can actually be used as a model for developing literary ionology tourism. This work clearly

takes the ion or inspiration for the symptoms of Covid-19, which has shocked the world. For

writers and artists, they often do not lose the unique ion momentum. So Raras Sekar Arum

Wijiningtyas, the vocalist of Corona literature polished by the twisted music play of the Jaranan

song by Sunyoto in 2020, can actually decorate tourism objects with the title of health. The

poetry in question, in terms of ethnomusicology, is full of things that remind people to always

be vigilant.

Corona…. Corona ...

Lelara gegerke donya ...

(The plague shook the world)

Corona ... corona ...

Press ra kandha-kandha

(came without saying)

Asale saka Chinese tambane durung ana





13

(originally from China, there is no medicine)

Mulane wrote it

(so don’t be careless)

Nulare wis mrana-mrana

(the infection has been everywhere)

Come on kanca ... come on kanca ...

(come on friend, come on friend)

Kabeh sing padha is alert

(everyone on alert)

Cultivation of Jolali Karo Dedonga

(try not to forget to pray)

Who do you understand, Kang Kuwasa

(who knows this is the trial of Almighty God)

Ngelingake Kabeh the manungsa Sunday

(Remind all humans)

Salawase uripe looks like sin

(During this life most sins)

Lailahalilallah

Lilahailallah Muhammad Rasulullah

The poem took inspiration from the coronavirus pandemic’s concussion, which means

that health science about the origins of a pandemic, there are positive and negative factors.

Positive ions, the presence of the coronavirus is indeed a lesson for humans. Negative ions,

almost all human activities are increasingly disturbed. Humans are increasingly less free to

carry out normal activities. As a result, various activities have to change, adjust, and many are

neglected. However, it needs to be realized that the literary concussion which is now being

clouded by the corona pandemic, is also an inspiring phenomenon.

This inspirational ionic phenomenon is actually wonderful in the eyes of writers. In fact,

if writers pay attention to this corona phenomenon as inspiration, it will help make tourists

healthy. Tour visitors also feel happy when enjoying literary ionology tourism. Literary

ionology tourism also beautifies and nourishes humans. This is in line with Plato’s thinking

(Ratna, 2007: 11) that beauty is identical with goodness, happiness, truth, knowledge, and mind.

So various fascinating phenomena of life can be a source of ions. Living ions are all-around

humans. If it has been processed in literary works, the ion often generates many interpretations.

You name it if there are words that poetic “I want to defend you”, people can interpret various

things. Even that line of poetry can cause irritation if a husband reads such soft ionic words on

his wife’s cellphone. The husband will surely think that his wife has a taste or at least is playing

with other people. Of course this kind of literary ionological interpretation may be wrong and

right because literary interpretation is independent. So in literary ionology, according to Plato

(Eagleton, 2006: 188) that the study of inspiration is classified as poststructural, which

considers aspects of creation and humans are free to interpret.

Humans often express inspiration as merely an expression of a lifeless, void. It is this

alienation that causes literature to be unique. Literature often targets phenomena to ions that are

impossible to see by ordinary people. That is why, to develop literature, I borrow the term ion

parallel to the term inspiration. Literary inspiration is very broad, about anything, including

about the coronavirus. Viruses that are of concern to epidemiology, namely the science of

disease pandemics, can be processed into literary ionology tourism.

Literary ionology tourism is very broad in scope. Everything can be a source of

inspiration. Because, keep in mind that according to Plato (Ratna, 2011: 192-193) in his book

entitled Ion and Republik, it is explained that humans are text (poetry) that must be deciphered.





14

Literary work is mimesis or imitation. Literary works are subordinate to reality. This means

that when doing creativity, it is often impossible for writers to describe the real reality. Literary

work is an image from a source of inspiration. So the cultivation of literature associated with

tourism is more flexible. The creative process of literary ionology may add to and polish reality.

In this era of the corona pandemic, literary developers may carry out an exploration called

recuperation tourism, which means tourism for healing. Healing means recovery. The developer

of literary ionology tourism can cultivate warm tourist objects for healing. The myth of healing,

inheritance at Umbul Jumprit Temanggung, bathing in the sea of Talise Palu, bathing in

Sendang Gili Lombok, and so on are places that can be worked on as a source of positive ions.

The development of literary ionology tourism related to healing usually referred to as

health tourism. The purpose of tourists traveling is to cure a disease. Like bathing in the spring

at Nawangwulan Prangtritis Yogyakarta, and bathing in the kawidadaren spring in Suralaya

Kulon Progo Yogyakarta, which is believed to make the face look younger. All bathing contexts

related to health, staying young, increasing sexual vitality, can be managed as inspiration for

literary ionological tourism. When dealing with this kind of coronavirus, immunity is needed.

So various poems about corona can be displayed on tourist objects so that visitors will be more

alert. The following is a corona poem that deserves to be contemplated when developing

museums of literary ionology attractions

“Ah, Corona”

By Elita Ulfiana

Ah, Corona

Come unexpectedly, go away into hope

Unseen but deadly the meeting became the target of threats

I, you, and they no longer shake hands

Ah, Corona

Making us miserable Body and soul always ask questions

How does it look and what it looks like

Ah, Corona

Change the world to be different

Is this a plan

So that humans pray

Survive the world’s dark seduction

Corona, according to the poet is indeed strange. The name Corona is beautiful, feminist,

but fierce is not playing. I say ‘crazy’. Corona has closed the distance. This virus has given rise

to a number of restrictions. The shape and appearance of corona have made poets even more

curious. What is good, poets still doubt, that the presence of corona may be so that people who

often forget, then pray. Let people remember God. According to the perspective of literary

epidemiology that discusses various kinds of infectious diseases, the corona is indeed a super

sophisticated disease (Endraswara, 2020e: 10). The poet seemed still unsure, wondering. What

is clear is that the epidemic in literary texts, especially corona, has a troublesome human fate.

Corona is a serious plague, so the poets in this anthology are very responsive to this

phenomenon. The phenomenon I call relational because poets are able to relate corona to other

events. Corona is not only a health problem, but also related to economic, social, cultural,

security issues, and so on. So the development of literary ionology tourism that aims for

inspiration about the corona, will indeed be an important thing in human life. Ionology means

the science of inspiration. The ion is the smallest molecule, the phenomenon is very soft.

Literary inspiration is also very subtle, abstract, and unpredictable. An ion is an atom or





15

molecule that has a non-zero total electric charge. There are two kinds of inons, namely cations

are positively charged ions, while anions are negatively charged ions. Literary inspiration is

certainly trying to find positive ions, which can generate energy to work.

The Ion Book is one of the books that readers didn’t pay much attention to in ancient

times. In modern times, the book Ion has mixed resonances because there have been many

conflicting interpretations of Ion Plato’s notion of inspiration. The notion of inspiration in

modern times contradicts Ion Plato’s concept of inspiration. In modern times, the spectrum of

interpretation of inspiration is interpreted as an emotive assumption. Whatever the reason, the

ion is like literary inspiration. So Plato (Teeuw, 1988: 219) as the initiator of the mimesis

theory, always associates reality with sources of inspiration. According to him, literary work is

a mimesis of reality, but it does not represent reality. Of course, that reality is only a source of

ion or inspiration.

I’ve known Plato since reading the book Wellek and Warren (1989: 24) which states the

concept of art for art. It means that literature is limited to literary works. Literary studies are

often limited in terms of literature alone. In my opinion, now this concept has changed, that

literature also functions for other sciences. Literature may collaborate with exact sciences,

travel, gastronomy, and so on. Ion includes biology, which is the exact science that can be

aligned with inspiration. Literary inspiration is the science of literary creation. To create literary

works needs inspiration. One of the inspirations that need attention is tourism. Tourist

attractions are rich in literary inspiration. So the emergence of literary ionology tourism

deserves a welcome.

In Ion’s dialogue, Socrates monopolizes the conversation. Socrates listened carefully to

all the creative activities of the poets who created Homer’s literature. In Socratic understanding,

inspiration is an irrational process. Meanwhile, according to Plato, a poet does not have the

expertise to master the techniques in Homer’s poetry. For Plato, the basis for Homer’s literary

formation did not come from expertise. But poets created his works when divine powers

captured and inspired him. So that the poet does not have light, sanctity and ratio (nous). As

long as the poet uses his rationale to understand, the poet cannot enter this state and cannot

write Homer’s poetry.

The poet himself does not understand what he is doing when inspiration grips him. Poets

are only mediators of what gods give him. Socrates based his theory on several considerations.

According to Socrates, Homer’s literary work points to the poet’s own self-image. Poets express

themselves in terms of self-image. Through Homer’s literary work, the poet expresses himself

about his work and relationship with the muse, namely: inspiring authority. The poets in

Homer’s work compare their actions to bees giving honey. According to the descriptions of the

poets, they have wings like bees that fly in gardens and valleys to collect their works for viewers

to enjoy.

Every poet is committed to a certain genre. Only in it can it create something important.

It is the inspiration that prompts the poet to make this determination. Using the parable of a

magnet and metal objects attracted by the magnet (as described by Plato in that chapter), we

can think of God like a magnet and artists or messengers as metal attracted. “Art” is the nature

of magnetism which attracts and resides in the magnet while what is channeled into the metal

is only a small magnetic attraction which is called “inspiration”. Art is whole while inspiration

is only a part. So, according to Plato, an artist has no right to call his work the result of art but

the result of inspiration. Because what he made was only part of it.

Still with the parable of magnets, Plato also mentioned that magnets can attract metal

objects and make them “inherit” attractive properties (induction) so that metal objects are able

to attract other metals. This means the impression of art that arises as the result of inspiration is

natural because the induction process from magnetism to metal (from art to inspiration; God to

artists) causes the magnetic properties to enter into metal so that metal looks like a magnet - for





16

a while. Most people think iron is a magnet and some say the metal has become a magnet. In

fact, the magnetism possessed by a magnet is greater than that of a “metal that becomes a

magnet” so it can be said that although it has attractive properties like a magnet, metal is not a

magnet.

REFERENCES Astuti, Marhanani Tri. 2015. Potensi Wisata Olah Raga Dalam Meningkatkan Kunjungan Wisatawan

Sport Tourism To Increase Tourist Arrival In Indonesia. Jurnal Kepariwisataan Indonesia. Vol.

10 No. 1 Desember 2015 ISSN 1907-9419.

Eagleton, Terry, 2006. Tebuah Pengantar Komprhensif. Terjemahan harfiah Widyasari dan Evi

Setyarini Literary Theory: An Introduction, London: Basil Blackwell. Yogyakarta: Jalasutra.

Endraswara, Suwardi. 2020a. Metodologi Penelitian Botni Sastra. Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu.

_________________. 2020b. Empat Jurus Sastra Untuk Mengangkat Maluku. Bahan Webinar

Internasional, Kantor Bahasa Maluku, 5 Oktober.

_________________. 2020c. Botani Sastra Sebagai Penangkal Disrupsi; Makalah Webinar 5 Oktober

2020, HISKI UNEJ.

_________________. 2020d. Metodologi Penelitian Wisata Sastra; Konsep, Perspektif, dan

Pengembangan. Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu.

_________________. 2020e. Empat Perspektif Transdisipliner Memahami Puisi Corona. Solo Kata

Pengantar Antologi Puisi Corona, IAIN Solo.

Mawardi, Bandung. 2014. Puisi dan Olahraga Selasa 30 Dec 2014 11:00 WIB. https://republika.co.id/.

Murti, Fitri Nura. 2017. Jejak Pesona Pantun Di Dunia (Suatu Tinjauan Diakronik-Komparatif)

Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, PBSI, Universitas Jember, PS PBSI FKIP Universitas

Jember Seminar Nasional.

Palmer, Richard E. 2005. Hermeneutics Interpretation Theory in Schleirmacher, Dilthey, Heidegger,

and Gadamer. (Terjemahan dalam bahasa Indonesia oleh Musnur Hery dan Damanhuri

Muhammed) Hermeneutika Teori Baru Mengenai Interpretasi. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Rahman, Fadly. 2019. Dari Masa Bersemi Hingga Gugurnya Kejayaan Rempah-Rempah. Patanjala Vol.

11 No. 3 September 2019: 347-362 DOI: 10.30959/patanjala.v11i3.527

Ratna, Nyoman Kutha, I. 2007. Estetika Sastra dan Budaya. Yogyakarta; pustaka Pelajar.

__________________. 2011. Antropologi Sastra; Peranan Unsur-unsur Kebudayaan dalam Proses

Kreatif. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Robi, Yohanes, Siti Masitoh Kartikawati, Muflihati. 2019. Etnobotani Rempah Tradisional di Desa

Empoto Kabupaten Sanggau Kalimantan Barat. Jurnal Hutan Lestari (2019), Vol. 7 (1) : 130 – 142.

Smith, Yvonne. 2012. Literary Tourism as A Developing Genre: South Africa’s Potential. Africa;

Department of Historical and Heritage Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Pretoria,

Pretoria.

Taum, Yoseph Yapi. 2020. “Destinasi Wisata Sastra Sebagai Bidang Kajian: Beberapa Prinsip dan

Prospek” dalam Novi Anoegrajekti, dkk (Ed.) Sastra Pariwisata. Yogyakarta: PT. Kanisius.

Teeuw, A. 1984. Sastra dan Ilmu Sastra. Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya.

Wellek, Rene dan Austin Warren. 1989. Teori Kesusastraan. Terjemahan Melani Budianta. Jakarta:

Gramedia.

https://www.berdikaribook.red/bandung-mawardi

https://republika.co.id/





17

SYMBOLIC POTENTIAL OF RAMBUT MONTE LAKE

IN BLITAR EAST JAVA AS A TOURISM INDUSTRY

Dwi Sulistyorini

Department of Indonesian Literature, Faculty of Literature, State University of Malang

E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The Rambut Monte lake in Krisik Village, Blitar, is a historical and cultural heritage tourism

destination that is continuously preserved and promoted. The symbolic potential behind the

story of the Rambut Monte lake is what attracts tourists to visit it. The artifacts in Rambut

Monte as a relic of the Majapahit kingdom have become historical tours that need to be explored

for their attractiveness. Apart from that, the myth of the Rambut Monte lake is a community

belief that is continuously maintained to protect the cosmos. The promotion of Rambut Monte

tourism using a cultural mechanism of production, distribution, and consumption can make the

Rambut Monte lake known by the wider community.

Keywords: symbolic potential, Rambut Monte lake, cultural industry

INTRODUCTION

Each region certainly has natural potential that can be developed for tourism objects. The

natural potential can be in the form of beaches, lakes, hills, mountains, forests, rice fields,

plantations. Like Jolosutro Beach in Blitar, Rambut Monte lake in Blitar, Teletubbies Hill in

Blitar and Bromo, Mount Kelud and Mount Kelud Volcanic Crater on the border of Kediri and

Blitar, a panoramic view of the pine forests of Nyawangan Park in Tulungagung, South Pujon

which combines the natural atmosphere of paddy fields and typical rural culinary offerings in

Malang, De Karanganjar Koffie Plantage in Nglegok Blitar, and many other tourist attractions

based on natural potential. The development of these tourist attractions is in line with

government programs that promote the existence of a tourist village today. Therefore, each

region is competing to develop its area which has tourism potential as a recreation area. This

was done to increase the income of the village government and the local government. Besides,

to improve the community’s economy.

The selection of tourist attractions based on the natural potentials developed is based on

various considerations and reasons The reasons can be based on history or legends. For

example, the Rambut Monte lake tourist spot was developed because it has historical value and

the background of the legend that supports it. The legend of Rambut Monte as the power of the

story that circulates in the community should be maintained by the people who own it. This is

the main attraction for tourists who will visit it. The Rambut Monte lake, as one of the tourist

destinations in Blitar that utilizes natural potential and the preservation of cultural heritage, is

increasingly organized according to the times.

The Rambut Monte lake is famous for its cleanness, surrounded by tall and lush trees so

that it looks shady. There is a Rambut Monte temple in that location so that it seems mystical,

and the quiet atmosphere adds to the romance. The Rambut Monte lake as a tourist destination

was managed by the local government starting in 1996. The village government developed the

Rambut Monte tourist destination with various developments, including road access to tourist

sites, adding infrastructures such as the construction of a swimming pool, or packing tours in a

cultural procession during the ritual of cleaning the village. In the Indonesian tourism law, it is

stated that tourism as a tourism activity is supported by various facilities and services provided

by related parties, such as the community, businessmen, and local governments. Tourism





18

promotion continues, both through print and electronic media. This promotion aims to promote

the Rambut Monte Lake as an attractive tourist destination based on history, culture, and nature.

The existence of production, regulation, and consumption in tourism appears to be carried out

by the government for tourism development.

METHOD

This study used a qualitative research design with descriptive analysis. The development

of tourism in the Rambut Monte lake has developed by utilizing the natural potential and

symbolic potential of the Rambut Monte lake story, as well as its supporting communities. The

research was conducted in Krisik village, Wlingi, Blitar, East Java. The data sources of this

research are informants who understand the legend of Rambut Monte Lake, understand the

tourism development of Rambut Monte lake, events that happened in Rambut Monte lake, and

documents. Data collection techniques were carried out through interviews with key informants

and supporting informants, participatory observations, and document studies. This study uses

research instruments, namely researchers, interview guides, field notes, and recording tools.

The data analysis technique was carried out with an interactive analysis model.

DISCUSSION

The Rambut Monte lake is located in Krisik Village, Blitar, near a tea plantation

surrounded by large trees that are still well maintained. There is already adequate road access

and clear signposts so that visitors can easily find the Rambut Monte lake. The Rambut Monte

lake as a historical tourist spot and cultural heritage still maintains the existence of history

which is the background of the artifacts in this area and obeys the myths that circulate in the

community. Also, every Selo (the month in the Javanese calendar) there is a ritual ceremony

for village cleaning which is supported by cultural attractions that add to the attraction of

tourists to visit Rambut Monte lake. The symbolic potential that exists in the Rambut Monte

lake encourages tourists to know more about Rambut Monte lake.

The legend of the Rambut Monte lake has a symbolic meaning that can be used as a

preservation of culture and the environment. The myth about the story in the Rambut Monte

lake can be used as a warning to the public to behave in treating the universe. There is a myth

about the Sengkaring fish that inhabit Rambut Monte lake, beliefs cannot be taken by anyone

because it will die or get harmed, making tourists want to take a closer look to eliminate their

curiosity. The Rambut Monte artifact in the form of a temple near the Lake as a place to meditate

and put offerings also has a symbolic meaning that refers to the legend that the Rambut Monte

was built by Queen Baka. It is called Rambut Monte because the hair of the statue in the temple

is dangling like a monte. Also, as history, a sage from the Majapahit kingdom to leave a mark

of having lived there built petilasan in the form of small temples and statues.

The larung sesaji (offerings) are carried out by a group of village heads and their officials.

The part of wedhus kendhit which is carried out consists of skin, head intact, all bones and legs

plus half-cooked rice (kekel). The village elders began to throw the offerings (sesaji) into the

middle of the Rambut Monte lake and were eaten by sengkaring fish which the residents

considered to be sacred fish (Sulistyorini, 2020). The existence of these offerings symbolizes

maintaining the harmony of nature where the harmony between the realm of the kasad mata

and the realm of the ora kasad mata is maintained.

Cultural attractions that are held during the Krisik village clean-up ceremony can also

attract tourists. Tayub art performances, puppet shows, cultural parades are the main attractions

that are packed with art and cultural offerings. Pradhana said the tayub plays an important role

as one of the main parts of the ritual procession related to the fertility of the rice fields owned

by the community. The tayub art at the village cleanup event becomes a place for togetherness

between the community and government officials in the form of dancing together. This contains





19

a symbol that tayub unites people from various groups. The existence of togetherness and

harmony shows a united society. Etymologically, tayub comes from the word tata lan guyub,

which means organized togetherness. In this case, togetherness when dancing together and

arranged to follow music and movements. Meanwhile, the puppet show is one of the performing

arts that contains various educational messages through the characters and becomes a view of

life, exemplary, and hope (Suyanto, 2013). The puppet show is a form of gratitude for the people

of Krisik Village and a request that the people of Krisik Village be saved from the disaster that

befell. At the village clean-up ceremony, there is also an interesting thing that invites tourists

to join in to enliven the event, namely a cultural parade in the form of parading tumpeng and

agricultural products to the Rambut Monte lake. This parade was like a carnival because the

villagers wore Javanese clothes and some danced to symbolize the joy of the bountiful harvest.

Tumpeng and paraded crops are decorated in such a way as to be attractive to look at and

document. This cultural parade is a cultural product created by the community to attract tourists.

This was emphasized by Wilopo and Hakim (2017: 57), “cultural tourism needs to be developed

to preserve the culture itself so that it does not disappear along with the times”. This statement

shows that maintaining cultural authenticity needs to be done even though it is modified

according to the times.

The cultural symbols that are presented add to its attractiveness, such as the existence of

salvation is a Javanese cultural tradition, passed down by ancestors, as a means of symbolic

supplication. In the celebration, of course, it is equipped with ubarampe or offerings and the

prayer is recited by the pengujub. This is emphasized by Endraswara (2006: 13), “in slametan

equipped with symbols of offerings, and using certain mantras”. Slametan is a form of ritual

action from previous religious texts. This shows that the rituals of cleaning the village, in Krisik

village, have been carried out by their ancestors. The mantras recited during the Javanese and

Arabic slametan shows a mixture of Hinduism and Islam taught by the ancestors. Sutarjo (2010:

15) emphasizes that “Javanese culture to be syncretic, including elements of pre-Hindu (original

Javanese), Javanese Hinduism, Javanese Islam, and West Java”. The arrival of Hindu culture

in Java gave birth to Javanese Hindu culture, the arrival of Islamic culture in Java gave birth to

Javanese Islamic culture, the arrival of Westerners to Java to trade gave birth to Western

Javanese culture which tended to be materialistic. By looking at this phenomenon, the formation

of culture is certainly influenced by other cultures because the culture is dynamic.

The symbolic potential of the Rambut Monte lake can be a magnet for tourists. The large

number of visitors who come to Rambut Monte lake encourages the village government to

develop tourism facilities and infrastructure. Also, the existence of cultural production as the

tourism industry is a good strategy in developing tourist destinations. Tourism in the Rambut

Monte lake is a form of a cultural industry because it utilizes various aspects of its culture as a

production system. This is a cultural capital as a natural and economic resource that aims to

gain economic benefits in improving the community’s welfare. This is in line with Bourdieu’s

(1986: 242), thinking that cultural capital can exist in three forms, namely the embodied state

in the form of a long-lasting disposition in mind and body, in the form of cultural products,

such as paintings, photographs, or literary works, and a form of objectivity obtained through

educational qualifications. In developing tourism potential as an arena other than cultural

capital, social and economic capital is also needed. Economic capital can be associated with

money or ownership of objects, goods, and the like that can be viewed and used for investment

purposes, institutionalized cultural capital in the form of educational qualifications, social

capital which consists of social obligations, among which are institutionalized in the form of

honor and nobility (Bourdieu, 1986:242; Sudikan, 2020:297-298). With this capital, tourism

destinations can be developed as a tourism industry that can benefit the village government and

the community. The existence of a tourism industry that is developed in each region is, of

course, necessary for tourism promotion.





20

Tourism promotion cannot be separated from the support and role of the media,

government, and society. Developing tourism also takes into account the existence of

production, distribution, and consumption. The tourism production in Rambut Monte lake

cannot be separated from the cultural products that have been produced, such as the tradition of

salvation and offerings, cultural attractions with the presence of jolens, tayuban, jaranan,

bantengan, and wayangan performances during village clean-up ceremonies. The production

of cultural tourism is also inseparable from the role of the Rambut Monte lake tourism manager

by the village government which is supported by the Blitar Tourism Office, the officers of the

Rambut Monte tourist spot, and the tourists who support it. The tourism distribution of the

Rambut Monte lake also aims to promote tourism to the wider community. This distribution is

supported by mass media coverage, both mass media and electronic, which packs historical

tourism and cultural heritage as tourism promotion. Also, scientific and popular articles related

to the Rambut Monte lake and community stories in writing and oral forms. Distribution is a

process that involves agents connecting to potential customers. In this case, it can be through

travel agencies or tourism travel that make Rambut Monte lake a destination for tour packages

in Blitar. These agents are important distributors for the commercialization of cultural products

at the Rambut Monte lake. The community consumes the Rambut Monte lake as a historical

and cultural tourism place that is inseparable from the production and distribution carried out

by the government and society. The realization of cultural production in Krisik Village with

attractive packaging will create a new culture by the times. However, it still maintains cultural

authenticity as a legacy of its ancestors, such as the tradition of salvation at Rambut Monte

temple, larung sesaji at Rambut Monte lake, nyadran in the village punden. The development

of the existing cultural industry can be seen in the cultural attractions held. The construction of

infrastructure and facilities in tourist areas, such as the construction of swimming pools and

building arrangements to make visitors comfortable. This is emphasized by Baudrillard (in du

Gay et al, 1999: 91) that cultural material does not merely have use value or exchange value,

but what is more important is to have an identity value. In this case, the identity of Rambut

Monte lake, which is known as a myth against Sengkaring fish and Rambut Monte temple as a

legacy from the Majapahit kingdom. The tourists ‘consumption of the destination is a sign of

the tourists’ satisfaction to enjoy the beauty of Rambut Monte lake which is maintained

naturally, is beautiful, cool, and has historical nuances that color it.

The existence of cultural factors behind the destination is the reason for the community

to visit. Humans in general need entertainment to relieve fatigue. Also, to add new insights so

that his life is dynamic. Yoeti (2013:298), asserts that modern humans are cultured humans.

They get information from various media, including newspapers, television, radio, the internet,

and journals. With this information, there is a desire to see and witness with one’s head and

eyes the results of culture in the past (the heritage of past cultures), as well as wanting to see

firsthand about the cultural results of the Majapahit empire in Rambut Monte lake which were

passed on to future generations.

Tourism promotion through marketing carried out by capital owners certainly leads to

business or commercialization. This commercialization rests on a market mechanism that

considers operations and calculating profits for cost recovery or return on capital. This is

emphasized by Turner (2000: 115-117), that the commercialization that occurs is a result of the

money economy which was created in the spirit of creating as much profit as possible. The

tourist destination of Rambut Monte lake, of course, takes this into account in the

commercialization of its tour. Readiness and development as a tourist destination certainly

require capital. Also, there is the potential to attract tourists. The Rambut Monte lake has a

symbolic potential that can be seeded for tourism promotion.





21

CONCLUSION

Each region is encouraged to develop tourism by exploiting the potential of the region.

This was done to improve the economic welfare of the community and local government by

obtaining income from the tourism sector. The development of the Rambut Monte lake as a

tourist destination has been carried out by the village government which is supported by the

local community and the government tourism office so that it has a new appearance by the

times. Attractive tourism packaging without leaving the cultural authenticity inherited by their

ancestors colored the tourist destinations of Rambut Monte lake. In the tourism marketing

strategy, there has been cultural production, distribution as a tourism promotion, and

consumption by the wider community. The symbolic potential of the Rambut Monte lake can

become a magnet for visitors to take a closer look. Myths about the Sengakring fish that inhabit

Rambut Monte lake—clean water, shady trees, the tradition of running offerings, and salvation

when the village is clean—adds to its special attraction for visitors.

REFERENCES Bourdieu, P. 1986. The Form of Capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research

for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood Press.

du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Mackay, H., & Negus, K. 1999. Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of

Sony Walkman. London: Sage Publication.

Endraswara, Suwardi. 2008. Mistik Kejawen: Sinkritisme, Simbolisme, dan Sufisme dalam Budaya

Spiritual Jawa. Yogyakarta: Narasi.

Pradhana, Erry Kharisma Arindha. Fungsi Seni Tyub Daam Masyarakat di Dusun Ngrajek Desa

Sambirejo Kecamatan Tanjung Anom Kabupaten Nganjuk. (online) www.journal.unair.ac.id.,

diakses tanggal 13 Nopember 2020.

Sudikan, Setya Yuwana. 2020. Kearifan Budaya Lokal. Cetakan Kedua. Sidoarjo: TANKALI.

Sulistyorini, Dwi. 2020. Kosmologi Danyang Telaga Rambut Monte Dalam Bersih Desa di Desa

Krisik Kecamatan Wlingi Kabupaten Blitar Jawa Timur. Prosiding Senasba 4 Universitas

Muhamadiyah Malang.

Sutarjo, Imam. 2010. Kajian Budaya Jawa. Surakarta: UNS Press.

Suyanto. 2013. Pertunjukan Wayang Sebagai Salah Satu Bentuk Ruang Mediasi Pendidikan Budi

Pekerti. Jurnal Seni & Budaya Panggung, Vol 23, No.1, Maret 2013.

Turner, B. .2000. Teori-Teori Sosiologi: Modernitas-Posmodernitas. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Wilopo dan Hakim. 2017. Strategi Pengembangan Destinasi Pariwisata Budaya (Studi kasus pada

kawasan situs Trowulan sebagai Pariwisata Budaya Unggulan di Mojokerto). Jurnal Adminitrasi

Bisnis. Vol 41.No. 1 Januari 2017.

Yoeti, Oka. A. 2013. Pemasaran Pariwisata. Bandung: CV Angkasa.





22





23

THE PRESERVATION OF VARIOUS JOKO TINGKIR STORIES

AS THE STRATEGY OF DEVELOPING FOLKLORE-BASED TOURISM

Elen Inderasari

IAIN Surakarta


Dwi Kurniasih

Universitas Sebelas Maret


ABSTRACT

Tourism recently becomes a priority in which the Indonesian government has strived to develop

to increase domestic income. One of the interesting types of tourism is cultural tourism which

has developed widely in the form of literary tourism. This paper aims to discuss how the

preservation of the variation of Jaka Tingkir’s story can be a strategy in developing folklore-

based literary tourism. In the practical effect, this paper tries to contribute ideas to the local

government especially in Surakarta to find a proper strategy in developing a folklore-based as

well as historical-based tourism. The results of the research show that in the preservation of

folklore in a society, it is necessary to tell folklore with various emphasis contained in the story.

This paper finds that Jaka Tingkir folklore needs to be preserved by maintaining its various

versions of the story, such as the story of Jaka Tingkir and the crocodile, Jaka Tingkir and

Kebondanu, the story of Jaka Tingkir and the heirloom of Kiai Bajugiling, Jaka Tingkir and

Javanese philosophy, and the tomb of Jaka Tingkir as an imprint of the king of Pajang. These

various stories about Jaka Tingkir contain some religious, historical, moral, heroic, faith, and

worship values which are very important to comprehend in the society living with the story.

The strategies used in developing literary tourism in Bengawan Solo which bases on Jaka

Tingkir folklore include the tradition of larung gethek of Jaka Tingkir, Jaka Tingkir haul at his

tomb in Pajang, Surakarta, and religious and literary tourism.

Keyword: literary tourism, folklore, Jaka Tingkir

INTRODUCTION

Indonesia has a very diverse cultural heritage. Each area with its natural characteristics,

history and community customs becomes a wealth that must be preserved. It is an obligation

that all forms of offerings that surround humans in their lives with various characteristics have

a selling value as a potential developer. No exception to wealth, nature, history, and customs.

The diversity of nature and cultural reserves that are scattered throughout Indonesia has the

potential for developing as tourist areas. With the culture that is owned by an area, it can be

used as a foothold in developing its potential as a tourist destination (Amanat, 2019: 70).

The tourism sector is becoming an attraction in the development carried out by the

government. It is included in the five priority development sectors for 2017 together with food,

energy, maritime, industrial estates, and special economic zones. At the end of the Jokowi-JK

administration in 2019, the target of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia is 20 million people,

while domestic visitors will amount to 275 million (Amanat, 2019: 66). Based on the cultural

diversity in each region, local, provincial and district/city, governments and community actors

play an active role in developing new tours or developing existing tourist destinations, both at

local, regional and even international levels.

Various types of tourism have developed in the tourism industry. Types of Tourism Host

and Guest (1989) (via Erlin, 2015) have classified the types of tourism based on their utilization

as follows, 1) Ethnic Tourism, which is a form of travel to observe the culture and interesting





24

lifestyle of the community; 2) Cultural Tourism, namely a trip to absorb or to experience a

lifestyle that has been lost from human memory; 3) Recreation Tourism, namely tourism

activities that revolve around sports, relieving tension and making social contact with a relaxed

atmosphere (Setiawan, 2015).

This type of cultural tourism has developed widely in the form of literary tourism.

Indonesians are currently respecting literary tourism. Apart from enjoying the charm of nature,

it turns out that many people are investigating the story behind these tourist offerings. Several

things developed in literary tourism, one of which is Belitung beach where Laskar Pelangi by

Andera Hirata’s novel has attracted the attention of many people who are curious about the

place. Literary and tourism reciprocity flourished with many literary works drawing inspiration

from tourism. Literary works are able to become an effective tourism destination brand, for

example, the folklore of Putri Mandalika, becoming a mega tourist resort brand in Lombok

(Putra, 2020). Both originated from literary works in bringing up literary tourism presented in

a blend of beauty.

Efforts to maintain photos as part of literary work also take tourism as a special attraction.

As found in the lower reaches of the Bengawan Solo river, efforts to promote nature

conservation have an impact on the environment and provide economic benefits for local

communities (Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996). Efforts to promote nature conservation carried out

downstream of the Bengawan Solo river are new attractions. The packaging of literary tourism

downstream of the Bengawan Solo river needs attention. It is more widely known that

Bengawan Solo is well known in Indonesia and even abroad. Through a song popularized by

Gesang, the maestro of Indonesian keroncong music, Bengawan Solo became an icon of Solo.

The attraction of literary tourism downstream of the Bengawan Solo River is packed with

folklore tourism. Folklore as a cultural tradition of society in Indonesia, has become a strong

attraction in tourism development. One of them is folklore or folklore that lives side by side in

society and has various functions in its understanding. Folklore is a part of the local culture that

can be used as a tourism potential to maintain its sustainability. Folklore is an oral tradition that

is hereditary in society. The existence of folklore that develops in society in certain areas is

unique and attractive. The existence of folklore has a function, one of which is coercing social

control so that society’s norms are obeyed. Many folklore contains “myths” that control humans

to do or to prohibit people from doing something. This type of story has philosophical and moral

values for the society for the continuity of life (Sibrani, 2013: 3-4).

Folklore comes from the words folk and lore. According to Dundels, a folk is a group of

people who have physical, social, and cultural identifying characteristics that can be

distinguished from other groups (Danandjaja, 2007: 21). The identifier can be the same skin

color, the same hair shape, the same livelihood, the same language, the same level of education,

and the same beliefs. They have a tradition in the form of culture that has been passed down

from generation to generation. Meanwhile, lore is a tradition from folk, which is a culture that

has been passed down from generation to generation, either orally or by means of examples

accompanied by gestures or reminders (memoric device).

Folklore is a branch of literary anthropology that cannot be separated from culture,

literature and the environment (Endraswara, 2018: 279). The wealth of Indonesian literature in

the form of folklore is an inseparable part of people’s culture. In addition, there are many other

potential literary works as a fulcrum for the development of tourist objects in an areaFolklore

does not only provide cultural values in building national character, but can be developed

towards tourism development as a potential, means, as well as a goal in tourism development.

With maximum effort, folklore can be processed into products that are well accepted in the

tourism sector (Suarka & Cika, 2014: 72). Many myths, legends and fairy tales that develop in

the community can be used as the basis for opening and developing tourism in the region. Thus,

folklore remains sustainable and runs continuously, because the sustainability of folklore is





25

very much determined by the attitude of the community itself (Waluyo, Soepriyanti, Wilian, &

Kurniawan, 2019: 32).

One of the folklore that will be examined in this paper is the story about Jaka Tingkir.

Jaka Tingkir is an important figure in Central Javanese folklore. Jaka Tingkir is the founder as

well as the first king in the kingdom of Pajang. In 1543 Joko Tingkir was awarded by the Sultan

of Demak, the Kingdom of Pajang. Joko Tingkir became the Sultan of Pajang with the title

Sultan Hadiwijoyo in 1569 (Rukmini, 2009). The Pajang Kingdom is a continuation of the

Islamic Kingdom of Demak. Jaka Tingkir led Pajang for 41 years, ending in 1582 and dying in

the same year.

Jaka Tingkir’s grave which is located in the village of Butuh, Plupuh sub-district, Sragen

regency is also a religious and historical tourism that cannot be separated from the civilization

of Islamic development in Central Java and its surroundings. However, quite a number of

generations do not know the historical traces of Jaka Tingkir, who had the title Sultan

Hadiwijaya. To introduce the story of Jaka Tingkir as an effort to contribute to the existence of

the tomb, it also plays a role in being developed as a tourist destination for historical religious

literature based on folklore.

Jaka Tingkir is one of the historical folklore figures who developed in downstream of the

Bengawan Solo river. Joko Tingkir’s fame is interesting to be used to develop tourism literature

because of his folklore’s power, which the Javanese people know deeply. The emergence of

historical folklore has been used as a reminder of Mas Karebet or better known as Jaka Tingkir.

Tracing is usually done with the “Larung Getek Jaka Tingkir ceremony which is held in

Bengawan Solo. The Larung Getek Jaka Tingkir event “aims to bring back the history of Jaka

Tingkir which also attracts tourists which were held at the peak of the Syawalan event (Rafiq,

2008). Larung getek is intended to remind residents of Solo and its surroundings to the story of

Jaka Tingkir who crossed the river from Pasanggrahan Langgengharjo to the grave of Kyai

Butuh (Sragen). In Babad Jawa, Jaka Tingkir, which holds the title Suktan Hadiwijaya, has

succeeded in moving Demak to Pajang in its peak of glory.

In addition to the Larungan Getek Jaka Tingkir ritual ceremony held in Bengawan Solo,

the crocodile warrior folklore is also famous for Jaka Tingkir driving to take him to the Demak

Kingdom along Bengawan Solo. In the Javanese song-poem “Sigra Mlilir”, Jaka Tingkir, the

founder of the kingdom of Pajang, walks around Solo Bengawan using a raft. 40 crocodiles are

accompanying Jaka Tingkir’s journey from upstream to downstream of Solo to the Kingdom

of Demak (Kompas, 2009). Historical folklore tours are also packaged in the pilgrimage of the

Jaka Tingkir market which is located on the banks of the Bengawan Solo River, precisely in the

village of Butuh, Plupuh sub-district, Sragen regency. Pasarean (tomb), which is located not far

from the downstream of the Bengawan Solo river, is the last place for Jaka Tingkir to be buried

for all forms of struggle in Java.

There is a form of packaging for religious folklore tourism in the Jaka Tingkir market.

Religious tourism, in history, it is said that Jaka Tingkir’s grave is located in the grave of Butuh.

It needs to be taken from the name Ki Ageng Butuh or Ki Ageng Kebo Kenongo, Raden Jaka

Tingkir’s father who was originally a duke of pengging. Ki Ageng Butuh is well-known as a

spreader of Islam in teaching divinity. aka Tingkir’s grave is side by side with the graves of his

parents, the symbolization of Islam can be seen from the tomb contained in the mosque complex

as the basis for religious poetry in the community. Historical tourism is also evident from the

legacy of Getek Tambak Boro, the historical getek that Raden Jaka Tingkir had ridden with his

three bodyguards (Mas Monco, Mas Wilo, and Mas Wuragil) on their way to Demak. (Badrus,

2019).

The results of the variety of traditions and historical folklore, the existence of padupadan

literature and tourism have become the main attraction in the development of literature and

tourism. One of the combinations is the role of folklore as part of oral literary works combined





26

with tourism development into a new sub-discipline, namely wisatasastra. Through literary

tourism, people who enjoy tourism at the same time can explore literature from what is

presented. The development of tourism literature needs to be considered as a material for the

development of local cultural-cultural wisdom that can be enjoyed by the wider community and

to preserve sustainability. The two fields, both tourism and literature, work together, tourism

requires storytelling, one of which is through literature. For example, films, literary works can

explain in detail the natural beauty and potential of regional tourism. A similar strategy has long

been implemented by Korea, namely through pop culture, to attract tourist visits (Alfi, 2016).

According to Sudjiman (1984: 29), folklore is the beliefs, legends, and customs of a nation

that have existed for a long time, passed down from generation to generation orally or in writing.

Folklore is a source of knowledge, wisdom, and learning in a community (Banda & Morgan,

2013). Folklore is also a branch of anthropology (Djamaris, 1993: 16). According to Brunvand

(in Danandjaja, 2007: 21), folklore can be classified into three groups, oral folklore, partly oral

folklore, and non-verbal folklore. Oral folklore is folklore that is pure/original form. The forms

of folklore included in this oral folklore include folk language (dialect, nickname), traditional

expressions (proverbs, proverbs), traditional questions (puzzles), folk poetry (pantun,

gurindam, syair), folk prose stories (myths, fairy tales, legends, anecdotes), and folk songs.

Half-spoken folklore is folklore whose form is a mixture of oral and non-oral elements, such as

folk dances, ceremonies, and folk parties. Meanwhile, non-oral folklore is a folklore in written

form, although the way it is made is done orally, such as architecture and traditional music.

Research on Jaka Tingkir folklore has been conducted by (Naratif & Propp, 2017) which

is published in the journal CARAKA with the title Jaka Tingkir Folklore Analysis: Narrative

Structural Study of Vladimir Propp. The results showed 1) there were 18 perpetrator functions

among 31 perpetrator functions, 18 of these functions were initial situation (α), crime (A), stamp

(J), punishment (U), donor first function (D), mediation (B), reaction from hero (E), recipe from

shaman (F), departure (↑), deception (η), displacement (G), struggle (H), victory (I),

disbandment (K), return ( ↓), heavy duty (M), solutions (N), marriage (W). 2) There are 5

functions of actors that cannot be included in the seven spheres of action. The research equation

lies in the object of Jaka Tingkir folklore. However, this research does not only cover Jaka

Tingkir’s story by analyzing the content of the story. This research will relate the existence of

Jaka Tingkir’s story with the potential of folklore-based literary tourism.

Another research that has relevance to this research belongs to (Sosmiarti & Fahlefi,

2019) with the title Development of Historical Tourism Potential and Local Wisdom of the

Soasio Community through the Tour Package Program and the Cultural House as the center of

the Tidore Sultanate. The results showed that historical tourism and local wisdom displayed in

the House of Culture by the community can be developed into unique and distinctive tourist

objects and can attract tourists to visit these tourist destinations.

Based on the explanation that has been conveyed in the description above, as for the

formulation of the problem in this paper, how is the variation of Jaka Tingkir’s story contained

in the folklore-based literary tourism development strategy? The benefits obtained from writing

this idea are none other than theoretical, for the development of oral literature, especially

folklore in an effort to endure resilience in literary and tourism containers. Practically this

writing is in the form of an idea to find a strategy that is right for the city and provincial

governments, especially the city of Surakarta and its surroundings in developing a tourism

platform based on folklore as well as historical content to be preserved. Benefits for the wider

community, the development of tourism literature introduces the younger generation the

tradition of oral literature from generation to generation about moral values that Jaka Tingkir

exemplified in the glory of the Kingdom on the island of Java.





27

DISCUSSION

In this section two topics are described which include the efforts to maintain Jaka Tingkir

folklore and the strategy of developing folklore-based literary tourism.

1. Efforts to Maintain the Folklore of Jaka Tingkir in Various Developing Versions

Folklore, which is one of the oral heritages from generation to generation, is Indonesia’s

cultural wealth to be managed and preserved. Efforts to preserve folklore in several areas

have begun to be carried out by restoring oral literature. Restoration of oral literature

exists in various ways in various ways, for example in films, ritual ceremonies, or by

making it a literary tourism object (Endraswara, 2018). As for the efforts to maintain Jaka

Tingkir folklore so far that have been carried out by the community from generation to

generation, namely through oral stories (oral traditional). At that time, telling stories

orally was considered more rapid in conveying information than in writing. In the

development of oral speech, the various sources of knowledge of the storyteller have

made Jaka Tingkir’s folklore appear a variety of story variations, each of which has a

specificity, as if it were fragments of Jaka Tingkir’s life story.

Various versions of Jaka Tingkir’s folklore have developed into community defense

efforts in preserving the folklore. Even Jaka Tingkir’s stories appear not only in Central

Java (surrounding Surakarta) but also in West Java and in East Java, considering that in

the Javanese chronicle story, the territory of Jaka Tingkir’s reign during its heyday was

very broad. The preservation of Jaka Tingkir’s folklore can be seen from the various

versions of the story that are spread in the community as a form of local wisdom which

has its own appeal to be learned. Among them are “The Story of Crocodile and Jaka

Tingkir”, “Jaka Tingkir and Kebondanu”, “The Story of Jaka Tingkir and the Heritage of

Kiai Bajulgiling”, “Jaka Tingkir and Javanese Philosophy”, and “Jaka Tingkir’s Tomb as

Traces of King Pajang”.

a. The story of Crocodile and Jaka Tingkir

Jaka Tingkir whose real name is Mas Karebet is the son of Kebo Kenanga (Ki Ageng

Pengging II) or the adopted son of Nyi Ageng Tingkir. After a very long and tiring

struggle, Jaka Tingkir succeeded in serving the Demak Sultanate and became the

trust of Sultan Trenggana. Because of his dedication to the Demak Sultanate, Jaka

Tingkir was appointed as the son-in-law of Sultan Trenggana and at the same time

as the Duke of Pajang. After the killing of Arya Penangsang in Bengawan Sore River

by Danang Sutawijaya who received support from Ki Arching, Ki Penjawi, and Ki

Juru Mrentani; Jaka Tingkir, who did not get the blessing of Sunan Kudus to become

king in Java, crowned himself as the king of Pajang with the title Sultan Hadiwijaya.

During Majapahit surgery by the troops of the Sultanate of Demak, the

descendants of Brawijaya took refuge in all directions. One of the descendants of

Brawijaya is Raden Jombalika who took refuge in Mount Dumilah and ended up at

Mount Lawu. Raden Jombalika has a son named Mas Monca who was adopted by

Ki Buyut Banyubiru.

Jaka Tingkir’s journey arrived at Getasaji Village. By Ki Buyut Banyubiru, Jaka

Tingkir was the brother of Mas Monca. At the right time, Jaka Tingkir, who was

predicted to become king in Pajang by Ki Buyut Banyubiru, was asked to return to

serve the Demak Sultanate. When he went to the Demak Sultanate, Jaka Tingkir was

accompanied by Mas Monca and the two sons of Ki Buyut Majasta, namely Jaka

Wila and Wuragil.

After getting the blessing of Ki Buyut Banyubiru, Jaka Tingkir along with Mas

Manca, Jaka Wila, and Wuragil along the Dengkeng River with gethek. From

Bengawan Picis, the gethek continued on to Kedung Srengenge. In the stall, Jaka





28

Tingkir was intercepted by 200 crocodiles. The crocodile troop was led by a white

crocodile king named Baureksa, and his governor named Jalumampang.

The fight between Jaka Tingkir and his three friends against the crocodile army

could not be avoided anymore. Thanks to his supernatural powers, Jaka Tingkir and

his three friends were able to conquer the crocodile army. Patih Jalumampang and

70 crocodiles died at the hands of Mas Monca. Baureksa and 40 crocodiles who lost

the war then escorted Jaka Tingkir and his three friends to the mainland. From the

edge of Kedung Srengenge, Jaka Tingkir’s group walked towards the village of

Butuh. From Butuh Village, they headed to Bulu Village (Wijana, 2018).

In the Javanese macapat song there is a song called “Sigra Milir”. The song tells

the story of how Jaka Tingkir, the founder of the Pajang kingdom, walked across

Bengawan Solo using a raft. There were 40 crocodiles accompanying Jaka Tingkir’s

journey from upstream to downstream of Bengawan Solo to Demak as the center of

government at that time. Jaka Tingkir’s journey encountered several obstacles. On

the way down the Jaka Tingkir river on a raft they were blocked by a group of forty

crocodiles, so the speed of the raft was blocked. Jaka Tingkir was able to defeat the

forty crocodiles that got in his way, then the forty crocodiles helped the speed of Jaka

Tingkir’s raft, smoothing the journey (Kompas, 2009).

Sigra milir kang gethek sinangga bajul

kawan dasa kang njageni

ing ngarsa miwah ing pungkur

tanapi ing kanan kering

sang gethek lampahnya alon

the crocodile pushed the raft immediately

forty guards

the front is also the back

don’t forget on either side

the raft walked slowly

b. Jaka Tingkir and Kebondanu

One day, the Demak Sultanate was receiving enlisted registration. Among the

enlisted candidates appeared a Javanese man from Kedu background who lived in

Pingit Village. A prospective enlisted man who always boasted and always stated

that he was not working with all kinds of weapons was named Dadungawuk. Because

of Dadungawuk’s jawedness, Jaka Tingkir wanted to try out his supernatural powers.

One stab of the keris from Jaka Tingkir, Dadungawuk died with his chest spitting out

fresh blood. Smearing Demak’s earth. The death of Dadungawuk at the hands of Jaka

Tingkir made Sultan Trenggana angry. Therefore, Sultan Trenggana expelled Jaka

Tingkir from the Demak Sultanate. Jaka Tingkir went to Banyubiru and met Ki

Banyubiru.

Jaka Tingkir was given a revelation by Ki Banyu Biru, which stated that if he

wanted to return to Demak, he had to topo ngeli with gethek. Jaka Tingkir arrived at

the Hamlet of Butuh and received the revelation of the dhagan land given by Ki

Ageng Butuh. Ndagan land is land that has been covered with Ki Ageng Butuh

hermitage. Ki Ageng Butuh suggested that the land be inserted into the ears of a

forest buffalo. The forest buffalo, later on will rampage in the Demak palace and only

Jaka Tingkir can defeat him.





29

From Bulu Village, Jaka Tingkir, Mas Manca, Jaka Wila, and Wuragil walk

northwest towards Majenang. From Majenang, they moved back towards Grobogan.

The place is close to Sultan Trenggana’s pesanggrahan (resting place) on Mount

Prawata. In the forest, Jaka Tingkir looked for kebo ndanu (buffalo ndanu). After

getting it, Jaka Tingkir put the soil containing incantations (magic spells) given by

Ki Buyut Banyubiru into the mouth of the buffalo. Instantly the buffalo that went

crazy moved to the Prawata guesthouse and went on a rampage like a ketaton

bantheng (injured fortress).

The Prawata pesanggrahan was suddenly in ruins. The people who lived around

him galloped in search of safety. The soldiers who were powerful mandraguna were

unable to face the buffalo rage. Many people have become victims and injured.

Witnessing Jaka Tingkir’s exuberance, Sultan Trenggana immediately asked for his

help to quell the ndanu buffalo. If Jaka Tingkir can conquer the ndanu buffalo, Sultan

Trenggana will forgive his mistakes. Without thinking, Jaka Tingkir took action. To

attract the attention of Demak residents, Jaka Tingkir put an animal in the ear of a

buffalo. Then the buffalo went berserk in Demak, and only Jaka Tingkir could

conquer the buffalo named Kebo Ndanu. One slap, the buffalo fell. Thanks to his

services, Jaka Tingkir was again appointed by Sultan Trenggana as the head of the

enlisted man. Later, Jaka Tingkir was married off by Sultan Trenggana with one of

his daughters named Ratu Mas Cempaka (Wijana, 2018). Jaka Tingkir then began to

pursue a career in the political realm of the Demak kingdom, until finally he was able

to establish the Pajang kingdom and became the king with the title Sultan

Hadiwijaya.

c. The Story of Jaka Tingkir and Pusaka Kiai Bajulgiling It is reported that Jaka Tingkir is a student of Sunan Kalijaga who can be said to be

qualified in studying. This is evidenced by the achievements of success in each test

of the level of his knowledge. Both world knowledge and things that contain spiritual

or magical elements. One of Jaka Tingkir’s famous knowledge is being able to defeat

crocodiles by fighting empty-handed (Kumparan, 2020).

Jaka Tingkir’s glory, which is so legendary in Java, cannot be separated from

the heirloom in the form of Kiai Bajulgiling’s belt (timang) given by his teacher Ki

Buyut Banyubiru or Ki Kebo Kanigoro. Because it is said that Kiai Bajulgiling’s

timang was made by Ki Buyut Banyubiru from pure steel ore taken from the clumps

of Mount Merapi’s lava magma and crocodile skin. With its magical power, Ki

Banyubiru made the pure steel ore into an heirloom. Based on Babad Jawi and Babad

Pengging, the magical power possessed by the timang Kiai Bajulgiling is that

whoever wears Kiai Bajulgiling’s belt, he will be immune from all kinds of sharp

weapons and be feared by all wild animals.

This is in addition to the natural strength possessed by the pure steel ore core

itself, as well as the magical powers that Ki Banyubiru inscribed around the

crocodile-skinned timang. The power and effectiveness of Kiai Bajulgiling’s belt has

been experienced and proven by JakaTingkir himself several times. Before studying

at Ki Banyubiru, Jaka Tingkir or Mas Karebet had also studied at Sunan Kalijaga and

Ki Ageng Sela (Said, 2015).

d. Jaka Tingkir dan Javanese Philosophy

The story of Jaka Tingkir’s legend, he departed from the village where he lived to the

Demak kingdom, to apply as a royal warrior in order to unite with his king (the

background of the legend was during the Demak kingdom when it was ruled by Sultan

Trenggono, 1521-1546 AD). Jaka Tingkir’s journey in the legend contains many

Javanese philosophical symbols (which are believed at that time; even today).





30

Jaka Tingkir through the river / bengawan (flowing water) is a noble intention to

initiate life to reach nobility, a manifestation of Mutmainah’s lust (watery, white in

color). Intention must be supported by desire and effort, so Jaka Tingkir rides a raft

(Javanese: gethek) as a means of traveling which is full of risks. In that case Jaka

Tingkir carried out Supiyah’s lust (windy; yellow). Jaka Tingkir’s journey

encountered several obstacles. On the way down the Jaka Tingkir river on a raft they

were blocked by a group of forty crocodiles, so the speed of the raft was blocked.

Jaka Tingkir was able to defeat the forty crocodiles that got in his way, then the forty

crocodiles helped Jaka Tingkir’s raft run smoothly.

In Javanese understanding, (crocodile; Javanese: baya – bebaya) that, if someone

has the intention or will, he must carry out concern, fast for forty days, and if he

succeeds in surpassing concern, fasting (bebaya) will get blessings from Gusti Allah.

After being able to conquer forty crocodiles, Jaka Tingkir’s journey went smoothly

so that he made it through the Srengenge kedhung (kedhung: the area of the river

with deep water, Srengenge: the sun). Jaka Tingkir’s journey got smoother because

it was illuminated by the sun, the rays of life.

After completing the journey by river, Jaka Tingkir arrived in the Demak

kingdom. Arriving at the gate of the kingdom, Jaka Tingkir was intercepted and

prohibited from entering the kingdom by one of the royal officials, Dhadhung

Hawuk, who was tall and had jet black skin and had a cruel and tough attitude,

(dhadhung: twisted rope, hawuk: cruel, hard).

Then a fight broke out between Jaka Tingkir and Dhadhung Hawuk. Dhadhung

Hawuk lost and died sadak ordered (sadak: stab, ordered: betel) In this case Jaka

Tingkir was able to control Aluamah’s lust (earthy, black in color) is arrogance and

cruelty. According to Javanese understanding, order / betel leaf, lumah kurepe is

different from nanging yen ginigit padha rasane (betel leaf has two different surfaces

but tastes the same when chewed).

Life in the Jaka Tingkir Folklore in Javanese philosophy, that if human beings

are physically and mentally the same, harmony, will have extraordinary strength. For

his success, Jaka Tingkir was accepted as a warrior commander (lurah tamtama) in

the Demak kingdom.

Jaka Tingkir has achieved most of his wishes but is not yet perfect. When he

succeeded in occupying one position, Jaka Tingkir was still tempted by

circumstances. Pride in his position he felt that everything could be achieved. Jaka

Tingkir was seduced by the beauty of a woman, the daughter of his king, worldly

glitter. Then Jaka Tingkir had a love affair with his king’s daughter. For his actions

he received punishment as a consequence. Jaka Tingkir was expelled from the Demak

kingdom.

The punishment did not make Jaka Tingkir sad and despair. His spiritual

awareness made himself a human being, titahe Gusti, still unable to escape from his

mistakes. He then went to a place, studied with a man who had limpad ing reh

kabatinan (a person who is spiritually perfect) in Banyubiru (a vast and very deep

expanse of water when seen carefully will be bluish = spiritual depth).

He further increases submission and spiritual deepening to achieve self-

authenticity and self-goals. After being able to complete his spiritual enhancement

process in Banyubiru, Jaka Tingkir returned to the Demak kingdom to apply as a

soldier again. It so happened that in the Demak kingdom there was a commotion

carried out by a buffalo whose eyes were bright red and his ears were stuffed with

clay.





31

The buffalo went berserk, destroying all the buildings in the kingdom so that the

state of the kingdom was very chaotic. Then with his calm and perfection, Jaka

Tingkir was able to subdue and kill the buffalo with his right palm. Humans who do

not want to see the situation / environment and do not want to listen to noble advice

and lessons, tend to do whatever they want, will eventually be destroyed by their own

actions and behavior.

In this case Jaka Tingkir was able to kill Amarah’s lust (fire, red). He has

managed to control anger, greed and pride. With his success, Jaka Tingkir was

accepted back as an official in the Demak kingdom. Even appointed as a high official

so that he managed to meet and unite with the king. In essence, Jaka Tingkir

(kawula), with all his struggles to carry out his sacred duties as a people, armed with

sincerity, submission, environmental manners, with a measurable process according

to his belief, and armed with sarengat, finally managed to unite with his king (gusti).

With the tarekat when he left the kingdom for Banyubiru in the process of

introspection he performed takhanus (semadi) as a symbol of divinity. Jaka Tingkir

has reached a spiritual steretion (high spiritual experience). And the perfection of

attaining the level of makrifat, then successfully integrating with the gusti, the

ultimate goal of his spiritual journey (Djizno, 2011).

e. Jaka Tingkir’s Tomb as the Footprint of King Pajang

Jaka Tingkir’s grave is not far from the downstream of the Bengawan Solo river. The

location is in Butuh Hamlet, Gedongan Village, Plupuh District, Sragen, Central

Java. Jaka Tingkir’s funeral complex is called the Tomb of Butuh which is marked

by a mosque building. This Buthuh Mosque used to be a langgar or prayer room

which was founded by Ki Ageng Butuh, the forerunner to the existence of Butuh

Hamlet.

Around 1930, Paku Buwono X carried out restoration of the tomb by building a

wall around the tomb and raising the headstone because at that time there were still

frequent annual floods that inundated the tomb. The location of this grave is not far

from the Bengawan Solo River, where the water overflows almost every year. Inside

the gedong building there are 17 tombs, most of which are Jaka Tingkir’s relatives.

The name Butuh is taken from Ki Ageng Butuh or Ki Ageng Kebo Kenongo,

Raden Jaka Tingkir’s father. Ki Ageng Kebo Kenongo was originally a duke of

Pengging, an area under the control of the Demak Sultanate. At the end of his reign,

Ki Ageng Kebo Kenongo left Pengging to find calm and inner peace. With his wife,

Ki Ageng went to the east and arrived in an area that was still forested, there were

only a few people living in that area. Then Ki Ageng Kebo Kenongo decided to stay

there and introduced himself to the residents by the name Butuh. However, over time

the villagers finally learned that Ki Ageng Butuh was Raden Mas Jaka Tingkir’s

father. Since then, Ki Ageng has always been visited by people, both from around

the village and from outside the region. Here, Ki Ageng needed to teach the

community education about divinity and society.

After being the King of Pajang for about 40 years, Sultan Hadiwijaya or Jaka

Tingkir abandoned his power and wanted to get closer to the Supreme Ruler. Then

he went to his parents’ hamlet which is on the banks of the Bengawan Solo River,

namely the Butuh Village. In this need, Sultan Hadiwijaya spent the rest of his life

trying to find peace of mind by getting closer to the Creator. He died and was buried

in a complex with his parents (Badrus, 2019).

After being the King of Pajang for about 40 years, Sultan Hadiwijaya or Jaka

Tingkir abandoned his power and wanted to get closer to the Supreme Ruler. Then

he went to his parents’ hamlet which is on the banks of the Bengawan Solo River,





32

namely the Butuh Village. In this need, Sultan Hadiwijaya spent the rest of his life

trying to find peace of mind by getting closer to the Creator. He died and was buried

in a complex with his parents (Badrus, 2019).

Jaka Tingkir folklore is not the only folklore that has developed in the Sragen

region. The folklore from Sragen regency belongs to the legend category (Rukmini,

2009). One form of evidence that Jaka Tingkir folklore really exists is the legacy of

the tomb of Jaka Tingkir and his relatives in Butuh Hamlet, Gedongan Village,

Plupuh District, Sragen Regency.

The story of Jaka Tingkir’s journey does not happen much in Sragen. The event

that is told in the folklore of Jaka Tingkir is a struggle to become the king of Pajang.

Jaka Tingkir is told as a person who has influence in Islamic civilization in Central

Java. Jaka Tingkir had been a soldier in the Sultanate of Demak until he finally

succeeded in establishing the Pajang kingdom, which was the first kingdom to exist

in the Surakarta area. However, at the end of his life Jaka Tingkir asked to be buried

with his father in the village of Butuh.

In the courtyard of the burial complex, there are porous logs. The wood is

believed to be a splinter of the gethek boat that carried Joko Tingkir to the village of

Butuh via the Bengawan Solo River. The gethek splinter is about two meters of teak

wood. The arrival of Joko Tingkir to the village of Butuh, which at that time was still

in the form of a jungle, was none other than to learn from Ki Ageng Butuh (Duhri,

2016).

The Values Contained in the Jaka Tingkir Folklore

The effort to preserve Jaka Tingkir’s folklore in various versions of the story that has

developed in the community is because the folklore is full of moral messages. The story of Jaka

Tingkir’s life journey, a king of the Pajang kingdom before finally developing into the Mataram

kingdom of Solo and Yogyakarta, through a life story teaching the younger generation the

values contained therein, namely religious values, moral values, historical values, heroic values,

faith values, values khulukyah, the value of worship and many things that can be learned from

these folklores.

Based on the explanation regarding the folklore of Jaka Tingkir, the values contained in

the story can be taken. It is necessary to identify the value in a folklore in order to get the

message to be conveyed. There are several values contained in Jaka Tingkir folklore.

Religious Values

In terms of religiosity, folklore and tourist destinations, Jaka Tingkir’s tomb contains

religious values. It is evident that the tomb complex is a religious tourism destination with

visitors coming to make a pilgrimage to the tomb. In addition, studying Jaka Tingkir folklore

is also an effort to understand how the origin of Islamic civilization emerged in Central Java,

especially in Surakarta and its surroundings. Based on this story, Jaka Tingkir has reached a

spiritual steretion (high spiritual experience). And the perfection of attaining the level of

makrifat, then successfully integrating with the gusti, the ultimate goal of his spiritual journey

(Djizno, 2011).

Historical Values

Then, there is also a historical value, namely Jaka Tingkir is a sultanate figure who first controlled the kingdom in the Pajang area, Surakarta. Based on the story, it can be seen that in

1543, Jaka Tingkir was awarded the Tax Kingdom by the Sultan of Demak. Then, in 1569, Jaka

Tingkir became the Sultan of Pajang with the title Sultan Hadiwijaya. Not only that, in Jaka

Tingkir’s grave there is a historical object in the form of gethek that was once used by Jaka

Tingkir as a boat that took Joko Tingkir to the Hamlet of Butuh via the Bengawan Solo River.





33

Moral Values

One of the moral values of the Jaka Tingkir folklore is reflected in Jaka Tingkir’s actions

in his attempt to return to the Demak Kingdom after being expelled by Sultan Trenggana who

led the Demak Kala Sultanate. Like Ki Ageng Banyubiru’s message that if he wanted to return

to Demak again, then he had to Topo Ngeli with gethek. Topo Ngeli means effort accompanied

by prayer. Tapa means getting closer to God, while Ngeli is an action or effort made to achieve

a goal. Thus, it can be learned that if a person has a desire, he must try and pray.

Heroic Value

The heroic value that is full of responsibility can be seen from the attitude of acceptance

of Jaka Tingkir when he was expelled from the Demak Sultanate for killing, making Sultan

Trenggana angry. Therefore, Sultan Trenggana expelled Jaka Tingkir from the Demak

Sultanate. Even though he was kicked out of Demak, Jaka Tingkir did not just stand there. Once

upon a time there was a forest buffalo rampaging in the Demak palace. Jaka Tingkir tried to

beat the buffalo. Only Jaka Tingkir knew the buffalo weakness. Armed with dhagan land, Jaka

Tingkir slapped the forest buffalo on the forehead and immediately fell down.

Faith Value

The value of faith is a value related to belief, such as faith in Allah SWT, angels,

messengers, books, the Last Day and destiny which aims to organize individual beliefs. The

tourists who make a pilgrimage to Jaka Tingkir’s grave do not aim to commit shirk, however,

they still recite prayers and remembrance that are given to the grave expert. Pilgrims pray to

Allah for mercy for the Islamic grave expert and pray that the deceased is kept away from the

torment of the grave. In terms of faith, the pilgrimage to the graves of the saints, scholars, kings,

is a form of gratitude and gratitude for struggling to spread Islam in the archipelago. This is

part of the belief that waliyullah is an important part of the development of Islamic civilization.

The form of gratitude is by making pilgrimages and praying at the graves of the saints. With

pilgrimage, it can indirectly remind people of death.

Khuluqiyah/ Moral Value

Morals are the realization of one’s faith. Moral values that are formed when pilgrimage,

namely, pilgrims enter the burial area in a holy state (have ablution), pilgrims say greetings

when they enter the tomb (Assalamualaikum ya waliyullah), respect other pilgrims wisely in

using time when doing zikir and pray for pilgrims others didn’t wait too long. In addition,

pilgrims who come to the tomb have a sincere and sincere heart to pray for the burial expert in

this case that he does not seek harm from the grave expert. Dress neatly, politely, and cover

your genitals. When making pilgrimages, pilgrims obey all the grave pilgrimage rules made by

the manager.

The Value of Worship

Worship covers all aspects of life as well as everything that humans do, both in the form

of words, actions, feelings and thoughts that rely on Allah SWT. Praying for people who have

died is a form of ghairu mahdah worship. Ghairu mahdah worship is all actions that bring

goodness to oneself and others, carried out with sincere intentions because of Allah. Praying

for the grave expert contains worship value. The main purpose of pilgrims visiting Jaka

Tingkir’s grave is to pray for Jaka Tingkir and his family and this is a valuable part of worship.

2. Folklore Based Tourism Development Strategy for Bengawan Solo Literature

There are several strategies used in the development of Joko Tingkir’s fochlor-based

literary tourism, namely the performance of the Getek Joko Tingkir tradition of larung,

Haul Jaka Tingkir at the Tomb of Haji Pajang Surakarta, and the Pilgrimage of Religious

literature. This strategy is an effort to develop tourist areas based on folklore and to

preserve folklore through developing history.





34

a. Joko Tingkir’s Larung Getek Tradition

This tradition is an annual procession that is carried out in two places, namely at TST

Jurug and sometimes at Pesanggrahan Langenharjo. This choice is probably the most

appropriate because the historical milestone of Keraton Solo is quite attached to Joko

Tingkir, maybe there is another possible place considering the Bengawan Solo river

is a river. which is quite long, almost about 548.53 km. Bengawan Solo is the longest

river on the island of Java, which originates from the Kidul Mountains, Wonogiri and

crosses two provincial administrative regions, namely Central Java and East Java.

The areas through which the river passes include Wonogiri, Pacitan, Sukoharjo,

Klaten, Solo, Sragen, Ngawi, Blora, Bojonegoro, Tuban, Lamongan, and empties

into the Gresik area (Laropstars Frame, 2009).

This annual tradition aims to commemorate the story of Joko Tingkir’s journey

while down the Bengawan Solo River, besides that it is also aimed at attracting more

tourists, in the Larung Getek tradition of Joko Tingkir, played by several famous

artists / figures by GRM Paundrakarna Sukmaputra (soap opera artist who is also

grandson of former President Soekarno) (Laropstars Frame, 2009). Joko Tingkir’s

Larung Getek tradition aims as a form of literary tourism strategy to maintain folklore

so that it can be enjoyed by the wider community. In Jaka Tingkir’s folklore, the

procession of crocodile warriors is manifested in the Getek larunga procession.

Larung Ageng Gethek Joko Tinggkir is usually done during the month of Shawwal

the Islamic calendar. The process began when Paundra said goodbye to the

Mangkunegaran temple officials, accompanied by the figures of Ki Ageng Panjawi

and Ki Ageng Penggahan.

After that, the group, escorted by Mangkunegaran soldiers, headed for the Solo

Palace and continued on to Pesanggrahan Langenharjo, Sukoharjo. The arrival of the

Jaka Tingkir group and the arrogance at the pesanggrahan, were greeted with

Manguyu-uyu music and Gambyong dance. They received the figures of Ki Ageng

Majasta and Ki Ageng Banyubiru. The event was then continued with the reading of

remarks from the head of the organizing committee of Larung Ageng Gethek Joko

Tingkir. The departure ceremony was then closed with the reading of the story of

Jaka Tingkir by KRHT Kalingga Hanggapura along with prayers. The journey began

after Pengageng Parentah Keraton Solo GPH Dipokusumo gave a satang (paddle) to

GRM Paundra as the actor of Joko Tingkir accompanied by the Gambyong Pareanom

dance. Marked the playing of the Pencon gamelan on the Rajamala boat Joko

Tingkir’s Larung Ageng Gethek journey itself covered a distance of about 30 km.

Divided into two parts, namely water and road roads. At the beginning of his

departure from Pesangngrahan Langenharjo to the Ronggowarsito Park Jurug “Joko

Tingkir” stood on a bamboo raft holding a stick. The trip was then continued to Butuh

Sragen, a procession of 16 boats to the village of Butuh. Arriving at the location near

the grave of Jaka Tingkir’s parents named Kebo Kenanga, he was greeted with a

ceremony and entertainment for the Jaka Tingkir mass dance.

The sustainability of Jaka Tingkir’s getek strategy needs to be preserved in an

effort to attract the interest of the wider community in maintaining the oral literary

tradition of Jaka Tingkir’s heroism. Through the larungan tradition, the community

automatically knows and is curious about the figure of Jaka tingkir and the story of

his struggle in establishing the Pajang kingdom and developing into the city of Solo

and Yogyakarta to this day. In the development of traditional tourism, it can also be

called ecotourism as the development of environmental tourism. The development of

environmental tourism, namely human awareness by combining local wisdom in

tourism packaging as a form of environmental care. Efforts to care for the





35

environment need to be done in the form of protection of nature, namely land, water

and air. Apart from being a literary tourism strategy, in the larungan tradition it can

also be in the development of an ecotourism strategy as a form of introduction to

Solo Bengawan as the largest river flow in Solo and its surrounding functions as

agricultural irrigation that crosses Gresik East Java.

b. Haul Jaka Tingkir at Makamhaji Pajang Surakarta

The Haul program was used to send prayers to Jaka Tingkir. Haul Jaka Tingkir is

still being carried out until now, as a form of sending prayers to Jaka Tingkir and his

extended family. Haul Jaka Tingkir is carried out at the same time as a packaging for

religious literature tourism, given the services of Jaka Tingkir’s struggle in

establishing the Pajang kingdom. Usually, this religious tourism haul is attended by

hundreds of people from the 438th year of Haul JakaTingkir (Hadiwijaya). The

location of the activity at the Sultanate of Kraton Pajang Jln. Joko Tingkir Gang

Benowo III Sonojiwan RT 5 RW 22 Makamhaji Village, Kartasura District,

Sukoharjo. The Pajang Sultanate is a sultanate based in Central Java as a continuation

of the Demak Sultanate. The palace complex at this time only remains in the form of

its foundation boundaries which are on the border of Pajang Village - Surakarta City

and Makamhaji Village, Kartasura, Sukoharjo (Hamdani, 2020).

The activities of Haul Joko Tingkir were filled with religious events, prayers and

tours. Then visiting Joko Tingkir’s grave in Sragen. Haul Joko Tingkir was held to

preserve Javanese culture and history or to celebrate Javanese culture. Moreover,

Keraton Pajang has existed in quite a few years. The proof is that there are various

cultural activities that are affiliated with the Pajang Palace.

The haul event was attended by descendants of the Kraton Pajang and the

courtiers of the palace, as well as the related service regencies and the wider

community (Wicaksono, 2020). Together, send prayers for Jaka Tingkir and all of

his family and relatives. The reign of the Sultanate of Pajang ended in 1587 when

Pangeran Benawa was in power but no crown prince succeeded him so Pajang was

made a vassal of Mataram. The regent there was Pangeran Gagak Baning or

Sutawijaya’s younger brother. Sutawijaya himself founded the Mataram Kingdom,

where he as the first king had the title Panembahan Senopati. “This activity is more

to celebrate the noble culture that once existed in the area of Makamhaji Kartasura,

here once stood the successor Sultanate of the Demak Sultanate, which if traced back

is a continuation of the Majapahit kingdom.

The haul activities of the Keraton Pajang Sultanate received a letter from the

Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkum HAM) in 2011 in an effort to

maintain the existence of the palace as a cultural heritage of the Pajang kingdom. The

commemoration of Joko Tingkir’s death is one of the routine activities every year.

Apart from Haul Joko Tingkir, Keraton Pajang also held other activities such as the

1 Suro Night Commemoration, Kirab Pusoko, Jumenengan Keraton Pajang,

Wilujengan, and Syawalan. The closing of the Jaka Tingkir haul event was continued

with a pilgrimage at the grave of Jaka Tingkir in the village of Butuh, Sragen

Regency.

c. Religious Literature Tourism Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage to the grave includes Islamic education in a non-conceptual sense. Non-

conceptual activity is a social interaction between pilgrims, whether one or more,

whether intentional or not, but its impact can develop human potential. Educational

activities in this model include non-formal education. One of the tombs frequently

visited by the people of Central Java is the tomb of Jaka Tingkir in Gedongan Village,

Plupuh District, Sragen Regency. Every day many pilgrims are attracted to make a





36

pilgrimage to Jaka Tingkir’s grave because of Jaka Tingkir’s wise nature when he

became king.

The culture in Jaka Tingkir’s grave is a pilgrimage every Friday night of legi and

haul on Friday legi of the month of Sha’ban. When the month of Sya ‘ban, the people

flocked to carry out the dhikr and tahlil together. Jaka Tingkir is the founder of the

Pajang kingdom. The location which is the center of the Pajang Sultanate is on the

border of Pajang Village, Solo City, and Makam Haji Village, Kartasura, Sukoharjo,

Central Java. During his reign, the influence of Islam then spread rapidly throughout

the interior. Jaka Tingkir was in power for 41 years, from 1546-1587. Jaka Tngkir

died in 1587, then was buried in Gedongan Village, Plupuh District, Sragen Regency

(Daliman, 2012: 174).

Pilgrimage activities are usually pilgrims who ask the caretaker as a process of

gathering knowledge in religious pilgrimage tourism activities besides sending

prayers and prayers. Other knowledge can be done by digging up information through

the library which is to the south of the Jaka Tingkir Tomb. There are several

collections of books provided by the tomb manager, such as a guide book for grave

pilgrimages, the history book of Jaka Tingkir, the book of kifayatul akyar, and others.

The interaction of pilgrims and caretakers can have a positive impact on the

intellectual development and attitude of the pilgrims. Apart from praying for the

burial expert, there were pilgrims who had tawasul. Tawasul is one way of praying

and one of the doors to face Allah SWT with an intermediary. So, the real purpose

of tawasul is Allah SWT. Meanwhile, what is ditawasuli is just an intermediary to

get closer to Allah SWT (Al-Hasani, 2013: 85).

Jaka Tingkir’s tomb locksmith put up posters on the walls of the library

regarding the provisions of tawasul allowed in Islam. This provision is that tawasul

is not intended to ask for help from the dead to help pray, nor to speed up the

fulfillment of prayers, nor to ask for blessings or karamah, but tawashul is the way

to God’s grace. The way is to remember death, pray for the grave expert sincerely.

Tawasul is allowed in Islam if it is in accordance with the Shari’a, that is, it is

permissible through intermediaries but the main goal is to Allah. The Jaka Tingkir

text reaches the Prophet Muhammad. from the path of his grandfather Ki Ageng

Pengging and from his grandmother from the Majapahit kingdom, the complete

Sissilah of his text is Rasulullah Saw, Sayyidah Fatima AzZahra bint Al-Husain bin

Ali Zainal Abidin bin Muhammad Al-Baqir bin Ja’far Shadiq bin Ali Al-Uraidhi bin

Isa bin Muhammad bin Ahmad AlMuhajir bin Ubaidillah bin Alwi bin Muhammad

bin Alwi bin Ali Khali ‘Qasam bin Muhammad Shahib Mirbath bin Alwi Ammil

Faqih bin Abdul Malik Azmatkhan bin Ahmad Jalaluddin bin Abdillah bin Husain

Jamaluddin bin Maulana Ahmad Jumadil Kubra bin Muhammad Kabungsuan /

Andayaningrat bin Sayyid Shihabudin / Ki Ageng Pengging Bin Sayyid

Abdurrahman / Jaka Tingkir. religious tourism pilgrimage invites the wider

community to pray for the goodness of the personality of Jaka Tingkir and his family

and relatives in leading the kingdom of Pajang wisely.

CLOSING

Conclusion

To conclude, in preserving a folklore treasure in society, it is necessary to maintain

various narratives the folklore has. The efforts to maintain the folklore of Jaka Tingkir include

the preservation of its various versions such as the story of Jaka Tingkir and the crocodile, Jaka

Tingkir and Kebondanu, the story of Jaka Tingkir and the heirloom of Kiai Bajugiling, Jaka

Tingkir and Javanese philosophy, and the tomb of Jaka Tingkir as an imprint of the king of





37

Pajang. From these different stories about Jaka Tingkir, there are some positive values which

can used to to build good character, among others the religious, historical, moral, heroic, faith,

and worship values. The strategies used in developing a literary tourism in Bengawan Solo

which bases on Jaka Tingkir folklore include the tradition of larung gethek of Jaka Tingkir,

Jaka Tingkir haul at his tomb in Pajang, Surakarta, and religious and literary tourism.

Suggestion

This paper is still in development that can be continued by a deeper research. It tries to

portray a local wisdom and the development of oral literature, especially folklore, in an effort

to collaborate literature and tourism. This research can also be conducted using other

perspectives and multi-discipline analysis to the folklore. With the limitations of this research,

a further study is welcomed using different approaches to produce new findings. Future research

can use broader data and more complex theoretical framework, so as to complement the

diversity of studies in folklore and ecotourism destinations.

REFERENCES Al-Hasani, M. A.-M. (2013). Meluruskan Kesalahpahaman. Bandung: PT Remaja Rosdakarya.

Alfi, A. N. (2016). Promosi Wisata Bisa Lewat Karya Sastra. Retrieved from

https://ekonomi.bisnis.com/read/20160529/12/552246/promosi-wisata-bisa-lewat-karya-sastra

Amanat, T. (2019). Strategi Pengembangan Destinasi Wisata Berbasis Folklor (Ziarah Mitos: Lahan

Baru Pariwisata Indonesia). Jurnal Pariwisata Terapan, 3(1), 65–75.

Badrus. (2019). Makam Jaka Tingkir di Dusun Butuh Sragen, Jejak Terakhir Raja Pajang. Retrieved

from http://www.jalanjalanenak.com/makam-jaka-tingkir/

Banda, D., & Morgan, W. J. (2013). Folklore as an Instrument of Education among the Chewa People

of Zambia. International Review of Education, 59(2), 197–216.

Ceballos-Lascurain, H. (1996). Tourism, Ecotourism and Protected Areas. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN

(World Conservation Union).

Daliman. (2012). Islamisasi dan Perkembangan Kerajaan-Kerajaan Islam di Indonesia. Yogyakarta:

Ombak.

Danandjaja, J. (2007). Folklor Indonesia. Jakarta: PT. Pustaka Grafiti Pers.

Djamaris, E. (1993). Nilai Budaya dalam beberapa Karya Sastra Nusantara: Sastra Daerah di Sumatra.

Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Depdikbud.

Djizno. (2011). Legenda Joko Tingkir: Pandangan Filsafat Jawa. Retrieved from http://dprd-

salatigakota.go.id/legenda-joko-tingkir-pandangan-filsafat-jawa/

Duhri, M. K. (2016). Asal Usul : Peninggalan Joko Tingkir Di Makam Butuh Sragen. Retrieved from

https://www.solopos.com/asal-usul-peninggalan-joko-tingkir-di-makam-butuh-sragen-770110

Endraswara, S. (2018). Tradisi Lisan Jawa: Warisan Abadi Budaya Leluhur. Yogyakarta: Narasi.

Hamdani. (2020). Dari Haul Jaka Tingkir Atau Hadiwijaya di Makamhaji Kartasura Sukoharjo,

Ternyata Kasultanan Pajang Masih Ada Hubungannya Dengan Kasultanan Demak. Retrieved from

https://joglosemarnews.com/2020/02/dari-haul-jaka-tingkir-atau-hadiwijaya-di-makamhaji-

kartasura-sukoharjo-ternyata-kasultanan-pajang-masih-ada-hubungannya-dengan-kasultanan-

demak/

Kompas. (2009). Kisah Buaya dan Jaka Tingkir. Retrieved from https://amp.kompas.com/regional/

read/2009/11/06/1113012/kisah.buaya.dan.jaka.tingkir

Kumparan. (2020). Kisah Jaka Tingkir dan Misteri Kekuatannya. Retrieved from

https://kumparan.com/dukun-millennial/kisah-jaka-tingkir-dan-misteri-kekuatannya-

1tOBXOfL94Z/full

Laropstars Frame. (2009). Larung Gethek Jaka Tingkir. Retrieved from https://www.laropstars.com/

2009/10/larung-getek-joko-tingkir.html

Naratif, S., & Propp, V. (2017). Analisis Cerita Rakyat Jaka Tingkir: Kajian Struktural Naratif Vladimir

Propp. CARAKA, 4(1), 122–129.

Putra, I. N. D. (2020). Buku Sastra Pariwisata Referensi Pemda Kembangkan Pariwisata Berbasis

Sastra dan Tradisi Lisan. Kanisiusmedia.co.id. Retrieved from https://kanisiusmedia.co.id/

ceritakami/detail/317





38

Rafiq, A. (2008). Tempat Wisata Siap Sambut Pemudik. Retrieved from https://koran.tempo.co/read/

berita-utama-jateng/142710/tempat-wisata-siap-sambut-pemudik

Rukmini, D. (2009). Cerita Rakyat Kabupaten Sragen (Suatu Kajian Struktural dan Nilai Edukatif).

Universitas Sebelas Maret.

Said, S. M. (2015). Kisah Jaka Tingkir dan Pusaka Kiai Bajulgiling. Retrieved from

https://daerah.sindonews.com/berita/951130/29/kisah-jaka-tingkir-dan-pusaka-kiai-bajulgiling-

bagian-1

Setiawan, E. (2015). Uraian Teoritis Pengembangan Kepariwisataan. Universitas Sumatera Utara.

Sosmiarti, & Fahlefi, U. A. (2019). Pengembangan Potensi Wisata Sejarah dan Kearifan Lokal

Masyarakat Soasio melalui Program Paket Wisata dan Rumah Budaya sebagai Pusat Kesultanan

Tidore. Buletin Ilmiah Nagari Membangun, 2(2), 281–295.

Suarka, I. N., & Cika, I. W. (2014). Pendayagunaan Folklor sebagai Sumber Ekonomi Kreatif di Daerah

Tujuan Wisata Bali. ATAVISME, 17(1), 71–83.

Sudjiman, P. (1984). Kamus Istilah Sastra. Jakarta: PT Gramedia.

Waluyo, U., Soepriyanti, H., Wilian, S., & Kurniawan, R. (2019). Revitalizing the Values of Local

Wisdoms Contained in Sumbawanese Folklores as Bilingual Learning Sources for Character

Education. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 257, 31–36.

Wicaksono, R. B. E. (2020). Digelar Hari Ini, Haul Joko Tingkir Diisi Selawatan di Keraton Pajang

Sukoharjo. Retrieved from https://www.solopos.com/digelar-hari-ini-haul-joko-tingkir-diisi-

selawatan-di-keraton-pajang-sukoharjo-1045883

Wijana, U. A. (2018). Jaka Tingkir, Pasukan Buaya, dan Kebo Danu. Retrieved from

https://ummiazzurawijana.wordpress.com/2018/01/04/jaka-tingkir-pasukan-buaya-dan-kebo-

danu/





39

TRANSFORMATION OF TOURIST DESTINATION IN POEMS

I Gusti Ayu Agung Mas Triadnyani

FIB Universitas Udayana


ABSTRACT

Research on tourist destinations in Klungkung Regency, Bali, which is included in the

collection of poetry, Klungkung: Tanah Tua Tanah Cinta is important to do to see how far

Indonesian poets recognize this area. What are the views of the poets in photographing the

changes in Klungkung city and famous places in this area? In this paper, five poems contain

ideas about the transformation of tourist destinations in Klungkung. The method used is an

analytic descriptive and the theory of public space will be applied. The results obtained from

this research are that the poets utilize public space in Klungkung which is undergoing

transformation, namely the deserted Klungkung land, Balai Kerthagosa as the noiseless court,

Goa Lawa Beach as a source of livelihood, Meriam I Selisik as a marker of collective memory,

and the Tukad Unda Bridge. as a spiritual bridge.

Keywords: tourist destinations, public space, Klungkung

INTRODUCTION

Klungkung is the name of an area, to be precise a regency in Bali. Bali Province consists

of nine districts/cities, namely Buleleng (located in the north of Bali), Karangasem (east),

Jembrana (west), Bangli (center), Klungkung (southeast), Tabanan (southwest), Gianyar

(south), Badung. (south), and Denpasar (south). Klungkung is an old city; that is how the

Balinese give it the nickname. Indeed, Klungkung is known as an old city with a long history

and civilization. The Regent of Klungkung, I Nyoman Suwirta, said that Klungkung is the

center of cultural heritage civilization in Bali which has high-value heritage assets and authentic

local wisdom (beritabali.com).

In1686 Ida I Dewa Agung Jambe founded the Klungkung Kingdom and was the successor

to the Gelgel Dynasty. At that time, the Gelgel Kingdom was the center of the kingdom in Bali

and the golden age of this kingdom was created during the reign of Dalem Waturenggong,

where the prosperity and welfare of the Balinese people were achieved. During the reign of

King Ida Dalem Kresna Kepakisan, Klungkung City thrived. As the center of government at

that time, the city was full of people from all walks of life, i.e. government officials, artists,

traders, clergymen, intellectuals, and small communities (Agung, 1989).

Now in the 21st century, in line with the times, Klungkung has changed. Klungkung,

which was once busy, is now slowly becoming quiet. This condition is partly due to the

geographical condition of Klungkung City which is quite far from Denpasar. Denpasar is the

capital city of Bali province which is located in the southern part of the island of Bali, while

Klungkung is in the eastern part. Most of the Klungkung people prefer to live and work in

Denpasar City.

Regarding tourism development in Klungkung, an important aspect is tourist destinations.

Tourism destinations are expected to be able to encourage tourists to come to visit. Various

things have been done by both the government and tourism actors. One of them is through the

formation of positive perceptions conveyed by tourists through social media, such as blogs,

Instagram, Facebook, or books (Resmayasari, 2011). Tourists or visitors write stories about

their travels visiting tourist attractions, and sometimes they even package them in the form of

novels or poetry. Perhaps it is for this reason that a collection of poems about Klungkung was

made, that is as an effort to restore memories of an area/place that once had its own meaning in

the hearts of Balinese people and society in general.





40

Tourist destinations are related to the discussion of public space, which is an element that

supports the community to develop as social beings (Worpole, 2000). This is also emphasized

by Hardiman (2010) that the public space acts as a social space that involves all parties who

can help create social interactions in society. Physical space and the activities that take place in

it can improve the quality of human life in terms of health, social interactions and economic

value.

In the poetry book, Klungkung is not only shown in physical forms, such as places that

become public spaces. According to Abidin Kusno (2007) who refers Setha Low and Niel

Smith, public space is limited as a space that can be physically shown and can be occupied. The

public space here is not defined as a passive space, but actively controls and shapes people’s

awareness. Therefore, the public space is never free from various parties’ interpretations who

fill the space with various objects, creatures, buildings, announcements, regulations,

monuments, stories, representations, and performances. Klungkung has become a kind of

discourse. One of the discourses offered is through the publication of the poetry book, in which

poets experience directly or indirectly various events in popular places in the Klungkung area.

Klungkung Tanah Tua Tanah Cinta is a collection of poetry written by poets from various

regions in Indonesia. This book contains more than a hundred poems. In general, this collection

can be classified into three parts. First, the poets wrote about Klungkung as a place to live for

both childhood and today. Second, they wrote Klungkung as a tourist destination. Third, they

write Klungkung as part of historical memory (past). Through these three major themes, the

poets give meaning to these places according to their knowledge and experience.

This research would deliver any ideas dealing with the poets’ changes or transformations

due to their experiences or imaginations against the places they have concerned with. How these

places are remembered or described in their works. For example, a poem entitled “Puputan

Klungkung” tells about the greatness of women during the famous Puputan war. The poet tries

to experience or feel the incident again: the pain, the smell of blood, and the willingness to

participate in defending self-esteem (as happened to the female warrior character named Kania).

Hari ini gerbang-gerbang puri kian meninggi/perempuan-perempuan tidak lagi bersapa/pada

sunyi, pada relung hati/Kania, di bagian manakah/Mereka menyimpan geram raungmu… (hlm.

3) (Today the gates of the castle are getting higher / women are no longer greeting / in silence,

to the voice of the heart / Kania, in which part / They keep your roar growl ...). The word

“today” refers to the present situation which is interpreted differently by the poet. Poets capture

the changes that have occurred in interpreting women’s struggles in the past and the present.

These changes are related to the memories of the public, not only to individual perception. Olick

(1999) discussed in depth the different concepts of culture in collective memories. There are

two concepts of culture involved. One sees culture as a subjective category of meanings

contained in people’s minds and the other sees culture as patterns of publicly available symbols

objectified in society.

Some literary activists have discussed this collection of poetry briefly, for example,

Sumasno Hadi (2016) in one of his blogs wrote that this collection summarizes various cultural

phenomena in Klungkung, both history, customs, nature, art, and sociopolitics. IBW. Keniten

(2018) states that “Various ideas, ideas, attitudes, views exist in Klungkung: Tanah Tua, Tanah

Cinta ...” Their writing is limited to delivering a review and has not yet reached an in-depth

analysis of the poems. For that, we need a more comprehensive study of this collection of

poetry.

This paper examines five poems with the theme of public space in the Klungkung area.

Wayan Mustika, Ade Linda Jelina, Sindu Putra, Joko Sucipto, and Ida Bagus Herry Wijaya

wrote poems on the theme of the transformation of tourist attractions in Klungkung. The

changes that occur in a city and several other important tourist attractions are shown by the

poets consciously. Awareness here is the main point that leads to the hope that poets and readers





41

alike will always remember Klungkung. Kusno (2007) states that the meaning of public space

is an activity that involves the discourse of remembering (remembering) and forgetting

(forgetting). Both are related to collective memory which contains social values. The formation

of new public spaces generally occurs by forgetting/destroying the old ones. This is where the

discourse of transformation or change plays a role in creating new things. The change referred

to is the place/space they imagine or want in their poetry.

METHOD AND THEORY

The method used in this research is descriptive-analytic. The first step taken towards the

object of this research is reading the entire poems in the collection of poetry Klungkung: Tanah

Tua, Tanah Cinta. Of the hundreds of poetry titles, there are 60 poems that contain references

to tourist destinations in Klungkung. The second step is to choose five poems that refer to public

places/spaces. The choice of the five poems is based on the concreteness of the transformation

forms created by the poet. In the third step, poetry is described and analyzed using public space

theory.

The theory of public space was pioneered by Jurgen Habermas (Hardiman, 2010). He

stated that the public sphere has an important role in the process of forming discourse in society.

People can voice their opinions and desires. This is in line with the opinion of Hayden (1995:

9) that the public space can help care for the identity of its citizens in a deeper and more subtle

way. Identity is strongly tied to memory, namely personal memory (where a person comes from

and where he lives) and collective memory or social memory that is connected to the history of

family, neighbors, workers and ethnic communities. According to him, urban landscapes are a

storehouse for social memory because natural elements such as hills and harbors, as well as

artificial elements, such as roads, buildings and housing, frame the lives of many people and

many lives. The destruction of public space affects its social meaning.

Regarding the space aspect, in poetry theory, there is one tool used to study poetry,

namely allusion (Alternbernd, 1970). Alusi is one of the poetic tools that play a role in the

meaning of poetry. Through allusions, the poet delivers references in the form of character

names, place names, events, and various things related to references. Alusi is closely related to

physical and social settings.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Literature can be read as a discourse about a public space that functions to nurture the

memory of the poet as well as his audience. Richard Rorty voiced the idea of a conception of

public space based on poetic arguments, such as metaphors, narratives, and stories. The role of

literature is important to reveal social problems. Literature does not only serve to convey the

personal feelings of the poet.

In the following, we examine poems representing several places in the Klungkung area.

Wayan Mustika wrote the poem “Klungkung Tanah Tua, Tanah Cinta. The title of this poem

was chosen to be the title of a collection of poetry. This means that the curators have agreed to

choose this title because Klungkung is a land that has a long history and origins. This poem

portrays Klungkung as the land where a variety of life takes place.

Aku bukan sekadar air tenang

tempat tetesan embun selalu dipinang

dan deretan raja untuk dikenang

Aku hanyalah tanah tua

tapi aku masih berkalung cinta

menanti mata hatimu melirik pulang





42

ke rumah tua

Bukan hanya karena upacara

Bukan hanya demi doa

Bukan hanya karena takut bhisama

tapi karena aku adalah tanah tua

tempat para raja pernah dipuja

dan leluhur tua duduk bicara

Pulanglah anak-anakku

Pulang

Setidaknya pulangkan mata hatimu

agar kau lihat rapuhnya rumah renta yang rindu

yang dulu kau tinggal dalam sepi

Tanah tua tanah cinta

tempat kau semua pernah ada

sebelum tersebar rata di semua kota

Buta dalam ingatan kata

Buta dalam gemerlap cerita

Pulanglah nak… pulang

agar aku tahu

kalian selalu mengingatku

dengan rasa rindu yang menggebu

Poets create metaphors that are both original and allusive such as I am just an old land. I

am compared to the old land; aged land. With this point of view, I presume the lyrics are like a

mother; the mother who often calls her children to come home, come home my children, come

home (pulanglah anak-anakku, pulanglah...). The use of the term ‘my children’ indicates the

closeness of the mother-child relationship, as well as the love that is inherent between them. In

other words, the mother is Klungkung, the old land. Klungkung is the place of origin. The

request of a mother to her children is only one, namely, to always remember their origins. By

using the image of a mother as a representation of Klungkung, the poet manages the flow of his

poetry by displaying interrelated images: mother is like a soothing dewdrop, the mother who

gives birth to rulers (kings in Bali), a mother who is draped in love, the mother who calls

children -the child with love, the lonely mother, and the mother who always reminds her

children. These pictures frame the reader’s view of a mother who is none other than Klungkung

land. Poets fill the public space with representations: Klungkung land is the mother. That is

why the title of this poem is used as the title of a collection of Klungkung poetry.

As for the changes that have occurred, the real poet wants to convey is that Klungkung

land, which was once busy (as the center of the kingdom), is now deserted. Almost all of them

left this land to work, study, or live in other cities. They only return to their hometowns when

there is a ceremony or prayer. The transformation from the bustling city of Klungkung to a

lonely city has tapped the poet’s consciousness to take the role.

The next poem is “Satu Pagi di Kerthagosa” by Ade Linda Jelina. Balai Kerthagosa is

known as a famous tourist attraction in the Klungkung area. Kerthagosa consists of two

buildings (hall). In the past, Kerthagosa was the hall to try a number of cases during the reign

of Ida I Dewa Agung Jambe of the Klungkung Kingdom (1686). There is also what is unique





43

about this place are the puppet paintings on the ceiling of the building. The paintings are a series

of stories on the theme of parwa which is a classic theme in Balinese folklore, namely the theme

of the law of karma.

Di sinilah daun hatiku tumbuh risau

Di atas limas Balai Kambang

Dan kolam melingkar berusaha mengikat

Lengan juga kakiku

Menjadi pesakitan

Aku seperti disidangkan di balai paruman raja ini

Dan semakin terkurung di sudut ruang

Setelah langit-langit itu melukiskan jawaban karma-

Muram masa laluku

Lalu kutatap hamparan di bawah

kolam itu menjelma

Menjadi genangan-genangan penyesalanku

Yang tak pernah menumbuhkan wangi lotus

Suatu pagi di Kerthagosa

Daun hatiku makin gersang

Hilang cahaya

Tenggelam dalam-dalam muram

The poem “One Morning in Kerthagosa” describes my character’s worries while at the

hall. He felt that he was undergoing trial as a result of the fruit of his past actions. The poet did

not disclose what actions he had done. What is clear, my character is experiencing intense inner

pressure. Her arms and legs were tied together. He felt confined after seeing the painting on the

ceiling of the hall. He saw his gloomy past. The third stanza contains a beautiful figure of

personification. “Then I looked at the expanse below / The pool incarnated / Become a puddle

of regret ...” (“Lalu kutatap hamparan di bawah/Kolam itu menjelma/Menjadi genangan-

geanangan penyesalanku…”). Feelings of remorse are concretized in the form of a pool like

water.

In the last stanza, my heart again expresses gloomy lyrics using comparative language:

The leaves of my heart are getting arid. Disappearing light… Although the time setting of the

morning implies something that promises joy, in this poem the setting of the morning is used

to emphasize the gloom.

What’s interesting about this poem is the exploitation of the atmosphere of the trial

experienced by the character of “aku” today compared to the atmosphere of the trial in the past.

There is no change in the personal memory of “aku” regarding the meaning of this public space.

What happened was the similarity between past and present memories of the trial process that

took place at the hall. “Aku” seems to be keeping the collective memory of Balai Kerthagosa

built in the past.

The poem “I Selisik” was written by Joko Sucipto. In this poem, an heirloom public space

is described in the form of a cannon called I Selisik which is said to be able to find its own

target. This poem refers to the part of the Kusamba War that occurred on May 25, 1849. This

war was led by Ida I Dewa Agung Istri Kania, a queen of the Klungkung Kingdom. Thanks to

the I Selisik cannon, the Klungkung Kingdom troops defeated the Dutch troops led by General

Mitchel.





44

The poem describes the greatness of I Selisik’s cannon. Even though it was just an

inanimate object, it could hit its target with precision, as if it had eyes. In the midst of intense

fighting, General Mitchell was hit by a bullet from the I Selisik cannon. That is the true story

of the cannon named I Selisik that is in the history of Klungkung.

Ia bukan seorang yang buta manakala

Sekali diluncurkan ke arah mata angin

Seperti putusan Batara Indra, dewa perang

yang bersenjatakan wajra

Telungkupkan muslihat musuh-musuh

sehingga tiada dapatkan siasat pelarian

untuk berlindung dari lecut serangan

Dibimbing Batara Marut dan Batara Wayu

Udara menjadi mata, menjadi pembuka pintu

maut bagi sasaran yang diburu kecemburuan

Maka mendekatlah pemating Klungkung

Kala Kusamba dibungkukkan punggungnya

Di atas kaki para penjamah—perampas kemanusiaan

Sebab jiwa tak boleh manut kepada keangkaraan

Kala itu juga I Selisik dilesatkan ke udara

Mencari duri yang menusuk daging

merajah kaki kanan pembabi buta

Sehingga akhirnya butalah nyawa

setelah rengsa busung dadanya.

The representation of the I Selisik cannon in the above poem is the poet’s personal

memory. This memory is the same as the collective memory that has been believed in Balinese

history, especially Klungkung. Thus, this poem plays a role in strengthening the collective

memory of the Klungkung community.

The next poem is entitled “Petani Garam Goa Lawa” by Sindu Putra. This poem tells the

story of a salt farmer family who makes a living from producing salt. The public space used to

convey this message is Goa Lawa. Goa Lawa is a famous tourist spot in Klungkung Regency

in the form of a temple located near Goa Lawa Beach. Along this coast there are many residents

who make their income from making salt. This poem attracts attention because the poet Sindu

Putra is skilled at playing the words:aku akan tanyakan/bagaimana lelaki itu/memisahkan asin

dari air laut di tubuhnya/lelaki itu memanggang/ dan garam dipanennya seumur hidup.Praise

for the salt farmer’s tenacity and tenacity is likened to’…dari peluh lelaki itu/ aku

mendengar/bagaimana ia mendirikan rumah tangga/saat untuk merasakan bahagia: kamar

gelap di pantai/bulan madu terbenam di pasir/ranjang air terbentang dan/pelaminan dengan

taman bunga bawah laut.

The joy of life experienced by the salt farmer is illustrated by the play of diction and

imagery: separating the salt from the seawater, roasting and harvesting salt, the dark shadows

of the salt farmer disappearing, being absorbed by the smoke, etc. so that this poetry has

aesthetic value. From a sociological point of view, this poem shows the economic conditions

of the residents around the coast of Goa Lawa who live well despite only relying on agricultural





45

and marine products. There was no disappointment or harsh criticism from the poet. The poet

just wants to reveal life along Goa Lawa Beach. In other words, Goa Lawa Beach is a public

space, a tourist destination that provides life for the surrounding residents. A ‘live’ public space

is characterized by the experience that visitors feel.

The last poem analyzed was “Pada Jembatan Tukad Unda” by Ida Bagus Herry Wijaya.

This poetry uses sharp visual imagery. The Tukad Unda public space and the Tukad Unda

Bridge are two popular places among the public.

Jembatan ini telah berulang dilalui

Tetapi tetap saja, kau tidak bisa menyeberanginya

kemolekan liuk gelombang sungai di antara batu gunung

cengkerama gadis-gadis muda di bawah pancuran

hentakan tangan-tangan legam penambang

kekuatan aroma tuak dari pondok-pondok

menawan penyeberanganmu

Menemui yang Ilahi di ujung jembatan

Adalah hasrat keniscayaan

Seperti mengubah arah batang sungai

dan membiarkan batu bergulir ke hulu kekekalan

penemuan jati diri kepada yang azali

dari debu kembali debu


Tetapi tetap saja kau tidak memahami jalan-jalannya

Aroma ketulusan sesaji pagi petang di ujung jembatan

dan percikan air kehidupan di setiapnya

menjadi lantun langkahmu menembus kekosongan

Tak ada yang gamang dari setiap batu di sungai

Tak ada yang tak tercatat dari setiap kerikil yang bergulir

Semua dalam arus yang sama


Tetapi tetap saja kau tidak mengetahui ujungnya

Tukad Unda Bridge is a famous bridge in Klungkung Regency. This bridge crosses over

Tukad (River) Unda. Tukad Unda is well known for being the lifeblood of the inhabitants of

the area. The community uses Tukad Unda as a place for bathing, washing, and various other

activities. Not far from Tukad Unda, there is sand mining which raises the economy of the

community there.

The poet took advantage of the fame of the Tukad Unda bridge to express his spiritual

experiences. Spiritual experiences are contrasted with experiences of everyday life. Contrast

tools are used by the poet to emphasize the message of his poetry. Through the use of the bridge

symbol, the bridge in the poem is interpreted as a link between the real world (sekala) and the

supernatural world (niskala). The real world has captivated the lyrical I (aku), namely the beauty

of the river, the beauty of the girls, the power of the miners, and the enjoyment of the aroma of

tuak. Meanwhile, on the other side is the divine world which the character “aku” aim at. The

bridge has repeatedly been crossed, even offerings and water (holy) water have been offered

sincerely as an introduction to the invisible world (niskala).





46

The Tukad Unda Bridge as a means of transportation is a public space used by poets as a

reference for the physical background of his poetry. The Tukad Unda Bridge is not only used

as a means of transportation. it is also the main means of poetry. As a result, readers experience

a completely different experience. Readers no longer face the image of the bridge over Tukad

Unda as a crossing point, but the bridge’s function has been added with another experience.

The poet creates a metaphor for the bridge that connects the two worlds, namely the real world

and the inevitability of the divine. Therefore, the lyric I (aku) never found the way to You before

the Creator called him. Thus, the public space, Tukad Unda Bridge undergoes a transformation

as a spiritual bridge.

CONCLUSION

An analysis of the public space contained in the poetry collection Klungkung Tanah Tua

Tanah Cinta produces the following meanings. First, the public space created by the poet refers

to physical places, such as Klungkung land, Kerthagosa Hall, Goa Lawah Beach, I Selisik

cannon, and Tukad Unda Bridge. Public space exists in historical reality. This means that there

are memories that the public can remember about this place.

Second, there is a transformation experienced by the public space, namely in the form of

something / different things experienced by poets as a result of facts in the place or the result

of developing imagination and hope. The transformation due to this fact or reality is the

condition of the Klungkung area which is now deserted. In this case, there is a change from a

busy city to a lonely city as a result of changing times. Balai Kerthagosa used to be used to try

criminal and civil cases, while in this poem the court hall is used to try karma law cases from

the character of aku. This means that there is a change in the function of the court in an invisible

(invisible) manner. This is possible because poetry is the result of a poet’s imagination.

The public space of Goa Lawah Beach is used as a source of livelihood. There is a

strengthening of collective memory in this poem. Since then until now this beach has been a

source of livelihood for the people there. What may feel new is the image of a happy family

living in the coastal area. Perhaps this is the hope of the poet. Cannon “I Selisik” is a physical

object that brings the reader’s memory to parts of history, especially the Puputan Klungkung

War. The spirit of the puputan seems to be what the poet wants to share with his readers. The

last public space is the Tukad Unda Bridge. This bridge is an important means of transportation

in Klungkung City. Interestingly, the bridge was also intended as a bridge connecting the real

world and the unreal world.

Table of Transformations of Public Space in Poems

Title

of The Poem Public Space Metaphor Meaning Transformation

Klungkung

Tanah Tua,

Tanah Cinta

Klungkung

Regency Mother

The Land of

Klungkung

Crowded (past) Quiet

(present)

Satu Pagi di

Kerthagosa

Balai

Kerthagosa Court Invisible Court

Sekala (past) Niskala

(present)

Petani Garam

Goa Lawa

Pantai Goa

Lawah Beach Source of Life

To stress happiness

(present)

I Selisik

Historical

Object of I

Selisik

Canon Spirit

Historical object (past)

spiritual function

(present)

Pada Jembatan

Tukad Unda

Jembatan

Tukad Unda Bridge Invisible Bridge

Means of transportation

(past & present)

spiritual function

(present)





47

Finally, the poetry collection Klungkung: Tanah Tua Tanah Cinta is a collection of poetry

that serves to accommodate the poet’s various perceptions and experiences of familiar places

and objects. In other words, this is the contribution of the public space to the quality of life that

poets wish to share with the reader.

REFERENCES Agung, I.A.A.G. (1989). Bali Pada Abad XIX. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.

Altenbernd, L.& Lislie L. L. (1970). A Handbook for the Study of Poetry. London: Collier-MacMillan

Ltd.

Bawantara, A., et.al. (2016). Kumpulan Sajak Klungkung: Tanah Tua, Tanah Cinta. Klungkung:

Yayasan Museum Nyoman Gunarsa.

Hardiman, F.B. (2010). Ruang Publik. Jakarta: Kanisius.

Hayden, D. (1995). Urban Landscape as Public History. London: The MIT Press.

Kusno, A. (2007). “Ruang Publik dan Tipologi Memori Kita.” inProceeding Ruang Publik, Identitas,

dan Memori Kolektif. Depok: FIB UI.

Olick, J.K. (1999). “Collective Memory: The Two Culture.” in Sociological Theory, Vol. 17, No. 3

(Nov), pp. 333-348

Resmayasari, I. (2011). “Persepsi Wisatawan Perancis terhadap the Island of Paradise.” in Jurnal Ilmiah

Pariwisata Universitas Udayana (online), 2 (1), 109-222.

Worpole, K. (2000). Here Comes the Sun: Architecture and Public Space in Twentieth-Century

European Culture. Reaction Books.

Internet Sources:

https://klungkungkab.go.id/halaman/detail/sejarah-klungkung (diunduh 22/02/2020)

https://www.news.beritabali.com/read/2019/05/01/201905010008/suwirta-berharap-cagar-budaya-di-

klungkung-bisa-dipromosikan-di-jaringan-kota-pusaka-dunia (diunduh 28/08/2020)

https://www.republika.co.id/berita/koran/news-update/14/10/28/ne4z4b14-sastra-dan-ruang-publik

(diunduh 31/08/2020)

https://aryawangsablog.blogspot.com/2018/10/dalem-sri-kresna-kepakisan.html (diunduh 01/09/2020)

https://staf.ulm.ac.id/sumasnohadi/2016/12/12/memuisikan-klungkung/(diunduh 12/09/2020)

https://ibwkeniten.com/2018/02/klungkung-dalam-puisi/(diunduh 12/09/2020)





48





49

REPRESENTATION OF LITERARY TOURISM

IN TEXT STUDY AND THE TOMB CAVE OF SITTI NURBAYA

I Nyoman Suaka

Department of Indonesian Language and Literature

IKIP Saraswati Tabanan

Email, [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to describe the text of the novel Sitti Nurbaya by MarahRusli is

associated with a grave and Sitti Nurbaya soap opera. The linkage of these three variables in

the literary tourism frame (literary tourism) is a new approach in the study of literature. The

literary tourism approach which is now looking for that form departs from the approach of

literary sociology, literary psychology, literary anthropology and others that have been

established as literary theories. In this analysis, an intertextuality approach will be used. Data

were collected through observation of novel texts, SittiNurbaya soap operas and direct

observations to the SittiNurbaya tomb cave located on the summit of Mount Padang, West

Sumatra. Data was also obtained from interviews with officers and visitors of the SittiNurbaya

Park attraction. Data analysis is intertext data analysis by juxtaposing novel texts, soap operas

and the existence of SittiNurbaya’s grave cave. The results showed that the story of the Sitti

Nurbaya novel became its own charm in the development of tourism in the city of Padang, West

Sumatra. The SittiNurbaya tomb cave is part of Taman Sitti Nurbaya which is created with

domestic and foreign tourists on certain days. As a legendary story, the Sitti Nurbaya story is

believed by the local community to have occurred, even though Marah Rusli’s creation is

fictional. The Sitti Nurbaya Park was used as the location for the Sitti Nurbaya soap opera

played by Novia Kolopaking as Sitti Nurbaya, Gusti Randa as Samsul Bahri, HM Damsyik as

Datuk Maringgih and other famous artists. Even the new bridge that was built towards the

Mount Padang hill was named the Sitti Nurbaya Bridge. Thus the study of novel texts, grave

caves and Sitti Nurbaya soap operas supports the concept and approach of literary tourism

(literary tourism).

Keywords: Sitti Nurbaya text, tomb cave, literary tourism.

INTRODUCTION

Literary studies with a tourism approach are late in Indonesia. This delay seems

inseparable from the delay in the presence of tourism as a science. The presence of tourism as

a new science was recognized in 2008, marked by the recognition of the status of the tourism

diploma IV level to S-1 and the tourism science study program (PSIK) to the Faculty of

Tourism. Since then, tourism studies have is starting to squirm. However, because the area is

broad, including management, marketing, cultural tourism, ecotourism, hospitality,

transportation, film tourism, education, dark tourism, the study of tourism literature has not

been touched (Putra, 2019).

References in the form of books that discuss literary tourism are also very rare.

Discussions on this topic in Indonesia have only been stretched during the Covid 19 pandemic

season in early 2020 through seminars, limited publications, and book publishing. When the

article is written the International Conference of Indonesian Literature Scholars (HISKI) in

Gorontalo (Sulawesi) raised literary tourism as the sub-theme of the seminar. Almost at the

same time, the book Tourism Literature also appeared (Anoegrajekti, et al, 2020). According

to the editorial team of this book, literature and tourism have a reciprocal relationship. Many

literary works are inspired by tourism, and conversely, many tourist destinations are popular





50

because of literary works. However, literary studies with a tourism approach have not been

present in Indonesia as a figure of a special approach.

Overcoming this scarcity, an interesting article appeared entitled Literary Tourism:

Literary Studies with a Tourism Approach (Putra, 2019). This article introduces a new approach

to literary tourism by presenting various objects of study such as poetry, novels, and oral

literature. This tourism literary approach is expected to stimulate the life of literary criticism,

create literary works related to tourism and open areas of creative, critical, productive and

innovative literary research. Although it has not yet emerged as a new approach in the literature,

the reality is that literature and tourism are two complementary things. It is packaged by tour

guides when providing information to tourists about the tourist objects visited.

Five times in a row every year visiting Prambanan Temple in Yogyakarta from 2013-

2018, the author always gets the story of LoroJonggrang and Bandung Bondowoso. This story

was told by a tour guide (guide) on the bus on the way to Prambanan Temple. This story was

then repeated by a local guide while walking around the temple complex. This fairy tale is a

wealth of Indonesian literature that supports Prambanan Temple’s destination so that it becomes

a special attraction for domestic and foreign tourists. This condition can also be developed in

other tourist objects such as the fairy tale of Princess Mandalika on the Lombok coast (NTB),

the story of Sangkuriang on Mount TangkubanPerahu (West Java), the story of the tomb of Jaya

Prana and Layon Sari and on the coast of Teluk Thank (Bali), the story of MalinKundang on

Air Manis Padang beach, and other tourist objects. In those tourist objects (Lombok Beach,

Mount TangkubanPerahu, Teluk Thank, Air Manis Beach), the author never gets information

about oral literature from the driver who delivers. In fact, in these objects, there are statues,

reliefs and relics that can reveal the potential for literary tourism.

Literary tourism or literary tour, according to Taum in the book Tourism Literature,

(2020), is a type of cultural tourism related to places, events and incidents that originate from

literary narratives, both oral and written literature. Literary tourism is also related to the heritage

of writers in the form of houses, places of birth, hometowns, travel routes, graves, or museums

that related to the history of literary presence. Gunung Padang in the SittiNurbaya novel by

MarahRusli became a literary tourist destination, which was later built by the SittiNurbaya

tomb. However, it is unfortunate that the SittiNurbaya tomb as a tourist attraction is not

discussed in the book. Likewise Putra (2019), only briefly touched on the relationship between

MarahRusli’s novel and SittiNurbaya’s tomb as an object of literary tourism studies. Departing

from that void, the writer is interested in discussing literary tourism by taking the SittiNubaya

text and the context in the form of the remains of the SittiNurbaya tomb in Gunung Padang

(West Sumatra). Apart from being a novel, the text is also visual in the form of two SittiNurbaya

shows by TVRI and Trans TV. The problem that arises is how is the representation of literary

tourism in SittiNurbaya’s tomb from the perspective of novel and visual texts? The purpose of

writing is to describe the relationship between the tomb of SittiNurbaya and the novels and soap

operas. Revealing the role of literary works in the world of tourism in Padang, West Sumatra.

Thus, expected that the SittiNurbaya tomb in Mount Padang and its surroundings will become

a tourism destination that can attract tourists to visit there. Considering that the object of study

involves several texts (novels and visuals) and the context of the SittiNurbaya tomb, it will be

studied with Barthes’ theory of intertextuality (inter-text).

The representation or reappearance of SittiNurbaya’s novel into a soap opera visual text

within a literary tourism framework requires an understanding of intertextuality. On the one

hand, the text is written in novel discourse and on the other hand the visualization text is in the

media of television films (soap operas). In the view of cultural studies, the text is not closed to

written texts but extends to texts produced by technology. Thus the theory of intertextuality is

very relevant for studying literary works that are recycled into popular culture. On the basis of





51

the competence of readers, especially omniscient readers, the theory of inter-text was born. This

theory defines a network of relationships between one text and another.

Etymologically, the text itself also means tissue or fabric. The production of meaning

occurs through intertext, through opposition, permutation, and transformation. The study is

carried out by finding meaningful relationships between two or more texts. The relationship

that is meant is not merely equality, but also a contradiction, both as a parody and as a negation.

According to Barthes (1977: 159), the pluralism of meaning in the intertext is not a result of

ambiguity, but as the essence of its fabric. Therefore, there is basically no text without intertext.

The attempt to find the origin of the text is a failure because in the context there is no source of

influence. Intertext makes plural texts possible and is thus a major indicator of cultural plurality.

Stokes (2007: 7) said that media texts are part of our world, are social phenomena, and

often become debates about society. Media texts are not only in the form of books, newspapers

and magazines but in the world of pop culture, including films, television, videotapes, VCDs

and CDs. Thus, literary texts and soap operas and other texts as indicators of cultural pluralism

(Barthes) will be able to reveal SittiNurbaya’s literary tourism. These texts are woven, knitted

to produce cultural meanings. There is no standalone text.

DISCUSSION

In the background of the novel SittiNurbaya, the author Marah Rusli gives attention to

several locations related to tourism such as the River Estuary, Mount Padang, SittiNurbaya’s

grave and TelukBayur Harbor. These places are described as very beautiful and attractive parts

of Padang City. Therefore, many people visit there for recreation. Even, (during school holidays

and weekends the place is crowded with tourists). The author describes the environment of a

river estuary and Pisang Island. This background was interspersed with conversations between

Samsulbahri, SittiNurbaya, Bahtiar, and Arifin. In the SittiNurbaya film that airs on the TVRI,

they have visualized us getting on a boat. After that, it continues with an overview of the

beautiful Mount Padang as in the following quote.

“In some places, it seems that the seafront lines are moving as a result of the waves

breaking on the shore, giving off white foam. People who trawl the fish, seen as ants swarming

here and there. How beautiful it looks, the relationship between land and sea, two objects that

make up this world, but which have very different colors, properties, things and contents”

(Rusli, 2008: 44).

The above quote shows that the author does not only describe the beauty of nature but

also comments that nature looks beautiful. Even the opinions of other people, such as

geoscientists, are also put into the background, as shown in the following quote.

“To the west and north, there was a vast and flat field, which was bluish in color and

which in some places was covered with small islands lined up from north to south. It is as if a

huge lake with white skies to the west. In the opinion of geologists, the islands were long ago

associated with the island of Sumatra. Due to the collapse on the ocean floor, the relationship

sank, leaving several islands” (Rusli, 2008: 45-46).

The background of TelukBayur Harbor is described in the following quote.

“In fact, it was still morning, but in TelukBayur, people were already going to sail, left

the city of Padang or took those who wanted to migrate to another country, because that day

there was a ship leaving for Java, at eight in the morning. Workers noisy, loading and unloading

goods, crew noisy getting ready and working while passengers run up and down as afraid to

miss.

In a shop in Bayur bay, you can see an old man who looks outside for a while and then

peeks here and there, as if he is afraid to reveal himself (Rusli, 2008: 206).

The atmosphere of the voyage is also depicted in the novel SitiNurbaya and soap operas.

The setting of this place includes the scenery inside the ship. The view that can be seen from





52

the ship is the calm surface of the water as a large glass glistening in the sunlight, the blue sky,

the rows of small islands to the west and north, and fish jumping and chasing. (Rusli, 2008:

210).

The tomb on Mount Padang is also an important setting. It was in this place that

SittiNurbaya and Samsulbahri and their family were buried. The position of the tombs is very

special, as seen in the following quote.

“Both of them are holding a bunch of flowers in their hands. After going to the estuary,

they then crossed the Arau River and climbed Mount Padang. When they arrived at the place

they were going to, they could see that there were five graves in a row approach. The five tombs

were the same size and shape. On each of the heads of these tombs, there is a marble tombstone,

which is inscribed with the letters water mas. On the first grave is written “This is the grave of

BagindoSulaiman, died on the 5th of Ramadan, 1315.” (Rusli, 2008: 332)

On the second headstone written, “This is the grave of Sitti Nurbaya bint Bagindo

Sulaiman who died on the 3rd of Dzulhijjah, 1315.” On the third headstone written, “This is the

grave of Samsulbahri, the son of Sutan Mahmud, the leader of the field, who died on the 5th of

Syafar 1326.” On the fourth headstone written, “This is the grave of Sitti Maryam, the wife of

Sutan Mahmud, the leader of Padang, who died on the 5th of Dzulhijjah 1315.” On the fifth

headstone written, “This is the grave of SutanMahmud, the leader of the field, died on the 10th

of Rabiulawal, 1325.” (Rusli, 2008: 334)

Samsulbahri’s tomb is flanked by the graves of SittiNurbaya and his mother. This means

that the two women are the figures most loved by Samsulbahri. Based on the information above,

it is clear that apart from being able to describe the situation, the setting of the place also serves

to support the aesthetic values of the characters and characterizations so that the SittiNurbaya

novel feels beautiful and pleasant to read.

The fantasy of the author MarahRusli about the grave is slightly different from the reality

in Gunung Padang. There is only one grave, namely the SittiNurbaya grave, which, according

to local residents, is believed to be true. There is no evidence that the number of years was

written on the headstone as in other graves. The location of the cemetery, you have to enter

through a rock cave that covers the grave so that it is not visible from the outside. Walk to this

grave from the mouth of the river for about 30 minutes because it passes an uphill and winding

path. Quite exhausting so it requires excellent energy, climbing and descending about 200 steps.

When entering the tomb, visitors must crawl and dive into the cave. The thought of such a long

hallway was horrifying enough. But seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the cave, it turned

out that the cave was not long. The entrance to the tomb is a cave hole not a real cave. The

journey continues and ends at a flat rock which is the end of the whole wall that juts out. The

place hangs over the valley, where one cannot stand. On the lower right, no stairs to go down.

I arrived at the tomb of SittiNurbaya. The tomb is located under a large rock that juts forward.

The cement floor around the tomb is enough for several people to sit in prayer, remembering

the love story of SittiNurbaya.

Given this beautiful setting, the author MarahRusli and the soap opera director

SittiNurbaya (1991), Dedi Setiadi, give the story of Mount Padang and its surroundings a

specialty. The novel and visual text begins from the river mouth, climbs to the top and the

recreational park on Mount Padang. Director Dedi Setiadi admitted that the whole novel was

very beautiful and interesting, so he did not dare to leave the text. He still maintains the original

SittiNurbaya story. This is different from the soap opera SittiNurbaya (2004) which was

directed by Encep Masduki on Trans TV and TV 3 Malaysia. The modern version of the soap

opera is much distorted from the original novel. The work is adapted to current conditions and

is set in the metropolitan city of Jakarta (Suaka, 2013). The legend of SittiNurbaya was also

filmed on the big screen in 1941.





53

Regarding the background, the author Marah Rusli recounts the recreation of

SittiNurbaya with SamsulBahri to the top of Mount Padang which supports literary tourism, as

in the following quote. At that time Nurbaya stood side by side with SamsulBahri at the same

peak. Samsubahri looked troubled. In some time he will go to Jakarta to continue his studies.

Perhaps I thought I was pretending to be difficult because I was going to Jakarta, “said Samsu

as well. “But in fact, it is very worrying that my heart leaves you ...” Until now Samsul stopped

as not daring to mention the name of the person he was worried about. “Leaving who Sam is,”

asked Nurbaya. “Is there anyone here where your heart is stuck?”

“Living you Nur,” replied Samsul frankly.

“I,” asked Nurbaya as if surprised.

“Yes,” replied Samsu short.

Nurbaya was pensive hearing this confession, then lowered her head to the ground, so it

could not be seen what color her face was at that time.

“Don’t get it wrong Nur! Hear why I’m afraid to leave you. For several days I was tempted

by an unkind thought, “said Samsu

“Where does such a thought come from?” Asked Nurbaya, pretending to smile, the

change in her heart would erase.

“How can I not worry,” said Samsu.

“Last Friday night, I had a dream: I feel like I’m climbing Mount Padang. When I got to

the top here, I felt like I arrived in the bustling and big city of Jakarta. In the center of this city

was a tall tower. An old man said to me, “Hi Samsu, if you achieve your meaning, go up this

tower,”

When I was about to climb this tower, I suddenly saw you following from behind, alone.

Therefore, I am waiting for you so that you can go up together. Suddenly

EngkuDatukMaringgih brought you down and supported him to run. Because of my heart, I

took you out of his hand, so that I fought with him. Because he was stronger than me, he caught

me and threw me under this mountain. Because you argue that you don’t follow his will, he

also plunges it down. So we rolled to the foot of this mountain, into a large hole so that we

could not get out again. When I awoke, I was very surprised. My body was wet remember. All

those nights I was unable to sleep again, and since then this dream has never disappeared from

my mind (Rusli, 2008: 52-53)

The dream story can also be witnessed in the sittiNurbaya soap opera which takes place

on Mount Padang. The meaning of this dream provides a picture of the future fate of

SittiNurbaya and Samsulbahri. The dream visualization is more stressful than reading the text

of a novel because of the vivid images and the thrilling musical accompaniment. SittiNurbaya

and Samsulbahri fell rolling from the cliffs of the hill due to DatukMaringgih’s torture. Reading

a novel is a mental process. The words written by the author will spark the imagination of those

who read them. This is not the case when watching soap operas or films. The audience is treated

to vivid, concrete and visual images as if the audience is watching real objects or objects. Thus

the audience’s appreciation will be more complete and deep.

The time setting is in the late 1800s to early 1990s, as the background for Sitti Nurbaya

is impossible to recover. However, director DediSetiadi and the Producer of TVRI, tried hard

to present the past atmosphere. Watching this TVRI soap opera, it is as if viewers are invited to

know the atmosphere of past society, almost a century ago, especially what happened in

Minangkabau, West Sumatra. Not only is the life of the characters in the story, but the viewers

invited to understand the life structure of the people of West Sumatra.





54

Figure 1.Samsulbahri, SittiNurbaya, Bahtiar, and Arifin

Take a boat to Mount Padang (Doc. TVRI).

In the newspaper YudhaMinggu (10 November 1991) as quoted by Suaka (2011: 399-

400) that the tomb of SittiNurbaya until now contains a mystery. The tomb was visited by many

young people, widows, and widowers as well as ascetics asking for the tail number on their

graves. The purpose of the young people coming to the grave is so that after they enter the door

of marriage, there will be no quarrels in building a household. In addition, the couple asked that

their marriage be perpetual and did not want to be tempted by third parties. Especially for

women, they come to SittiNurbaya’s grave, begging them not to get a mate, older than their

age. This reminds the reader of a novel that describes the age difference between SittiNurbaya

and DatukMaringgih when she married. SittiNurbaya is 15 years old, while DatukMaringgih is

60 years old. Seeing the age difference, it is likened to the marriage between grandchildren and

grandparents, so that society is hated. The widow and widower couple who came to the grave

begged the SittiNurbaya spirit to allow their marriage to be sufficient for the latter. A couple of

widows and widowers have agreed not to marry and divorce again.

Figure 2. SittiNurbaya Tomb. Figure 3. Cave Passage to the Grave

(Photo: Private Doc)

As a pilgrimage tourism object, those who come to the tomb to ask for a mate and do not

need to bring incense and seven forms of flowers. Just intend in your heart. As long as they

believe they will succeed. There are also those who come to the tomb to ask for mysticism and

ask for the tail number. When the government did not prohibit gambling through the Anti-

Gambling Law, dated April 1, 1981, many people came to meditate to ask for the tail number

at SittiNurbaya’s grave. The more they came, inspired by the person who was meditating, he

was suddenly rich. That person pairs the number by guessing exactly four digits immediately

after meditating at the tomb. (YudhaMinggu, 10 November 1991 page 1 column 3-6) These

mysteries are the flavor ingredients that have made the SittiNurbaya tomb complex increasingly

famous in the people of West Sumatra.





55

The charm of Gunung Padang inspired author MarahRusli to tell the beautiful girl

SittiNurbaya. The tragic story, SittiNurbaya because love did not reach it, is believed by most

people to be a story that happened. Regarding the grave, it is unknown whose grave is located

there, but until now the grave has been sacred as the poor girl’s final resting place. In the final

episode of the story, Samsulbahri kissed the tombstone of his beloved SittiNurbaya because he

was tricked by Datuk Maringgih, as in the following quote.

“Ouch Nur, oh my little brother, I never thought this will be how we end up. Why are all

people’s awards and dreams being granted, but our hopes and aspirations are made like this? Is

it your fault and mine, and our fault, then have this fate? Have in this world, all the hopes and

requests that we have tried as time is not granted and in the hereafter, Allah will be conveyed,

all those dreams. Ah, in my sense there aren’t the poor humans we are. For ten years I have

endured misery and sorrow, for ten years I disturbed my longing for revenge against you, but

until now, God has not removed it, I also mean this. How much longer do I have to wait? But,

oh yes Nur, I have got an address, take me to meet you soon because this is the end of my

torment. Hopefully, it should be. Pray together (Rusli, 2008: 279).

Samsulbahri’s pilgrimage at his lover’s grave, as well as the synchronized one, is unique.

The guard of the tomb was shocked because the one who made the pilgrimage was a Dutch

soldier with a complete hat and attributes. It turned out that the soldier was Samsulbahri, who

had been a Dutch soldier with the rank of Lieutenant. At that time Samsulbahri gave some

money to the tomb keeper while instructing him to take good care of his lover’s grave. After

praying at his lover’s grave, Samsulbahri heads to the battlefield to fight his own people.

However, he was not hostile to society, let alone his nation. This fact was only an excuse to

meet Datuk Maringgih. Because it is known that DatukMaringgih was the leader of the troops

in the tax war (blasting). You are cunning, DatukMaringgih mostly hid in the war, only

intermittently appeared. When that happened, there was a deadly duel between samsulbahri and

DatukMaringgih who wielded a sword. Samsulbahri used a gun, and finally datukmaringgih

was killed. Samsulkbahri was seriously injured and was rushed to hospital where he died.

Judging from an intertextual approach, that the popularity of the SittiNurbaya tomb on

the summit of Mount Padang as a tourist attraction is represented by several supporters, namely.

1. The triangular love story between SittiNurbaya, Samsulbahri and DatukMaringgih

2. Two soap operas SittiNurbaya, each directed by DediSetiadi and Dedy Armand.

3. The film SittiNurbaya.

4. Goa and the tomb of SittiNurbaya.

5. Nature with the cool air of Mount Padang

6. The river estuary and the beautiful sea view of Padang

7. The magnificent SittiNurbaya Bridge

8. Recreational park at the top of the mountain and at the foot of Mount Padang

9. At the foot of the hill of Mount Padang, there are several gun houses from the Dutch

colonial era.

As a model for literary tourism, the Gunung Padang area is supported by facilities that

have attractive tourism potential. This carrying capacity is rarely found in other places.

However, the number of visitors is not as busy as the Air Manis beach tour in Padang which is

famous for the MalinKundang Si AnakDurhaka stone. This is based on a temporary analysis,

when the author visited the two objects on the same day, July 3, 2019. MalinKundang Beach

was full of visitors, while the SittiNurbaya grave area on Mount Padang was empty of visitors,

below ten people at that time. This is due to very basic differences. MalinKundang tourism

object is located on the shoreline and is easily accessible by motorbike and car. Even AVP type

motorbikes are available at Air Manis beach to serve tourists. The SittiNurbaya tomb is located

at the top of a mountain through a cave with a path that is impossible to reach by motorbike and

car because the terrain is very heavy. Finally, people are reluctant to visit. The grave of





56

SitiNurbaya has a tourist attraction, but it is empty of visitors, as reported by kompas.com (in

Putra, 2019, 2020).

As a tourist area, the natural potential of Mount Padang, especially at the foot of the

mountain, is very beautiful. There are many boats leaning on the mouth of the estuary ready to

take visitors on water recreation. Around this estuary has been arranged in such a way by the

government of Padang City, West Sumatra to become Taman SittiNurbaya. At the estuary

location, a new bridge was built, named the SittiNurbayabridge. Bridge worth Rp. 19.8 billion

was inaugurated by the Governor of West Sumatra, ZainalBakar, on 10 August 2002. During

the inauguration of the bridge, the soap opera actress SittiNurbaya, NoviaKolopaking,

Samsulbahri (GustiRanda) and DatukMaringgih (HM Damsyik) were invited to attend the

inauguration of the bridge (Serambi, October 6, 2006). Thus, from an intertext study, it was

found that the name SittiNurbaya as a fictional character in the world of literature is proven to

support literary tourism. Novel texts, soap operas with the context of the SittiNurbaya tomb,

Gunung Padang, river estuary, the SittiNurbayabridge and the socio-cultural context of the

community, are a network of meanings. These literary texts with non-literary texts can

collaborate as promotional materials for SittiNurbaya literary tourism. In intertextual theory,

these texts cannot stand alone. It is impossible to separate the SittiNurbaya text from its

surrounding context. Meaningful networks of the SittiNurbaya story, KasihTakSampai this as

text representations, need to be knitted into the weaving to support SittiNurbaya’s literary

tourism.

Top Image: River Estuary at the Foot of Mount Padang

Figure Below: Sitti Nurbaya Park on the banks of the River Estuary

(Photo: Private Doc)

CONCLUSION

The representation of literary tourism through the text of the novel and soap opera

SittiNurbaya has contributed greatly to the development of tourism in West Sumatra. However,

this potential has not been fully exploited. The author of SittiNurbayaMarahRusli brings up this

story through narrative text, descriptions and dialogue between characters about triangular love.

This story ends tragically, with the death of the three main characters. One of the relics

associated with the novel’s story is the tomb of SittiNurbaya on the summit of Mount Padang.

Until now the tomb is still a mystery, is it true that SittiNurbaya was buried there? Local people

admit the truth, some doubt it. Visiting this tomb through a path and uphill by passing through





57

a cave passage fenced off with hard and sturdy cliffs. Seeing such a location, the place was

popularized as the SittiNurbaya tomb cave.

Through intertextual studies, the collaboration between literary and non-literary texts, the

SittiNurbaya tomb is even more interesting as a tourist attraction. The location of the tomb is

supported by the cool nature of Mount Padang, views of the blue sea, recreational parks, river

estuaries and the SittiNurbayabridge. Being a tourist destination, the legend of SittiNurbaya has

its own charm in supporting tourism in West Sumatra. However, it is unfortunate that the

number of tourists visiting is still low. Efforts that need to be taken, by promoting the love story

of SittiNurbaya, art, music and drama performances at Taman SittiNurbaya. Another effort was

to organize the selection of the young Samsul-Nurbaya pair. Several regions in Indonesia

regularly hold similar festivals, abang and none (Jakarta), cak and ning (Surabaya),Jegeg and

Bagus (Bali). In particular, a tour guide at the Gunung Padang tourist attraction must master the

legend of the SittiNurbaya. Thus, SittiNurbaya literary tourism will become a popular tourist

destination.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Anoegrajekti, N., Saryono, D., danDarma Putra, I.N. (Ed). 2020. SastraPariwisata. Yogjakarta: PT

KanisusBekerjasama HISKI KomisariatJemberdanFakultasIlmuBudayaUniversitasJember.

Anonim. 1991. “LegendaSittiNurbaya di Gunung Padang,” dalamFemina, hlm 11-14

Barker, Chris. 2005. Cultural Studies Teori dan Praktek. Yogjakarta : Bentang Pustaka.

Barthes, Roland. 1977. Image, Musik, Test. New York : Hilldan Wang.

Burton, Graeme. 2008. Media dan Budaya Populer. Yogjakarta : Jalasutra.

Kompas. 1991. “Sinteron ‘Sitti Nurbaya’ Gema Kisahnya Tak Pernah Mati.” No 70, 7 September, hlm

1 kolom7-9.

Putra, Darma, I.N. 2019. Literary Tourism : “Kajian Sastra dengan Pendekatan Pariwisata,” dalam

Nuansa Bahasa Citra Sastra ( Pastika, I.W., Matildibanda, M., Madia, I.M. Ed.) Denpasar : Pustaka

Laraan berkerjasama Prodi sastra Indonesia Universitas Udayana.

Putra, Darma, I.N. 2020. “Teori Kajian Sastra Pariwisata : Resiprokalitas Kajian Sastra dan Pariwisata,”

dalam Teori Sastra Terbaru : Konsep dan Aplikasi (Suwardi Endraswara, Ed.) Yogjakarta : HISKI

Pusat dan HISKI Komisariat Daerah se-Indonesia.

Rusli, Marah. 2008. Sitti Nurbaya. Cetakan ke-48. Jakarta : Balai Pustaka.

Sen, Krishna. 2009. Kuasa dalam Sinema Negara, Masyarakat dan Sinema Orde Baru. Yogjakarta :

Ombak

Stokes, Jane. 2007. How to Do Media and Cultural Studies. Yogjakarta: Bentang.

Storey, John. 2007. CulturalStudies danKajianBudayaPop. Yogjakarta: Jalasutra.

Strinati, Dominic. 2007. PopularCulture : Pengantar Menuju Teori BudayaPopuler. Yogjakarta :

Bentang.

Suaka, I.N. 2013. Sastra Sinetron dalam Ideologi Budaya Populer. Denpasar : Udayana University

Press.

Suaka, I.N. 2011. “Representasi Budaya Populer dalam Sinetron Sitti Nurbaya Tayangan TVRI dan

Trans TV.” Disertasi Pascasarjana Kajian Budaya Universitas Udayana, Denpasar.

Yudha Minggu. 1991. “Mengintip Misteri Makam Sitti Nurbaya di Gua Gunung Padang.” No 1039, 10

November, hlm 1, kolom 3-6. Documents

1. Video Compact Disk (VCD) SinetronSittiNurbayaProduksi MD Intertaiment.

Diunduhmelalui internet tayangan TV 3 Malaysia.

2. Digital Video Disk (DVD) SinetronSittiNurbayaProduksi TVRI Pusat Jakarta.





58





59

TOURISM-THEMED POETRY A TOURISM PROMOTION MODEL

Ninawati Syahrul

Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa

Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan


ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to describe a tourism promotion model based on local tourism

poetry. This tourism-themed research is embedded in the poetry anthology of Bukittinggi Ambo

di Siko, a poem that tells about the beauty of nature and culture (dance, clothing, culinary arts,

etc.) in the Minangkabau / West Sumatra realm, including the poem “The Story of Four Men”,

(2) “Bung Hatta”, and “Bukittinggi, oh Bukittinggi” by Fuadi. This study uses a literary tourism

perspective with an objective literary criticism approach or constructive (responsible) criticism

that views literary creations as independent works. In this theory, there is a clear connection

between the concept of language and literature study. One of them is the analysis of the theme

elements and the main message of the poetry text. The method used is a qualitative method with

data collection techniques in the form of literature studies. The research data is in the form of

text excerpts from the three poems that reflect tourism themes related to local tourist

destinations. The results showed that the tourism promotion model presented in the poetry with

a local flavor, among others, was the answer to the question of how to instill an attitude of

love/awareness of tourism and promote tourism objects in the Bukittinggi area. One of the

tourism promotion techniques offered is through the literary game of the poetry genre. A person

who is “tourism aware” is a person who is always grateful and opens his heart to care for and

actualize the beauty of nature as a divine gift.

Keywords: poetry, tourism promotion, tourism awareness

BACKGROUND

When they hear the name of the City of Bukittinggi, many people or tourists immediately

think of the Clock Tower. It cannot be denied that the Clock Tower is known as an icon of

Bukittinggi. This large clock located in the heart of Bukittinggi is a gift from the Queen of the

Netherlands to the city secretary controleur during the Dutch colonial period.

Bukittinggi has and offers a variety of attractive tourist destinations. Reliable tourist

destinations, including Sianok Gorge with its beautiful natural attractions, Bung Hatta

Monument Park with its historical tours, Kanduang Bundo Park with its cultural tourism, and

typical Minang culinary tours. However, this extraordinary tourist destination has not been

managed, has not been developed, has not been maximized, and has not been properly promoted

by stakeholders. Apart from that, Bukittinggi was not yet widely known by prospective tourists

who will visit this memorable tourist city. Hidayah (2019: 12) states that the attractiveness of

tourist destinations is the power to bring in tourists. A tourist destination has the potential to

become an attraction, but this attraction will only be created if the destination is supported by

other elements, such as accessibility, supporting facilities, and the environment around the

tourist destination.

Efforts to optimize tourism visits have not fully utilized literary and cultural competencies

by stakeholders. In fact, tourist visits are not only oriented towards the objects and locations

visited, but also the literary and cultural situation. Tourism is a planned trip, which is carried

out, either individually or in groups, from one place to another with the aim of getting a form

of satisfaction and pleasure (Sinaga, 2010: 12). Tourism is a series of activities, providing

services for the needs of tourist attractions, transportation, accommodation, and other services

aimed at meeting the travel needs of a person or group of people (Sugiama, 2011: 5). So, trips





60

made by tourists only temporarily leave their place of residence with the intention of resting,

doing business, or for other purposes in traveling.

Literature is not always about love, longing, romance or human emotions. Literature is

also potential to be used to tell the beauty of tourist destinations in an area. Literary work is a

form of art using language media. Literary works are created through deep reflection with the

aim of being enjoyed, understood and inspired by society. Nurgiyantoro (2015: 272) states that

language is one of the most important elements in the creative process of literary creation.

Literary language is more dominant with connotative meanings and has aesthetic values

(Wellek, 2014: 23). From a linguistic perspective, literary works, especially poetry, can be

viewed as a discourse that utilizes the potential of language to express poetic means or beauty.

Some poetry creates images that attract tourists to come to a tourist destination. Paradopo

(2012: 7) states that poetry is an expression of thought that evokes feelings and stimulates the

sensory imagination in a rhythmic arrangement. Rokhmansyah (2014: 18) states that images

are words that can express the sensory experience of tourists as if they can see, hear, feel, like

what the poet sees, hears, and feels in his poetry imaginatively through experiences and

feelings. If the image that is felt in the poem is very close to tourists, of course, the

reader/connoisseur is very easy to get to know. However, if the description of the poem is very

far away, it may cause people to yearn or desire to see it. What if the description of the poem is

in the form of natural, cultural and historical conditions? Can poetry give a description of the

beautiful natural scenery or a picture of a historical place? If so, how is this poetry different

from a tourism brochure?

One of the media used to promote tourist destinations is a brochure. A tourism brochure

is one way to attract tourists to come to a tourist destination. The language used in brochures is

generally the language of advertising and is inspiring, influencing, attracting attention, and

persuading potential tourists. The Indonesian language variety of advertising is the variety of

Indonesian used by entrepreneurs to offer various goods and services specifically used in the

advertising field (Chaer, 2010: 69). The language in the brochure serves as an influence so that

tourists are influenced to come to these tourist attractions.

The language of poetry and the variety of Indonesian that the advertisement has in

common is to provide information in the form of an overview of interesting tourist attractions

for tourists to visit. Good poetry does not just provide information and influence in the form of

a picture of something interesting, but also enlightenment. Poetry is able to bring tourists to

“another world” without having to forget all the information in it. Poetry can sharpen the senses

of tourists and it is possible that the value that comes from poetry will promote the beauty of a

tourist destination by itself.

This research on tourism-themed poetry is embedded in the poetry anthology of

Bukittinggi Ambo di Siko (2013), a poem that tells about the beauty of nature and culture

(dance, clothing, culinary arts, etc.) in the realm of Minangkabau / West Sumatra, including the

poem “Kisah Four Men “,” Bung Hatta “, and” Bukittinggi, oh Bukittinggi “by Fuadi. The main

problem in this research is the answer to the question of how to instill an attitude of

love/awareness of tourism and promote tourism objects in the Bukittinggi area. One of the

tourism promotion techniques offered is through a game of characters called poetry. The

purpose of this study was to reveal and describe a tourism promotion model based on local

tourism poetry of treasures. A person who is “tourism conscious” is a person who is always

grateful and opens his heart to care for and actualize the beauty of nature as a divine gift. This

paper will reveal how the promotion of world tourism in the City of Bukittinggi written in the

form of poetry which is reviewed from a thematic perspective which includes promotion of

nature tourism, historical tourism, cultural tourism, and culinary tourism.





61

THEORY BASIS

Literary Tourism Approach

Purta (2019: 175–177) states that literary tourism is a combination of literary studies and

tourism studies. Tourism literature occurs when a writer or his work becomes so popular that

tourists are attracted to the location associated with that writer (eg place of birth, house, grave)

or that is featured in their writing.

Literary tourism studies include two related things. First, a study of tourism activities that

make literature in its various dimensions a tourism attraction. Second, a study of literary works

and activities related to tourism activities carried out by borrowing tourism as an auxiliary

science.

The approach to tourism literature can adopt existing study models, namely those that pay

attention to literary works, writers, and literary events. The literary tourism approach in

Indonesia can also be carried out in the following areas. First, reviewing tourism-themed

literature; second, examining literary activities that contribute to the tourism industry; third,

examining literary tourism activities that offer icons or attractions derived from literature or

writers in all dimensions; and fourth, examining literary works that are transformed into other

forms.

Objective Approach

Objective criticism is criticism that is oriented or focuses attention on the literary work

itself. This criticism views literary work as a self-sufficient object or as an independent world.

Because in this type of criticism literary works are considered as an independent (autonomous)

world, in criticizing literary works, critics will analyze, interpret and judge them based on the

literary work itself, without relating it to the reality, readers or authors. Objective criticism is

aimed at criticizing the intrinsic elements of poetry or poetry (its theme and meaning).

RESEARCH METHODS

This research is descriptive qualitative. Qualitative descriptive prioritizes data retrieval

through words. By using this method, the researcher will describe the existing data, then analyze

it (Endraswara, 2013: 176). According to (Ratna, 2012: 53), the descriptive method of analysis

is carried out by describing the facts which are then followed by analysis. The analysis does not

merely describe, but also provides sufficient understanding and explanation. The research data

is in the form of poetry texts/quotes that can be related to the theme and its meaning. Data

analysis techniques can be done by (1) reading and understanding the poems “The Story of Four

Men”, “Bung Hatta”, and “Bukittinggi Oh Bukittinggi” by Fuadi as a whole; (2) marking the

form of a tourism promotion model embodied in a poem based on local Minangkabau colors:

the theme and meaning of the three poems; (3) inventory data, namely recording things that are

found regarding the natural beauty and icon of tourist attractions as well as the uniqueness of

Bukittinggi tourism; (4) classify the data contained in the poem, namely the form of promotion

of natural tourism, historical tourism, culinary tourism and cultural tourism; and (5) conclude

the research results.

DISCUSSION

The discussion focused on thematic studies by selecting poetry with the theme of tourism.

Promotion of tourism or fostering and developing the world of tourism in Bukittinggi is not

only carried out by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, but those who care about the

world of tourism in Bukittinggi, including writers or poets. Through their creative process, they

are called to participate in publicizing the charm of natural tourism, cultural tourism, historical

tourism, and Bukittinggi culinary tourism that they have visited. This tour needs to be informed

of potential tourists. This is evident in 2013, an anthology of poetry from the city of Jam Gadang

Ambo di Siko was published. The presence of this poetry anthology is the most beautiful





62

birthday present for Bukittinggi at the age of 228. The poetry included in the anthology can be

said to be a tourism-themed poem Bukittinggi Sugiama (2011) states that tourists are people

who travel for the purpose of vacationing, doing business, or for other trips, such as medical

treatment, religious visits, and for study trips. By traveling and leaving the residence for a while,

a person can be said to be a tourist. The tourist destinations promoted in the anthology include

natural attractions, cultural tourism, historical tours, and culinary tours written in poetry. As

can be seen on the cover of this poetry anthology, the picture of the Jam Gadang is clearly

displayed, especially with the title of the anthology of Bukittinggi, Ambo di Siko, so it becomes

clearer about what the poets want to convey.

There are 37 poets and their works in the anthology are a sign that writers have

participated in fostering and developing lesser-known tourist objects to become tourism prima

donna in Bukittinggi. Not only from Bukittinggi, the writers come from various regions in

Indonesia, some even live in Hill, England. Bukittinggi appears intact in the pen strokes of the

authors of this anthology. Modern Indonesian literary poets who contributed to his writings

included Adi Suhara (Jambi), Ardhyana Puspitariyanti Kusuma (Tegal), Ariyanto (Pekan Baru),

Abdul Malik (Medan), Achmad A Arifin (Sumenep), Bambang Widiatmoko (Yogyakarta),

Baharuddin Iskandar (Pinrang), Denni Meilizon (Padang), Dinillah Karisma (Tanjung Pati),

Eko Rahmadianto Hermawan (Malang), Eka Susanti (Rengat), Fuadi (Pekanbaru), Fatih El

Mumtaz (Pariaman), Gathut Bintarto (Yogjakarta), Hasan Asyhari (Padang), Lina Saputri

(Banjarmasin), Leni Sundari (Jakarta), Melly Waty (Jakarta), Moh. Ghufron Cholid (Madura),

Muhammad Abrar (Padang), Mohammad Isa Gautama (Hull, England), Nenny Makmun

(Bogor), Nora Yuliani (Bukittinggi), Meriyan, Puji Dandelion (Cilegon), Rizka Habibul

Hasnah (Bukittinggi), Ridha Sri Wahyuni (Tiku, Agam), Rezqie Muhammad AlFajar (South

Kalimantan), Refdinal Muzan (Bukittinggi), Steve Agusta (Jakarta), Soetan Radjo Pamoentjak

(Bukittinggi), Syelli Kurnia Wati (Bukittinggi), Tri Oktiana (Pariaman), Titi Sukarni ( Cilacap),

Ubaidil Fithri (Ade) (Cilegon), Widia Aslima (Padang), Wahyu Prihartini (Pasuruan), through

three poems, namely “The Story of Four Men”, “Bung Hatta”, and “Bukittinggi, oh

Bukittinggi”.

Poetry Promoting Natural Tourism Destinations in Bukittinggi City

The potential for natural tourism in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra continues to be

promoted, one of which is the Sianok Gorge Valley. The valley that stretches for 15 km

is in the process of granting the status as a National Earth Park or National Geopark,

forwards towards the Global Geopark which is scheduled to be carried out in 2022.The

aim of this declaration is to make the Sianok Gorge better known in the eyes of the world

and to increase the number of tourist visits to Bukittinggi, especially foreign tourists.

This canyon stretches from the south side of Nagari Koto Gadang to Nagari Sianok Enam

Suku with a cliff depth of up to 100 meters and a gap of about 200 meters wide. Sianok

canyon is unique in geology, which is a large fault known as the Semangko fault. This

fault forms a steep, even perpendicular wall and forms a green valley, the result of the

downward movement of Batang Sianok’s flowing earth.

The beauty of Ngarai Sianok is a narrow valley surrounded by steep hills decorated

with a small river in the middle. The contours of the Sianok Valley were formed due to

the descending process of part of the earth’s plate, causing a fracture in the form of a

steep ravine, which is illustrated in Fuadi’s following poem “The Story of Four Men





63

“The Story of the Four Men”

Fuadi’s work

I stared intently at the gorge before my eyes

Four men beside me made a sound

Ngarai Sianok

A high cliff

The valley is wide flat elongated

Souvenirs in the form of paintings

Woven fabric made of minang girl’s fingers

can be found along the road to Panorama

The first man started his story

The second man continued

Sianok canyon stretches from Koto Gadang

in the South

Arrived at the Sianok Anam Suku in the

North

Down the ladder of a thousand adrenaline

driven

You can see the Koto Gadang stretching out

The land of the birth of Indonesian heroes

Agus Salim and Syahrir are one of them

Silver and songket crafts can also be seen

there

The third man jumped up

It’s incomplete if you don’t get to the

bottom of the canyon

The trunk of Sianok flows meandering

To be explored by canoe or kayak is

simply beautiful

From Lambah Village to Sit Framed

Batang Palupuh Village

Beautiful natural scenery is very beautiful

Until the bottom of the canyon, stop for a

moment

Enjoy the clean expanse of land

Plastered elongated

in front of the calm stream of sianok rods

The water is cool, clear

Mount Merapi and Singgalang look

towering

Plan for the camp

Thus the fourth man ended the story

Hmmmm

I muttered to myself

To plan another day

In the anthology of Bukittinggi Ambo di Siko, there is a poem that is very interesting to

read, namely Fuadi’s poem “The Story of Four Men”. The poetry can promote Sianok canyon

natural tourism in Bukittinggi. The poem tells the story of four men who are amazed and

fascinated by the natural beauty of Ngarai Sianok. Selection of lines / I looked closely at the

canyon in front of my eyes / Four men beside me voiced / as the opening of this poem

immediately gave a picture of the poet enjoying the panoramic beauty of Ngarai Sianok which

is verdant from a distance in a Panorama Park area. Ngarai means valley and Sianok is the name

of a village in that place. This valley has cliffs covered by lush forests. As far as the poet’s eyes

could see, this valley was very charming. On the left side, there is a cliff and a small river. On

the right, there are rice fields, roads, and houses. At the top, there are Mount Merapi and Mount

Singgalang which are shrouded in fog.

In the poem, the first man begins his story / Ngarai Sianok / A high cliff / flat wide valley

/ A souvenir in the form of a painting / woven cloth made by minang girl fingers can be found

along the road to Panorama. The reader is faced with a natural atmosphere as if an array of

canyons, cliffs, ravines, valleys lay near them. In addition, readers also get “information” that

in this place there are also souvenirs in the form of paintings / woven fabrics that are made from

the curved fingers of Minang girls / can be found along the road to the panorama. The

expression of the first man in the poem is an impression when he traveled to Ngarai Sianok.

The second man continued / Ngarai Sianok stretched from Koto Gadang in the South /

Arrived at Sianok Anam Suku in the North / Down the thousand adrenaline ladder was driven

/ There was a stretch of Koto Gadang. After that, it was said that the enchanting place was called

Koto Gadang. The author does not say directly that the atmosphere of Koto Gadang is still

natural, but the array of Tanah was born of the Indonesian Heroes / Agus Salim and Syahrir one





64

of them / silver and songket crafts can also be seen there giving a strong picture that is more

than natural. When the second man was at Ngarai Sianok, he remembered that the Minang

people were known as a tribe with many educated sons. He will not forget the names of Sutan

Syahrir and Agus Salim, to be precise in the Koto Gadang area. In the middle of last century,

educated Minang sons took part in the proclamation and establishment of the Republic of

Indonesia. They are heroes who made history in Indonesia’s journey. For their services, they

got the title of national heroes. The people of this area, since the Dutch occupation, have started

to make silver handicrafts. There is one place that has a beauty that always amazes the second

man, namely Janjang Saribu which means a thousand steps. It is so-called because this place is

an arrangement of hundreds of steps on the cliffs of Ngarai Sianok. It is not surprising that the

place was eventually referred to as a miniature of the Great Wall of China.

Fuadi’s poetry is not just a tourism brochure. If the tourism brochure says Ngarai Sianok

as attractive as possible, can the reader feel other feelings about the beauty of Ngarai Sianok?

How did the third man enhance the beauty of Ngarai Sianok? Of course, the tourism brochures

are unable to give them to the reader because the language in the brochures is only limited to

attracting attention and unable to sharpen sensitivity as is the case in the third verse of the poem.

The third verse is fully quoted: // it is incomplete if it doesn’t reach the bottom of the canyon /

Batang Sianok flows in a winding flow / Being explored by canoe or kayak is really beautiful /

From Lambah Village to Sitingkai Batang Palupuh Village / Beautiful natural scenery is very

beautiful / Until the bottom the canyon stops for a moment /.

Readers can compare the three verses of the poetry with the initial sentence of a brochure,

namely Ngarai Sianok is one of the Bukittinggi tours in West Sumatra. Like the poem, the

sentences in this brochure are informative. The information contained in the poetry is not

conveyed verbally, but hidden or implied in each line of poetry, such as the array of Batang

Sianok flowing meandering / Explored by canoe or kayak is really beautiful. This array can be

felt when the third man feels himself enjoying the beautiful scenery of Ngarai Sianok. There is

a third man’s personal experience related to the natural beauty of Ngarai Sianok. This is what

the poet tries to express in the line: From Lambah Village to Sitingkai Batang Palupuh Village

/ Beautiful natural scenery is very beautiful / Until the bottom of the canyon stops for a moment

/. This line implies that the third man has admiration. Not only is the natural beauty and

greenness of Ngarai Sianok expressed by the poet, but also its poetry as told in the line /

Enjoying a clean expanse of land / Plastered elongated / in front of the stream of sianok stems

that are calm / The water is cool, clear /. The peculiarities of the natural elements appear to

color the poem “The Story of Four Men” showing a tendency towards depicting nature. As in

the following poem excerpt: / in front of a calm stream of sianok rods. The water is cool, clear

/. Based on the type of image, the excerpt of the poem contains an image of a tactile nature that

seems to make the reader touch, touch, or anything that involves the effectiveness of his skin

senses. This proves that there is a natural image in the poem. Hasanuddin (2012: 90) states that

imaginary poetry or poetry is poetry that rests its strength on images or images or often called

atmosphere poetry. Utilization of images properly and appropriately can create a poetic

atmosphere.

The function of the image is to provide a clear picture to create a special atmosphere,

make the image more vivid in the mind and senses, and to attract attention (Pradopo, 2012: 79).

Through the imagery used by the poet, something that is described by the poet will feel more

real in the mind of the reader and with an abstract reading of the poetry will feel more concrete.

Furthermore, / Mount Merapi and Singgalang look towering / Rancak nian for camp /. The

fourth man can enjoy the beautiful view of the two lovebirds, Marapi and Singgalang from the

Sianok canyon. Thus the fourth man ended the story. The poem ends with an array of four

stories of the four men who have fond memories and are impressed by the beauty of the natural

tourism of Ngarai Sianok. / Hmmmm / I muttered to myself / To plan another day / The nature





65

of this country has a lot of aesthetic charm that can stun a poet. The way a poet can express the

natural beauty of Bukittinggi which is flanked by Mount Merapi and Singgalang through poetry

is a way to introduce or promote Bukittinggi’s natural charm.

Poetry Promoting Historical Tourism Destinations in the City of Bukittinggi

A great nation is a nation that can appreciate its heroes. One way is to do historical tourism

by visiting the legacy of heroes. Bung Hata, as the pride of the Minang community in

Bukittinggi, is not only remembered through the Bung Hatta Birth House Museum, there are

several other tourist destinations specially made to commemorate his services.

“Bung Hatta”

Fuadi’s work

Remembering you man

I am in front of your statue

A photo inside your house

A simple, earthy figure

It is clear from the way you wear glasses

Your clear eyeball is soothing shade

Your smile is an antidote to wounds

Arif is wise

Slowly move your feet

I was stunned in front of a room

Walls of bamboo blades

And a bed

Lay on white sheets

As pure as your heart for the country

Simple that breeds perfection

Not satisfied

I searched the back of your house

I deliberately used a clog

So I can feel the beat of your struggle

Who is always on fire for the sake of the

nation

And this bitch’s eyes are mesmerized by

an old onthel bike

I want to reach and then climb

Pedal with your youthful enthusiasm

Tell the world

Beloved Indonesia

O heroes of the nation

Now you are gone

Go for ever

But your services

Your struggle

Heat resistant

Not weathered by rain

Prayers are engraved for you always

Bung Hatta

A role model for all people

I put your name on my chest, heart and

soul

Because of your service and struggle, we

exist





66

The poem depicts the poet standing in front of the statue of the Hero of the Proclaimer

Mohammad Hatta at the Bung Hatta Home Museum. This two-story wooden house is a replica

of Bung Hatta’s house which was inaugurated in 1995. The museum attracts especially young

tourists. Tourists can read Mohammad Hatta’s book Memoir (1979) to get information in the

museum which tells of his life journey, from childhood until Bung Hatta became the first Vice

President of the Republic of Indonesia. This experience in his childhood made a deep

impression on Bung Hatta, who later determined his attitude in fighting for the independence

of his nation.

When the poet is in front of a room, there is a room with a simple interior that is far from

being grand. This reflects the character of Bung Hatta who is a simple figure. One more thing

that Bung Hatta was nicknamed for was a humble person. A room that was once Bung Hatta’s

favorite room for reading books. Bung Hatta liked to read and in this room, national figures

used to enjoy spending time reading books. There are so many books about Bung Hatta, his

struggle in seizing Indonesian independence from the grip of the Dutch and Japanese

colonialists, which are truly extraordinary. Therefore, Bung Hatta did not leave an inheritance

in the form of wealth to his children and grandchildren, apart from a lot of books, because Bung

Hatta was known to be “crazy” books. In fact, when the Dutch were detained in Tanah Merah

in Papua and on Banda Island in Maluku and boxes of books were still carried. It is clear that

there are many examples of poets from the life of Bung Hatta. In Bukittinggi, there are also

several locations bearing the name Bung Hatta so that poets always remember the services of

heroes. When visiting this house, poets can see various collections of historical objects

belonging to the Bung Hatta family, such as clogs and old onthel bikes.

Historical destinations, apart from the Bung Hatta Birth House Museum, which can also

be visited by tourists are as follows.

Bung Hatta Monument in the Cultural Heritage courtyard of Bung Hatta Palace or Tri

Arga State Building

The Bung Hatta Palace Cultural Heritage is open to tourists who want to know their role

in leading the struggle for independence. The palace is located close to the Clock Tower,

overlooking Mount Marapi and Bukit Barisan. The Bung Hatta Palace Cultural Heritage

building is characterized by a colonial architectural style. The rooms in this palace consist of a

garden in the courtyard, the main room, the living room, the meeting room, and twelve spacious

rooms. Inside the building complex, there are two Bung Hatta statues located at the front of the

building.

During the Dutch colonial period, the Bung Hatta Palace Cultural Heritage was used as

the office of the Resident of Padangse Bovenlanden and Assistant Resident of Agam and during

the Japanese occupation, it has functioned as the home of the Japanese Defense Commander

(Seiko Seikikan Kakka). After Indonesia’s independence, this building was known as Rumah

Tamu Agung and was used as the residence and office of Vice President Bung Hatta during his

tenure in Bukittinggi in 1947--1948. In addition, the house was also used as the Center for

Emergency Government of Indonesia. A number of meetings with local leaders were often held

at this palace to make decisions related to the struggle for independence and more effective

governance. After the division of Central Sumatra Province into three regions in 1958, the first West Sumatra Governor Kaharudin Datuk Rangkayo Basa built a new building which is now

called the Tri Arga State Building in 1961. The building that stands today is the result of

renovations in the 1960s after the original building burned during the Dutch Military

Aggression II. However, now the building functions as a place to stay for guests and state





67

officials visiting West Sumatra. It is located next to the Bung Hatta Palace, namely Bung Hatta

Monument Park, directly opposite the icon of the City of Bukittinggi, the Clock Tower and the

Upper Market.

Bung Hatta Monument Park

Not far from the Bung Hatta Palace building, to be precise in the city center near the

Bukittinggi icon, the Clock Tower Tower, there is the Bung Hatta Monument Park. This park,

founded in 2003. The purpose of this park is to commemorate 100 years of Muhammad Hatta’s

birth. The hero, known as one of the Indonesian proclaimers, was born in Fort de Kock (now

Bukittinggi) on August 12, 1902. In this park, there is a small hill with a statue of Bung Hatta

at the top. This bronze statue with a peci cap and Bung Hatta’s distinctive glasses is seen

standing upright with his head slightly bent and hands raised upward. A smile etched on his

face as if he wanted to greet the visitors who were passing friendly. At the bottom of the statue,

tourists can find a metal plate on top of a black ceramic which reads “Bung Hatta Bukittinggi

Monument Park”. The metal on this black ceramic is a reflection of Bung Hatta’s persistence

in fighting for Indonesian independence.

Bung Hatta Library

The library which was inaugurated by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (the former 6th

President of the Republic of Indonesia) has thousands of book collections, including books

written by Bung Hatta during his lifetime. His story and his journey have become a field for the

nation’s genaration to date. heroes, and have an important role in the advancement of Mother

Earth. The journey of life and tactics of the state, both written by Indonesia’s best writers, are

immortalized in the Proklamator Bung Hatta library in Bukittinggi. the Proclaimer.

The journey of establishing the Bung Hatta Library has been going on since 1976 which

was initiated by Amier Syakieb Arsyilan, Bung Karno’s first student from Bukittinggi. Exactly

on August 12, 1976, the Mohamad Hatta Library was inaugurated by Bung Hatta. Furthermore,

in 2012 the Mohamad Hatta library changed its name to the Bung Hatta Library of Proclaimers

which was inaugurated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Outside Bung Hatta’s personal collection, there are thousands of other book titles that

discuss thoughts, ideas and ideas, even the personality of a Hatta. Bung Hatta’s thoughts on the

populist economy, for example, were considered to have transcended time. His idea of a

cooperative as a pillar of economics is also considered very relevant today. Various reviews

about Bung Hatta then prompted the government to form a library that specifically

accommodates all library collections related to Bung Hatta.

Poetry Promoting Natural, Cultural and Culinary Tourism Destinations in the City of

Bukittinggi





68

“Bukittinggi oh Bukittinggi”

By: Fuadi

Bukittingi oh Bukittinggi

Your realm is beautiful and charming

The twin earths of the Nine States of

Malaysia

Paris Van Sumatra Land

Suddenly I miss the smell of your cool air

Walk in the middle of the Upper Market

Ngarai Sianok seems to be calling from a

distance

“Yes” The canyon above is a Japanese

ormanen hole

Winding underground passageways

Like the strains of saluang twisting the heart

Recalling flashbacks of the history of the

ancient Roman era

All can be seen from the top of the limpapeh

suspension bridge

Crossing the Bundo Kanduang park

Fort de Kock and Kinantan Wildlife Park to

the left

Mount Merapi and Singgalang seduce

serene

Turbaned with white clouds add to your

beautiful appearance

It’s really a beautiful charm that is clearly

displayed in front of the eyes

Bukittinggi oh Bukittinggi

A realm rich in culture and history

Forever my longing burst

The poem “Bukittinggi Oh Bukittinggi” by Fuadi consists of four verses promoting the

natural beauty of Bukittinggi. In the poem, it is revealed that Bukittinggi is known as Bumi

Kembar Negari Sembilan Malaysia and Tanah Paris van Sumatra. Bukittinggi and Seremban

became sister cities on December 6, 1986, due to similarities in culture and customs. The

language is almost the same as the Minang language, the traditional house also has the same

characteristics, namely the buffalo horn (bagonjong), like the rumah gadang. One more thing,

the kinship system there is also matrilineal exactly the same as in Minang. The city with curves

of beautiful mountains, views of green hills, canyons, and Tri Arga (three mountains), namely

Mount Marapi, Mount Singgalang, and Mount Sago make Bukittinggi a perfectly natural

picture so that in the past it was pinned the title Paris van Sumatra because of its natural beauty

and contours of the city can be said to be equivalent to Paris.

Bukittinggi deserves to be missed. At least that is what the poet who lives in Pekanbaru

wants to convey. Although not born and raised in this city, this poet has left unforgettable

memories. Even though it is far in sight, Bukittinggi’s charm always calls to come. The poet

wants to portray so many memories of this country. Natural beauty, cool air, market

atmosphere, community life, historical sites, and of course the Clock Tower gave a deep

impression to the poets who had visited. This impression is conveyed by the poets in this poem,

for example, Pasar Atas, Pasar Lereng, Pasar Bawah, and Pasar Banto, which are culinary

attractions with typical kapau rice, gulai itiak lado mudo, karupuak sanjai, ampiang dadiah,

ice guess, satay padang, pical sikai., Lamang Tapai, Bubua Kampiun, Cindua Langkok, Ayam

Pop, and Satay Padang. Bukittinggi is indeed worthy of being a culinary tourism destination

because it offers a wide variety of foods and cuisines.

There are poems that are born because of images, impressions, memories and longing for

a city. In the past, poets often went to Bukittinggi. Now he longs to enjoy the various charms

that this tourist city offers. He missed the beautiful and beautiful scenery, Sianok Lobang

Jepang, Bundo Kanduang Park, Fort de Kock Fortress, and Kinantan Wildlife Park. The

amazement must have come out of the mouth of anyone who first saw the meandering Sianok

Gorge with the Batang Sianok River flowing at the bottom.





69

One of the tourist destinations that can be visited by tourists is the Japanese Hole or

commonly called Goa Jepang. The cave is the longest tunnel in Asia. This cave is one of the

historical tourist destinations that has a maze in the belly of Bukittinggi. Tracing the history of

the struggle of Bukittinggi, Goa Jepang is a tunnel hole or bunker since 1942 used for protection

and storage of supplies and defense equipment for the Japanese occupation army.

This Japanese cave has a total length of about 8 km or 1400 m winding and a width of

about 2 meters. In the cave there are about 21 small passages with various functions, such as

ammunition rooms, meeting rooms, escape holes, spy holes, and prison rooms. Because of the

long and wide area of the cave, there are several entrances to this Japanese hole, including the

Sianok Gorge area, Panorama Park, next to Bung Hatta Palace and in the Bukittinggi Wildlife

Park.

One of the tourist destinations in Buittinggi in the form of a unique and interesting

historical building that holds many relics from the reign of the Dutch East Indies which has

become a historical tourist attraction is Fort De Kock. This Dutch heritage fort is a silent witness

of the history of the Minang people in fighting against the invaders.

The fort, which is located at the top of Jirek Hill, is a witness to the persistence of the

Padri troops led by Imam Bonjol in fighting against the Dutch East Indies troops. This fort was

built in 1825 and designed by Captain Bauer. The fortress was 20 meters high and had a small

cannon at each corner. The name Fort de Kock follows the name Baron Hendrick Merkus de

Kock, who was then Commander de Roepoen and Deputy Governor-General of the Dutch East

Indies Government. Since renovated in 2002 by the local government, the Fort de Kock area

has now been transformed into Bukittinggi City Park and Tropical Bird Park. Besides being

able to witness the uniqueness of the Fort de Kock design, tourists can observe various kinds

of animals and learn about history in the museum.

Bukittinggi also has relics from the Dutch era, namely the Kinantan Wildlife and Cultural

Park or the Bukittinggi Zoo, which originated from the idea of a Dutchman who served at Fort

de Kock named Gravenzanden. This place was built in 1900 under the name Stormpark. In 1995

this park was designated as the Wildlife and Cultural Park of Kinantan, which is one of the

oldest zoos in Indonesia.

Bukittinggi Zoo has cultural tourism, namely Taman Bundo Kanduang, a traditional

Minangkabau house called the Baanjuang Traditional House. This place functions as a museum

as a traditional house that was founded around 1935 to promote the traditional culture of the

Minangkabau people. In it tourists can find traditional clothes, jewelry, and art tools typical of

Minang. If tourists want to enjoy the natural charm of the Limpapeh Bridge, tourists will enjoy

the other beauty of the two existing tourist objects, namely Fort de Kock and Taman Marga

Satwa and Kinantan Culture, a suspension bridge that is 90 meters long and 3.8 meters wide. .

If tourists want to enjoy the charm of this Limpapeh Bridge, tourists will enjoy the other beauty

of the two existing tourist objects, namely Fort de Kock Fortress and Wildlife and Culture Park

Kinantan. A clever path of heavenly land that poets crave.





70

CLOSING

After examining the contents of three tourism-themed poems on their mandate and

meaning, it can be concluded that Bukittinggi has potential tourist destinations that can be

expected and developed, namely natural tourism destinations, historical tourism, cultural

tourism, pilgrimage tourism and culinary tourism. However, the potential of these tourist

destinations has not been managed, has not been developed properly, and has not been

maximally promoted by stakeholders so that it has not been recognized by potential tourists,

both Indonesian and foreign. Modern Indonesian writers were moved to participate in

publishing the natural beauty, history and culture of Bukittinggi as a regional wealth to potential

tourists. This is evident in 37 poems on tourism written by 37 poets in the Anthology of

Bukittinggi Ambo di Siko with the theme of promoting tourism in Bukittinggi. The mandate

and meaning of these three poems are to make all stakeholders aware to invite the public/tourists

to “love tourism”, especially to Bukittinggi. A person who is “fond of tourism” is a person who

is grateful for the gift of natural beauty from the Divine. God’s gifts in the form of natural

beauty, history, culture, and Minang culinary must be grateful. One of the ways to be grateful

for God’s gifts in the form of natural, historical, cultural and culinary riches is, of course, to be

enjoyed, felt, and also maintained for their beauty and preservation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Chaer, Abdul. 2010. Kesantunan Berbahasa. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

Endraswara, Suwardi. 2013. Metodologi Penelitian Sastra, Epistemologi, Model, Teori, dan Aplikasi.

Yogyakarta: CAPS (Center for Academic Publishing Service).

Hatta, Mohammad. 1979. Mohammad Hatta Memoir. Jakarta: Tinta Mas.

Hidayah, Nurdin. 2019. Pemasaran Destinasi Pariwisata. Edisi Pertama. Alfabeta, Bandung

Nurgiyantoro. 2015. Teori Pengkajian Puisi. Edisi kedua cetakan 11. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada

Universty Press.

Pradopo, Rahmat Djoko. 2012. Pengkajian Puisi. Bandung: PT Kiblat Buku.

Putra Nyoman, Darma. 2019. Inovasi Baru dalam Penelitian Sains dan Humaniora. Prosiding

Seminar INO Bali. Sastra Pariwisata: Pendekatan Interdisipliner Sastra dan Periwisata,

Denpasar: 20 Desember 2019. Hal.175—181.

Ratna, Nyoman Kutha. 2012. Penelitian Sastra: Teori, Metode, dan Teknik. Yogyakarta: Pustaka

Pelajar.

Rokhmansyah, Alfian. 2014. Studi dan Pengkajian Sastra: Perkenalan Awal terhadap Ilmu Sastra.

Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu.

Sinaga, Supriono. 2010. Potensi dan Pengembangan Objek Wisata di Kabupaten Tapanuli Tengah.

Kertas Karya. Program DIII Pariwisata.Universitas Sumatra Utara.

Sugiama, A. G. 2011. Ecotourism: Pengembangan Pariwisata Berbasis Konservasi Alam. Bandung:

Guardaya Intimarta.

Tiga Puluh Tujuh Penyair Nusantara. 2013. Bukittinggi Ambo di Siko. Jakarta: PAM Publishing

Perpustakaan Nasional.

W.S, Hasanuddin. 2012. Membaca dan Menilai Sajak. Bandung: Angkasa.

Wellek, Rene dan Warren Austin. 2014.Teori Kesusastraan.Terjemahan Melani Budianta. Jakarta:

Gramedia.





71

PETIK LAUT MUNCAR

ECOTOURISM AND LITERARY TOURISM

Novi Anoegrajekti

Faculty of Language and Literature, State University of Jakarta


Asrumi

Faculty of Cultural Sciences, University of Jember


Sudartomo Macaryus

Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa University


Dian Herdiati



Ifan Iskandar



ABSTRACT

Petik Laut Muncar is a village ritual for fishing communities in the Muncar Beach area. Bersih

Desa represents gratitude for the fish-catch and safety that have been obtained during the past

years by expecting for future catches and safety. This article aimed to explain marine rituals’

potential, namely Petik Laut as a basis for developing ecotourism and literary tourism. The

research used the ethnographic method which began with providing library data by reading the

library sources, such as books, articles, proceedings, and news about the potential of Petik Laut

Muncar. The data obtained from the library sources were complemented by field data obtained

through observation, participation, and in-depth interviews with selected informants, namely

the head of the Muncar fishermen association, person-in-charge of Muncar fish market,

businessmen for processing fish and other marine biotas, and local government in the Muncar’s

Fishermen Beach area. Data analysis was carried out continuously since the data provision

stage. Data interpretation is carried out semiotics by placing each event as a cultural sign that

is interrelated as a whole. The potential for ecotourism on Muncar Fisherman Beach is

mangrove forest, coral reef cultivation, and pearl shell cultivation. The potential for literary

tourism at Muncar Fishermen Beach is the life story of Buyut Sayid Yusuf as a pioneer of the

Muncar fishing village who was buried in Sembulungan Beach. The legend of Ulupang-pang

Beach relating to the historical background of the struggle of the Using Banyuwangi people

against the Dutch. and local government in the Muncar Fishermen Beach area. Data analysis

was carried out continuously since the data provision stage. Data interpretation was carried out

semiotically by placing each event as a cultural sign that was mutually related as a unity. The

potential for ecotourism on Muncar’s fisherman was mangrove forest, coral reef, and pearl

oyster cultivation. The potential for literary tourism at the Muncar Fishermen Beach area was

the life story of Buyut Sayid Yusuf as a pioneer of Muncar fishing village who was buried in

Sembulungan Beach. The legend of Ulupang-pang Beach related to the historical background

of the struggle of the Using Banyuwangi people against the Dutch. and local government in the

Muncar Fishermen Beach area.

Keywords: culture, ecotourism, mangrove, ritual, literary tourism





72

INTRODUCTIONS

Petik Laut is a village ritual based on marine culture. The ritual ‘Bersih Desa’ is an

expression of gratitude for God’s grace during the annual period of blessing. Gratitude for the

sustenance of the fishing community in the form of an abundance of fish catches and gratitude

for the safety that has been implemented. The fishermen are free from various calamities of sea

storms, diseases, and various other difficulties.

Meeting and dialogue with agrarian and maritime ritual actors, the ritual ‘Bersih Desa’

has shown some awareness. Generally, the ritual represented a variety of consciousness, namely

religious, social, historical, environmental, and work. Religious awareness appears in the use

of prayer in every ritual celebration. Social awareness was seen in the implementation which

began withholding deliberations to involve all society components that supported the ritual. The

historical awareness was symptomatic of reverence for ancestors who had been instrumental in

opening and developing the area where ritual supporters settled in. The environmental

awareness was carried out by making environmental improvements and use of offerings made

from local materials that existed in the natural environment. The awareness of the work could

be seen in the variety of contents of the offering and the placement of the offering.

Petik Laut Muncar was a space for cultural expression and family reconciliation. On

normal days, it was only the husbands went to the sea as crew members (ABK). When he came

home, his wife was involved in managing the fish-catch. In this ritual, some of their wives and

children went to the sea to celebrate the great day for fishermen. The crew members and their

families, including those who were still toddlers, also came to the sea by boats used to catch

fishes. Apart from the crew members with their family members, some guests, tourists, media

crews, researchers, and students also took a boat to carry out the sea procession. Following the

sea, the procession has become a medium for internalization and introduction to the crew

members’ work field to family members (children and wives) who enjoyed the seafood.

The cultural expression could be seen in the involvement of all members during the ritual.

The procession of offerings from Barak Kalimoro to the Muncar quay was followed by fathers

who are members of the “ca” and “ca’an” as art groups that expressed their activities while

sailing. The exclamation of the members was muttered in a certain rhythmic pattern. Children,

adolescents, youths, and mothers joined the Gitil Laut procession from Kalimoro to Muncar

quay whose length was approximately 2 kilometers. At the implementation of Petik Laut

Muncar in 2019, the offerings were released by the Regent of Banyuwangi, Abdullah Azwar

Anas.

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a tour to a good natural and artificial environment as well as an existing

culture that is informative and participatory to ensure the preservation of nature and socio-

culture. Ecotourism focuses on three main points, namely, natural or ecological sustainability,

providing economic benefits, and psychological acceptance in the social life of the community.

According to Law No. 10 of 2009 concerning Tourism, the meaning of Marine Tourism or

Tirta, is a business that organizes tourism and water sports, including the provision of facilities

and infrastructure, and other commercially managed services in seas, beaches, rivers, lakes and

reservoirs.

In addition, the coastal areas are certain designated and determined by the government

based on certain criteria, such as physical, biological, social and economic characteristics to

maintain their existence. The maritime area is a type of alternative tourism related to the sea,

both above sea level and activities carried out below the sea level. Choy and Heillbronn (1996),

and Anoegrajekti (2017) have already suggested 5 principles of ecotourism, namely: (1) relying

on the natural environment and culture that is relatively soiled or polluted, (2) providing

ecological, social and economic benefits to the community, (3) educative, by understanding the

natural and cultural environment, (4) positively contributing to the environmental ecology in





73

the short and long-term, and (5) ensuring the sustainability of nature, cultural environment, as

well as increasing welfare.

Literary Tourism

The term “literary tourism” has an alignment with nature tourism and cultural tourism.

The Attributes of literature, nature, culture, and expense as specifiers have shown the focus of

tourism. The natural attribute can take the form of a mountain, river, forest, beach, lake, or

canyon. Cultural attributes can be in the form of ritual, traditional art, culinary, traditional cloth,

or custom. The shopping attribute can be represented by traditional markets, art markets for

local products, or accessories. Referring to these three attributes, literature as a specification of

tourism activities have positioned literature as a focus or a tourist destination. Meanwhile, the

term “literature” potentially into three areas, namely literary work, literary creator, and literary

enthusiast (Anoegrajekti, 2019:67). Thus, tourist destination-based literature focuses on these

three areas and their various sub-areas. The literary area and its subs can be seen in the following

table.

Table 1 Three Areas of Tourism Destination-based Literature

No. Area Sub-Area Focus Tourism Destination

1

Literary

Work

Location Laskar Pelangi Pantai Bangka Belitung

Cintaku di Lembata Pulau Lembata (NTT)

Siti Nurbaya Gunung Padang (Sumatera Barat)

Ada Apa denga Cinta

II 1. Punthuk Setumbu (Magelang)

2. Kuliner Satai Klathak (Yogyakarta)

Para Priyayi Pasar Klewer (Solo)

Documentation Puisi Batu Nisan (Aceh)

Character Kerudung Santet

Gandrung

1. Tari Gandrung (Banyuwangi)

2. Festival Gandrung Sewu

(Banyuwangi)

Events Tarian Bumi Ritual Adat Bali

2 Literary

Creator

Ki Hadjar

Dewantara

Work Space and

Collection Museum Kirti Griya (Yogyakarta)

R.Ng.

Ranggawarsita Tomb Makam Trucuk Klaten

Y.B.

Mangunwijaya,

Pr.

Education and Social

1. SD Percobaan Mangunan

(Yogyakarta)

2. Yayasan Dinamika Edukasi Dasar

(Yogyakarta)

3. Bantaran Sungai Code (Yogyakarta)

4. Waduk Kedung Ombo (Karanganyar

Central Java)

3. Literary

Enthusiast

Paguyuban

Burung Manyar

Novel (Y.B.

Mangunwijaya, Pr.)

Spirituality Legacy

(Yogyakarta)

Yayasan Umar

Kayam

Novel (Umar Kayam)

Pewarisan

Spiritualitas

(Yogyakarta)

Spirituality Legacy

(Yogyakarta)

Readers Macopat Community Spirituality Legacy

(Yogyakarta)

Readers Mocoan Community Spirituality Legacy

(Yogyakarta)





74

The previous table shows the diversity of tourism destination-based literature. Variety of

tourism destinations-based literature has a potency to be developed, such as natural, culinary,

shopping, education, religious, historical spots, ritual, and fashion tourism. Some works that

have discussed tourism destination-based literature are Anoegrajekti and Imawati (2020: 419-

438), Harun (2020: 226-243), Ismawati (2020: 294- 316), Macaryus (2020: 439-460) ), Putra

(2020: 113-134), Rahayu (2020: 135-157), Wiyatmi (2020: 172-185). All of these articles are

collected in the book “Sastra Pariwisata” edited by Novi Anoegrajekti (Jakarta State

University), Djoko Saryono (Malang State University), and I Nyoman Darma Putra (Udayana

University).

METHOD

This study used an ethnographic method. The data were collected through library sources,

news, articles, research reports, and books that discussed Petik Laut Muncar. The primary data

were supported by data obtained from the interview, observation, participation, and Focus

Group Discussion (FGD). The interview was conducted with selected informants, namely the

Head of the Muncar Fishermen Association, the Head of the Muncar Fishermen Port Unit,

business actors, especially MSMEs which processed marine biota materials, and the Head of

Mangrove Forest Management Group at Cemara Beach. The observations were conducted by

observing a series of implementation of Petik Laut ritual, starting from preparation (included

recitation, ‘tirakatan’ to guard ‘gitik’ offerings, fish market, a procession of ‘gitik’ offering

from Barak Kalimoro to Muncar Fishing Port, while ‘gitik’ procession was performed from the

quay to Sembulungan Beach.


Muncar Beach is the second largest fishing port after Bagan Siapiapi. The communities

who settled in Muncar Beach were quite diverse in terms of ethnicity, such as Bugis, Chinese,

Javanese, Madurese, and Using. Most of the fishermen were Madurese. This phenomenon could

be identified through the traces of the historical heritage of the tomb of Buyut Sayid Yusuf on

Sembulungan Beach. He came from Madura Island and as a figure that opened the fishing

village in Muncar. Therefore, every year, people conducted a pilgrimage to the tomb of Buyut

Sayid Yusuf along with the ritual Petik Laut.

The ritual Petik Laut of Muncar’s fishermen is a ritual of ‘Bersih Desa’ that was held

once a year (month ‘Sura’). The month ‘Sura’ was the Islamic new year and was taken in the

middle of the month (full moon) when the seawater increased. At that time, most of the

fishermen had a holiday. As one of the cultural events in Banyuwangi, Petik Laut Muncar has

been included in the Banyuwangi Festival (B-Fes) calendar since 2016. A year later (in 2017),

Petik Laut Pancer was also included in the Banyuwangi Festival calendar. The implementation

of Petik Laut Muncar also became a space for the community to express their cultural values.

It was also a space for socialization, promotion and marketing of products of Muncar’s local

community.

Oral Tradition

As a ritual for ‘Bersih Desa’, Petik Laut is a type of oral tradition that is still being

preserved up to now. The series of activities indicate a diversity of spaces of expression, namely

religiosity, sociality, ecological awareness, and historical awareness. The religious awareness

can be seen in prayers to express gratitude for the abundant fish-catches, avoiding disaster, and

disease outbreak as well as expecting that they will get bountiful catches and avoid all kinds of

disasters in the next year.

Indeed, religious consciousness is expressed in two ways, namely: first, by following the

guidance of Islam that is evidently followed by almost all members of the fishing community

in Muncar. This religious awareness was represented by prayers during the ritual Petik Laut.





75

Another representation was the prayer held at the mosque and and the prayer room before the

ritual Petik Laut was conducted. Furthermore, a night before the implementation of Petik Laut,

a recitation was also held in a mosque at Pantai Muncar.

Second, cultural representation by organizing ‘tirakadan’ to guard the sea ‘gitik’ was held

in Barak Kalimoro. Another representation was to complete ‘gitik’ offering which contained

various objects in the form of agricultural products, livestock, processed products, and fishing

boat equipment. Besides, a ‘tirakad’ was also conducted by keep watching all night long as a

form of struggle, concern, and hope, so that the sea as a source of livelihood would continue to

provide fish for them. They were concerned about the behavior of fishermen who fished in ways

that could damage the marine environment, such as using poison and explosions. In a series of

FGD that was held together with members of the fishing communities in Muncar Beach and

Cemara Beach, this fishing method was not desired.

Besides, religious attitudes could also be seen when their catches were not much. It

signified that God still did not permit them to obtain a lot of catches. They believed that one

day, they would surely have something in abundance. The fishermen with abundant (with a

minimum of catches) were still grateful to Allah the Almighty for providing the sea and its

contents that became a source for their daily livelihood.

As an example, a fisherman who had just landed and only brought one fish with a weight

of about 5 kilograms, he argued that he was still unlucky.

Yes, it’s just unlucky.

In due time, He will also give in abundance as in previous times.

It’s just okay to get a little.

The above statement indicates the limitation and dependence of humans on God

(Anoegrajekti, Macaryus, Trihartono, 2020: 91). Besides, at the same time, it is also a view on

the mercy of God who will bestow the catches in abundance.

Third, social awareness could be seen from the togetherness of the Muncar Beach fishing

community. Togetherness could involve the process of forming a committee which was started

with several meetings to prepare plans, programs, and financing. In the implementation stage,

they took their turns to keep the offerings all night long. In the morning, some of them have

prepared a place for the land procession to bring the offerings from Barak Kalimoro to Muncar

Harbor quay. All persons in-charge carried out their duties properly by always coordinating

with others. The “Ca Ca’an” art group, participants of procession dressed with BEC’s costumes,

cars that carried ‘Gitik’ offerings, and the communities accompanied the ‘Gitik’ trip in an

orderly way.

Figure 1 A Group of People Dressed in BEC Costumes Began the Land Procession along with ‘Gitik’ Offering

from Barak Kalimoro to Muncar Harbor quay

(Research Documentation)





76

There were two Gandrung dancers prepared to accompany the land and sea procession.

They have started dancing in the yard of Barak Kalimoro. Some people who loved Gandrung

also gave a dancing performance politely. Everything has gone well, and fishermen of Muncar

Beach happily welcomed Petik Laut ritual. They seemed happy to celebrate the fishermen’s

great day.

Third, ecological awareness could be seen from the willingness of the community to make

offerings. The fishing community of Muncar treated the sea as a subject that required human

attention. Throughout the year, the sea has provided the fishermen with a lot of catches, so that

during Petik Laut ritual, the fishermen presented a lot of offerings to the sea that was considered

as a figure of a mother who provided beneficial sustenance, a source of livelihood, and protected

the fishermen. The sea was considered as a mother who needed attention, care and affection.

Somehow, as a ritual of ‘Bersih Desa’, Petik Laut has represented the spirit of fishermen in

giving attention, care, and affection for the sea.

On the other hand, the fishing methods that could damage the environment and were

detrimental to fishermen were seen as pathological behavior. Fishermen who were suspected

of performing illegal fishing method which could damage the environment would undergo the

legal process. However, the fishermen (especially the head of the fishermen association),

preferably required that the legal process could act educative by guiding environmental offender

and destroyer.

Figure 2 ‘Giti’k Offerings Consisting of Various Crops, Livestock, Processed Products, Flowers,

and Coconut Oiled-Lamps


Next, the ecological awareness can also be seen in the completeness of the offerings

which became the substance/content of ‘gitik’. The content of the offerings was in the form of

staple food (rice, paddy), ‘pala kependem’ (cassava, sweet potato, taro, yam, ‘uwi’), ‘pala

kesimpar’ (watermelon, cucumber, melon), ‘pala gumantung’ (pineapple, mango, guava,

longan, banana, coconut), flowers (rose, ‘kenanga’, ‘kanthil’, fragrant pandanus leaves, areca

nut), livestock (goat’s head, chicken), and coconut oiled-lamps.

In its implementation, the ecological awareness was manifested in the form of a program

and mangrove forest development activities at Cemara Beach. The mangrove forest managed

by the fishing community also functioned as one of the marine natural tourism destinations.

This self-help management required the state’s intervention, especially in developing

infrastructure that required large costs, such as roads and lighting to Cemara Beach. Another

ecological awareness was the fishing community’s support for the development and planting of

coral reefs on Banyubiru coast. The ‘Karana’ reefs were used as breeding grounds for fish.

Thus, the preservation of coral reefs is one of the guarantees for the maintenance of the

ecosystem of fish and other marine biotas.

Fourth, the historical awareness emerged in the procession of pilgrimage to a tomb. A

day before Petik Laut’s implementation, the community conducted a pilgrimage to the tomb of

Buyut Sabar at Cemara Beach. All offerings, ‘gitik’ and everything in it was brought to the

tomb of Buyut Sabar. The fishing community asked him for his blessing so that Petik Laut ritual





77

would run smoothly. The community prayed together in the yard in the tomb of Buyut Sabar,

and carrying the ‘gitik’ and its contents. This cultural phenomenon represents historical

awareness in the form of respect and recognition towards ancestors who have contributed to

pioneer and opening up the fishing villages of Muncar Beach and particularly for Cemara

Beach.

On the day where Petik Laut was conducted, the fishing community carried out a sea

procession. On September 15, 2019, the ‘Baron’ ship was chosen as the offerings’ carrier. The

sea procession was started from Muncar Harbor quay to Sembulungan Beach. There were about

60 large and ships that followed the sea procession, and certainly full of passengers. The

offerings were floated in the calm area of Plawangan sea. Furthermore, the ship continued its

journey to Sembulungan Beach, particularly in the tomb of Buyut Sayid Yusuf. In his tomb, the

fishermen organized Gandrung entertainment performances accompanied by music and Using

songs.

Figure 3 The tomb of Buyut Sabar at Cemara Beach, Wringin Putih Village, Muncar District


Buyut Sabar and Buyut Sayid Yusuf were two ancestral figures who lived until now. The

fishermen at Muncar respected them. The honoring was represented by conducting grave-

pilgrimage and gathered-prayer. The pilgrimage to the tomb of Buyut Sabar was carried out in

a day before the ritual of Petik Laut was celebrated. Meanwhile, the pilgrimage to the tomb of

Buyut Sayid Yusuf was carried out on a day of Petik Laut ritual, particularly after floating

‘gitik’ offerings. This fortunate day was enjoyed by all crews and their families.

Figure 4 The Procession of Fishing Boats Followed the Ship ‘Baron’ which Carried ‘gitik’ offerings


Babad Marsodo

Apart from the two ancestors who opened the fishing village of Muncar, the fishing

community at Muncar also had a story of a character named Marsodo. The story of Marsodo as

a fisherman has developed and supported by the fishing community at Muncar Beach

(Banyuwangi) and Payangan Beach (Jember). In both regions, the figure of Marsodo was

enlivened as a mighty fisherman figure and was tough in facing the sea. The story of Marsodo

was presented in the form of a “macapat” song by the fisherman community in Payangan Beach,

Jember Regency. The “macapat” song was sung at night before Petik Laut ritual. When the

Marsodo story was sung, a special natural phenomenon sometimes occurred, namely the





78

appearance of big waves. This phenomenon signified the presence of Buyut Marsodo in the

form of a big fish and accompanied by other large fish so that it could cause the appearance of

big waves.

The series of ritual activities of Petik Laut at Payangan Beach was started on a previous

day by conducting ‘tirakatan’ and singing for “macapat” which reflected the story of Marsodo.

He was known as the ancestor of the fishermen who opened the Payangan fishing village

(Anoegrajekti & Macaryus, 2018:79). The story of Buyut Marsodo also existed and preserved

in Muncar fishing community as a tough fisherman whose story was written in the form of the

“macapat” song. However, Babad Marsodo is one of the anonymous works that the fishing

community continues to live it out. They enjoy it by singing it on a night before the procession

of Petik Laut ritual at Payangan Beach, Jember Regency and Muncar Beach, Banyuwangi

Regency.

CONCLUSION

Petik Laut of Muncar Beach is a ritual for “Bersih Desa” in the village of fishing

communities. The Petik Laut ritual is potential as a basis for the development of marine tourism.

It also shows the existence of religious, social, ecological, and historical awareness that has the

potency to be developed as a marine tourism destination. The potential for ecotourism on

Muncar Beach is mangrove forest, coral reef cultivation, and pearl oyster cultivation.

In addition, the potency for literary tourism in Muncar Beach is the life story of Buyut

Yusuf as the pioneer of Muncar fishing village who is buried in Sembulungan Beach. The

legend of Ulupangpang Beach relates to the historical background of the struggle of Using

Banyuwangi community against the Dutch. Another oral tradition that is still alive is “Babad

Marsodo” as poetry composed in the form of “macapat” song.

Furthermore, the story of Marsodo is the basis of the fishing community at Payangan

Beach Jember Regency which spreads to Muncar Beach. In the fishing community of Payangan

Beach, Marsodo is known as an ancestral figure who opened the fishing village area. As a

tribute and honor, “Babad Masodo” is chanted/sung every night before the implementation of

Petik Laut at Payangan Beach. Meanwhile, for the fishing community in Muncar Beach,

Marsodo is seen as a tough fisherman. His persistence and firmness are currently needed by

fishermen to maintain ethics and respect for the sea portrayed as a mother who provides fishing

sustenance for fishermen’s livelihoods.

REFERENCES Anoegrajekti, Novi dan Imawati, Endah. 2020. “Sastra Pariwisata: Dari Legenda sampai Banyuwangi

Ethno Carnival”. Dalam Novi Anoegrajekti, Djoko Saryono, dan I Nyoman Darma Putra (Eds).

2020. Sastra Pariwisata. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius bekerja sama dengan HISKI Komisariat

Jember.

Anoegrajekti, Novi dan Macaryus, Sudartomo. 2018. “Sastra Lisan Berbasis Industri Kreatif: Ruang

Penyimpanan, Pengembangan, dan Identitas”. Atavisme. Volume 21. Nomor 1. 2018. Hlm. 64‒80.

Anoegrajekti, Novi; Macaryus, Sudartomo; Trihartono, Agus. 2020. Ritual Agraris dan Bahari.

Yogyakarta: Cantrik.

Anoegrajekti, Novi; Sariono, Agus, dan Imawati, Endah. 2019. “Metodologi Penelitian Sastra dan

Budaya: Karya Sastra dan Pergulatan Budaya”. Dalam Teori Kritis dan Metodologi: Dinamika

Bahasa, Sastra, dan Budaya. Program Studi Sastra Indonesia Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Universitas

Jember dan HISKI Komisariat Jember bekerjasama dengan Penerbit Kepel Press.

Anoegrajekti, Novi. 2017. “Muncar: Menuju Ekowisata Bahari”. Makalah ini disampaikan pada

Musyawaran Besar Nelayan Kabupaten Banyuwangi “Pengembangan Potensi Ekonomi Perikanan

dan Pangan menuju Ekowisata Banyuwangi, di Banyuwangi, 2 Oktober 2017.

Coy, Low D.C. dan K Heilbronn. 1996. Ecotourism: An Annotated Bibliography. Research Report

South ROC and Commanwealth Department of Tourism.





79

Harun, Mohd. 2020. “Puisi pada Batu Nisan Aceh sebagai Daya Pikat Wisata Spiritual”. Dalam Novi

Anoegrajekti, Djoko Saryono, dan I Nyoman Darma Putra (Eds). 2020. Sastra Pariwisata.

Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius bekerja sama dengan HISKI Komisariat Jember.

Ismawati, Esti. 2020. “Pujangga Terakhir Keraton Kasunanan Surakarta Raden Ngabehi Ranggawarsita:

Kajian Pariwisata Sastra”. Dalam Novi Anoegrajekti, Djoko Saryono, dan I Nyoman Darma Putra

(Eds). 2020. Sastra Pariwisata. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius bekerja sama dengan HISKI

Komisariat Jember.

Macaryus, Sudartomo. 2020. “Identitas Destinasi Wisata dalam Syair Lagu: Dari Kuliner sampai

Istana”. Dalam Novi Anoegrajekti, Djoko Saryono, dan I Nyoman Darma Putra (Eds). 2020. Sastra

Pariwisata. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius bekerja sama dengan HISKI Komisariat Jember.

Putra, I Nyoman Darma. 2020. “Ekspresi Romantik dan Kritik: Pariwisata Bali di Mata Empat Penyair

Indonesia”. Dalam Novi Anoegrajekti, Djoko Saryono, dan I Nyoman Darma Putra (Eds). 2020.

Sastra Pariwisata. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius bekerja sama dengan HISKI Komisariat Jember.

Rahayu, Lina Meilinawati. 2020. “Yogyakarta dalam Sastra: Dokumentasi Pariwisata sebagai Media

Promosi Wisata”. Dalam Novi Anoegrajekti, Djoko Saryono, dan I Nyoman Darma Putra (Eds).

2020. Sastra Pariwisata. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius bekerja sama dengan HISKI Komisariat

Jember.

Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 10 Tahun 2009 tentang Kepariwisataan, dalam

http://peraturan.go.id/uu/nomor-10-tahun-2009.html. Diunduh 29 September 2017.

Wiyatmi. 2020. “Berwisata ke Lembata melalui Cintaku di Lembata Karya Sari Nurulita dalam

Perspektif Sastra Perjalanan dan Kritik Sastra Feminis”. Dalam Novi Anoegrajekti, Djoko Saryono,

dan I Nyoman Darma Putra (Eds). 2020. Sastra Pariwisata. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius bekerja

sama dengan HISKI Komisariat Jember.





80





81

THE POTENTIAL OF TANGGOMO ORAL LITERATURE

IN DEVELOPING CULTURAL OBJECT AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

IN GORONTALO UTARA REGENCY

Sance A. Lamusu

State University of Gorontalo


ABSTRACT

The general objective of this research is to realize the potential of Tanggomo oral literature in

supporting the development of cultural objects and tourist attractions in Gorontalo Utara

District. The specific objective of this research is to design a strategy that can produce local

government policies, especially in Gorontalo Utara District, in terms of turning the Tanggomo

oral literature into the development of cultural objects and tourist attractions. This study

employed a descriptive-qualitative method and literary ecology and cultural ecology

approaches. The results showed that Tanggomo oral literature has the potential to become a

cultural object and a tourist attraction due to several supporting factors, namely: (1) the

Tanggomo functions in complementing the life of the Gorontalo people; (2) the Tanggomo

functions as enlightenment for the audience; (3) the Tanggomo is one of the performing oral

literature; (4) the Tanggomo contains literary ecology and cultural ecology; (5) the Tanggomo

tells about various themes such as history, customs, life experiences of a person, important

events, the origin of a certain place, and so on; (6) the Tanggomo functions as an entertainer;

and (7) the Tanggomo can be performed and recited by children, adolescents, or adults.

Keywords: Tanggomo, Object, Culture, Tourism

INTRODUCTION

The power of mouth and ear is that both senses are the media for oral literature. Oral

literature that contains the spirit of culture can be preserved depending on the mouth and ears.

This is called by Endraswara (2018: v) as ‘between’, which means in the space separating two

objects, namely the mouth and ears. Furthermore, he also said that the oral tradition is also in

the betwixt region which means ‘threshold’. In this case, it is often that the place of oral

literature is not clear. Often the question arises whether the oral tradition is truly oral because

not a few written literatures are then spoken. There is also written literature that has been orally

performed from generation to generation, so it is no longer known who the creator is. These

conditions lead the oral literature to be in a threshold position.

Tanggomo is one of the chanted oral literatures in Gorontalo. In Indonesian, Tanggomo

means ‘tampung’. If the prefix –mo is attached to the word Tanggomo, it will become

molanggomo or motanggomo. These two words have different meanings: molanggomo means

“to accommodate” while motanggomo means “to sing the Tanggomo”. The one who performs

the Tanggomo is called potanggomo.

As the oral literature of Gorontalo, Tanggomo is also a cultural object and can also be

used as a medium in developing tourist attractions. In general, tourism development in

Indonesia is always based on the natural environment. For example, estates, houses, or

luxurious and beautiful buildings. Likewise, in Gorontalo Province, especially in Gorontalo

Utara District, the tourist attractions are in the form of a natural environment such as Saronde

Beach.

Thus, this study seeks to highlight the development of cultural objects and tourist

attractions through the Tanggomo oral literature. The study on the Tanggomo has been

conducted several times but only limited to the structure of the Tanggomo oral literature (Tuloli,

1990), so it still requires further development. Intangible cultural heritage in the form of





82

Tanggomo oral literature has the potential to be employed in the development of cultural objects

and tourist attractions.

RESEARCH METHOD

This study employed a descriptive-qualitative method and literary and cultural-ecological

approaches. As stated by Endraswara (2016: 133-134), literary ecology focuses on the

fundamental dimensions of the study of language, culture, and literary texts while cultural

ecology is the correlation between culture and nature or can be called Eco cultural. Data sourced

from the Tanggomo performed among society. Through these data, the original philosophical

meaning of Gorontalo culture was then described.

RESULTS OF RESEARCH & DISCUSSION

Tanggomo is oral literature that is conveyed rhythmically, in the form of narrative poetry,

and not bound by lines. It contains factual events, folklore, or recordings of the storytellers

themselves. The word Tanggomo literally means “to accommodate”, in which its performer is

called ‘penanggomo’ or ‘petanggomo’.

There are two events described through the Tanggomo which will be discussed in this

article, namely the 23 January 1942 event and the Gestapu event.

The Tanggomo lyrics about the 23 January 1942 event by Yusuf

Bisimila momulayi ‘In the name of Allah we begin’

Delo po’ela pomayi ‘remembering’

Taunu yilalumay ‘years ago’

Botiya maadelomayi ‘this will be delivered’

Wau dungohipomayi ‘so listen’

Botiya uyilowali ‘things that have happened’

Maso-maso to akali ‘put it in mind’

Wau diila bohabari ‘it was not just news’

23 Januari 42 yilowali ‘23 January 1942’

Yilowali wungguli kakali ‘becomes an eternal story’

Donggo to u boyito ‘in those days’

Ra’iyati topingito ‘people were like in a seclusion’

Wau malo to duwito ‘and in fear’

Walanta hemolihito ‘The Dutch colonized’

Ngiyo-ngiyoto dungito ‘with cruelty’

Oyinta lohubuliyo ‘first, destroyed’

Lomobu hudunguliyo ‘set fire to the building’

To Pabea tambatiliyo ‘at Customs it took place’

Talumolo waitiyo ‘Talumoolo was included

Odito kapaliliyo ‘and also the ship’

Kapali tikololiyo ‘the ship was sunk’

Pilobu limongoliyo ‘burnt by them’

Odito to u Wanengo ‘likewise in Kewandang’

Pentadu delo tihengo ‘the beach like a furnace’

Tulu maalotontulengo ‘the fire was burning’

Lopobu kilumohengo ‘it was on fire leaving the frame’

Hudungu to u Wanengo ‘the building at Kewandang’

Walanta mahepanita ‘The Dutch is too smart’

Wau malo hipalita ‘and took care of their surroundings’





83

U weewo maahidehita ‘the others were very close’

Maamayi hipodelita ‘came currying favor’

Haasili didu olamita ‘the crops were not felt’

Malo didu olabita ‘and nothing left’

Boli maadidu o sisa ‘till it runs out’

Ra’iyati to sikisa ‘people were miserable’

Walanta mahesanangi ‘it was the Dutch who were happy’

To lipu lo Hulontalangi ‘in Gorontalo’

Tahu’a pomikirangi ‘thought immediately’

Dulolo motibarani ‘let’s be brave’

Motituwau molawani ‘‘united to fight’

Kumando li Pa’a Nani ‘by the order of Mr. Nani’

Tau maalotitiparangi ‘we must be brave’

Tahu’a ilambuliyo ra’iyati ‘immediately gathered the people’

Wau tiyo maasadiya ‘and they were ready’

Wau mohiyo oli Pak Nani ‘and helped Mr. Nani’

Walanta Wa’upoliyo ‘He arrested the Dutch’

Bilantuwa talola’i tawabuwa ‘assisted by men and women’

Ra’iyati ngohuntuwa ‘a very large number of people’

Pito banggo hiwuduwa ‘knives were prepared’

Pa’a Nani taata’u-ta’uwa ‘Mr. Nani as the leader’

Odito u toniyati ‘thus in the intention’

To dulahu Juma’ati ‘on Friday’

Lo’otoduwo u bebasi ‘grabbed the freedom’

Wau lo minta’a bandera ‘and raised the flag’

U moputi wau meela ‘red and white’

23 Januari 42 yilowali ‘in 23 January 1942’

Mongodula’a mongwutato ‘ladies and gentlemen’

Tanggomo maahe’utapo ‘‘Tanggomo has ended’

Wanu hila momatato ‘if you want to be sure’

Poona’o de Hulontalo ‘come to Gorontalo’

Silita banta-bantalo ‘the story will be completed’

Tanggomo about the January 23rd event tells the story of Gorontalo which has won their

independence and raised the red and white flag on January 23, 1942. Mr. Nani Wartabone, who

is now known as a national hero, at that time fought with the people of Gorontalo for

independence against the colonialists (the Netherlands) to the death. The Dutch at that time had

controlled the Gorontalo area, causing the Gorontalo people to suffer. But in the end, the

struggle of the Gorontalo people led by Mr. Nani Wartabone was not in vain, because Gorontalo

could be free from Dutch colonialism, so that on January 23, 1942, to be precise on Friday,

Gorontalo raised the red and white flag. The independence of Gorontalo preceded the

independence of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Tanggomo lyrics about the GESTAPU event by Ambara Tuina

Bisimila momulai ‘In the name of Allah we begin’

U yilowali masa mulo ‘a story that happened a long time ago’

To lipunto tilumumulo ‘in the country we live in’

Lo’odungohu wahulo ‘heard an advice’

To Indonesia pilotihulo ‘established in Indonesia’





84

Partai pilopotihulo ‘a party was founded’

U wito mali bubulo ‘it will be an obstacle’

Ma mowali panggulo ‘will be a beater’

Panggulo to penjaja ‘a beater for the invaders’

Mangi-mangi gaga-gaga ‘brave and mighty’

Mohuntulo u maradeka ‘pushed for independence’

Ito didu oharaga ‘we were worthless’

PKI lewaito ‘PKI was included’

Pilopotihulio u wito ‘the founding’

Maksudu ipi-ipito ‘the goal was tucked away’

Donggo lohu-lohulito ‘was still hidden’

De ma masa boito ‘later in those days’

Ilaturu bilulito ‘was set and directed’

Pongaru wau tiyango ‘influence and solicitation’

Tau kiki tau damango ‘children and adults’

Pilio-tilimamango ‘were persuaded and served’

Alihu motituwango ‘to join’

To paratai damango ‘a big party’

Benderalio meelamo ‘one with a red flag’

Palu arit tilumanggango ‘with the hammer and the sickle’

Mayilowali silita ‘it has become a story’

Donggo bo helamita ‘it is still felt’

To Madium lo mata ‘in Madiun it happened’

Ra’iyati silikisa ‘the people were tormented’

Ngope’e didu ilolabita ‘almost no one left’

Imamu wau pendeta ‘the Ulama and the Pastor’

PKI mobalengga ‘PKI was rampant’

Donggo mohutu pe’enta ‘one more time’

Mohutu pomarenta ‘made the government’

Lolatihi to pomuda ‘trained the youth

Senjata pilopobengga ‘weapons were propagated’

To lipu wau lemba ‘in the city and in the village’

Negara ilimilingo ‘the country turned away’

To taaunu enam lima ‘in the year ‘65’

………dst ……… etc.

Tanggomo about the Gestapu tells about the establishment of the PKI party in Indonesia.

This party was founded with the intention of being a barrier for the colonizers. The party

encouraged Indonesia to become independent immediately, but behind that, they carried out

their mission in disguise. The people were influenced and persuaded to join them so that they

became a large party. However, the people heard the news that in Madiun, an incident occurred

which involved the PKI and made the people miserable. PKI intended to establish self-

government to control Indonesia. In 1965, they were very rampant in Indonesia.

Tanggomo as an Oral Literature

Oral literature is one of the cultural symptoms found in educated and uneducated

societies. The variety is vast and each variety has a huge variation as well. The contents are

about various events that occur or the culture of the people who own the literature (Finnegen,

1979: 3). Furthermore, Finnegen argues that analysis through the interpretation of words, tone,

stylistic structure, and content is not sufficient to fully appreciate oral literary works. The

description of oral literature, in addition to discussing the structure of the literary work, should





85

also discuss the composer or storyteller, the variations that occur as a result of the audience and

the time of storytelling, audience reactions, donations of musical instruments, and the social

context in which the story is located (1978: 7). Finnegen (1978: 77-78) also says that the

existence of oral literature needs to be considered based on matters relating to geography,

history, beliefs, religion, and all other aspects of culture.

In Indonesia, oral literature is commonly classified into regional literature. In this case,

every region that has local languages must have regional oral literature. Oral literature changes

according to the dynamics of the society that owns it. According to Teeuw (1984: 330), there

is oral literature that is still memorized and maintained without much change, and there is also

oral literature that has changed due to intrinsic dynamics or the influence of foreign literature.

In addition, Tuloli (1990: 2) states that changes in oral literature can occur due to the influence

of community development in various aspects such as education, economy, politics, and beliefs.

Tanggomo is a type of oral literature from Gorontalo that is attractive to the public.

Tanggomo can be sung in places such as markets or via RRI radio broadcasts. The storyteller

of the Tanggomo is not only adults but also children and adolescents, both educated and

uneducated. The contents of the Tanggomo can be in the form of religion, politics, economy,

social, culture, or events experienced by the potanggomo itself. The Tanggomo which will be

discussed in this article is the Tanggomo concerning the history of the 23 January event and the

GESTAPU event through the literary ecology and cultural ecology approaches as previously

mentioned in the research method.

Oral Literary Ecology of Tanggomo

Tanggomo is one of Gorontalo oral literature. According to Faruk (2014: 160), a literary

work is actually created to meet the specific needs of the humans who created it. Like all other

human creations, the aim is to build a balance between the surrounding environment, both

nature and human. Tanggomo concerning the 23 January and Gestapu events both have

environmental themes because the two Tanggomo are based on real events that occurred during

the Dutch colonial period and the rebellion of PKI in 1965. As in the following quote:

1) The Tanggomo lyrics about the 23 January 1942 event by Yusuf:

Dulolo motibarani ‘let’s be brave’

Motituwau molawani ‘‘united to fight’

Kumando li Pa’a Nani ‘by the order of Mr. Nani’

Tau maalotitiparangi ‘we must be brave’

Tahu’a ilambuliyo ra’iyati ‘immediately gathered the people’

Wau tiyo maasadiya ‘and they were ready’

Wau mohiyo oli Pak Nani ‘and helped Mr. Nani’

Walanta Wa’upoliyo ‘He arrested the Dutch’

2) The Tanggomo lyrics about the GESTAPU event by Ambara Tuina: To Madium lo mata ‘in Madiun it happened’

Ra’iyati silikisa ‘the people were tormented’

Ngope’e didu ilolabita ‘almost no one left’

Imamu wau pendeta ‘the Ulama and the Pastor’

PKI mobalengga ‘PKI was rampant’

If we look closely, the two Tanggomo share the theme of ‘struggle’ that is the struggle of

the Indonesian nation to seize independence from the Dutch colonialists and the struggle of the

Indonesian people to face the tragedy of the PKI rebellion on 30 September 1965. The 30

September Movement/PKI that is often abbreviated as G30S/PKI or Gestapu (September Thirty





86

Movement) or Gestok (One October Movement) is an event that took place from 30 September

until the beginning of the following month (1 October) in 1965, when seven high-ranking

Indonesian military officers and several people were killed in a coup attempt. These events

were recorded by the potanggomo or the actors of the Tanggomo and released in the form of

oral literature of the Tanggomo.

Based on the correlation between the creator of the Tanggomo with the atmosphere and

condition of the Indonesian nation, the two Tanggomo were created. This reciprocal correlation

between the actors of the Tanggomo and the environmental conditions of the Indonesian nation

is called ecology. According to Kristanto (2013: 29), ecology is defined as the science of the

reciprocal correlation between living things (including humans) and the environment. On the

basis of this definition of ecology, literary ecology can also be said to seek a reciprocal

correlation between literature and its environment. As stated by Endraswara (2016: 5) that

literary ecology is an environmental condition that surrounds the development of literature;

literary ecology is an extrinsic science of literature that explores the correlation between

literature and its environment. In another book, Endraswara (2016: 73) argues that literary

ecology is the environment (situations and conditions) that are involved in the discourse stage.

Sari (2018: 4) argues that literary ecology is a science that studies or examines literary theory

and literature in terms of its ecology that is the correlation between literary creation and the

surrounding environment. The creation of the two oral literature of the Tanggomo, both the

January 23rd and the Gestapu, cannot be separated from the tragedy that occurred at that time

which hit the Indonesian nation in general and Gorontalo in particular. It can be concluded that

the creation of literary works can never be separated from the environment in which they

originated and were created. Literary works always reflect the environment and socio-culture

of the community. As stated by Endraswara (2018: 79) that literary ecology research is able to

answer several things, including (1) to what extent literary works are able to voice

environmental screams and grievances (2) how well literary works can open people’s hearts to

be more environmentally friendly or turn to their environment, and (3) how much influence the

environment has on the literary universe.

Cultural Ecology of Tanggomo Oral Literature

The two Tanggomo discussed earlier both reflect Gorontalo culture. Frans Boaz (in

Rachmiatun, 2013: 46) states that cultural ecology is a way of understanding environmental

problems from a cultural perspective and understanding culture from an environmental

perspective. In addition, Mas’udi (2019: 678) argues that cultural ecology etymologically

comes from the words ‘ecology’ and ‘culture’ which mean the human knowledge system in

understanding and interpreting the cultural environment and the surrounding social

environment.

Culture can develop through the Tanggomo because thoughts about culture are always

present in oral literature. According to Endraswara (2018: 127), both cultural ideas and actions

are often present in an ethnography. Culture is an intangible but still meaningful thought.

Therefore, based on this opinion, the main task of anthropological oral literature researchers is

to capture cultural thoughts. Cultural thoughts provide aesthetic communication in oral

literature. Hutomo (1999: 220) states that oral literature is an expression of human thoughts and

feelings. Literature uses language as a means of communication. In this case, there are hidden

thoughts that need to be revealed contextually by deepening the knowledge of the owners and

users of oral literature. The owner may be a creator, a poet, a speaker, or a presenter of oral

literature, while the user may be an audience, a receptor, or all active supporters, whether active

audience, followers or commentators.

Cultural development through Tanggomo can be expressed through literary anthropology

by oral literature researchers, namely: (1) the thoughts of ethnic groups depicted in oral literary

expressions, (2) the pattern of life of a community that is reflected in their works, (3) collective





87

world view splashed in oral literature, and (4) cultural diversity in oral literature (Endraswara,

2018: 128). In addition, according to Koentjaraningrat (1999: 374-376), oral literature

researchers will be able to reveal the various colors of humans and their cultures. Oral literature

becomes a document of cultural thought. Hutomo (1999: 88-96) says that in this case,

researchers are finding the spirit of oral literature. Spirit is a reflection of the core of oral

literature. There may be the spirit of Islam, Christianity, Kejawen, politics, economics, and

others. Since the Tanggomo is oral literature originating from Gorontalo, its spirit is Islam.

Philosophically, the entire membership of Gorontalo tribe is Muslims. If there are non-Muslims,

they are those who have left Gorontalo or have married people who are not from Gorontalo.

The philosophy that has been the foundation of life for the Gorontalo tribe since ancient times

until now is “Aadati Hula-Hula’a To Syara’a, Syara’a Hula-Hula’a To Quru’ani” (Customs are

based on Syara, Syara is based on the Qoran). This philosophy colors the oral literature of the

Tanggomo so that each Tanggomo always begins with the word ‘Bismillah (in the name of

Allah)’ as in the following quote.

1) The Tanggomo lyrics about the 23 January 1942 event by Yusuf:

Bisimila momulayi ‘In the name of Allah we begin’

Delo po’ela pomayi ‘remembering’

Taunu yilalumay ‘years ago’

Botiya maadelomayi ‘this will be delivered’

2) The Tanggomo lyrics about the GESTAPU event by Ambara Tuina: Bisimila momulai ‘In the name of Allah we begin’

U yilowali masa mulo ‘a story that happened a long time ago’

To lipunto tilumumulo ‘in the country we live in’

Lo’odungohu wahulo ‘heard an advice’

To Indonesia pilotihulo ‘established in Indonesia’

The word “Bismillah” which is pronounced by Potanggomo is included in cultural

ecology because Gorontalo is a Muslim environment. Every Muslim is encouraged to read

Bismillah every time he starts a word or deed. As narrated in the hadith of the Prophet

Muhammad SAW, from Abu Hurairah radhiyallahu anhu, Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi

Wasallam said, “Every matter which is started without bismillah is useless.” (Narrated by Al-

Khatib in Al-Jami’, from the Ar-Rahawai line in Al-Arba’in, As-Subki in his tabaqath). Shaykh

Muhammad Salih Al-Munajjid stated that in terms of meaning, the hadith was acceptable and

practiced because Allah Ta’ala started the Qur’an with bismillah. Likewise, the Prophet

Sulaiman Alaihissalam who wrote a letter to the ruler of Saba with Bismillah as mentioned in

the following verse:

حيم حمن الر الر إنه من سليمان وإنه بسم للا

“Indeed, it is from Solomon, and indeed, it reads: ‘In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful,

and the Entirely Compassionate” (QS. An-Naml: 30). In Al-Mawsu’ah Al-Fiqhiyyah (8: 92),

the jurists agree that reading Bismillah is required to start every important matter, such as

worship or others.

Potential of Tanggomo to Become Tourist Attractions

The development of tourist attractions in Indonesia in general and in Gorontalo Province,

in particular, is always oriented towards cultural heritage in the form of objects, for example,

luxurious buildings, Dutch heritage forts, beaches, museums, and so on. Only a few, even

almost inaudible, tourist attractions development that is oriented towards intangible cultural

heritage such as oral literature.





88

According to the definition by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of

Indonesia, Intangible Cultural Heritage (WBTB) is the entire results of actions and thoughts

that are manifested in identity, ideology, mythology, concrete expressions in the form of sound,

motion, or ideas contained in objects, behavior systems, belief system, and customs (in

Nurcahyo & Layli, 2018: 5).

Furthermore, referring to the 2003 UNESCO Convention which has been adopted by the

Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia that WBTB is manifested in

the following areas: (1) Oral tradition and expression, including language as a vehicle for

WBTB, folklore, ancient texts, and traditional games; (2) Performing arts, including visual arts,

theater, vocal, traditional dance, music, and film; (3) Customs, rituals and ceremonies,

traditional economic systems, social organization systems, traditional ceremonies; (4)

Knowledge and behavioral habits about nature and the universe, including traditional

knowledge, local wisdom, traditional medicine; and (5) Traditional handicraft skills; including

painting, sculpture/carving, traditional architecture, traditional clothes, traditional accessories,

traditional food/drinks, and traditional transportation modes.

Based on the previous description, the Tanggomo as one of Gorontalo oral literature has

the potential to become a tourist attraction because it is supported by the following factors:

1. Tanggomo functions as a complement to the life of the Gorontalo people;

2. Tanggomo functions as enlightenment for the people who listen to it;

3. Tanggomo is one of the performing oral literature;

4. Tanggomo contains literary ecology and cultural ecology;

5. Tanggomo can tell about various themes such as history, customs, life experiences of a

person, important events, the origin of the events of a place, and so on;

6. Tanggomo functions as an entertainer; and

7. Tanggomo can be performed and sung by children, adolescents, and adults.

These factors are related to what Tuloli (1990: 13) states that Gorontalo oral literature has

described various functions of folklore in people’s lives. In the Gorontalo folklore, there are

various themes and messages related to history, customs, important events, the life history of a

person or family, the name of a place, the name of a tree, and the name of the kingdom. In this

regard, Finnegen (1979: 135) states that oral literature is related to beliefs, religions,

experiences and special symbols that are local in nature. Teeuw (1982: 20) also argues that the

relevance of literary works to socio-culture will manifest itself in the function of affirmation,

restoration, and negation. The function of affirmation is to determine socio-cultural norms that

exist at a certain time, the function of restoration is to express the desire and longing for norms

that have long been lost or no longer valid, while the function of negation is to rebel or change

the prevailing norms.

In addition, to realize Tanggomo as a tourist attraction, government policies, both local

and central government, are urgently needed. In this case, the policy of the Gorontalo Utara

District Government is to make Tanggomo the main entertainment in every celebration or

official activities within the scope of the regional government.

CONCLUSION

Based on the descriptions in the previous sections, it can be concluded that the Tanggomo

oral literature contains multi-functions. From the perspective of literary ecology, Tanggomo

can convey various kinds of themes that exist in the human environment. Likewise, when

viewed from the perspective of cultural ecology, Tanggomo contains socio-cultural norms that

can be used as a basis for life. In addition, the Tanggomo which is classified as WBTB

(Intangible Cultural Heritage) has the potential to be used as a tourist attraction, because it is

supported by many factors, among others, that the Tanggomo oral literature is performing

literature that requires an audience.





89

REFERENCES Endraswara, Suwardi. 2016. Ekokritik Sastra, Konsep, Teori dan Terapannya. Yogyakarta: Morfalingua

Endraswara, Suwardi. 2016. Metode Penelitian Ekologi Sastra. Yogyakarta: CAPS (Center for

Academic Publishing Servies)

Endraswara, Suwardi. 2016. Metodologi Penelitian Ekologi Sastra, Konsep Langkah dan Penerapan.

Jakarta: PT Buku Seru

Endraswara, Suwardi. 2018. Antropologi Sastra Lisan Perspektif Teori, & Praktik Pengkajian. Jakarta:

Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia

Faruk. 2014. Metode Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar

Finnegan, Ruth. 1978. Oral Literature in Africa. Nairobi, London: Oxford University Press

Finnegan, Ruth. 1979. Oral Poetry. London: Cambrige University Press

Hutomo, Suripan Sadi. 1999. Filologi Lisan Telaah Teks Kentrung. Surabaya: CV Lautan

Kristanto, Philip. 2013. Ekologi Industri. Yogyakarta: Andi Offset

Koentjaraningrat. 1999. Manusia dan Kebudayaan Indonesia. Jakarta: Djambatan Rezeki

Mas’udi, Fandi. 2019. “Relasi Antara Manusia dan Budaya Pada Novel Anak Rantau Karya Ahmad

Fuadi (Ekologi Budaya)”. Prosiding SENASBASA. Volume 3 Nomor 2. Halaman 676- 684

Nurcahyo, Henri & Layli Ramdani. 2018. WBTB Warisan Budaya Tak Benda Jawa Timur 2013-2018.

Surabaya: Komunitas Seni Budaya BranGWetan

Rachmiatun, Endang. 2013. “Farmakologi Tradisional di Palembang Dalam Perspektif Ekologi

Budaya”. Jurnal Jumantara. Volume 4 Nomor 1. Halaman 46-61

Sari, Mardiana. 2018. “Ekologi Sastra Pada Puisi Dalam Novel Bapangku-Bapunkku Karya Pago

Hardian”. Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra. Volume 1 Nomor 1. Halaman 1-15

Teeuw, A. 1982. Khasana Sastra Indonesia: Beberapa Masalah Peenelitian dan Penyebarannya.

Jakarta: PT. Gramedia

Teeuw, A. 1984. Sastra dan Ilmu Sastra. Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya

Tuloli, Nani. 1990. Tanggomo Salah Ragam Sastra Lisan Gorontalo. Jakarta: Intermasa.





90





91

CULTURE AND TOURISM OF BANTEN

IN A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES “BANTEN: SUATU KETIKA”

Vedia

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

Universitas Islam Syekh Yusuf Tangerang, Indonesia

Department of Education of Ternate-Maluku Utara City, Indonesia


Fachria Marasabessy


Universitas Islam Syekh Yusuf Tangerang, Indonesia

Department of Education of Ternate-Maluku Utara City, Indonesia


ABSTRACT

This research analyzes a collection of short stories entitled “Banten; Suatu Ketika” by using the

sociology of literature and tourism approach. The sociology of literature approach is used in

order to see the culture contained in the short story. While tourism is used to see the extent to

which this short story is able to lift tourism in the Banten region. The research shows that the

collection of short stories “Banten; Suatu Ketika” has a rich cultural value and promotes tourism

sites in Banten area. The culture of Banten reflected is not only limited to how the people of

Banten live but also contains several myths that are believed to be the culture itself. The setting

of the place as well as the various types of typical foods of Banten used in the collection of

short stories magically are able to provide tourism information in the Banten region.

Keywords: culture, myth, tourism

PRELIMINARY

Literature is often referred to as a mirror of life. This is because what is stated in literary

works as the result of contemplation of life itself. In fact, Literary works are able to be

something, can describe how the situation of society at that time. Thus we will find the

similarity culture of life in a literary work and life in society. According to Emzir and Rohman

(2015: 114), “The world in literary works is a mimetic or events that occur in everyday life.”

However, the life described in the literary work certainly has changed a lot because it has

been through the process of appreciation, interpretation, and meaning. As stated by Mahayana

(2005: 336):

The description of a society in literary works is no longer exactly the same as the

real-life of society. The author described the life is only exists in the work itself; a

“world” created by the author is based on his experiences who have undergone the

process of all appreciation, interpretation and meaning itself.

At this time, it cannot be denied that literature is also capable of being a tourist attraction.

This is because literary works whish full of values of life also present the background and other

interesting things.

There are similarities between literature and tourism. Literary works can arouse

enjoyment for its readers, as well as tourism, brings about pleasure for the tourists. In literary

works, there are educational values for the readers, as well as tourism too. In tourism, the places

that are visited can provide educational values for the visitors. In the literary work, there is an

element of business when the work is made into a book, marketed and beyond to be staged and

filmed. Of course, this will support the economy until the literary industry knows it. In contrast,

tourism is one of the fields that can support the economy. As stated by Hall et al. l (2004: 4):





92

An adequate conceptualization of tourism, therefore, clearly requires that we go beyond

the narrowly economic. Most obviously, there is a need to appreciate the relationships of

leisure, recreation, and tourism with other social practices and behavior.

Hall and his friends say that there is a relationship between pleasure, recreation, tourism

with other social matters and behavior. Other social matters referred to education, business, or

economics.

This is also in line with Stetz (2009: 119). He was delivered that:

Literary tourism may have promoted nation-building, canon-building, and other lofty

ideals, but nothing associated with culture in the late Victorian period was innocent of the

profit motive. Certainly, anything in which print culture in general, or the world of

periodicals in particular, took an interest was sure to be tied directly to business concerns.

Stetz’s statement above clearly states that literary works contribute to culture and also

nation growth in the business field.

Culture in literary works can be described through the setting, atmosphere, character, or

plot. This culture will become life values for the readers. Of course, the cultural values

contained in this literary work are expected to be a positive impact on the readers in real life.

The facts show that many people are interested in visiting a place after getting information

about tourism and culture through reading activities both from public writing and literary works.

This is as stated by Harvey (2007: 65):

Increasingly visitors seek out heritage sites that are promoted in tourist literature(s) that

have been produced by cultural entrepreneurs in an attempt to not only promote aspects

of history for tourists but to regenerate culture.

In his statement, Harvey even stated that the visitors not only became the lovers of tourist

attractions and culture but also could become agents of cultural generations.

Even long before George Henry Calvert (1820), as quoted by Westover (2009: 184) said:

[The American in Britain] is like a wealthy heir, sent from home a bantling, come back at

twenty-one to take possession ... . His rights are so deep that they are inalienable; for they

descend to him through the books he has read, and the plays he has seen, and the history he has

learned, and the language he speaks ... and the imaginations he has fondled.

Calvert’s statement proves that many things can be learned through a literary work. But

it is uncommonly when literary works have experienced the process of imagination from the

author. It sometimes causes dissatisfaction from the readers about the text presented. This was

stated by Hendrix (2009: 14):

The combination is not a paradoxical one since the dissatisfaction is caused by the desire

to have more of the same. However, it can easily entail uneasiness with literary texts’

content and how much content is expressed, indeed textually.

The literary work is an author’s reflection that has undergone a process of imagination,

appreciation, and interpretation. Therefore, in writing, the literary works sometimes are not the

same as the real world.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This study uses the approach of literary sociology and tourism by using descriptive

qualitative methods. The collection of “Banten: Suatu Ketika” short story is the main source of

data. Data is obtained by using the reviewing of literature, listening, and recording with the

steps of 1) intensive reading the collection of short stories “Banten: Suatu Ketika; 2) recording

all data in relating to the research; 3) sorting data, and 4) grouping data. The techniques of data

analysis are descriptive and content analysis. The steps are 1) structurally analyzing the

collection of short stories; 2) analyzing the collection of short stories with a review of literary

sociological theory; 3) analyzing a collection of short stories with analysis.





93

RESEARCH RESULT

Based on the results of the study, it found that how culture and tourism in the Banten

region are. There are 39% of culture and 60.1% about tourism.

Banten Culture

Banten culture which is contained in the collection of short stories “Banten; Suatu Ketika;

found three things, namely related to the myth of Banten Province, the myth that later became

a culture in Banten Province, and the culture of Banten that is not mixed with myths.

The writer splits them to be three parts because in the collection of short stories “Banten;

Suatu Ketika”; the researchers found that the myth struck Banten as much as 37.5%, a myth

which later became a culture about 25%, and the culture of the Banten people about 37.5%.

1. Myth

Myth is something that is trusted by the public but cannot be proven the truth. Myth

cannot be denied its existence. It is present as a matter that is different from the

improvement of the times (science, philosophy, and art). It is a combination of new

subjectivity and culture. As stated by Castle (2007: 66):

The disenchantment of the mythic unity of nature ultimately led to the alienated

subjectivity of modernity and the rationalization and co-modification of culture. It

also created the conditions in which anti-Semitism and the “final solution” could

flourish amid aloof the advances of human science, philosophy, and art.

The assumption that in Banten, there are magical things already widely trusted by

the local communities as well as by the public outside the province. These things are also

raised in the collection of stories “Banten; Suatu Ketika”. There are six things related to

myths presented in the collection of these short stories.

a. Myth about A Woman Using A Mortar: Tanjung Lesung.

In Banten there is an area called Tanjung Lesung, which is one of the coastal tourist

spots. It is a myth that the naming of Tanjung Lesung is due to the existence of women

who used mortar. This story about Tanjung Lesung is contained in a short story titled

“Perempuan Lesung”.

Konon, karena suara-suara lesung yang terus dipukul perempuan-perempuan

itulah, kampung itu dinamakan Tanjung Lesung.(h.25)

It is said that because of the noises of the mortar that were constantly beaten

by the women, the village was called Tanjung Lesung. (p.25)

There is no real evidence that the naming of Tanjung Lesung is due to women

using mortar. However, this myth also exists in Banten folklore.

b. The Myth of A Curse When Someone has A Disease.

The existence of a myth in some areas of Banten and is believed by the people that

is if an illness arises, there is a sign of a curse. However, this is not true or just a

myth. This happens because of a lack of knowledge. The myths like this are also

raised in a short story titled “Candiru”.

Hingga salah seorang diantara mereka berbicara setengah berbisik bahwa

kampung mereka telah dikutuk sejak para orang tua mereka membantah usul

Kyai Usman untuk mendirikan mushola saja, dan bukan masjid. (h.39)

Until one of them spoke in a whisper that their village had been condemned since

their parents denied the proposal of Kyai Usman to build the small mosque and

not the mosque. (p.39)

When someone is sick, it must be because there is a reason. In the short story

“Candiru”, the character falls on pain in his genitals. It because when urinating, the

cock is intruding on the fish. However, because the population does not know about

it, they link it to disease with curses. This is the myth that usually occurs in the village

when there is a disease, which unclear the cause is.





94

c. Myth Students Being Disturbed by Demon-Possessed Evil

Banten Province, there is a city known as the city of students, namely the city of

Serang. Trance is often occurring because of a wraith. Whereas medically, this

includes Dissociative Trance Disorder (DTD), a condition marked by personal

identity changes (Tampubolon, 2015). So this is a myth that is believed by most

Banten people. This condition is contained in a short story entitled “Macan Angob”.

Pak Kyai sendiri turun tangan langsung mengobati mereka yang kesurupan

dengan membaca ayat-ayat suci Al-Quran,..

…

Aih, doa-doa para Kyai tidak mempan malah dibalas dengan doa-doa oleh

mereka yang kesurupan. (h.83)

Pak Kyai himself intervened directly to treat those possessed by reading the

holy verses of the Al-Qur’an, …

...

Geez, the prayers of Kyai did not work but were answered the prayers by those

possessed. (p.83)

The above quote shows a myth when the possessed is due to the possessed by

Satan. In fact, it is not. As explained above, the possession is a sign of a mental health

disorder that can be explained medically.

d. Myth of Water Can Cure Diseases

In the medical world, all kinds of diseases can only be cured through drugs. However,

not so if it has been associated with mystical things. As found in the short story

entitled “Macan Kujang Meradang”.

“Sudahlah, pergilah ke Mandalawangi. Ambillah secangkir air pada sumur

yang kedua. Barang kali air itu mampu menyembuhkan Firman.’(h.119)

“Never mind, go to Mandalawangi. Take a cup of water in the second spring.

Maybe the water is able to cure Firman.’ (p.119)

The above extract shows that the myth of water can cure disease. Of course, in

the medical world, this is incorrect.

e. Myth on Particular Objects Can Cause Someone to Die

Death is the matter of Allah Almighty, not because of particular objects or others.

However, in reality, some people believe that. As found in the short story “Macan

Kujang Meradang”.

“Lekas, cari kujang-kujang itu. Kalau tidak, aku akan mati. Karena ini adalah

janji, jika ada salah satu orang yang memilikinya tanpa harus memakai

mantera, maka aku akan mati.” (h.114)

“Quickly, find the cleavers (kujang). Otherwise I will die. Because this is a

vow, if there is one person who has it without having to use a spell, then I will

die” (p.114).

Kujang in the above story is the name for the Kris (A special ceremonial knife

from Java). The myth that is believed in that short story is the belief of an object can

lead to a person’s death.

f. The Myth of A Magical Bridge

The existence of particular objects lost in a magical way is also a myth that is believed

by some Banten people. Even though the loss of an object must be because something

has happened. This myth is in the short story “Tolhuis Jembatan Rante”

Atau mungkin ada kekuatan gaib? atau jembatannya pindah sendiri? Mungkin

jembatannya pergi … jembatannya tidak betah di sini …. Mungkin ditelan

bumi…” (h.65)





95

Or maybe there is a magical power? or the bridge moved alone? Maybe the

bridge is gone ... the bridge isn’t comfortable here ... May be swallowed up by

the earth ... “(p.65)

The above story tells about a strange incident that the bridge can disappear. So

that people believe that there is a magical power. This is a myth even though if this

happens in the real world, there is certainly a cause of the loss of the bridge and not

just disappear.

2. Myth and Culture The myth which is already trusted by the community finally becomes the local culture.

This also exists in the short story collection of Banten: Suatu Ketika. The myths that

eventually become culture are as follows.

a. Jampe-Jampe

Jampe-jampe is incantations that is commonly used for certain purposes. For

example, there are people who are sick and then healed. Jampe-jampe was originally

a myth, but because it became a habit, it became a culture for some people in certain

villages. In this short story about appearing in the following quote:

Pohaci, sari ning dzat

Pohaci ulu ning dzat

Dzat kumpuluning hurip (h.18)

These spells are pronounced when you want to slaughter a duck. It is hoped

that this duck will be a blessing in the tradition of “ngaruwat”.

b. Nukuh / Ngaruwat

Ngaruwat comes from the word caring or ngarawat (Sunda), which means collecting

or protecting. In general, the word has the meaning of gathering all community

members and collecting all of the crops, both raw material, half-finished, and ripe.

This is a tradition or culture for some regions in Indonesia, including Banten.

Initially, based on the myth that this event is believed to bring blessings to the

community. Now, this myth has become a tradition or culture.

In this short story, there is a nurturing activity in a short story entitled “Bake

Duck Nyai Pohaci”. The following quote:

“Iya Kang Aang . ngeruwat sawah, biar gak diganggu sama babi dan

siluman-silemin penghuni hutantutupan sana. Selebihnya, ya paling makan-

makan bebek panggang!”(h.15)

“Yes, Kang Aang. ngeruwat rice fields, so it is not to be disturbed by pigs and

stealths the residents of the black forest there. The other, yes, most eat the

roast duck! “(p.15)

c. Teluh

Teluh is a myth about something magical that can harm others. This myth is believed

so that it becomes a belief. This belief is widely used to hurt/harm others, so it is

called “black magic”. Although modern times, there are a few people who still

believe in black magic. Likewise, some Banten people. This is stated in the short

story “Teluh”, following the quote:

Jadi apa yang harus aku lakukan pada sainganmu kali ini? Apakah aku harus

mencuri jantung, paru-paru, atau ginjal? Katakan saja, Nak. Jongrang sudah

lama berpuasa, tentu ia akan senang memakan organ orang kota,” ia mengelus

kepala ularnya. (h.73)

So what should I do with your rival this time? Should I have to steal the heart,

lungs or kidneys? Just say it, boy. Jongrang has been fasting for a long time, of





96

course, he would love to eat the organs of city people, “he stroked his snake’s

head. (P.73)

d. Debus Action Champion

In Banten, Debus is one of the distinctive martial arts, showing extraordinary human

abilities. This ability is insusceptible to sharp weapons, hard water, and some even

dare to chew broken glass.

Kau tau sendiri Banten juga terkenal dengan Mistik debusnya para jawara,

percayakan? (h.83)

You know that Banten itself is also famous for its mystical debus of the

champions, isn’t it? (p.83)

The existence of jampe-jampe, ngaruwat, and teluh was originally a myth, but

because of the public’s trust, it repeatedly occurs so the myth has become a culture

and the community questions it.

3. Community Culture

a. Child Labor

Banten is a developing region. People’s economic conditions are very diverse. Most

of the people are living in poverty. The lack of education and economic needs make

some parents force their children to work. They usually work in terminals, in ports;

some are laborers. The culture of child labor can be seen from several short stories

in this collection which tell of child laborers, namely “Tiga penghuni Kepalaku”,

“Peacock Harbor”, “These Are Anchored”, “The Gurandil Dance”.

“Persetan dengan sekolah! Bos Jaro, Bos Asong, Bos Adung dan puluhan bos

lainnya di kampong kita hanya mengenyam sekolah hanya sampai kelas

empat, cukup ke empat ratus saja mereka sudah kaya raya. Urat kelabang

sedang ramai. Kau harus menjadi gurandil sejati.” (h.123)

“To the hell with the school! Boss Jaro, Boss Asong, Bos Adung and dozens

of other bosses in our village only went to school until fourth grade. It is

enough just for four hundred they were already very rich. Centipede is

crowded. You must become a true gurandil” (p.123).

Child labor in Banten region often occurs. There are many things that have

happened so that it becomes its own culture in an area, especially in suburban areas.

In the short story that tells about child labor, it is also told about the

environment, treatment, and behavior as adverse effects on child labor. An

environment that shows the existence of prostitution, sodomy, until free sex

behavior presented in these short stories.

b. Life as Baduy Communities

There is one area in Banten where the people still keep alive the thoughts of their

ancestors. They live very simply. They are known as “Urang Baduy”. There are two

Baduy itself; they are Baduy inside and Baduy outside. They can be distinguished

from the way they dress and their behavior. The outside Baduy people are wearing

black clothes and have started trading to supply their needs. At the same time, the

inside Baduy people are wearing all-white clothes and did not know anything about

the outside world. They are very obedient to their leaders, called “puun”. They are

the ones who keep alive and carry out the thoughts of their ancestors. They reflect

the culture of the old Banten people who are still awake to this day.

About the life of the Baduy in this short story collection appears in the entitled

“Lembur Singkur” and “Teluh”.

Mereka menamakan diri urang Kanekes. Tapi kau boleh menyebut mereka

Baduy... (h.52)

They call themselves Kanekes people. But you may call them Baduy ... (p.52)





97

c. Boarding Schools

Banten is one of the regions that used to be familiar with the sultanate, so in this

region the Islamic strength is firm. The city of Serang, is known as the city of a

thousand students. Here, we can see how religion and culture are integrated. No

wonder, in Banten, many Boarding Schools are found from the traditional to the

modern school.

Udara Banten sore itu mendadak dingin, langit di atas pondok pesantren

Ma’rifahtullah jadi mendung, sementara di daerah Banten lainnya terlihat

wajar-wajar saja …(h. 82)

The Banten air in this afternoon was suddenly cold, the sky above the

Ma’rifahtullah Islamic boarding school was cloudy, while in other Banten

areas it seemed perfectly natural ... (p. 82)

d. Ubrug Art

Many typical arts of Banten, one of which is mentioned in this short story collection

is Ubrug. Ubrug art is a traditional Banten theater that combines elements of theater,

music, dance and martial arts. These elements are performed in a comedy style.

Ubrug is accompanied by a set of musical instruments such as drum, saron, kempul,

angkeb gong, piul and kecrek.

“Tapi akang tidak kecewa, akang ditawari jadi pemain ubrug. Nanti kamu

nonton ya.” (h.109)

“But I’m not disappointed, I’m offered to be a ubrug player. Please, watch

later” (p.109).

e. Gurandil

Gurandil is a term for illegal gold miners. Economic difficulties and promising

results have made Gurandil as one of the livelihoods of Banten residents living in

mountainous areas.

Ya, itulah Cikotok, sebuah kota kecil berbukit indah menyihir para gurandil

seantero negeri ini. (h.121)

Yes, that’s Cikotok, a small hilly city with beautiful scenery enchanting the

gurandil throughout the country. (p.121)

f. Women become the object

Women were colonized by men for a long time. This is one of the song lyrics. It has

happened. Because of the economic issue and powerlessness, women often become

objects for men. Women were married when they were very young; women were

sold and mistreated for getting money. Things like that also exist in Banten region

and become its own culture. However, now this culture has long been abandoned.

Although this bad culture been abandoned long time ago, but this story is still told in

the short story of “Larva of Time”.

Upi adinda ingat tohokan itu. Tohokan kasar dan tergesa-gesa. Tohokan yang

bersenyawa dengan tangis pilu…. Tangis yang mengubahnya menjadi Nyai

Dasima dalam semalam. (h.145)

Upi adinda remembers the knockout. A rough and hurried figure. Tohokan

compounded with melancholy cries ... The cry that turned him into Nyai

Dasima in a night. (p.145)

Tourism

In the tourism item, the writer divides it based on place and culinary. Those are

inseparable things in the world of tourism. In the novel Banten Suatu Ketika, the writer found

the place’s elements as much as 84% while only 16% of culinary. The following are the

description.





98

1. Banten Tourism Spot

Many tourism spots are available in Banten that can be offered to the tourists. As stated

in the introduction that the literary works are a mirror of life can be a medium for

broadcasts to sell the tourist objects in this area. Similarly, it is offered by a collection of

short stories “Banten: Suatu Ketika”. There are at least 21 tourism places presented in this

short story collection. The sixteen places are as follows:

a. Pelabuhan Merak

b. Sungai Cidanghiyang

c. Terminal Pakupatan

d. Gunung Krakatau

e. Selat Sunda

f. Jembatan Rante

g. Benteng Keraton Surosowan

h. Pemandian Rawa Denok

i. Masjid Angung Banten

j. Banten Girang

k. Kannekes

l. Ujung Kulon

m. Tanah Cibio

n. Gunung Karang

o. Pandeglang

p. Tanjung Lesung

q. Mandalawangi

r. Cikotok

s. Sungai Cimandur

t. Anyer

u. Jalan Raya Pos/Deandles

v. Tasikardi

The authors do not quote all of the above tourism places, but here is one of them

which can be found in the short story “Tolhuis Jembatan Rante”.

“Tak disangka pernyataan pejabat memiliki dampak besar. Daerah-daerah situs di

Banten diperketat penjagaannya. Siang-malam. Turis lokal dan mancanegara

berbondong-bondong dating ke Banten. Ada yang sekadar melihat-lihat puing-puing

Benteng Keraton Surosowan dan pemandian Rawa Denok, lalu mampir ke masjid

Agung. Ada juga yang mengunjungi Tasikardi. Bahkan ada juga yang sampai ziarah

kubur ke Banten Girang. (h.70)

Unexpectedly, the official statement had a big impact. Site areas in Banten have been

tightened. Day and night. Local and foreign tourists flocked to Banten. Some only

looked at the ruins of the Surosowan Fortress and the Rawa Denok baths, then

stopped at the Agung mosque. Some also visited Tasikardi. Some even go to the

grave of pilgrimage to Banten Girang. (p.70)

This short story presents several tourism spots in Banten Province. In the quote above

there are tourist spots namely the Surosowan Palace Fortress, the Rawa Denok baths, the

Great Mosque, Tasikardi, and the Banten Girang pilgrimage site.

There is no less interesting, it is some of the other short stories that also tell about the

beach tourism objects such as Tanjung Lesung. It is one of the beautiful beach resorts

located in Pandeglang, Tanjung Jata, in Panimbang sub-district, Pandeglang Regency,

Banten Province. The position of this beach is in the western part of Pandeglang district

and has an area of around 150 Ha. Tanjung Lesung beach is a famous tourist spot for its

beautiful scenery.





99

2. Banten Special Culinary In addition, in presenting the information about tourist places, the collection of short

stories of Banten: Suatu Ketika, also presented some information that can be targeted as

culinary tourism. It is not much indeed, but food such as papais, jojorong, roast duck, and

rabeg are the typical food from Banten for a long time.

a. Papais

Papais cake is a kind of food made from rice flour with sliced of banana in it, wrapped

in banana leaves and then steamed it.

b. Jojorong

Jojorong cake is like a white marrow porridge with a soft and melted texture. The

savory salty taste found in the porridge is combined with liquid brown sugar to get a

naturally sweet taste. The following excerpts of the short story “Candiru” which

informs the special culinary of Banten:

Beberapa diantaranya dengan bahan seadanya langsung membuat kue-kue;

papais, jojorong, dan kue-kue lainnya. (h.38)

Some of them with simple ingredients directly make cakes; papais, jojorong,

and other cakes. (p.38)

c. Roast Duck

Roast duck or duck satay is a special food menu of Banten. In other areas, most of

the menu for making satay are chicken, goat, or beef while in Banten there is duck

satay. The processing method is the same way with another satay. The roast duck

food is included in the short story “Roast Duck of Nyai Pohaci”

“Iya Kang Aang. Ngeruwat sawah, biar gak diganggu sama babi dan siluman-

silemin penghuni hutantutupan sana. Selebihnya, ya paling makan-makan

bebek panggang!” (h.15)

“Yes, Kang Aang. ngeruwat rice fields, so it is not to be disturbed by pigs and

stealths the residents of black forest there. The other, yes, most eat the roast

duck! “(p.15)

d. Rabeg

Rabeg is a unique Banten food made from goat. All parts of the goat from meat to

offal cooked with various spices, especially chili and ginger to get the sensation of

spicy. The rabeg food is included in the short story “Cula Karo”

“Sampai kapan kamu mau dagang rabeg?” (h.102)

“Until when do you want to sell rabeg?” (p.102)

CONCLUSION

Literature as an artwork through this research is able to be a part of the efforts to

disseminate interesting information from an area. A collection of short stories, “Banten: Suatu

Ketika” through the background presented is able to show the information on various tourist

destinations. In addition, this short story also provides cultural information for the people of

Banten, including its variety of culinary.

The collection of the short story “Banten: Suatu Ketika” informs about the culture of

Banten people which is by the researcher divided into three parts, namely myth got 14.63%,

myth and culture got 9.76%, and culture got 14.63%. While tourism information is by

researcher divided into two parts, namely tourist information as much as 51.22%, and culinary

as much as 9.76%.

Finally, the literary work is a reflection of life which indirectly provides knowledge about

the places of tourism and the culture of the community described by the author in the story.

This collection of short stories is able to invite readers to enjoy the beautiful scenery and

the culture of Banten. Thus it is proven that literary works can support the world of tourism.





100

REFERENCES Castle, Gregory. 2007. The Blackwell Guide to Literary Theory. Australia: Blackwell Publishing.

Emzir dan Saifur Rohman. 2015. Teori dan Pengajaran Sastra. Jakarta: RajaGrafindo Persada.

Hall, C. Michael. et.all. 2004. A Companion to Tourism.”Tourism: Conceptualizations, Institutions, and

Issues” Edit: Alan A. Lew et.all. USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Harvey, Daina Cheyenne. 2007. Tourism, Culture and Regeneration.” (Re)Creating Culture through

Tourism: Black Heritage Sites in New Jersey”. Edit: Melanie K. SmithUK. Trowbridge: Cromwell

Press.

Hendrix, Harald. 2009.Literary Tourism and Nineteenth-Century Culture.” from Early Modern to

Romantic Literary Tourism: A Diachronical Perspective”. Edit: Nicola J. Watson. New York:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Mahayana, Maman S. 2005. Jawaban Sastra Indonesia Sebuah Orientasi Kritik. Jakarta: Bening.

Stetz, Margaret D. 2009. Literary Tourism and Nineteenth-Century Culture. “Selling Literary Tourism

in The Bookman”. Edit: Nicola J. Watson. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Tampubolon,Jery.https://www.kompasiana.com/jerytampubolon/55178286813311a0669de96d/kesuru

pan-adalah-penyakit-bukan-mistis 25 Juni 2015.

Westover, Paul. 2009. Literary Tourism and Nineteenth-Century Culture. “How America ‘Inherited’

Literary Tourism”. Edit: Nicola J. Watson. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.





101

HOMOSEXUAL RESPONSES IN SEMARANG CITY

TOWARDS ANDREI AKSANA’S LELAKI TERINDAH NOVEL

Alfian Rokhmansyah

Universitas Mulawarman, Indonesia

Graduate School, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia

Email: [email protected]

Agus Nuryatin

Universitas Mulawarman, Indonesia

Graduate School, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia


ABSTRACT

This study aims to reveal the responses of homosexual men in the city of Semarang to the novel

Lelaki Terindah by Andrei Aksana and the views of Thai and Indonesian people on homosexual

life, as reflected in Lelaki Terindah. A receptive approach was used in this study and was

combined with the sociological approach to literature. The respondents of this study were six

homosexual men in Semarang City who were selected based on predetermined criteria. The

data collection technique was done by interview and note-taking method. The data analysis

technique in this research is descriptive. The results of this study indicate that homosexuals in

the city of Semarang give a positive response to Andrei Aksana’s novel Lelaki Terindah,

especially to the lives of homosexuals in the novel. The message that each respondent received

after reading the novel Lelaki Terindah was generally the same, namely that genuine and true

love is also owned by homosexual couples even though love is prohibited. Therefore, the

reception produced by readers who have the same background as the story in the novel will

generally be positive. Readers will accept the facts in the novel. The view of Thai society

towards homosexuals, as reflected in Lelaki Terindah by Andrei Aksana, is more favorable than

the view of Indonesian society. In Thailand, homosexuals have the freedom to live, while in

Indonesia, homosexuals lack freedom due to customs, norms, and applicable laws.

Keywords: reader responses, homosexuals, the city of Semarang, homosexual novels

INTRODUCTION Literary works, especially novels, are increasingly in demand by many people because

their existence offers more life problems. One of them is by raising issues that were once

considered taboo and disrespectful by the community and then packaged in work worthy of the

public’s enjoyment. Nowadays, novels with the theme of sexuality have emerged, which were

previously deemed inappropriate to appear as a novel theme. Several authors have used this

theme of sexuality as a means of boosting the popularity of their novels. The theme of

homosexuality is an example of sexuality, which is now in great demand by authors to appear

in novels.

Homosexuality is same-sex relations, or a feeling of attraction and love for the same sex

(Kartono, 1989). Homosexuality is considered a sexual orientation or choice directed to a

person or people of the same sex or emotional and sexual attraction to a person or people of the

same sex (Oetomo, 2001). Homosexuality is not following the conditions of Indonesian society

because it is considered deviant and not following religious and cultural norms. Even some

religions in Indonesia prohibit and prohibit homosexual relationships because they violate

human nature. Also, several Indonesian authors have indirectly helped homosexuals to get out

of the shackles of shame. Several Indonesian novels have also discussed homosexual themes,

which reveal the lives of homosexuals.





102

The novel that became the media for this research was the Lelaki Terindah (2004)by

Andrei Aksana. This novel tells the life of a couple of homosexual men from their meeting until

their separation. This novel is a homosexual themed novel that openly takes the theme of

homosexuality so that the entire content tells homosexuals’ lives. Andrei Aksana openly tells

the love life of homosexual couples, from their daily lives to the urge to have same-sex sexual

relations.

Apart from revealing the love life of a homosexual couple, this novel also provides

information related to the process of changing the sexual orientation of a man from heterosexual

to homosexual. The author describes the process of changing a man’s sexual orientation to

becoming a homosexual man. The changes that occur in the main character are depicted through

inner conflicts and conflicts with other characters, namely the homosexual partner of the main

character.

In Lelaki Terindah, the author presents a reflection of the reality of homosexuals’ lives.

This novel contains the lives of a homosexual couple who have love in two countries, namely

Thailand and Indonesia. The difference in the views of Thai and Indonesian people impacts the

relationship of the homosexual couple. The difference in perspective between Thai and

Indonesian people is the main attraction of Lelaki Terindah and the author’s ability to reveal

the love lives of homosexuals. This novel is also the initiator of movements that encourage the

courage of homosexuals to show themselves to society.

This novel attempts to provide a complete picture that homosexual problems nowadays

are starting to become real. This novel also seeks to change and rationalize the general public’s

thinking to accept the presence of homosexuals. The depiction of the love life of homosexuals

in this novel is one of the attractions of homosexuals to read it. Readers of Lelaki Terindah who

come from homosexuals, respond positively and negatively to the novel’s contents. Readers

who receive information and give meaning to a literary work get special attention from literary

experts. About the reader as the recipient of the information and the giver of meaning, it is

necessary to discuss the reader’s reception to the novel he is reading.

The objectives of this study were (1) how the response of homosexuals in the city of

Semarang to Andrei Aksana’s novel Lelaki Terindah, and (2) how the views of Thai and

Indonesian people towards homosexual life are reflected in Lelaki Terindah novel.

Readers are a group that assesses, enjoys, interprets, and understands literary works.

The reader can determine his fate and role in terms of literary history and aesthetics. The

reception of a work with its understanding and judgment cannot be examined apart from its

historical framework as manifested in each reader’s expectations horizon. It is only about

readers that literary works get their meaning and function (Jauss, 1983).

The intended reader’s experience indicates that the text of a literary work offers various

effects to readers who vary in terms of their experiences in each period or era of reading.

Different readings over different periods will show different effects. The reader’s experience

will create a harmonious orchestration between the reader’s new response and the text that

brings him to the reader’s reading activity. In this case, the history of literature does not depend

on the organization of literary facts but is built on the literary experience that the reader has

over previous experiences (Jauss, 1983; Rokhmansyah, 2014).

This study utilizes the reception theory to express the reader’s view of literature.

Reception theory puts the reader’s position on something important. Reception can be said to

be a theory that examines literary texts by starting with the reader who gives reactions or

responses to the literary text. The difference in responses between one reader and another reader

is caused by differences in the expectations horizon of each reader. Jauss revealed that every

literary research, in general, must be historical, meaning that the research at the reception of a

work with its understanding and judgment cannot be researched independently from its





103

historical framework as manifested from the horizon of the expectations of each reader (Jauss,

1983; Nuryatin, 1998).

According to Jauss, the expectation horizon of each literary reader is influenced by

several things, including: (1) the reader’s knowledge of literary genres; (2) knowledge and

understanding of literary themes and forms through their reading experiences; (3) knowledge

and understanding of the contradiction between literary language and everyday language or

non-literary language in general; and (4) shadow reader hearing. Four points were determined

by the general norms that came out of the text read. Besides, the reader’s knowledge and

experience, or all of the text previously read, also affected him. Furthermore, the reader’s ability

to understand new texts, both from literary expectations and knowledge of life, also influences

the readers’ expectations horizon (Jauss, 1983).

The meeting between the reader and the literary text causes the reader to interpret the text

as subjective, which results in recognizing the meaning of the text. In responding to literary

works, readers always form aesthetic elements by meeting between the horizon of expectations,

the form of the text, and prevailing literary norms. As the giver of meaning, readers will always

be determined by space, time, social class, culture, and experience. Their knowledge

background is different, so the result of acceptance and response is different. This situation

shows a symptom that in the act of reading there is a dialogue interaction between the reader

and the text he is reading which in turn creates various meanings (Jauss, 1983; Nuryatin, 1998).

METHOD This research is qualitative research with a receptive approach and sociology of literature.

The respondents used in this study were six homosexual men in Semarang (SM, YD, OM, AR,

VR, and MG). The latter met the requirements of having read the novel Lelaki Terindah and

guaranteed the confidentiality of the respondent’s identity. The data used are in the form of

respondents’ utterances regarding their responses to Andrei Aksana’s novel Lelaki Terindah.

Other data used are sentences or statements in the novel, which contain information or

descriptions of homosexual life. Data were collected using interview techniques to obtain reader

response data and note-taking techniques to obtain novel quotations. Data analysis was carried

out using a descriptive method, namely by describing the problems that became the topic in this

study from the data sources obtained so that a more detailed discussion can be obtained.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Reader’s Response to the Novel

In this study, homosexuals in Semarang’s city responded and assessed the novel Lelaki

Terindah by Andrei Aksana, which is one of the first homosexual novels to appear. The

responses given by homosexuals in this study focused on responses to homosexual life in novels

and their suitability with the reader’s life. In addition to responding, homosexuals in the city of

Semarang also provide a general assessment of the novel Lelaki Terindah according to the

reader’s knowledge and impressions after reading the novel.

The responses that appear by each respondent to the contents of the story of this novel are

generally different. Of the six respondents who were asked for information about the contents

of the stories in Lelaki Terindah, they generally accepted the contents of the author’s stories,

meaning that they responded positively to the stories in the novel. They think the story is

exciting and moving. It can be seen from the accounts of each respondent.

According to SM, the story in Lelaki Terindah is considered attractive because it can

provide a clear depiction of same-sex relationships. This affects the reader to enjoy and

experience the aesthetic experience in reading the story and follow every story that happens.

SM also obtained information and experiences when reading this novel. He revealed that he is





104

currently still experiencing a raging mental state. She still has a love for a man she admires. He

felt that this novel gave him input on how to have same-sex relationships in terms of affection.

VR revealed that when he read this novel, he was still unfamiliar with the gay world. He

is still in the early stages of being introduced to gay life. When he reads Lelaki Terindah, he

can feel every conflict that arises and participate in the storyline. In a new condition in the gay

world, this can be information about the gay world. According to VR, there are now many

novels with the same theme as Lelaki Terindah, namely homosexual themes. Therefore, when

VR reread this novel, he felt that this novel was less enjoyable. VR experience can be caused

by the emergence of a new novel, although the novel Lelaki Terindah never reached the height

of glory.

YD revealed that the story’s contents in this novel are interesting because they do not

only present one story, namely the homosexual love story. Therefore, the monotony of the story

does not occur. This novel also presents a conflict between homosexual couples and their

environment. Every conflict that is presented in this novel is closely related to the plot used by

the author. The author emphasizes the storyline, especially on the parts considered to create

conflict because it can affect the reader’s attractiveness.

The author deliberately makes the plot back and forth to create readers’ interest in the

novel that the author creates. According to Foster, the plot displays events that contain a conflict

that can attract or even grip the reader (Nurgiyantoro, 2013). It is what encourages the reader

to know the next things.

YD is interested in the back and forth plot made by the author of the novel Lelaki

Terindah. Furthermore, the author is not monotonous in telling every story presented, namely

by presenting stories and other conflicts. The author uses the sad ending in Lelaki Terindah at

the end of the story. The author’s desire to kill the character Valent will influence the reader as

a connoisseur of the novel.

It is different from VR, which likes the ending in Lelaki Terindah. MG revealed that he

was less interested in the way the author ended his story. MG said that he prefers the way the

author ends the story hanging up so that readers are allowed to reveal the ending themselves. It

illustrates how the effect of each story the author does on the novel on the reader. Every inch

of the story that is presented will give each reader a different aesthetic feeling.

According to OM, the author can describe the lives of homosexuals that often occur in

society, especially in Indonesian society. However, the author tells more about the lives of

homosexuals abroad. OM is not happy with the way authors tell stories that use too many

foreign settings. OM prefers to use a background in Indonesia. OM’s statement regarding his

displeasure with foreign settings was expressed when he was asked his response regarding the

use of place settings in the novel. OM revealed that the use of place settings in Lelaki Terindah

is too much.

In line with OM, AR also revealed that place settings in the novel are too excessive.

According to AR, the use of place settings, which are mostly abroad, is not necessarily able to

help readers to imagine it. An overseas setting can hinder the readers’ imagination when reading

a novel. This is due to the readers’ lack of knowledge of the setting being used. According to

AR, the use of place settings in Thailand is very appropriate because Thailand is a country

known for its homosexual world. The homosexual life in Thailand is well known throughout

Southeast Asia. Using Thailand as a setting for places other than Indonesia is a positive value

for the novel. Readers will gain insight into a country that provides openness to homosexuals

in Southeast Asia.

The story in a novel cannot be separated from the character who builds the story. Each

character has characterizing characteristics that differ from one character to another. Character

characteristics created by the author in the novel generate readers’ interest in a character.





105

In this novel Lelaki Terindah, several characters fill the story, namely Rafky, Valent, the

author, Valent’s mother, Rafky’s father and mother, Rhea, and Kinan. Each character in this

novel has different characteristics. Each reader has their view of the characters that appear in a

story. This has led to different responses regarding the characters and characterizations in Lelaki

Terindah. This difference is due to the forms of attitude that each character displays that can

influence the reader’s interest in the character. Not only the actions that each character appears

in dealing with existing conflicts but also about the nature and character of each character.

Of the six respondents who were asked for their responses to the characters in this novel,

they were more likely to express their interest in Rafky and Valent’s characters. However, there

was one respondent who preferred the character, Rhea. According to SM, the author provides

a clear description of each character. He explained that the author of this novel is smart and

knows the gay world to create the right characters. AR revealed that the characters in Lelaki

Terindah could bring out the gay characters perfectly. This will impact readers so that they can

imagine gay figures and romance between men and men. MG also revealed that Rafky and

Valent’s characters in Lelaki Terindah could carry out their respective roles. Rafky has a male

role, while Valent has a female role. OM revealed that the figures Rafky and Valent were an

inseparable unit. They balance each other.

Unlike the other five respondents, VR stated that the prominent figure was Rhea. Rhea is

Rafky’s fiancé and wants to make sacrifices for Rafky. He tries to return Rafky to his original

state by bringing in a gigolo to have sexual relations with him and Rafky. According to VR, all

the characters would act like Rhea if they were in Rhea’s position. VR also salutes Rafky’s

mother, who is willing to accept her child’s condition.

The messages obtained from each respondent are almost the same. They generally admit

that there is true love in homosexual life. However, it is difficult for them to find. Generally,

they get the message about living a same-sex love life. Every love life will always experience

obstacles, especially same-sex love stories that are considered taboo by society.

Homosexual love life is difficult to live. There are many obstacles to living it. Besides,

true love is not only for ordinary people in general, but people who have sexual disorders also

still have true love, even though few have it. This was expressed by the respondent, SM, who

is a high school student. He revealed that in living a love story like this, one must be able to

fight the obstacles that arise.

Unlike SM, VR reads the Lelaki Terindah novel to enjoy it and not to get the message.

Even though his goal was only to enjoy it, there was a little message he got after reading the

novel. VR said that loving someone must be sincere, as expressed by the character in the novel

Lelaki Terindah. People who love sincerely and uncertainly make no difference. Those who

love their partners sincerely, even if they love the same sex, will make more sacrifices.

YD also revealed almost the same thing as VR. YD said that if someone loves someone

must be sincere, it means not looking at it from a physical and material perspective. He

expressed that loving people must be from his heart. Love will not develop if it is based on

physical and material attraction because it is just lust. OM also expressed the same thing with

YD and VR. Lessons about the meaning of sincere love will be obtained after reading the novel

Lelaki Terindah. According to OM, true love is not only owned by male and female partners

but also owned by male and male partners, as evidenced by Rafky and Valent.

This novel teaches a lesson that every love has its specifications. Although love includes

forbidden love, which is same-sex love, it still has sincerity. From the facts in society, love

stories in homosexual relationships that give rise to lasting and sincere love are rarely

encountered. They only think physically and materially because they only need sex and

satisfaction.

Cerita dalam novel Lelaki Terindah merupakan penggambaran kehidupan percintaan

kaum homoseksual. Kondisi lingkungan dari pasangan homoseksual dalam cerita masih





106

menjunjung tinggi adat ketimuran yang menganggap hubungan homoseksual merupakan hal

yang tabu dan salah. Oleh karena itu, cerita yang ada di dalam novel ini dianggap salah dan

menyimpang dari adat.

Pesan moral yang disampaikan pengarang dalam cerita homoseksual yang tertuang dalam

novel Lelaki Terindah ini sangat berpengaruh pada kehidupan homoseksual. Keanekaragaman

jawaban yang dilontarkan oleh masing-masing responden terkait pesan moral yang mereka

tangkap dari novel. SM mengakui jika ia mengalami cinta homoseksual dan sedang berpacaran

menjalin hubungan seorang laki-laki. Cinta homoseksual merupakan cinta yang banyak

hambatan. Sesuai dengan penuturannya, cinta sejati tidak hanya dimiliki oleh seseorang dengan

lawan jenisnya. Kaumnya, yaitu kaum homoseksual, juga mempunyai cinta sejati, walaupun

umumnya homoseksual masih mementingkan hubungan seksual.

VR revealed that he could not have a real love relationship with his homosexual partner.

It had not occurred to her to go too far into same-sex relationships. He went through the

relationship without thinking too far because he thought this same-sex relationship should be

passed casually. YD revealed that he was still looking for real love in the homosexual world.

According to him, he had experienced great hurt towards his homosexual partner in the past.

Therefore, he did not want to rush to find a replacement for his former homosexual partner.

There are various reasons behind the reading of the novel Lelaki Terindah. Most of them

are curious about the novel Lelaki Terindah. According to OM, he read this novel because he

was curious. Besides, he also received a recommendation from his girlfriend to read this novel.

The same thing was also expressed by YD and AR, who were curious about this novel, so they

were interested in reading it. It is different from MG, VG, and SM, who read this novel because

a friend recommended it. From his friend’s story, then they were interested in reading it.

In general, the assessment of homosexuals represented by the four respondents who were

asked to evaluate the novel Lelaki Terindah was positive. They accepted this novel with various

considerations. Besides, they also have similarities in terms of sexual orientation. They

considered that the author could present a good depiction and storytelling in the novel Lelaki

Terindah.

YD revealed that he read the novel Lelaki Terindah apart from being interested in his

friend’s story, who had read it. Another reason for reading this novel was because of his sexual

orientation as a homosexual. Besides, it is also to add insight into the world of homosexuals.

YD’s assessment is based on the form of the narrative done by the author. In the novel Lelaki

Terindah, the author makes the novel’s stories as if they are the books of a true story. The author

includes the novel author’s character in the storyline so that it is as if the author is involved in

the novel. According to YD, some of the novels he had read, apart from the novel Lelaki

Terindah, the stories presented seemed monotonous. The novels do not make an impression and

make people always read them. YD also revealed that few novels dare to address homosexual

issues.

According to VR, this novel could initially rank at the top when compared to other

homosexual themed novels. However, this novel is currently less attractive because there are

many novels with similar themes. Several blogs have also appeared discussing homosexual

issues. Meanwhile, according to OM, Lelaki Terindah luxuriously tells about life compared to

other novels; for example, Pria Terakhir by Gusnaldi. In Pria Terakhir, the reader can integrate

into the story because all the settings used are in Indonesia.

The assessment of homosexuals is also influenced by the suitability of the story with the

reality experienced by homosexuals. According to some respondents, it is rare for homosexual

life in Indonesia to resemble homosexual life in the novel Lelaki Terindah. According to OM,

not all homosexuals come from the upper class, as told in the novel. OM believes that most

homosexual couples in Indonesia come from ordinary economic circles. This is what causes the

difference between the story in the novel and the reality. According to him, the love life between





107

Rafky and Valent happens a lot in the lives of homosexuals in general, but some are just for

fun. Generally, only limited to looking for fun, and a relationship will not last long.

The responses given by SM are almost the same as those given by OM. According to SM,

generally, homosexuals only prioritize sex. Few homosexual couples have true love. AR also

revealed that the love story in the novel depicts the loyalty of a homosexual couple. Yet in real

life, only one in a hundred experiences loyalty in a homosexual relationship. According to MG,

the story in the novel does not match the reality a little. Generally, homosexuals admit

themselves as homosexuals to fellow homosexuals. However, in the story, there is a difference

made by Rafky, namely his denial of his homosexual nature.

The suitability of the story in the novel with homosexual life cannot be separated from

the respondent’s personal life. Some respondents revealed that they had never experienced love,

as expressed in the novel. They are still looking for loyalty in their homosexual relationship.

Views of Thai and Indonesian Society on Homosexuals

From the results of the researcher’s survey on the lives of the respondents, the researcher

concluded that two aspects were highlighted in the lives of homosexuals in the city of

Semarang. First, since they first met homosexuals, they immediately asked whether they wanted

to have sexual relations or not. Second, at the beginning of their acquaintance, they talked about

more serious relationship problems, even though they ended up having sexual relations after

they dated. This condition may occur in homosexual life in other areas.

According to researchers’ observations, homosexual life generally prioritizes sexual

relations even though it is based on affection and love. They were initially looking for a partner

to become a boyfriend. However, they will not leave the habit of dating gay people, namely

sexual intercourse. Some homosexuals only want to have sexual relations with their

homosexual partners. However, only as a substitute because he does not want to be seen as the

type of homosexual who quickly has sexual relations without bondage.

True love or love to die in homosexual life is rare in Indonesia. Homosexuals in Indonesia

still prioritize sexuality over affection and love. The eternal love story revealed in the novel

Lelaki Terindah is rarely found in Indonesia. Homosexuals in Indonesia are generally still afraid

to speak up about marrying their homosexual partners because Indonesia still prohibits same-

sex marriage, in contrast to the Netherlands, which has legalized same-sex marriage. This

condition underlies homosexuals in Indonesia to keep changing partners and prioritizing sexual

relations. A real example in Indonesia, who has been married, is Philip, who came from

Yogyakarta. He is married to Wim, a journalist for NOS News Television, a private television

station in the Netherlands. Philip and Wim were married at the Roman Catholic Church of St.

Joseph and were married by Pastor O. Swijnenberg.1

The homosexual life in the novel Lelaki Terindah is a depiction of homosexual life who

wants to get recognition from the public and wants to admire the household ark like any other

normal human being. However, this rarely happens in real life, especially in Indonesia, even

though same-sex relations have been legalized in some countries, including in Thailand.

Homosexual life abroad is different from that in Indonesia. In this novel, it is stated that

homosexuals in Thailand have their place or area so that they do not interfere with the majority

Buddhist community’s activities. In Thailand, a particular area is provided for homosexuals.

Even the Netherlands has been given freedom regarding homosexual life. Homosexuals in the

Netherlands are allowed to build a household, which means that the Dutch government permits

homosexual couples to marry.

The life of homosexuals in Thailand is different from Indonesia. Homosexuals in

Thailand have the freedom to live. The Thai government has taken a gray stance towards the

marriage of homosexual couples. Many homosexual couples who come from other countries

1http://augustaracing.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/iblis-itu-bernama-homosexual-part-1/





108

enter into same-sex marriages in Thailand. Marriages occur at places of worship for Thai

Buddhists because the spouse comes from a native homosexual circle(Bhikkhu, 2005).

Changes in attitudes and public policy towards LGBT issues began to occur in Thailand

during the 1990s and, in particular, in the early part of the 21st century. That law does not

criminalize homosexuality or explicitly prohibit discrimination based on abnormalities in

sexual orientation and gender identity. However, they also do not have provisions that explicitly

identify their condition as people who have sexual orientation disorders and different gender

identities (Suriyasarn, 2014; Triyono, 2016). In 2015, Thailand enacted comprehensive anti-

discrimination laws covering sexual orientation and gender identity. As of 2019, a civil

partnership bill is being discussed by the Thai Parliament, which, if passed, would grant same-

sex couples several of the rights of marriage, notably property and inheritance rights, but not

rights to public welfare, tax benefits, or adoption (Limsamarnphun, 2018; Rujivanarom, 2018).

In Lelaki Terindah, several parts indicate a particular area for homosexuals. Rafky and

Valent’s lodging location after they left the hotel Valent to stay was a select location for

homosexuals.

Rafky menyibak tirai jendela dengan antusias. Di bawah sana tampak deretan a

go-go boys bar, yang setiap malam menyuguhkan pertunjukkan penari telanjang

laki-laki. Beberapa pria tampan berbadan kekar dan berotot tampak mulai

berkumpul di luar bar. Saling memancarkan pesona diri untuk menarik

perhatian turis yang lalu-lalang.(Aksana, 2004, pp. 105–106).

[Rafky pushed back the window, blind with enthusiasm. Below there are rows

of go-go boys bars, which every night present shows of male strippers. Several

handsome men with muscular builds appeared to have gathered outside the bar.

They are exuding self-charm to attract the attention of tourists passing by.]

From the quote above, it can be seen that the location of Rafky and Valent’s inn is in a

particular area for homosexuals, as evidenced by the existence of a row of bars specifically for

men or what is known as a go-go boys bar. In Bangkok, there are more than 60 gay bars and

sex houses. The gay bar-gar features male erotic dance. Each Thai man wore only underwear

and took turns dancing on the podium to attract the visitors’ attention. Each dancer uses a

number to make it easier for visitors to identify the dancer they want.

In Thailand, many areas openly show homosexuality. Many men openly look at other

men. Look at each other to signal interest. Regions in several regions of Thailand cannot be

separated from exceptional views for the Indonesian people. Many male and male couples hold

hands, hug, and kiss in public. This situation can be seen in the following quote.

Lagi pula di sini keganjilan menjadi lazim. Sesama lelaki bergandengan tangan

di jalan umum, berpelukan. Berciuman. Mendemonstrasikan cinta mereka

dengan vulgar (Aksana, 2004, p. 134).

[Here, anyway, the odds become prevalent. Fellow men are holding hands-on

public roads, hugging. Kissing. They are demonstrating their love in a vulgar

manner.]

The phenomenon of homosexual freedom in Thailand is well known throughout the

country. Many websites on the internet provide information about the phenomenon of

homosexual life in Thailand. There are even several internet sites that provide information on





109

sex tourism locations specifically for homosexuals. That is reinforced by one respondent’s

statement, who revealed that Thailand is the center of gays in Southeast Asia.

From the description above, it can be seen that Thai society gives a complementary view

of the existence of homosexuals, which is evidenced by the author of several parts of the story

that shows the freedom of homosexual life in Thailand. The Thai government gives

homosexuals the freedom to develop and open entertainment venues in several regions in

Thailand.

The views of Thai society reflected in the novel are in stark contrast to the views of

Indonesian society. Homosexual behavior in Indonesia is still considered taboo and not by

society’s prevailing norms because Indonesian people still uphold eastern customs. Indonesia

is also influenced by Javanese culture, which has regulations on every human behavior.

The existence of homosexuals in Indonesian society is still considered a social problem

because homosexuals are still not accepted by society. Society assumes that homosexuality is

a deviant behavior that is not by human habits. In Indonesia, this group is a minority group, but

it is still more than the lesbian. The existence of homosexuals often comes under pressure from

other parties who disagree with their existence. Homosexuals try to show their existence in

society to be accepted and live peacefully in the community. Homosexuality is behavior that is

not by the conditions of Indonesian society because it is considered deviant and not by religious

and cultural norms. Even some religions in Indonesia prohibit and prohibit homosexual

relationships because they violate human nature.

Homosexuals today are no longer shy about admitting themselves as homosexuals. This

condition is considered normal because the development of technology, such as the internet,

has made these people in one hemisphere feel the same fate as homosexuals in other parts of

the world. They support each other and defend their people in various ways. They set up

associations whose goal is to fight for their people’s rights, especially at the legal level, so that

they can legally marry. Homosexuals seem to get a breath of fresh air when their people get

support from various parties. Not only dominated by celebrities who clearly cannot be

accounted for by their lifestyle. Intellectuals have started to catch this disease.

The life of the community in Lelaki Terindah is a depiction of the life of the Indonesian

people who show obedience and still uphold eastern customs. This situation was seen when

Rafky and Valent returned to Indonesia. Valent and Rafky’s family environment cannot accept

the fact that they choose to have same-sex relationships.

From Rafky’s family side, his father cannot accept and kick Rafky out of the house

because Rafky’s father thinks Rafky’s behavior has damaged the family’s right name. Rafky’s

father does not want to think of Rafky as a member of his family anymore. Besides that, there

was also rejection from Rafky’s fiancé, Rhea. He did not expect Rafky to choose to leave him

and have a relationship with another man. Meanwhile, Rafky’s mother accepts the condition of

her child freely. He considers Rafky’s behavior to be his fault in educating his child. Unlike

Rafky’s mother, Valent’s mother cannot accept the relationship between her child and Rafky.

He tries to revive Valent by limiting his meetings with Rafky until finally, Valent falls ill.

Valent has tried to convince his mother if he needs a male figure in his life that he never got

since he was little.

The description above shows that the view of the Indonesian people is less optimistic

about the existence of homosexuals. The view of society that does not support the existence of

homosexuality in Indonesia is due to the influence of customs, religious norms, and applicable

laws. This condition is clearly expressed in the novel.





110

CONCLUSION

Based on the research conducted, two conclusions can be drawn. First, homosexuals in

the city of Semarang gave a positive response to Andrei Aksana’s novel Lelaki Terindah,

especially on the lives of homosexuals in the novel. The message obtained by each respondent

after reading the novel Lelaki Terindah is generally the same, namely genuine and true love is

also owned by homosexual couples even though love is forbidden. This fact shows that the

reception caused by the reader with the same background as the story in the novel will generally

be positive, meaning that the reader will accept the facts in the novel. Second, the view of Thai

society towards homosexuals, as reflected in the novel Lelaki Terindah by Andrei Aksana, is

more favorable than Indonesian society’s views. In Thailand, homosexuals get the freedom to

live, while in Indonesia, homosexuals are less free because of the influence of customs, norms,

and applicable laws.

REFERENCES Aksana, A. (2004). Lelaki Terindah. Jakarta: Gramedia.

Bhikkhu, M. (2005, July 13). Religion and Same-sex Marriage. The Bangkok Post. Retrieved from

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,1429,0,0,1,0

Jauss, H. R. (1983). Toward an Aesthetic of Receptions. Mineapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Kartono, K. (1989). Psikologi Abnormal dan Abnormalitas Seksual. Bandung: Mandar Maju.

Limsamarnphun, N. (2018, November 23). More Rights for Same-sex Couples. The Nation. Retrieved

from https://www.nationthailand.com/national/30359180

Nurgiyantoro, B. (2013). Teori Pengkajian Fiksi. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.

Nuryatin, A. (1998). Resepsi Estetis Pembaca Atas Sri Sumarah dan Bawuk Karya Umar Kayam. Lingua

Artistik, 21(2), 130–141.

Oetomo, D. (2001). Memberi Suara pada yang Bisu. Yogyakarta: Galang Press.

Rokhmansyah, A. (2014). Studi dan Pengkajian Sastra: Perkenalan Awal terhadap Ilmu Sastra.

Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu.

Rujivanarom, P. (2018, November 29). New Partnership Bill ‘Does not Give Everybody Equal Rights.’

The Nation. Retrieved from https://www.nationthailand.com/national/30359548

Suriyasarn, B. (2014). Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation in Thailand. Retrieved from

http://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/2015/486318.pdf

Triyono, N. (2016). Isu Perkawinan Minoritas di Thailand. De Jure: Jurnal Hukum Dan Syar’iah, 8(1),

38–47. https://doi.org/10.18860/j-fsh.v8i1.3728





111

LANDSCAPE AND THE SILENCE OF COLONIALISM NARRATIVE

IN THE FIRST SUNDANESE NOVEL (1914)

Asep Yusup Hudayat

Universitas Padjadjaran


Lina Meilinawati



Teddi Muhtadin



ABSTRACT

The landscape (nature and domestic space) in the first Sundanese novel (1914) Baruang ka nu

Ngarora” Poison for the Youth”, which was published during the colonial period of the Dutch

East Indies, can be interpreted as ambiguous, which has the potential to show a palimpsest. The

reasons are (1) the landscape (especially nature) in the novel has an atmosphere of silence, (2)

the atmosphere cannot be interpreted as peaceful, but how the problems surrounding the

practice of colonialism are likely to be hidden, diverted, or even interpreted, and (3 ) the

landscape has the potential as a layered text based on memory traces inherent in narratives about

the changing natural landscapes and domestic space. Thus, this study aims to uncover the

potential of landscapes as areas of hiding, diversifying, and suppressing the narratives of

colonialism. The approach used for this purpose is postcolonial. From a postcolonial

perspective, Loomba (2003: 92-93) states that literature is also an important means of taking,

reversing, or opposing the dominant colonial means and ideologies. This study also uses the

palimpsest concept to show the overlapping phenomenon of pre-colonial and colonial narratives

in the natural landscape and domestic space, which indicates the hidden narrative of colonialism

behind this background. The result of this research is the silence of the narrative of colonialism

in the background of natural landscapes and domestic space which is constructed as hiding and

transferring of colonialism narratives.

Keywords: landscape; palimpsest; colonialism; Sundanese novel

BACKGROUND

Baruang ka nu Ngarora ‘Poison of the Youth’ (shortened BN) by D.K. Ardiwinata is the

first Sundanese novel published in 1914. Although BN is placed as an aesthetically successful

work (Rosidi, 1996:), this work still leaves ample space for reading regarding the influence of

colonialism on the work, including the absence of a narrative of colonialism. In this work, the

narrative is brought into the indigenous class’s internal conflict: destroying the “commoner-

nobility”. Colonialism discourses appear “silent” in the work. This silence is still likely to be

widely interpreted about D.K. Ardiwinata’s life background. Ardiwinata as an indigenous elite,

as Kartini (1979: 1-2) shows in D.K. Ardiwinata. According to Kartini, D.K. Ardiwinata not

only grew and developed as part of the Dutch East Indies government elite but also inherited

Bugis-Makassar and Sundanese blood, where his grandfather was a descendant of Raja Lombo

from Makassar was exiled to Bandung with his two children. He also grew up in the traditions

of the Sundanese elite.





112

This background of life certainly influenced the formation of DK Ardiwinata’s awareness

as an indigenous elite who was under colonial rule which directly or indirectly had the

opportunity to leave memories of colonialism for him, at least if the story of his grandfather

and father as an exile from the Dutch East Indies rulers reached himself, his testimony of his

father’s and grandfather’s refusal of his mother not being allowed to come to Makassar when

their status as exile ended, or the authority of the Balai Pustaka where he worked that left

pressures on him in various ways and for various purposes. Thus, this condition has the potential

to conceal the narrative of colonialism due to the cultural and political environment in which it

governs the cultural products of indigenous peoples. Brown stated that violence and oppression

do not always threaten the body’s safety, but attacks the soul and soul (quoted from Crafs &

Buelens, 2008). The silence about the past is difficult to show because trauma is hidden behind

words (Hirsch, 2008 in Rice, 2007: 151).

BN is set in 1874 (Hapit 1291 H) which quietly narrates coffee plantations in a full chapter

in chapter eight. His silence can be read as a layered text when Prianger Stelsel becomes part

of the history of colonialization in West Java. However, the novel only shows the people’s joy

in cultivating coffee plantations after the Prianger Stelsel ended. A few traces of text but it

becomes valuable when an incident in it is told of a grandmother from among the common

people doing coffee ngékés “picking up the leftovers of the coffee harvest” and having to defend

herself a little when asked by her plantation owner. Other text traces can be investigated through

the plantation workers’ expressions who suddenly knelt on the side of the road when Nyi Rapiah

rode through the road. Nyi Rapiah considered that the workers had been fooled by her

appearance, which she considered a noble. This momentary moment is certainly important to

be connected not only to indications of feudalism but also colonialism. The research results of

Arnout Henricus Cornelis Van Der Meer (2014: 26-27) can show this, namely, in 1719, it was

decided that when meeting the Governor-General on the road, Europeans had to lower their

horses or carts and bow, while Javanese people were expected to squat in place. It is a sign of

respect. However, when the VOC went bankrupt, in 1795, the laws on shelter and respect were

withdrawn.

Based on these phenomena, the main issue raised in this research is the silence of

colonialism narratives. This research attempts to answer the following questions: (1) how did

nature leave traces of colonialism? (2) how can be feudalism narratives used to cover or erase

colonialism narratives? These questions are born through the assumption: the novel Baruang ka

nu Ngarora contains traces of colonialism even though the text shows the internal conflicts of

the natives in feudalism. Thus, the aims of this paper are (1) to show the forces of nature in

leaving traces of colonialism and (2) to reveal how feudalism narratives used to cover or erase

the colonialism narratives.

BN so problematically if it is viewed based on the ability of the natives to store, manage,

and pass their memories through literary works to the next generation. First, literary works that

were born during the Dutch East Indies colonial era were under the control of the Dutch East

Indies as indicated by Yamamoto (2011: 89-96) so that traumatic narratives of the past had the

opportunity to be hidden or even eliminated in works belonging to natives that published by the

Dutch East Indies government. However, hiding and eliminating the narrative of colonialism

still has the opportunity to be traced through the narratives way is constructed and presented.

Second, D.K. Ardiwinata, who wrote the novel in the Dutch East Indies era, is assumed to have

carried out his creation strategy regarding colonialism based on his personal experience and

collective property (pribumi). Burrow (quoted by Crafs & Buelens, 2008) said that there is a

universal tendency to turn away, or refuse to hear traumatic stories from the colonial. Thus, the

works that were born during the colonial period of the Dutch East Indies at the beginning of the

20th century, although they were assumed to be “almost absent” from traumatic narratives, this

condition could still provide opportunities for the writers’ awareness to open up about the





113

confinement of colonialism and its oppression. D.K. Ardiwinata is a government elite who

serves as the director of Balai Pustaka. Their position in the social environment and the Dutch

East Indies government became important to be connected with their potentials in remembering

or managing past traumas that were inherited from their ancestors and these potentials were

used as sources of their work. Third, the narrative construction of collective and cultural

memories represented in D.K. Ardiwinata will not separate from aesthetic and ideological

interests. The aesthetic as Iser pointed out (1978: 21) is the interest of constructing a narrative

by considering the construct of the author’s imagination on reality and how the potential of the

text has an impact on the reading community; ideological interests, as agreed in the postcolonial

approach, expose colonialist practices from their hiding.

The problem solving to the colonialism traces, a postcolonial approach use to dismantle

text layers by applying the palimpsest concept. From a postcolonial perspective, Lomba (2003:

92-93) states that literature is an important means of taking, reversing, or opposing the

domination and colonial ideologies. Burgin (in Hutcheon, 2004) said that all forms of cultural

representation - literal, visual, aural based on ideology so that it is impossible to escape from

patterns of social and political relations and apparatus. Based on the postcolonial perspective,

according to Bhaba (cited by Loomba, 2003), ambivalence is not only a marker of the trauma

of the colonial subject but also as a feature of the workings of colonial authorities and their

resistance. The colonial presence was always ambivalent, torn between presenting its original

and authoritative self and its articulation of repetition and difference. This condition can have

an impact on the natives who are in a dilemma between accepting and rejecting the influence

that is present in their life. Henricus Cornelis Van Der Meer (2014) The Netherlands builds a

hegemonic system by encouraging a mixture of culture, social, and race. The Dutch immersed

themselves in Javanese culture and society. From the 1890s to the late 1920s, this complex

system of domination was transformed by rapid technological innovation, evolutionary

thinking, the rise of Indonesian nationalism, and the intensification of the Dutch “civilization”

mission.

This research uses a postcolonial approach. Literary work reading in a postcolonial

perspective is a reading type that focuses on exposing colonialism practices that impact cultural

products, including literary works. In this research, postcolonial reading directed at identifying

literature as a means of ideology (Loomba, 3003), identifying knowledge and power in

colonialism practices related to cultural products (Said, 2017), tracking mimicry visibility and

ambivalence in the clash of indigenous and colonial traditions (Bhabha, 2004), and (3)

exploration of palimpsest imagination (Max Silverman, 2014).

Lomba (2003: 92-93) states that literature is also an important means of taking, reversing,

or opposing colonial domination and ideologies. Literary texts circulate in society not only

because of their intrinsic value but because they are part of other institutions such as markets

or the educational system. Through these institutions, they played a role in building a cultural

authority for the colonizers. Literary texts not only reflect the dominant ideologies but encode

tensions, complexities, and nuances within colonial cultures. He stated (2003: 97) that literary

texts were important for forming colonial discourses because they worked imaginatively and

influenced people as individuals. Literature reflects and creates ways of viewing and

articulating colonial processes.

Said (2017: 277) emphasizes that studying literature from a postcolonial perspective is to

trace the geographical landscape, including the geographical experience of the colonialist and

the colonized as represented in literary works. In a novel, geography, landscape, and setting are

the main thing. The research tasks are (1) to find geographic markers represented in literary

works and (2) to explain the setting that connects the work with comprehensive historical

experiences regarding colonization and colonization. Concerning knowledge production, Said

(2017: 375-385) states that knowledge production is never neutral with its stakes due to the





114

production of culture. The discourse of imperialism goes hand in hand with an explanation of

conquest, the creation of instruments of domination, and techniques of study rooted not in

theory but an actual territory.

Bhaba (2004: 128) states that visibility mimicry is always produced at the site of

prohibition. It is a form of colonial discourse: discourse at a crossroads, what is known and

permissible, and what is known must keep it secret; if spoken that is considering to be breaking

the rules. Therefore, differences in representation are always a matter of authority. The colonial

discourses (2004: 130) that articulate interdictory differences in precisely the ‘other scenes’ of

nineteenth-century Europe are the desire for authentic historical awareness. The unarticulated

colonial human being is a confusing process of classification that I have described as a

metonymy of the substitute chain for ethics and discourse. It resulted in the breakdown of the

colonial discourse so that two attitudes towards external reality remained; one considers reality

while the other rejects it and replaces it with a product of recurring desire, re-articulating

‘reality’ as mimicry.

The features of the palimpsest described by Max Silverman (2014: 100-102). Baudelaire

describes the palimpsest as a way in which memories are not lost but can reappear from under

the blanket of forgetting there is a tension in the relationship it builds between remembering

and forgetting, visible and invisible. Deleuze calls it the coexistence of the sheets of the past.

Gérard Genette puts the palimpsest as a strong allusion to represent not only the multi-layered

character of urban space but also the work of the soul, personal and collective memory, and

self-textualization. As such, Silverman emphasizes that the palimpsest serves to remind us how

the retrieval of forgotten or repressed memories is closely related to questions about power and

ideology: why are these memories forgotten and repressed? What choices have been made

consciously or unconsciously to promote certain memories and influence others? Possible

resistance to dominant power relations, are there other spaces, voices, and practices that

challenge the established order and question apparent coherence and homogeneity?

Ultimately, the palimpsest reminds us that the visible and the unseen, and absence and

presence are locked in a strained relationship at all times. It can trigger the critical power to

challenge deep-rooted and reductive ideologies and to rediscover the voices silenced by

dominant practices.

METHODS

This research examines the first Sundanese novel (1914) to uncover the concealment of

colonialism narratives under the influence of the Dutch East Indies authority. An in-depth

reading of the data aims to look at the effects of colonialization on literary products. It is in this

way of reading that postcolonial study performs its function. The research phase is sorted:

1. Initial reading stage, primary data is read in a textual perspective to find text potentials

related to narratives concerning individual memory, collective memory, and cultural

memory in the colonial life’s setting during the Dutch East Indies rule in the Priangan

area of West Java. This reading is limited to achieving an understanding of the issues

present in this work.

2. The second stage of reading, primary data is read in a contextual perspective to find the

relationships between the potentials of the text and the main objective of this paper to

reveal the landscape and silence of colonialism narratives in the novel in the influence of

the Dutch East Indies authority on literary creation.

3. In organizing and processing data, reading the results of the two previous stages, the

data is then processed based on instruments and variables. In the data processing stage,

the focuses are arranged in the following table:





115

Table 1 Data processing

Data validity has been evaluated through strict data checking of instruments and variable

data. The checking in question has been measured through questions. The answer was

confirmed a description of the validation objectives, which provide the materials that should be

available in this research during the data collection and processing. Data validity has been

evaluated through the stage of controlling the data analysis instruments logically and

functionally.


Result

The results of data processing concerning the silence of colonialism narratives are

summarized in the following table:

Table 2 Analysis Result

PRIMERY

DATA

INSTRUMENT

VARIABLE

GOALS

BARUANG

KA NU

NGARORA

(SUNDANESE

NOVEL)

NARRATIVES OF

NATURAL

LANDSCAP AND

DOMESTIC

SPACE

the narrative silence about

colonialism in a natural

setting

the narrative silence about

colonialism in domestic

space

the mapping of narrative silence about

colonialism in a natural setting and domestic

space

PALIMPSEST

layers of the factual text's

and memories

layers of pre-colonial an

colonial value

appointment of palimpsestic narratives as an

indication of the hidden colonialism narrative

KONSTRUCTION

textual

extra-textual

designation of text construction based on the type

of issue raised, the text is constructed, the

tendency behind text reconstruction, and the

influence of government and cultural (local &

colonial) authorities on the concealment of

colonialism narratives

issue

contruction

tendency

PRIMERY

DATA

INSTRUMENT

RESULT BASE ON VARIABLE

GOALS

BARUANG

KA NU

NGARORA

(BN)

(SUNDANESE

NOVEL)

NARRATIVES OF

NATURAL

LANDSCAP AND

DOMESTIC

SPACE

the natural landscapes have

served to hide the narrative

of colonialism

domestic spaces have served

to divert the colonialism

narratives

the mapping of narrative silence about

colonialism in romanticism from natural setting

and domestic space. Ardiwinata's ideal world

has confirmed the preservation of class

differences

PALIMPSEST

in natural landscape, the

feudalism issue replace the

colonialism issue and has

removed traces of Prianger

Stelsel

in domestic spaces, the ideal

world that Ardiwinata built

through the domestic space

has represented by the

tension between the values

of loyalty and the will to

reach a nobility class with

all their class charisms.

palimpsestic narratives has performed their

fungtion in exposing of hidden colonialism

narrative

KONSTRUCTION

textual

extra-textual

Feudalism issue, patriarchy issue, and progress

issue have been constructed by Ardiwinata in BN

as an effort to hide his support for the Dutch East

Indies authority by hiding the narratives of

colonialism. Reluctance to criticize dominant

power (nobility class) indirectly confirmed

Ardiwinata's denial of colonialism.

issue contruction tendency

clas

s cl

ash

pat

riar

chy

adv

ence

men

t

hid

den

div

erso

n

del

etio

n

alig

nm

ent

emp

ath

y

den

ial

Go

ver

nm

ent

auth

ori

ties

colo

nia

l an

d n

ativ

e

cult

ure





116

Discussion

For Ardiwinata, the natural landscape cannot be separated from romanticism, both

regarding modern thinking about progress and the hope of the Santana “middle class” reaching

a nobility class: mesmerizing. The discourse of progress in BN is positioned as a rejection of

ignorance and laziness. The ideal world built within BN produced from the reality of the

indigenous people who were still ignorant and lazy when measured by the standards of the

Dutch East Indies authority. As for romanticism expectation about the middle class reaching

the middle class shows the imagination of the ideal world of humans that represented through

the nobility class. Santana’s ideal world is difficult to realize in reality because of the persistent

gap between the aristocrats and the lower classes: the middle class and the ordinary people.

Faruk (2002: 278-279) said that romanticism is awakened from the tension between a

strong desire for an ideal world and an awareness of its attachment to the real world. The tension

is what makes the concept of longing, the process of becoming; the awareness of the extent of

what is being achieved becomes important in romanticism. Such ideology is not only important

for the authors of the Balai Pustaka tradition of Indonesian novels as a social sub-group but also

their wider social group, namely the Western-educated intellectual group. They can serve as a

basis for understanding the real social and political tendencies they experience and

understanding their position within them. The authors of the Balai Pustaka traditional novels

lived in a social-ideological environment of Dutch imperialism and colonialism that placed

them as objects, “slaves” who were inferior in all respects. According to him (2002: 88), all

Indonesian literary traditions are almost controlled by romantic literary conventions for various

reasons. First, romantic literature is indeed the first product of a mass production system so that

it can reach a wide range of people, including readers who are not from their home countries.

Second, romantic literature is a historical legacy that has its roots deep in Dutch Indies literature

as the closest and most accessible modern literature. Third, romantic literature may indeed be

the most absorbable answer to the social problems of Indonesian society during the Balai

Pustaka tradition period. Touching on politics as a means of dominating power in the Dutch

East Indies, Faruk stated that politics was the most real and recognized representation of reality

because it contained definitions of domination and subordination, control and control, and

conflicts of interest. Since the Dutch colonial government was indeed a government that

enforced domination and subordination, it was necessary to control it to conceal this and evoke

the illusion of a harmonious relationship within the colonial society under its control.

The novel BN which was born in the early 20th century is part of the Balai Pustaka

tradition which is also bound by the ideology of romanticism, considering the birth of the first

Sundanese novel (1914) preceded the birth of the Indonesian novel (1920) and BN was born

from the Balai Pustaka tradition in which Ardiwinata was an author is the chief editor of the

Sundanese language and literature commission at Balai Pustaka. The ideal world that was built

by Ardiwinata at that time had to do with the realities he faced, both with the Dutch East Indies

authority and the impact on the works he produced.

Ardiwinata has shown his attachment to the reality he faces, namely feudalism between

colonial cultures. His desire to place the feudalism discourse as best as possible not achieved

because the “ideal world” built by Ardiwinata about “class” placed the appealing class as a

class that Santana “middle class” and cacah “common class’ could not penetrate or reach.

Ardiwinata has putmenak “nobility class”, santana, and cacah in their respective places. In the

end, he was only able to show his sympathy for santana and cacah without offering the world

the possibility of menak. Even though he uses the value of the teachings of MimPitu “Mim

Seven” that humans must avoid achieving glory, the values of these teachings are only tied to

santana and cacah while menak left free from these values.





117

The natural landscape that Ardiwinata narrates in BN is part of the romanticism in

question. Natural landscapes are a means of creating the longing for the love that is desired, the

peace to be reached, and the purity that is to be maintained. The natural landscape also becomes

a part of being mapped in a class context in which the intersection between classes is described

problematically in terms of the employer-worker, ruler-people, hide-seek escape-return

relationship. If it is connected to the value of the teachings of MimPitu “Mim Seven” which are

contextual with nature, feudal life, and colonial life, it can be assumed that the prohibition of

MimPitu (stealing, adultery, indulgence, drinking, gambling, madness, and killing) should also

be binding colonial authorities. However, the narrative is only led to the raising of the issue of

feudalism with very few traces of colonialism in terms of employer-labor relations, with the

mention of the practice of monitoring plantations and a grandmother who picks up the remnants

of the coffee harvest which characterizes the remaining traces of colonial rule over the natives.

The narrative is further directed to the journey of the story of NyiRapiah who is ambivalent and

willing to let go of UjangKusen as her husband to get Aom Usman who is an attractive person;

The journey of the story of UjangKusen, who was ensnared by MimPitu until he was imprisoned

in a correctional facility in Surabaya for alleged theft of his father’s money.

The ideal world that Ardiwinata has built through natural landscapes is represented by

the tension between natural potential as a source of peace and a source of production with

NyiRapiah’s tormented feeling because the new area (coffee plantation) in which she located

provides nothing but triggering her longing to return to her hometown. In this condition,

Ardiwinata places the natural landscape as an ambiguous area; on the one hand, nature is

positioned as an area of hope to build a new family economy, on the other hand, nature is seen

as an inhibiting factor in the realization of hopes for an attractive man who lives in the city.

This ambiguity can be anticipated logically by the condition of NyiRapiah, who is increasingly

ambivalent when she lives in a coffee plantation and is far from Aom Usman as her mooring.

The struggle to build a household life independently (no longer depending on the help of

parents) by managing coffee plantation land is a hint from Ardiwinata about the meaning of

progress that can be realized by arousing the spirit of hard work of the characters in it as well

as opening insights on how to foster a household starting with building the family economy.

The domestic landscape of Santana places, especially the interior of the house, places a

side of romanticism where values shown as well as a fulcrum in reading the future. The ideal

world built about loyalty in fostering domestic life is based on the potential of a character who

hesitated. The domestic sphere of the conquest does not touch the talk of values at all but instead

describes the forms of service which the lower class must obey to its employer. Thus, ideal

space in the perspective of Santana is a value that must be maintained and implemented to

achieve an increase in dignity/class as a form of response to the reality of the characters in it

that live in-class gaps.

The ideal world that Ardiwinata builds through the domestic spaces represented by the

tension between the values of loyalty and the will to reach a higher class (appealing) with all

the class charisma. In the context of domestic space, Ardiwinata has positioned the house as an

ambiguous space. The values of class equality and inheritance of the values of obedience and

loyalty present in BN’s narrative have further alienated Ardiwinata from the readiness of the

figures within BN to live it. The ideal value of equality was eventually destroyed by

NyiRapiah’s desire to get a handsome man. At the same time, Aom Usman’s acceptance of

NyiRapiah who then placed and treated NyiRapiah according to her class (NyiRapiah was made

a house in the back while Aom Usman and AganSariningrat, wives of their equivalents, lived

in the front house), and the destruction of UjangKusen after NyiRapiah left. The discourse of

progress is destroyed by returning them to laziness, reluctance, and even hopelessness to

increase their knowledge of the welfare of life. On this side, Ardiwinata has positioned Santana

as a class that is incapable of pursuing the achievements and charisma of the nobility class.





118

Meanwhile, the class was narrated as a class without social and moral defects; at least the

kidnapping of NyiRapiah at Aom Usman’s instructions did not get any attention from

Ardiwinata.

It seems clear that romanticism has built Ardiwinata’s ideal imaging that is shown from

the modern way of thinking about progress regarding natural landscapes and domestic space as

a means of it. However, the values or outlook on life that Ardiwinata displays confirm his

agreement to maintain class differences as natural. As for colonialism, Ardiwinata completely

covers it with narratives that raise the issue of feudalism.

Sundanese novels of the early twentieth century cannot be separated from the cultures of

the Nusantara and colonial culture. The main question: “who remembers what, in the conditions

how to remember and inherit it, to whom to inherit it, for what purpose,” is a series of questions

that must be answered not only through the relevant subjects of these questions but also the

subjects that are not reachable textually in the literary work. As an overview, in BN by D.K.

Ardiwinata lost colonial narratives in it, the life of Sundanese society at the end of the 19th

century was presented in the issue of feudalism. Where are the main issues about the

Netherlands Indies country hidden with all their stories? If the narrative is related to the author’s

selective rights to the reality he wants to present in his work, why choose the issue of feudalism

and eliminate or even negate colonialism?

Maimunah (2014: 336), in her article “Perlawanan Alam terhadap Kolonialisme dalam

Cerpen Pohon Jejawi karya Budi Darma” discusses the influence of tropical nature on the

continuity of colonialism in the Dutch East Indies through the Ecocriticism approach. The

Jejawi Tree short story tells the story of a mystical tree that swallowed up many Dutch people

during the colonial period. This tree is considered by the natives as a sacred tree, while for the

Dutch, this tree is considered a threat. Henky Van Kopperlyk, the mayor of Surabaya at that

time, took various methods to get rid of the tree. Instead of showing his superiority as a person

in power, this story ends with an embarrassing event that was experienced by the mayor himself.

For Maimunah, the tropics could be the first test for colonial bodies accustomed to the four

seasons. Many Dutch employees gave up on the ferocity of the tropics which at that time was

also followed by epidemics of tropical diseases such as cholera and malaria. Nature’s resistance

to colonialism became a symbol of resistance that Western masculinity and Dutch arrogance

were undermined by the femininity and mysticism of the Jejawi tree. The colonialists have

failed to understand the indigenous people’s local wisdom who place nature as an equal and

needy part of life.

If Maimunah succeeds in showing the superiority of nature to colonial authority, then in

the BN the natural landscape will be interpreted in ambiguity which has the potential to show

its layered text. The reasons are (1) the natural setting in the novel has an atmosphere of silence,

(2) the atmosphere cannot be interpreted as peaceful, but how the problems surrounding the

practice of colonialism have the opportunity to be hidden, diverted, or interpreted behind the

silence, and (3 ) Landscape has the potential as a layered text based on the traces of memory

attached to the landscape which from time to time change along with the story of the humans

who occupied it when nature became natural or even became a culture. Apart from the

landscape, in the same capacity, the respective indigenous and colonial figures can be read in

the same way regarding the layered text’s potential. This is possible because memories are

continuously recorded, managed, and integrated with other memories.

Ambiguity due to the existence of layers of text in BN can be mapped into three main

things, namely regarding the presence of feudalism and the elimination of colonialism

narratives, the value of local wisdom weakened by modernism about progress, and sympathy

and partisanship. These relationships are overshadowed by memory performance in

remembering and forgetting that can be seen based on the presence (top layer/surface) and

absence of text (underlayer covered, deleted, etc.).





119

Regarding narrative construction, issues of feudalism, patriarchy, and progress have been

constructed by Ardiwinata in BN as an effort to hide his support for the Dutch East Indies

authority by hiding the narratives of colonialism. Reluctance to criticize dominant power (to

conquer) indirectly confirmed Ardiwinata’s denial of colonialism. Thus, the BN was a

representation of the voices silenced by the dominant practices: the Dutch East Indies authority.

CONCLUSION

The natural landscapes and domestic spaces in BN leave a narrative trail of colonialism.

The colonialism traces can be revealed by using the palimpsest concept to dismantle closed,

hidden, confessed, even omitted, or discarded narratives. Colonialism narrative is traced

through the presence of natural landscapes in silence and domestic space. In BN, natural

landscapes are used as a space for battle and testing of an ideal world built on the reality of the

crush of class with all its effects. The domestic space (house) is used as a means of showing the

value of loyalty and progress as a representation of the ideal world but in it, the situation is

shown the opposite: loyalty, intelligence, and the spirit of hard work to create physical and

mental well-being are snatched away by class interference which destabilizes these ideal

expectations. Thus, romanticism is firmly attached to BN.

Palimpsest that appears in BN, the feudal issue hidden the issue of colonialism, especially

about the practice of forced cultivation: PrianganStelsel. In the domestic space, the ideal world

built by Ardiwinata is represented by the tension between the value of loyalty and the desire to

reach menak. Thus, the application of the palimpsest concept has succeeded in uncovering

hidden narratives about colonialism.

REFERENCES Ardiwinata, D.K., 1950. Baruang ka nu Ngarora. Cetakan ketiga. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.

Bhabha, Homi K. 2004. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge Classics

Burrows, Victoria.2004. Whiteness and Trauma: The Mother-Daughter Knot in the Fiction of JeanRhys,

Jamaica Kincaid and Toni Morrison. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.

Craps, Stef & Buelens, Gert. 2008. “Introduction: Postcolonial Trauma Novels” Studies in the Novel ·

March 2008. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236730851

H.T. Faruk. 2002. Novel-novel Indonesia Tradisi Balai Pustaka 1920-1942. Yogyakarta: Gama Media

Iser, Wolgang. 1987. The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. 4th printing. Baltimore &

London: The John Hopkins University Press.

Kartini, Tini.1979. Daeng Kanduruan Ardiwinata; Sastrawan Sunda. Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan

Pengembangan Bahasa Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.

Loomba, Ania. 2003. Kolonialisme/pascakolonialisme. diterjemahkan Hartono Hadi. Yogyakarta:

Narasi

Maimunah. 2014. ““Perlawanan Alam Terhadap Kolonialisme dalam Cerpen Pohon Jejawi Karya Budi

Darma”. Litera, Volume 13, Nomor 2, Oktober 2014: 326-337

Rice, Maria J. 2007. Migrations of Memory: Postmemory in Twentieth Century Ethnic American

Women’s Literature. Dissertation. The Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State

University of New Jersey.

Said, Edward W. 2017. Kekuasaan, Politik, dan Kebudayaan. Penerjemah: Hartono Hadikusuma & E.

Setiyawati Alkhatab. Yogyakarya: Narasi.

Silverman, Max. 2014. “The Palimpsestic Imagination”. Journal of Romance Studies Volume 14

Number 3, Winter 2014: 100–102. doi:10.3167/jrs.2014.140308

Van der Meer, Arnout Henricus Cornelis. 2014. Ambivalent Hegemony: Culture and Power in Colonial

Java, 1808-1927. Disertasi. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The

Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Yamamoto, Nobuto. 2011. Print Power and Censorship in Colonial Indonesia, 1914-1942. Dissertation.

Ithaca New York: The Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University





120





121

THE MYSTERY OF DEATH IN THE POEM “PARIKSIT”

BY GOENAWAN MOHAMAD

Baban Banita

Lina Meilinawati

Ari J. Purwawijana

Lecturer at the Indonesian Literature Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences,

Padjadjaran University, Sumedang


Abstract

Death is both a certainty and a mystery that is feared by most humans. As certainty, death raises

the awareness that every living thing will definitely experience it. As a mystery, death seems

on the verge of being obscure and full of secrets. The mystery here relates to the secrets of time,

place, and causes of death. Certainty and mystery become an interesting combination of death.

This allows the emergence of various behaviors in response to it. Therefore, there are always

measures to avoid death or to keep lifelong. Death of unknown origin, he was present very

secretly and full of surprise; death becomes a scary thing. Therefore, when a certainty arises

that death will come and be due to a certain cause, the person concerned with all efforts will

avoid that cause of death. This is illustrated in the poem “Pariksit” by Goenawan Mohamad.

Pariksit is described as being cursed and about to die by the Dragon Taksaka. As a powerful

king, he immediately put forth his efforts to prevent the Dragon from coming to him. This

poetry will be analyzed using Rifaterre’s semiotic theory, which is an analysis with two stages

of reading, namely heuristic reading which prioritizes the linguistic system and hermeneutic

reading which emphasizes the analysis by looking for the hypnogram.

Keywords: death, semiotics, hypnogram, heuristics, hermeneutics

INTRODUCTION

Death is mostly written in Indonesian literary works, for example in Pramoedya Bumi

Manusia, death in this character is described as a logical cause and effect, in Sutan Takdir

Alisyahbana Layar Terkembang, death is also described as a logical cause and effect. However,

even though it is written with a clear and logical process, death is still described as a mysterious

thing. When death was written, the source of the writer’s reference, directly and indirectly, must

have come from real life. The images that appear are the author’s interpretation of death. Death,

which is believed to be very frightening and full of mystery, makes humans seek or attempt to

approach it for the sake of knowledge of this. For example, the search has reached a way to

treat sickness because if not treated will further weaken the body’s functions and it is believed

that it will cause death. In this case, humans have a fear of death befalls them and therefore

physically and mentally must strive to be healthy in order to avoid death.

In the poem “Pariksit” it is described that the death that befell a character (king) has

known the cause but the time is not yet known. The character will die by the Dragon Taksaka

as a form of curse. Therefore, with all his efforts the figure tries to avoid or not meet Naga

Taksaka, namely by using his power as a king who mobilizes the people to protect him in a

high tower. However, these efforts did not make him calm, comfortable, and feel safe from the

threat of death. By knowing the cause of death, King Pariksit experienced endless anxiety.

Everything becomes feared and is suspected of having a cause of death for him. Life for him

has lost his enjoyment because he continues to feel chased by death whose cause is certain. Life

is narrow and isolated far from freedom and society because a lurking death is seen as a terrible

threat. Life becomes fenced and limited in space.





122

SEMIOTICS RIFFATERRE

Riffaterre stated that there are four things that must be considered in understanding and

interpreting poetry. The four things include (1) unsustainability of poetic expression, which is

caused by displacing of meaning, distorting of meaning and creating of meaning; (2) heuristic

reading and hermeneutic or retroactive reading; (3) matrices, models, and variants; and (4)

hypnogram or intertextual relationships.

According to Riffaterre, the discontinuity of language expression in poetry is caused by

three things. These three things, among others, is displacing meaning, distorting meaning, and

creating meaning.

Matrix is an abstract concept of poetry. It can be just a word, but it can also be a simple

phrase, clause, or sentence that doesn’t usually appear in a poetic text.

The hypnogram is the text that becomes the background for the creation of a new text,

the hypnogram is the basis for the creation of new works, and it may be obeyed but may also

be distorted by the author.

Heuristic reading is a reading of a work based on a linguistic system, also called first-rate

reading. After carrying out the first stage of reading, which is termed heuristic reading, the

reading of the poetry text is then carried out by reading the second stage or what in Riffaterre’s

semiotic model is called hermeneutic reading, which is reading based on literary convention.

These four things are language activities that are different from the use of everyday

language. Poetry always conveys something indirectly by hiding it in a certain form of language

or a new sign.

MYSTERY OF DEATH

Textually the poem “Pariksit” expresses my anxiety and fear in the lyrics (Pariksit) of the

curse of Crenggi. The form of the curse is that I will die by Naga Taksaka. Because of that, I

lyrics (as a king) to make a strong fortress to avoid curses or death by staying in a high tower.

In the tower, Pariksit felt tormented, lonely, and scared. His monologue tells of his anxiety

while hiding in the tower.

The initial event in this poem is found in the first stanza which is written in italics. This

verse is a narrative that reveals the condition of the people and Pariksit who are waiting for the

deadline for Crenggi’s curse, waiting to be free from the threat of destruction from Naga

Taksaka. Pariksit was hidden in a tower, and that evening he was squeezing himself against the

window.

Current events occur in verses two to thirteen. The events in this section tell of the curse

that will come to me in the lyrics. That’s why I hid the lyrics in a high place, a tower that is

protected and closely guarded. In this case, I lyrically express his feelings about his people who

pray for him even though he never had prayers for his people. I lyrics tell about liberation

because it is hidden in a tower, but he feels lonely because he is far from his people’s lives, far

from everyday life. This was chosen because of the family and the people because of my fear

of seeing death myself. This has to be paid handsomely by keeping his real-life away from him,

so I regret his lyrics and get angry with Aswatama because he was not killed by Aswatama

when he was a baby. Furthermore, I lyrics longing for the curse to come to destroy him. He

missed this because I wanted to beat the lyrics of his heartache. I am afraid of separation and

still miss the atmosphere of the world. The dragon Taksaka (curse) did not come either, this

made him even more restless and scared. He kept asking Taksaka to come to kill himself

because safely like this, he still felt unhappy.

The end of this poem is at verse eighteen. This final event tells about the supposition of

death I lyrics. I think the lyrics, even though he died but died which were not in vain because

he did not kill himself. All that torment he faces and draws near to death, then all of that will

make him comfortable and lasting.





123

Death is so mysterious that people have different ways of reacting to it. As in this poem,

death is expressed as a certainty that will come even though the cause of death is certain. Pariksit

was restless, anxious, and terrified as if death was close to him. He isolated himself in a tower

to avoid the Dragon Taksaka as the cause of death.

The Pariksit rhyme is the longest of all the poems in the 1961-2001 Complete Poetry

collection. This poem is in the form of a lyrical monologue (Pariksit), which expresses his

anxiety when he is faced with a death curse from Crenggi through the Dragon Taksaka that will

come upon him. This poem was originally preceded by a kind of synopsis marked in italics.

The words used in the early stanzas have a deep, melodious sound. In line two there is an

arrangement waiting for the deadline for the curse which sounds melodious with the equivalent

of u sound, on line three there is a melodious and heavy a sound // until the king is free from

the threat of destruction by the Taksaka Dragon ... //. In addition to being heavy, line two is also

accompanied by a choice of words that make the atmosphere magnificent according to the

setting presented by the king’s situation and condition. The words that support the majestic

atmosphere are found in the king, perished, the taksaka dragon, viceroy, tower, upright, rises.

This heavy and majestic or dignified atmosphere is maintained until the poetry ends.

In the second stanza, this majestic heavy sound is found in the curse rising up to my chest,

the walls of the towers, the prisons of all prisons, whirling toward my body, the ancient wind.

This stanza illustrates that the curse came as it should have come to Pariksit. The depiction of

alienation and refuge from the direction of the curse’s attack uses the metaphor of the tower as

a prison of all prisons for refuge, while the alienation is depicted in the ancient metaphor of

wind, which is increasingly ancient: cold and foreign. The use of metaphors in the middle is

very supportive of the atmosphere that is being built by the poetry. To describe the condition

of the people who always make sacrifices for the king and vice versa the king never sacrifices

for the people, it is described with imaginary choices and words in the third stanza. Also when

a depiction of liberation, because staying in the tower of Pariksit will be free from death threats,

it is said that liberation was a very lonely silence. The use of metaphors in this stanza produces

a soft sound effect but still does not leave the impression of a king’s dignity. The smell of the

feast of liberation for the king was an embarrassment that made it a very lovely smell. This can

be seen in the line // I now smell the twilight, the smell of the candlesticks // and the feast: the

feast of liberation, but also the craziness of shame // will hurt my heart. A subtle smell, very

lonely //. But this soft and melodious voice consistently conveyed the king’s dignity, so that

silence he described as a challenge to him, // like this silence that crosses his legs // challenges

me //.

Until this poem ends, the choice of words always maintains its consistency towards

Pariksit’s emotional attitude as a king and as a self who is being rushed by the curse of death.

He felt like the most unlucky and lonely person, felt the most cowardly but still could bear

something valuable. In part V or verses five to eight, Pariksit expresses his silence on the choice

to save himself from the curse. Verse five feels grand even though it expresses loneliness; // the

prison tower, and the savior of my corpse // he blasphemed the earth high, stabbed his chest

into the sky: // great arrogance into the midst of a great universe. // consequently, the sky full

of color is no longer // my place. and the earth trembled leaving me //. The feeling of loneliness

and loneliness because he is far from his people, away from activities on earth even though

Pariksit feels that he exists from himself, which is described in terms of words that have

melodious musicality in verse seven. // cities bordered by deserts, borders by forests and //

houses of hermits. A city that sings life // when any season breaks, and what is also life mooing

// are melodious sounds that reinforce an emotional silence.





124

In part III or verses nine to twelve, emotional pressure makes Pariksit yearn for the curse,

a curse that will melt him into death. That longing comes as an excuse, as a longing for victory

over a disappointment of his heart at death even though it remains something to be feared, also

as an awareness that death will still come and all part from mortal life.

In this section, the most prominent musicality is found in verse eleven, namely by

exploring the natural image as a choice of words. The image of nature is taken as a form of the

depiction of the separation between the mortal and the immortal. This depiction using natural

imagery creates a serene, gentle, and sad atmosphere. The lines are as follows.

I exhaled my breath and did not come back

without the birds, without the afternoon dim in the trees

seasonless, colorless, infiltrating

my body skin. Also without the sea,

far away listening to the sun, jungle and festive animals.

(Pariksit, Goenawan Mohamad)

And in the next section, the lines that reinforce the serene, sad atmosphere are

strengthened and concluded with the next line which is no less mellow, // as if the sky and the

dots of the stars // are subtle missing with your fragrance, woman // in the nude early days//.

In the end, this verse which tells of my supposition to die lyrics states that at his death

there is something still valuable, namely the strength to endure and not commit suicide. He

himself describes the comfort in death with, // then feels: in this immortal space // we will

always go // in a relaxing hot breath //. Even so, the reality remains as reality, even though every

night it grows, also morning, noon and dusk, and every time it is immortal but so mortal. And

in the end, the poem closes in such a lonely and heartbreaking atmosphere which is depicted

with a beautiful natural image, // like the moon grows // and the pine // shivers into the air //.

Even though it is the longest poem, this poem remains consistent with the theme that is

being developed. This long form has a power bridge for words to stay connected to one another,

both emotionally and content. All the parts marked with Roman numerals, except for the

opening, are the continuous story and emotions of the monologue of the king, Pariksit. In this

case, the story in the poetry does not deviate from the theme that is being built, between one

verse and another together it strengthens the will of the poem which convey the restlessness,

anxiety, suffering, fear, the anger of a king who is hidden (hiding) in a place lonely in order to

avoid the curse that would take her soul. From lonely beginnings to silence; an even more

gripping and heartbreaking silence.

Pariksit is the name of a king of the Pandavas descent, he is the grandson of Arjuna from

Abhimanyu who is married to Dewi Utari. Pariksit became king by replacing Yudhisthira, who

left the busy world to go to the top of the Himalayas. He has the title King Kresnadipayana

which is a title given by Begawan Wiyasa (when he was king Begawan Wiyasa used that title).

In the Bharatayuda era, he almost died from Aswatama’s attack at night. The attack destroyed

the soldiers and the Pandavas, also when the Pandavas were about to catch Aswatama who was

hiding in the Begawan Wiyasa temple. Dewi Utari, who was pregnant, was almost hit by the

grass which was used as a weapon by Aswatama to destroy the Pandavas.

Due to an error, namely by draping the black snake’s carcass around the neck of Begawan

Samitri who was meditating, Pariksit received a curse from the Brahmana Crenggi (son of

Begawan Samitri). The form of the curse, Pariksit, will die by the Dragon Taksaka snake. So

when he became king, King Pariksit ordered his people to hold a sarpayajna ceremony to drive

out all the snakes. But even though the curse was tried to come true, he died from the bite of

the Taksaka Dragon.





125

One thing that is certain in life is that all living things die. And talking about death is not

something easy. Because human knowledge about death is very limited because as a living

being who still feels the life of the world, it means that humans have not experienced death.

A great Indonesian poet, Chairil Anwar, rhymes I want to live another thousand years. In

the Koran, it is stated that one of them wishes to be alive for a thousand years (Q.S 2:96). Even

the Prophet Adam a.s. expelled from heaven because he was tempted by the false promise of

the devil who seduced him with the words: Will you show me the tree of eternity and power

that does not end? (Surah 20: 120).

The description above shows how much life is loved and vice versa death is undesirable.

Humans always forget that they will die and God warns about this in Q.S 3: 185, that everyone

who lives will taste death. Even so, humans are always afraid that death will come, humans will

always try to be healthy and strong in their lives. A French philosopher, Sartre via Shihab (1992:

137), warned of two things that might alleviate the catastrophe of death: (a) that death is a risk

of life, and therefore no one lives except to die; and (b) the more people are touched by

calamities, the lighter it will touch their hearts. That is, because humans are animate beings,

they will surely die and this is not negotiable. Dying is one of the stages of the journey that

humans must go through. Meanwhile, the second meaning is that people who often struggle

with a problem will gradually get used to the problem, as well as things that lead to or are near

death. So, death should not be feared but must be familiar because humans will also come to

death. Like Soebagio’s poem that reads and death is getting closer.

As this poem writes, In the end, we // are not always together. Death // separating each of

us live //. This is a certainty that is the destiny of Allah and cannot be negotiated. The calamity

of death will touch everyone. Another thing is that death is full of mystery and full of secrets.

The certainty of when death will come is an unsolvable secret or the cause of death is equally

full of mystery. If a death has known the time and cause of its arrival, for example, of course,

it will make humans increasingly hunted by anxiety. That is what is illustrated, which can be

seen in this poem, namely when Pariksit, the king of Astina, was cursed, that his death would

come through the bite of the dragon snake Taksaka.

Curse events in the puppet world are events that always come true, especially if the curser

is a god or someone whose heart is abused. In the Bharata family war, the heroes of both sides

were determined to die. This happened because he got a curse or oath from the people he had

hurt. For example, Bhishma will die by a woman. Because of that, Kresna as a person who

already knows the way of one’s death is free to arrange victory for the Pandavas. In Islam, there

is a prayer that is parallel to the curse, namely that one of the prayers that is answered is the

prayer of the wronged person. That is, it is very possible if the person who mistreated him

prayed for the person who hurt him and that prayer was granted by God.

Pariksit waited for the day to pass.

The people were waiting for the deadline for Crenggi’s curse to end

until the king is free from the threat of destruction by the Dragon Taksaka.

Moment

it’s near dusk. The young king who was hidden at the top of the tower

center straight, squeezed into the window. The wind rose.

(Goenawan Mohamad, 2001: 23)

The above quote is the first verse of the verse which reveals that someone (Pariksit) has

been hit by the curse of Crenggi who is hurt because his father has been insulted by Pariksit.

As for the curse, Pariksit’s death will come through the Dragon Taksaka snake. Because of that,

the young king was hidden in a safe and protected tower. In the puppet story, when Pariksit got

the curse for the first time he did a snake exorcism ceremony. He was afraid of death or trying





126

not to die sooner, he was trying to make his lifelong. Apart from ceremonies, the king made a

strong fortress and lived a secluded life, far from the world’s crowds. He hides from the possible

arrival of the cause of death by staying in a tower. In him, there arise anxieties despite all his

efforts to get rid of the death or the curse. This has also happened in the Oedipus myth. The

king has received assurance that it will be his biological child who will end his life. He was

anxious every time he intercourse for fear that the results of intercourse will produce children.

Even when it could not be prevented, namely succeeded in fertilizing his wife, his biological

child was discarded and ordered to be killed. This suggests that death with a known cause will

cause people to worry and try to stay away from it. This means that death is unwanted genuinely

even though there is a certainty that every living thing will die. The death that has been known

to come and its cause makes the human concerned afraid, anxious, and anxious, as King Pariksit

seemed to have experienced.

There is a word of wisdom or hadith which reads; work as if you will live long and

worship as if you are going to die tomorrow. This hadith deals with both death and life. Here it

is as if there is certainty about death, that is tomorrow. Therefore, humans have to do a lot of

worship as a provision for death. In this hadith it is also implied that death is never clear when

and how it will come, humans are just guessing. Humans strive to find themselves always in

pleasure and happiness. Unlike the verse “Pariksit”, death has been determined the cause, and

here it is described what the human soul and mind will be like when they know this. As said

before, the king of Astina held a snake casting ceremony because the cause of death was through

the snake, secondly, because he was still afraid and did not believe in the ceremony, the king

hid in a tower that was protected and closely guarded by his people. But this did not make him

comfortable, he still felt that death was being chased. So in these verses, it describes how

anxiety, restlessness, fear, and other illusions arise as a result of knowing the cause of death.

Anxiety at death gives rise to honest expressions that come from the bottom of the heart.

This is a form of repression that will create a sense of calm because you have acknowledged all

the mistakes that have been buried in your heart. In a television show that revealed the death

row inmates, there was calm behind the anxiety. The convict tries to do his best before death

comes. They cry because they will part with the world for sure through his death. In stanza I,

the king felt the curse was coming to him soon. Because of that, he was reminded of his people

who saved him and at the same time tormented him. It was called saving because he still had

time to breathe the air, while it was felt to be torturous because, with that rescue, the anxiety

and fear of the curse continued to grow in a matter of time. The people always prayed for him,

while himself as king never prayed for his people. This is a very hierarchical form of

relationship between the king and the people, the king never has a prayer for his people. The

king is the representative of God and determines the fate of his people, the king only wants the

service of his people, while he as a ruler never wants to serve even just pray for the people. The

fate of the people is a fate that must be borne by the people themselves by their behavior which

must always try to be kind to the king. For the rulers, the fate between the king and the people

is their own. That is, the condition or reaction of the king always depends on the service of the

people, while the situation of the people must be pursued by the people themselves as well as

their attitude towards the king. Even in an anxious state, all the feasts of liberation or ceremonies

of liberation from curses performed by his people are felt as ridicule at his fear of death. This

is also a form of the arrogance of power that always thinks of itself as the center and everything.

In the Roman numeral stanza, the anxiety creates depressing helplessness and silence.

The tower is a symbol of striving to protect himself when compared to the majestic sky of the

vast nature which he feels as arrogance that makes him feel low in the face of the mighty realm.

He felt powerless to resist or avoid the fear of death. The expanse of nature in all its beauty,

where the power to disperse power is to add to the anxiety and pain, giving rise to emotional

attitudes and heartbreak. The ruling king regretted his fate which had passed when he, who was





127

still in the womb, was freed from the assassination attempt by his enemy (Aswatama). In this

story, when Pariksit was still in the womb, his mother (Dewi Utari) with the Pandavas and

Kresna pursued Aswatama who had destroyed the Pandavas. In hiding, Aswatama threw grass

and enchanted that it would destroy the Pandavas. The grass almost hit Dewi Utari’s womb and

almost killed the baby (Pariksit), but Kresna managed to save her (Pendit, 2005). In anxiety and

fear, he hopes to die at that time, because by dying he will be free from the curse of death

through the Dragon Taksaka snake.

The culmination of that anxiety and fear evokes courage as seen in verse III. The king

longs for victory, a victory that will defeat discouragement. The king dared death to come to

him immediately, a death that would destroy and melt him into ashes. The challenge to death

was a form of courage that covered his fear and anxiety. This further strengthens that death was

truly feared and was not expected to come. Ultimately anxiety and fear give rise to awareness.

Aware that death is coming, aware that every mortal will experience death and be separated

from the crowd of the world, aware that humans have certain limitations in the presence of a

higher power, namely God.

Anxiety and fear give rise to illusions, desires that are deep in the heart. There was an

illusion of victory mixed with loneliness and wishing for death to come soon. There is an

illusion of death accompanied by an image of eternal nature in him and an illusion of pride that

he is not cowardly by committing suicide.

This poem in its entirety reveals that death, which has been known when and its cause,

will cause great anxiety as a result of fear, even to those in power. Perhaps this is why fortune-

telling is not permitted by Islamic teachings. The king, who was known to be powerful, wise,

and the pride of the people, was anxious to admit his fear of death. The king, who was known

to be wise, apparently never prayed for his people, unlike what the people did to him, a good

king still thought that the fate of the king and the people was different. The fate of the king is

considered by the people, but the fate of the people is the responsibility of the people

themselves, the people must handle it. That is, power always has the will to be placed in the

highest pyramid, in the most glorious place without having the will to sit parallel to those under

control. Death remains the property of a mortal being regardless of the position and degree of

that being. The fear of death is a human thing even though the person is powerful and has power.

Even if that person is higher in rank or more exalted in the worldly life, the more afraid he is to

die because dying means leaving the pleasures he has.

In the end, in the story which tells of the last king of the Pandava descent, Pariksit was

bitten by the Dragon Taksaka who went undercover in the food that was offered to the young

king. His death, like many of his brothers, was ordained by the Almighty in various ways.

Symbolically, this poem reveals that destiny, if the certainty of its arrival is known, will

cause chaos in humans. In addition, the poem reveals that death is inevitable for animate.

Humans only seek to live long, while what determines death comes from God.

CONCLUSION

The world offered in this poem is all about destiny. Destiny is no longer just something

determined by God, but destiny is a human effort. Besides that, it also offers not to be afraid of

death because even though death will come, humans can manage it.

Another thing that death must come to living beings in various ways and various forms

that are not reachable also in an uncertain time. This secret makes humans always try to keep

death away from themselves in different ways. The death that has known certainty of how to

come and its form will cause anxiety, anxiety, and distance oneself from feeling comfortable.





128

BIBLIOGRAPHY Barthes, Roland. 2004. Mitologi (terjemahan oleh Nurhadi) Yogyakarta: Kreasi Wacana

Casirerr, Ernest. 1987. Manusia dan Kebudayaan: Sebuah Esei tentang Manusia.. Jakarta: Gramedia

Culler, Jonathan, 1977. Structuralist Poetics, Strcturalism, Linguistic, and the Study of Literature.

London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Hardjana, Andre. 1994. Kritik Sastra: Sebuah Pengantar. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Kleiden, Ignas. 2005. Sastra Indonesia dalam Enam Pertanyaan. Esai-esai Sastra dan Budaya. Jakarta:

Pustaka Utama Grafiti

Kleiden, Leo. 1997. Teks,Ceritera, dan Transformasi. Jurnal Kebudayaan Kalam No. 10. Jakarta

Kristeva, Julia. 1980. Desire of Language A Semiotic Aproach to Literature and Art. Oxford. Basil

Blackwell

Lombard, Denys. 1996. Nusa Jawa:Silang Budaya, Kajian Sejarah Terpadu. Jakarta: Gramedia

Mahmud, Kusman K., (ed). 2006. Bumiku Bahasa dan Sastra. Bandung: Jurusan Sastra Indonesia


Mohamad, Goenawan. 2005. Setelah Revolusi Tak Ada Lagi. Jakarta: Pustaka Alfabet

Mohamad, Goenawan. 2004. Goenawan Mohamad: Selected Poems. Jakarta: Ikrar Mandiriabadi

Mohamad, Goenawan. 2001. Sajak-sajak Lengkap 1961—2001. Jakarta: Metafor Publising

Pradopo, Rahmat Djoko.2003. Pengkajian Puisi.. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press





129

EXPLORING THE MEANING OF REGIONAL LITERATURE

OF JEMBER PENDALUNGAN COMMUNITY

Dzarna

Department of Indonesian Language and Literature,

Universitas Muhammadiyah Jember, Indonesia.

Email:[email protected]

ABSTRACT

The Pandhalungan community is a hybrid society; it is social intercourse of cultures between

Madurese and Javanese in Jember. They have their regional literature and used to pronounce it

in their daily life. It is a legacy of their ancestors and needs to to be preserved since it has many

interesting moral values. Nevertheless, due to the modern era, this regional literature is currently

in danger, especially to young people. This is very unfortunate, as it only exists in Jember. This

research aimed to describe the meaning beyond the Pandhalungan literature, from its meanings

and moral values. This was a qualitative study that its data were collected through interviews.

The data analysis technique of this research was using data reduction, data presentation, and

conclusion. Triangulation was used to test its validity. Based on the interviews, it was found

that both Javanese and Madurese regional literature had denotative, connotative meanings, and

also moral values. It is included moral values relate to humans, as well as humans with other

people. While moral values related to God was not found. On the other hand, based on the

theory of Nurgiyantoro Madura literature contained all moral values, including the relationship

with the man, man to man, and man to God.

Keywords: Meaning, Regional Literature, Pandhalungan

INTRODUCTION

Literature is a work containing aesthetics and moral values; therefore it used as a medium

to develop students’ character. This value can be found in the author’s expression. One believes,

every speaker has their own language characteristic that makes it unique from one another.

Unconsciously, the language we expressed contains aesthetics, including literature. As it

happened in the Pandhalungan society.

The Pandhalungan community is a hybrid community that is coming from the social

intercourse of Javanese and Madurese in Jember. It is a new cultural discourse in Indonesia that

is going to be preserved as a culture. Ayu Sutarto stated that Pandhalungan society area refers

to an area in the northern and eastern coastal areas of East Java province, where the majority of

the population are Madurese (Sutarto, 2006:1).

Pandhalungan people often express an utterance that contains literature, such as “kecepot

guleh merah salah lopot nyo’on saporah”. This utterance is a Madurese rhyme. Rhyme is

interesting to listen since it has a unique language usage and a history of moral value. In

literature a rhyme contains three aspects, they are poetry, prose, and drama. Kosasih (2012: 97)

explained that poetry is a form of literary work that uses beautiful words and rich in meaning.

That is why it is interesting to explore this art of regional literature

Apart from the examples above, there is many more pandhalungan literature that is often

spoken by both Javanese and Madurese in Jember. However, there are still many who do not

understand its literary meaning. Thus, it is interesting to conduct research related to this

literature and studying its meaning so that its values could be classified and recognized. The

study of meaning in linguistic includes semantic studies. Semantics are studies about meaning,

such as lexical, diction, etc. This study focused on diction that consists of two types, i.e.

denotation that focused on the real meaning of literature or sentences; and connotation focused

on a figurative meaning. According to Chaer (in Amilia: 2017: 71), denotation is the original





130

meaning or the actual meaning possessed by a lexeme, so denotation is actually the same as the

lexical meaning or the real meaning. While, the connotative meaning is the meaning that

emerges from the denotative meaning into a cognitive meaning based on the need of

community, so some additional meaning occurred in the lexeme (Djajasudarma, in Amilia:

2017: 75). In fact, the way the listener receives the meaning is different based on their situation.

Sometimes, it could be negative and vice versa.

Many other researchers explore regional literature, one of which research about Sasak

Proverb (Sesenggaq) of Lombok society (Diniarti, 2017). It showed that this form consisted of

nominal phrases, heral phrases, and adjective phrases, and its meaning consisted of denotative

and connotative meanings. This meaning triggered a myth among them as it is believed that any

accepted connotation is called a myth. Barthes explained a myth is not in a general sense, but

rather a conveyed connotative meaning from a language (Diniarti, 2017: 284).

This research aimed to describe the meaning and the moral values that existed in the

regional literature of Pandhalungan community. This research expected to figure out the

meanings and moral values that existed in pandhalungan literature.

RESEARCH METHOD V1

This was a descriptive study that carried an interview as the data collection technique.

The data in the forms of words, phrases, and sentences. Some people living in Jember, both

South and North part of Jember was chosen as the subject of the study, as they are a member of

Pandhalungan society. The collected data then analyzed in three stages (1) data reduction, (2)

data presentation, and, (3) conclusion. In addition, Theory triangulation was used as the validity

test to show that the collected data were reliable.

RESEARCH METHOD V2

This research used a qualitative approach. It is a descriptive study that the data is broken

down in the form of words or pictures, not in the form of numbers (Semi, 2012: 30). Therefore,

this research will focus on describing the meaning of regional literature in the form of

explanation to be explored. The data in this study are words or expressions in the regional

literature. Siswantoro (2011: 72) explained that data sources are related to the research subject,

Either from novels, short stories, dramas or poetry. In this research, some people living in

Jember, both South Jember and North Jember, was chosen as the subject of the study, as they

are a member of pandhalungan society.

The interview was used as the data collection technique. This technique was carried out

because the data should be in form of the utterance of pandhalungan literature, in which it

cannot be found in any literature books such as novels, drama or poetry collections. These were

the steps of the data collection used: 1) Chatting with some people/elders of both Javanese and

Madurese, 2) the collected data were grouped based on their language, 3) then, the data were

marked collected into a table based on its category: denotative and connotative meaning, 4)

finally, the data were analyzed to find out its meaning and moral value.

According to Miles and Huberman in Reakan (2008: 34) data analysis divided into three

stages, they are (1) data reduction, (2) data presentation and, (3) conclusion. Data reduction

aims to ease data checking by classifying the collected data. In this research, the data were

classified based on their denotation and connotation meaning. Data presentation is a drafting

process of information and organizes them to conclude. In this process, the data were sorted

based on their denotation and connotation meaning. The conclusion stage is the follow-up

process to the results of the data presentation stage. This process was carried out diligent

observations to draw conclusions to make it as reliable as it can.

A validity test is a way to eliminate any possible interference of another variable during

the data collection process. Triangulation was used in this process, which consists of several





131

kinds, they are: 1) data triangulation, 2) methods triangulation, 3) theory triangulation and 4)

researchers triangulation, which includes: discussion techniques and seminar techniques

(Siswantoro, 2010: 79). In this research, theory triangulation was considered the most relevant

to employ. Whereas, the data were analyzed and then associated with existing theories. As a

result, a compatibility conclusion will be reached.


The interview was conducted with some people in some districts in Jember, which

consists of Kencong, Sumbersari, Kaliwates, Jelbuk and Sukowono districts. From this

interview, it is found some utterance that they used to express in their daily life. The result as

below:

Javanese Regional Literature

1. Lali rupane, eleng rasane

The denotation meaning of this rhyme is one used to forget one’s face, but still remember

one’s feelings. While, its connotation meaning is somebody used to forget someone’s

face, but still remember the moment with her/him. In fact, the actual connotation meaning

of this rhyme is a romance, where someone who said this rhyme still loved his partner

even though his relationship has ended. He expressed Lali Rupane because he and his

partner were already separated and forget the person, but still remembered the moment.

It is found in this rhyme a relation between a person with himself. As mentioned that

person who used this rhyme in a happy mood even though he still remembered his

moment with his ex. So, someone who expresses this rhyme has a moral value that related

to himself.

2. Becik ketitik, ollo ketoro

Becik means good, ketitik means closed, ollo means bad, and ketoro means visible. So,

this rhyme can be mean “the good is hidden, the bad is visible”. This meaning is unclear

and hard to understand. On the other hand, connotatively the meaning will be clearer and

understandable. It is “the good is hidden away while the bad is evident”

This utterance used to express when someone is slandered. The person who was

slandered was immediately punished without carrying out an investigation. And if there

is someone who do not accept this treatment, he will use this expression. The moral values

contained in the regional literature is about a relationship between humans and other

humans. Someone who is slandered will clearly feel harmed and abused. Many people

will consider him to have bad deeds so that no one wants to hang out with him anymore.

If this happens, he will get depressed.

3. Nyuyai segoro Nguyai segoro, its denotative meaning is “to salt the sea”. While, its connotation in the

regional literature is where someone gives something (for example money) to a rich

people. The purpose of giving money is usually in everyday life, for example when

subordinates give money to their superiors because superiors help carry out their affairs.

Actually, superiors have received money from the company for their work, but the

subordinates express their gratitude by giving money to their superiors, it is kind of a

tradition in their society. It is such useless to salt the sea that is clearly already salty.

There are moral values contained in this rhyme, they are the relationships between

human with other humans in a social context. It includes problems between humans and

their social environment that related to an eagerness to live based on norms and form a

harmonious life (Nurgiyantoro, 2012: 323-325). Because it has become a habit and a

tradition, it has become an obligation. If you do not give something (money), then a

business will not run well, and this is related to human problems with other humans.





132

4. Witing trisno, jalaran soko kulino

This utterance used to be spoken by teenagers who are in love. Literally, it means love

comes from being used to it. Connotatively, it means love will come or will grow because

the couple are used to meet every day. In everyday life, love comes from many things, it

can be from being arranged then falling in love, it can be from first sight. But this rhyme

refers to the situation where love comes from a habit.

This rhyme is about a relationship between humans with another human in social

intercourse. It is all about a human’s attitude and interaction with another human to live

based on social norms. So, in everyday life, someone will definitely experience a sense

of love, it will lead to a harmonious relationship between humans and humans.

5. Bondo gowo rupo/ Ono bondo onok rupo

The denotation meaning of this rhyme is “money brings a face”. While, connotatively it

means “money determines someone’s appearance”. In this part, a face in the rhyme do

not refer to an actual face, but it refers to an appearance as a whole, such as clothes, styles,

etc. Usually, this expression used by clothing sellers to promote their brand. When

interacting with the buyer, the clothing merchant used to say, “ ayo wes tukuen, apik ini,

bondo gowo rupo”. means (let’s buy, this is cloth, the price determines the quality). Or it

is often said by someone who is chatting on the street, then he sees someone whose face

is normal, but all he wears are branded. Spontaneously he would say “wow, bondo gowo

rupo” which means that the price determines the quality.

This rhyme is about a relationship between humans with another human in social

intercourse. It is all about a human’s attitude and interaction with another human to live

based on social norms. Someone who has an ordinary face, but all branded appearance,

indicates that he wants to be recognized as good/beautiful / handsome in his society. He

wants to be recognized by the environment, so it is clear that it is about a relationship

between humans and another human in their environment.

6. Wong mis dodol kayu

Mari nangis guya guyu

This rhyme refers to a flash rhyme called ‘karmina’. Karmina refers to a rhyme consisting

of two lines to four lines. The first line is ‘sampiran’ and the second line is filled with a

straight rhyme pattern (a-a). Karmina used to express sarcasm explicitly. Denotatively,

this rhyme means “even if you have been selling wood, you are crying then laughing”.

The first line is sampiran, and the second line is the content, where the content of the

karmina is that someone is crying and then he laughs afterward.

In everyday life, this regional literature is often used by small children who are

playing with their friends, then one of the children cries because of fighting over a toy

with his friend. After he cried, he laughed maybe he saw the cuteness made by his friend

or other things that he thought were funny. If we look closely, the regional literature can

be said to be karmina but in the Javanese version. Note that the first and second lines,

where the end is the same (a-a). The first line ends ‘yu’ and the second line ends ‘yu’. In

rhyme of poetry, a syllable whose ending is exactly the same is called perfect rhyme. The

moral values contained in the regional literature are where there are human relationships

with other humans. This literature is used by young children who are playing with their

friends. Usually the literature is made fun. So clearly there is a relationship with other

humans because there is interaction or socialization between humans.





133

7. Nongko yo nongko

Lek mateng yo legi

Konco yo konco

Nek seneng yo dadi

This rhyme is a flash rhyme with four lines, in which the first and second lines used to be

the ‘sampiran’ and the third and the fourth one is the content. Its denotative meaning is

‘when a friend is in love, they will be a real couple later’. Nongko yo nongko can be

interpreted as “jackfruit” or “if it is jackfruit it won’t be something else”, nek meteng yo

legi means if it is ripe it must be sweet, konco yo konco means friends, nek seneng yo dadi

means if you like him/her you will be together.

Connotatively it means is where friends are in love, they will be a real couple later.

In this context, friends mean more than having a relationship as a friend, it refers to a

condition where a man and a woman used to hang out then falling in love. It can be

guessed that they will be married later. The moral value contained in the regional

literature above is that there is a relationship between humans and other humans, in which

it is about a sense of love between a couple that leads to happiness.

8. Kethek kecemplung kalen

Timbang golek angur balen

Kettek means monkey, and kecemplung kalen means falling into a river. Timbang golek

means rather than looking for…, and angur balen means better to go back. This rhyme

refers to falling in love with the same person for the second time. So, the story of the

existence of this rhyme is there is a man and a woman was in love, then they break up

and one day one of them, either one of them want to be back again. Then someone will

say Kethek kecemplung kalen, Timbang golek angur balen.

This literature can also be addressed to divorced husbands or wives, but one wants

to be reconciled. It is because loving someone we loved is more comfortable than looking

for someone to love. It is more on the value of the relationship between humans and other

humans.

All eight Javanese rhymes found in this study have denotative and connotative

meanings. In literature, connotation and denotation meanings must exist and they must

be described so that the meaning can be clearer and understandable. These rhymes mostly

contain the relationship between human with other humans. The first data is lali rupane

eleng rasane which contains moral values between humans with themselves. The second

to the rest data contains moral values between humans with their environment. Thus, this

study did not find moral values between humans with God.

Madurese Regional Literature

1. Keratok odik keratok kerreng

Akentok dibik ngaranin oreng

This rhyme used a-a or b-b structure. Literally it means “living beans, dried beans”, kratok

is kind of bean that grows in Indonesia. The second line means “suspecting someone else

for his own fart”. This utterance was expressed when someone gets to be punished, but

he does not admit it instead of accuses others. Then, his friend will express this utterance.

The moral value contained in this utterance is the relationship between humans and

other humans, it is social intercourse. Actually, accusing others is unethical or it can be

called slander, which, is a very despicable act that can defile and undermine someone else

pride. Moreover, it will trigger more problem than a solution.

2. Tes ngerettes jegung odik

Tes mepantes benni non dibik

This rhyme denotative meaning is pretentious but not its own. In the first line, the tes

ngrettes means blooming, blooming in this context refers to a pop up of a frying popcorn.





134

and jengung odik means fresh corn, in which is the best material to make popcorn. While,

in the second line, tes mepantes means pretentious, and benni non dibik means not one’s

own.

This regional literature is often pronounced by the Pandhalungan community and

usually pronounced for young children. For example, when gathered at home, there are

small children bout 1-2 years old who like to steal other people’s belongings, such as a

hat. Then, he wears this hat and shows it off to another family. Naturally, someone will

use this expression to show these children’s attitudes. In which he is happy to show off

but wearing not his own belonging. The moral value contained in the regional literature

above is that there is a human relationship with another human being, where someone

uses things that do not belong to him but he is pretentious that he deserves to use it. Taking

things that do not belong to himself, then he pretends to be appropriate to use them. It is

not good, however, that literature is usually used or intended for children. As parents,

children should be taught a discipline about a belonging, both his own or others, from an

early age so that they are not used to it until they grow up.

3. Lakonah lakonin

Opanah openin

This poetry has the same characteristic as ‘syair’, which present the content in all of its

lane. So, lakonah lakonin means do your work. Opanah openin, means take care of your

salary. In this context, any listener will be confused if they were interpreted this

expression denotatively. As they will understand how can we take care a salary, it is not

even a living thing. Therefore, the suitable way to understand this expression is by

understanding its connotation, it is “a person should manage his salary based on his needs

and not to waste it for something useless. Parents often use this regional literature to

educate their children when they want to start a family or getting married. Then, the

parents will remind them by saying lakonah lakonin, opanah openin, and children must

accept this suggestion. As it is believed, this society, every child must respect their parent.

By implementing this suggestion, it is believed that children can manage their salary well

and they will be grateful and sincere.

The moral values contained in this poetry are related to the relationship between

humans and themselves, namely the types of moral values that include problems that

occur between humans and themselves. Obviously, it can be seen that a person who is

never grateful for the job and salary that he gets, will always feel depressed and there will

be no blessings in his life. He will always feel anxiety, lack and mental suffering in

himself due to never being grateful in his life.

4. Atokar enger, Epesa neser

Atokar means to quarrel or fight, enger means noisy. So atokar enger means noisy when

fighting. Epesa means to intervene, while neser means pity. So, it can mean noise when

fighting, but if divorced, pity. In everyday life, this expression is usually spoken by

married. In domestic life, there is usually a fight between husband and wife. The fight

becomes uncomfortable for the two of them to feel until they were divorced. However, a

divorce is not a solution for their fight. The moral values contained in the regional

literature are human relations with themselves. It is believed that divorce could affect this

family’s harmony, and affect their feelings since there were together then they were

separated in the end. Humans, need to love, to be loved, and hugs, from their partners for

their spiritual health. So, the message from arokar enger apesa neser regional literature is

very profound, so it needs more than an observation.





135

5. Kecepot guleh merah

Salah lopot nyo’on saporah

This regional literature is usually pronounced during Eid and its meaning is to apologize.

Apart from being pronounced during Eid, it is also often spoken by the MC when there is

an event of the birth of Prophet Muhammad saw., or other traditional events. Usually, at

the end of the program, MC says kecepot guleh merah, Salah lopot nyo’on saporah, which

means he apologized for any mistakes or deficiencies during and of the event.

It is a kind of rhyme that uses a-a technique, that the first line is the sampiran and the

second one is the content. Denotatively, kecepot means a kind of Indonesian traditional

snack that shapes like a mini ball surrounded by sesame. Guleh merah means brown

sugar. Salah lopot means any mistakes, and nyo’on saporah means I apologize.

Connotatively, it means I am sorry if there may be some mistakes from my speech, such

as: mispronouncing etc. The moral values contained in the regional literature is human

relations with other humans. Human relationships will be harmonious with other humans

if they live in harmony and forgive each other.

6. Samper sarong kebebena

Pekker kerrong karobena

Literally, samper sarong means a garment consisting of a long piece of cloth worn

wrapped around the body and tucked at the waist or under the armpits, in which samper

refers to the woman cloth while sarong is mans’ cloth. However, when both words are

combined it means a garment with batik motif. So, samper sarong kabebena means one

wears this kind of garment with batik motif. While, pekker means to think, kerrong means

missing, and karobena refers to someone’s face. So, the second line means missing

someone’s face. This utterance used to be spoken by teenagers who are in love. When

they were separated, it is clear they will be missing each other, then they will say samper

sarong kabebena, pekker kerrong karobena, or in short thinking of you.

The moral values contained in this expression is about the human relationship with

himself, where he experiences missing his girlfriend and wants to meet her. In life,

everyone must feel a love, where when he is in love, he will always be haunted by the

shadow of the face of the person he loves, with the shadow of that face he will feel his

life disturbed because of missing her. So, he experiences problems that occur between

him and themselves.

7. Kenglah abeddek maske pepeh becca

Kenglah agellek meske ateh sossa

Kenglah Abeddek is a phrase that means dress up. If separated, kenglah has no meaning

in Madurese unless it combined with other verbs. While, abeddek means using powder,

then if combined it means to dress up. Maske means even though, pepeh means cheeks,

becca means wet. So, it means even if the cheeks are wet. While, the second line, kenglah

also has no meaning, agellek means laughing, meske means even though, ateh means day,

and sossa means sad. So, this expression means ‘even though the cheeks are wet one still

dressed up, even though heartbroken one still laughs.

The regional literature above is often uttered by someone who has experienced any

sadness. For example, when you are grieving when your family died, or your lover leaves

you, or someone in your family is sick, or experiencing a disaster, etc. When feeling sad,

someone comforts him and he tries to laugh or happy. So, in that way, he will be strong

and say, kenglah abeddek maske pepeh becca, kenglah agellek meske sossa. The moral

value contained in the regional literature above is that there are problems that occur

between humans and themselves. So, he felt his own sadness.





136

8. Klaras klareh klebun manyang

Beres mareh tedung nyaman

This expression is often uttered by elders who are treating their children or grandchildren

who are sick. Literally it means to get well soon and sleep soundly.

Klaras klareh means dried banana leaves, kelebun manyang means perfume. So, its

denotative meaning is dried banana leaves with perfume. The second line means to get

well soon, and tedung nyaman means sleep comfortably / sleep soundly. This expression

used to be uttered during children’s medication by their mother or grandmother. This

community used to create their own medicine from traditional roots such as peeled and

sliced shallots and then mixed with eucalyptus oil or lime juice. It is believed this

treatment could him better and comfortable. It can be concluded that this expression is

kind of a mantra, since their ancestor believes in this kind of treatment. This expression

contained the relationship between humans and their God. He believes that by reciting

this mantra the child will recover from his illness. Currently, this mantra is often chanted

by the elders.

9. Lempok ben gulenah

Tageppok padhe gilenah

Lempok is a kind of traditional cake made from steamed cassava with brown sugar. So,

lempok ben gulenah means the cake and its sugar. While, padhe gilenah means both crazy

or all crazy. So, the second line means ‘meet someone who is crazy too’. Literally, crazy

refers to mental disorder or mentally deranged, especially as manifested in a wild or

aggressive way. However, connotatively ‘crazy’ in this society refers to selfish, arbitrary,

and arrogant. This utterance used to mock other people when they are selfish or etc. This

expression usually used in a context when A person feels annoyed at two people because

they are annoying. The moral values contained in the regional literature, where there is a

relationship between oneself and others. Someone feels hurt by two people, no matter

what the problem is clearly feeling hurt. He intended to mock the two people by reciting

the regional literature. Mocking is actually an ethic that is not good to do, let alone

emulated. However, if we look at the pandhalungan community’s characteristics that have

a tough character, mocking is common for them.

10. Min amin pandhek

Min amen, the denotatively means a short prayer. The word amen is pronounced half as

min, because Madurese characteristics used to pronounce the last part of syllable and

repeat the word to refer to this expression as an activity, such as amin is an utterance used

at the end of a prayer or a statement to express assent or approval, but when it is repeated

‘min amin’ it will refer to the prayer activity. Pandhek means is short. Min Amen Pandhek

means a brief prayer.

This expression is uttered by someone when there is an event, for example, someone

intends to marry off their child but with a simple event or a simple party. He said “Min

Amen Pandhek beinlah ...” which means the event is simple. Another example is an event

for ancestors who have passed away, so the event is only attended by families, so it is said

“min amin pandhek”. The moral value contained in this expression is the relationship

between humans and themselves, where it is related to one’s financial condition. The

person will pronounce this phrase because his finances are running low.

11. Hadirin hadirot

Bedeh seraddin bedeh seperot

Hadirin, hadirot denotatively means a call for audiences both male and female. This

expression used to be spoken during a formal event, pengajian, by the master of

ceremony. Pengajuan is kind of traditional ceremony that its activity focused on listening

to religious speech, such as isro’ mi’roj, maulid Nabi, etc. Bedeh seraddin bedeh se perot





137

means that there is the beautiful one and there is the ugly one. While, connotatively this

utterance expressed that the master of ceremony needs the audience’s attention to start

the event. ‘perot = ugly’ in this context was used for humor only to take their attention,

since it is believed humor could take attention more than other technique. In short, it

means “attention please!”. The moral value contained in this regional literature is that

there is a relationship between humans and other humans. In addition, this utterance is

not to humiliate the audience, but to take their attention by joking around.

12. Geddeng karepek, Ekalak dengudenah

Man degeng nalpek, Epokol mattuanah

Denotatively, gedeng means banana, kerepek means name of banana species in Madurese.

This type of banana is often made as fried banana. Ekalak means taken, and dengudenah

means raw. Man degeng nalpek means someone who doesn’t have children. Epokol

mattuanah means being beaten by his/her in-laws’ parents. So, it can mean Krepek banana

tree is taken during raw, his in-laws beat someone who has not had a clingy child.

The local literature was spoken by someone and addressed to someone who is newly

married but does not have children. The content of the blood literature above lines 3-4 is

that if a person does not have children, he will stick to objects and be beaten by his in-

laws. This regional literature aims to make a person immediately have descendant, so

being beaten is only a condition that does not intend to harm or hurt his son-in-law. The

moral values contained in the regional literature have a relationship between humans and

other humans. Parents in-laws and their children are a family that needs each other. So,

the contents of the regional literature intend to help, not to hurt.

In addition, this research used Nurgiyantoro’s theory as a reference to the moral value

theory. He divided the moral value into three types: the relationship between humans with

himself, a human with another human, and a human with God. Besides, in these twelve

regional Madurese rhymes, it is found that they all have both denotative and connotative

meanings and also contained all three types of moral values mentioned above.

CONCLUSION

All eight Javanese rhymes found in this study have denotative and connotative meanings.

In literature, connotation and denotation meanings must exist and they must be described so

that the meaning can be clearer and understandable. These rhymes mostly contain the

relationship between human with other humans. The first data is lali rupane eleng rasane which

contains moral values between humans with themselves. The second to the rest data contains

moral values between humans with their environment. Thus, this study did not find moral values

between humans with their God in Javanese rhymes. In addition, this research used

Nurgiyantoro’s theory as a reference for the moral value theory. He divided the moral value

into three types: the relationship between humans with themselves, humans with another

human, and humans with God. Besides, in these twelve regional Madurese rhymes, it is found

that they all have both denotative and connotative meanings and also contained all three types

of moral values mentioned above.

Both Javanese and Madurese regional literature have a unique sense and contain

beneficial moral values in everyday life. Anyone who expressed it and whoever hears the

rhyme, if they understand the meaning and the moral value, will undoubtedly draw conclusions

and will apply it in everyday life.

REFERENCES Amilia, Fitri dan Astri Widyaruli A. 2017. Semantik Konsep dan Contoh Analisis. Malang: Madani.

Chaer, Abdul. 2002. Pengantar Semantik Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

Dibia, I Ketut. 2018. Apresiasi Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia. Depok: Raja Grafindo Persada.





138

Didipu, Herman. 2010. Sastra Daerah (Konsep Dasar, Penelitian, dan Pengkajiannya). Gorontalo:

UNG.

Diniarti, Dian Aprila. 2017. Peribahasa (Sesenggaq) Sasak Seagai Sastra Daerah Masyarakat Sasask

Pulau Lombok (Kajian Semiotik Kultur). Makalah disajikan pada Seminar Nasional yang

diselenggarakan oleh Universitas Negeri Jember tanggal 22 Maret 2017.

Kosasih, E. 2012.Dasar-Dasar Keterampilan Sastra. Bandung: Yrama Widya.

Leech, Geoffrey N. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. New York: United Strates.

Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. 2012. Teori Pengkajian Fiksi. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press.

Rahyono, F.X. 2009. Kearifan Budaya dalam Kata. Jakarta: Wedatama Widya Sastra.

Rekan.2008. Karakteristik Puisi Karya Siswa SMPN 1 Singotrunan Kabupaten Banyuwangi.Tesis

tidak diterbitkan. Malang: Program Pascasarjana UNISMA Malang.

Semi, Atar. 1993. Metode Penelitian Sastra. Bandung: Angkasa.

Siswantoro. 2010. Metode Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Sukatman. (2009). Butir-Butir Tradisi Lisan Indonesia: Pengantar Teori dan Pembelajarannya.

Yogyakarta: Leksbang Pressindo.

Sugiyono. 2008. Memahami Penelitian Kualitatif. Bandung: Alfabeta

Sutarto, Ayu. 2004. Menguak Pergumulan antara Seni, Politik, Islam, dan Indonesia. Jember:

Kompyawisda dan Pemprov Jember.





139

RECOMMENDATION FOR DISASTER MITIGATION

THROUGH THE ANALYSIS OF INDONESIAN NOVELS

Eva Dwi Kurniawan

University of Technology Yogyakarta


Septi Riana Dewi

University of Technology Yogyakarta


ABSTRACT

Disaster becomes a phenomenon that cannot be separated from human life. The increasing

intensity of disasters recently signaled that readiness to face the impact of disasters must be

increased. Many Indonesian novels provide implied and explicit recommendations regarding

disaster mitigation. This study analyzes the recommendations presented in Indonesian novels.

The method used in this research is structural. The findings obtained from this study are the

recommendation for disaster mitigation in the fields of technology, social, religion and

transportation.

Keyword: literary works, disaster mitigation, structuralism

INTRODUCTION

Disaster becomes a part of human life. Disaster can be in three forms, namely natural

disaster, non-natural disaster and social disaster. Natural disaster includes volcanoes,

earthquakes, or climate change. Non-natural disasters are presented as transportation accidents,

forest fires, or collapsed buildings. Meanwhile, social disasters can be in the form of conflicts

between ethnic groups, races, religions, and among groups.

The phenomenon of disaster is one of the stories that existed in literary works. Disaster

mitigation, as part of the problem of disaster, is also present in several literary works. There has

been a lot of research on disaster mitigation in the literature. Among these studies is Else Liliani

in her 2010 research entitled Pemanfaatan Sastra Anak sebagai Media Mitigasi Bencana. In

her research, Else explained about planning the use of children’s literature for disaster

mitigation in learning the Indonesian language and literature. Liliani (2010: 55) states that

disaster mitigation efforts can be carried out by understanding the text’s contents, providing

responses to disaster problems and their mitigation and prevention, or writing down natural and

social disaster phenomena in the community based on the text read.

Another study in 2014 by Siti Anafiah entitled Pemanfaatan Komik Anak sebagai Media

Mitigasi Bencana in which reviewed comics as a genre of children’s literature to be used as a

medium for disaster mitigation. Anafiah emphasized that comic language tends to be

straightforward, simple and easy for children to understand. It eases the understanding of

disaster mitigation more quickly. Anafiah (2014: 138) revealed that the intrinsic elements that

have the potential to be used as a medium for growing insights about disasters and their

mitigation are characters, plot, themes, backgrounds, messages.

The next study was conducted in 2019 by Shofia Nur’aini and Sony Sukmawan entitled

Bencana dan Mitigasi dalam Cerita Pendek Siber Indonesia. Nur’aini and Sukmawan

highlighted the short story of Kompas, which had an ecological message in the form of being

responsive, careful and alert to disasters by loving the environment more. It is mentioned by

Nur’aini and Sony (2019: 163) that imaginative concrete reality in the form of damage,

destruction, chaos, uproar as a result of this disaster is a common motive for a narrative.





140

In contrast to previous studies, in this study, the problem raised is how disaster mitigation

is presented in Indonesian novels. Disaster mitigation displayed in literary works can become

disaster recommendations, both on a local, national and international scale. This is done to show

the possibilities that literary works can do as creative works. The possibility referred to is to

provide disaster mitigation recommendations. Nurgiyantoro (2019: 8) states that the fictional

world contains many more possibilities than the real world.

This study uses structural analysis to analyze the existence of disaster mitigation

recommendations that are featured in Indonesian novels. Sayuti (2017: 49) stated that in order

to understand the structure of literary works and seize meaning appropriately, readers need to

know and understand parts or elements of literary works. The literary elements analyzed in this

study focus on disaster management efforts that are displayed in the research object.

RESEARCH METHOD

This study belongs to literature study research. The research technique is to read notes by

reading the research object carefully and then recording the text according to the research

problem. There are three novels used as the object of research in this study, namely the novel

Ayah Keduaku by Mohd Amin MS, the novel Hujan by Tere Liye, and the novel Orang-Orang

Proyek by Ahmad Tohari. This study uses a structural approach to analyzing the intrinsic

elements that existed in the novel. The intrinsic element seen is the setting of a story or event

that has relevance to disaster mitigation.

RECOMMENDATION OF DISASTER MITIGATION

Technology

Technology is a necessity in this era. Technology advances so rapidly. Indonesian novels

offer several forms of recommendations to avoid the threat of disaster. In the field of

technology, the novel Hujan provides information that can be used as consideration for dealing

with extreme climate disasters in the coming years. The offer presented in this novel is by

building large ships that can last hundreds of years in space. This can save human life in case

of extreme temperature changes.

“Umat manusia harus diselamatkan dari kepunahan. Hanya tersedia satu-

satunya cara, yaitu mengirim mereka meninggalkan bumi. Setiap kapal bisa

menampung sepuluh ribu penduduk, membawanya ke orbit seratus hingga dua

ratus kilometer dari bumi, jauh di atas lapisan atmosfer. Mereka akan betahan

hidup di sana. Kapan akan memberikan tempat tinggal yang disesain sedemikian

rupa seperti permukaan bumi yang ideal. Hingga seratus tahun berlalu kapal

berlayar, dan iklim bumi benar-benar pulih alami, mereka bisa mendarat lagi.”

(Liye, 2020: 279).

“Mankind must be saved from extinction. The only way available is to send

them off the earth. Each ship could accommodate ten thousand inhabitants, bringing

it into orbit a hundred to two hundred kilometers from Earth, high above the

atmosphere. They will live there. When will you provide a place to live that is

designed in such a way as the ideal earth surface. Until a hundred years passed by

the sailing ships, and the earth’s climate was completely recovered, they could land

again.” (translation)





141

Shipbuilding, as described in the novel, requires thorough preparation, sophisticated

technology as well as extensive funding. It takes a long time to build a ship as written in the

novel. In addition, there is a need for cooperation among world countries to build ships that can

accommodate millions of people.

Social and Religion

Indonesian novels provide an offer in minimizing the impact of social disasters, both in

the form of social conflict and a bigger disaster, namely corruption. Indrayana (2008: 4) stated

that corruption is a source of disaster and crime. Meanwhile, Sudibyakto (2011: 105) argued

that a disaster is an event or series of events that result in victims of human suffering, loss of

property, damage to the environment, facilities and infrastructure as well as disruption to life

and livelihood of the community.

Efforts to minimize the impact of corruption are exemplified in the novel Orang-Orang

Proyek. Kabul, as the main character, acts like a knight by avoiding corruption in the project.

Kabul had the courage to resist corruption and dare to quit his job as a project engineer.

“Maaf, Wat, aku memutuskan berhenti karena prinsip yang harus kubela. Aku

harus pergi, namun aku minta kamu tetap bekerja sampai proyek ini selesai. Atau

dianggap selesai menjelang pada HUT GLM, kira-kira sebulan lagi.”

(Tohari, 2007: 231).

“Sorry, Wat, I decided to quit because of the idealism I have to defend. I have

to go, but I ask you to keep working until this project is finished. Or they are

considered finished before the GLM Anniversary, in about a month.” (translation)

Kabul’s actions are an example of character education in an effort to tackle corrupt

behavior as the most significant social disaster. This novel provides an explanation that creating

a character with integrity like Kabul is needed in efforts to prevent corruption. Thus, education

that is oriented in improving integrity towards an attitude of rejecting corruption needs to be

encouraged as much as possible.

Religious issues become things that cause social conflict. In the novel Kambing dan

Hujan, there is information that can minimize the differences in religious schools. The example

can be seen when Miftah and Fauziah were performing congregational prayers. It shows how

religious school conflicts are negotiated.

Mif menuju tempat sholat dan menunaikan qabliyah subuh, sedangkan Fauzia

bergegas ke kamar mandi. Ia sudah duduk di belakang suaminya dua puluh menit

kemudian.

Subuhnya tak pakai qunut, “kata Mif. “Tak apa, kan?”

Fauzia tersenyum dan mengangguk. “Tapi, wiridnya yang panjang, ya? Keraskan

sedikit bacaannya, biar aku bisa mengamini doa suamiku. Oke?”

Mif tersenyum dan mengangguk, untuk kemudian mengangkat takbir. Fauzia,

setelah menggumamkan “ushalli”, segera mengikuti.

Mif dan Fauzia shalat subuh berdua untuk kali pertama.

(Ikhwan, 2018: 372).

Mif headed for the prayer place and performed the qabliyah at dawn, while Fauzia

rushed to the bathroom. She was sitting behind her husband twenty minutes later.

At dawn, he didn’t use qunut, “said Mif. “It’s okay, right?”

Fauzia smiled and nodded. “But, the Wirid is long, huh? Read it aloud, so I can go

along with my husband’s prayer. Okay?”

Mif smiled and nodded, then raised the takbir. Fauzia, after muttering “ushalli”,

immediately followed. Mif and Fauzia prayed at dawn together for the first time. (translation)





142

The religious negotiations shown in the novel Kambing dan Hujan belong to religious

negotiation which is furuiyah. In the context of Islamic teaching, furuiyah differences are not a

fundamental issue in implementing religious law. However, in society, fuiyah differences

become something that is often questioned, causing higher social conflicts. As stated by

Qaradhawi (2014: 26), lately there have been many tendencies to care about fuiyah problems

rather than the main issues even though the predecessors had said that whoever neglected the

subject would never reach the destination.

The novel Kambing dan Hujan provides recommendations regarding the need for public

understanding of something furuiyah. In the religious field, it is important to do this so that

social conflicts do not occur continuously, especially in relation to differences in religious

schools.

Transportation

Transportation accidents are one form of non-natural disaster that existed in this novel.

Before the water transportation accident occurred in the novel Ayah Keduaku, it was stated that

there were actions to anticipate the possible events.

“Hei, kapten Rimbo!” ujar seseorang tiba-tiba menyeletuk di antar kami. Aku

melihat ke samping. Di sisi pompong, di sebuah papan tipis seorang lelaki kurus

berdiri. Kaki-kakinya lincah, seakan lengket di sisi pompong itu, tak memedulikan

laju pompong yang menerpa gelombang dari pompong lain yang lewat. Dia

molonggokkan wajah. Idin. “Jika tak keberatan dan mengganggu perjumpaan

kalian, ada sedikit laporan, kapten!” seru Idin.

“Apa?” seru Rimbo tetap menatap ke depan. Tak sedikit pun matanya

berpaling.

“Di depan langit mendung, sepertinya hari mau hujan!”

“Ya, aku sudah melihatnya. Siapkan terpal, lindungi penumpang. Suruh

anak-anak menjauh dari sisi pompong! Ajak mereka ke tengah! ujar Rimbo.

“Siap kapten!”

(MS, 2014: 310).

“Hey, Captain Rimbo!” said someone suddenly snapping between us. I

looked aside. At the side of the pompong, on a thin board, a thin man is standing.

His legs are nimble as if they are sticking to the side of the pompong, ignoring the

speed of the pompong that hits the waves from other pompong passing by. She gave

a face. Idin. “If you don’t mind and interfere with your meeting, there is a little

report, captain!” said Idin.

“What?” said Rimbo, still looking ahead. Not the slightest bit of his eyes

turned.

“In front of the cloudy sky, it looks like it’s going to rain!”

“Yes, I’ve seen it. Prepare a tarpaulin, protect passengers. Have the children

move away from the pompong side! Take them to the middle! said Rimbo.

“Ready captain!” (translation)

Rimbo’s instruction as a pompong captain to Idin in the dialogue shows the existence of

disaster mitigation against the weather. Preparing tarpaulins and protecting passengers from

falling into the swift river water by asking them to be in the middle of the pompong is an effort

to minimize water transportation disasters. There is a standard of work that has been done well

by Rimbo as captain of the pompong. Meanwhile, for the crew, Idin has done his job well by

providing an initial report on the weather that is likely to happen in the future, and immediately

carrying out what has been instructed by Rimbo as captain of the pompong. The mitigation of





143

water transportation disasters told in the novel Ayah Keduaku is the readiness of transportation

facilities and infrastructure in the face of weather changes. Thus, the recommendation given is

the need for the best possible attention in preparing transportation facilities and infrastructure.

CONCLUSION

Literary works become a medium that can be used to provide disaster mitigation

recommendations. In the field of technology, the recommendation given by the novel Hujan is

by creating a spaceship that can accommodate many people. This recommendation prioritizes

the cooperation of many countries and the use of sophisticated technology. In the novel, Orang-

Orang Proyek and Kambing dan Hujan, the recommendations are given are how much integrity

is in rejecting corruption and knowledge of religious laws. While in transportation, the novel

Ayah Keduaku provides recommendations for preparing the best transportation infrastructure

and facilities.

REFERENCES Anafiah, Siti. 2014. Pemanfaatan Komik Anak sebagi Media Mitigasi Bencana. Jurnal Widyaparwa. 42

(2),.138.

Ikhwan, Mahfud. 2018. Kambing dan Hujan. F. Yogyakarta: Bentang.

Indrayana, Denny. 2008. Negeri Para Mafioso: Hukum di Sarang Koruptor. Jakarta: Kompas.

Liliani, Elise. 2010. Pemanfaatan Sastra Anak sebagai Media Mitigasi Bencana. Jurnal Penelitian

Humaniora, 15 (1), 55

Liye, Tere. 2020. Hujan. Cetakan ketigapuluh lima. Jakarta: Republika.

MS, Mohd Amin. 2014. Ayah Keduaku. Cetakan kedua. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Nur’aini, S & Sony Sukmawan. 2019. Bencana dan Mitigasi dalam Cerita Pendek Siber Indonesia.

Jurnal Ilmiah Edukasi dan Sosial. 10 (2): p.163.

Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. 2019. Teori Pengkajian Fiksi. Cetakan keduabelas. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada

University Press.

Qaradhawi, Yusuf. 2014. Fiqih Prioritas. Diterjemahkan oleh Aunur Rafiq Saleh Tamhid. Cetakan

kesepuluh. Jakarta: Robbani Press.

Sayuti, Suminto A. 2019. Berkenalan dengan prosa Fiksi. Cetakan kedua. Yogyakarta: Cantrik Pustaka.

Sudibyakto. 2018. Manajemen Bencana di Indonesia ke Mana? Cetakan kedua. Yogyakarta: Gajah

Mada University Press.

Tohari, Ahmad. 2007. Orang-orang Proyek. Jakarta: Gramedia.





144





145

LOCAL LANGUAGE:

THE WORLDVIEW AND LANGUAGE OWNERS’ CULTURAL EXPRESSION

Heru S.P. Saputra

Faculty of Humanities, University of Jember


Titik Maslikatin

Faculty of Humanities, University of Jember


Edy Hariyadi Faculty of Humanities, University of Jember


ABSTRACT

This paper aims to discuss the relationship between local language and worldview and the

native speakers’ cultural expressions. The study is based on anthropological linguistics

concepts. The results of the study exhibited that local languages become the main choice for

self-expression mainly in the context of daily social interaction, rituals, and creative work. With

local languages, expressions sound intensifying, easily internalized and representative. In

Banyuwangi, various cultural expressions such asbasanan, tembang, gendhing, mantra (spells),

art performance, and literature are more dominantly used with Using language. The language

reflects the characteristics of Using community and becomes one of their cultural identities. In

this context, cultural politics constructed by Banyuwangi rulers were crucially important to

preserve and develop Using language. The locality values reflected through Using language —

cognitive, philosophical, values, norms, and aesthetics dimensions—merge with other local

language dimensions reflecting their worldviews. This becomes a collective imagination as well

as the projection of cultural norms and rules in interpreting the function of the local language.

Keywords: culture, language, locality, Using, worldview.

INTRODUCTION

Language is not only a means of communication but also a means of expressing the

language owner’s perceptions, attitudes, and worldviews. Moreover, local languages—

including Using language, Banyuwangi—of which lexicons tend to contain conception and

typical past heritage knowledge. Knowledge and cognitive values that someone or a group of

people own can be identified through their linguistic expressions. Language and culture are

inseparable. They both are integrated. This also comes true with Using language and its culture.

The language expresses culture.

Many studies have discussed the relevance of language and culture. Such a study can be

carried out through a sociolinguistic perspective (Mujib, 2009), by emphasizing language

function in a social context. It can also emphasize cultural studies’ perspective (Santoso, 2007),

which emphasizes the function of language in the daily context. On the other hand, language

also becomes an inseparable sign system between text relations and context (Halliday, 1994),

emphasizing culture as the system of meanings.

Such a study of language and cultural relations comes from an understanding of

perspective. Cognitive perspective differences will lead to the differences of worldviews over

linguistic-cultural phenomena. The context resulted in a statement as suggested by Wierzbicka

from Wilhelm von Humboldt’s statement that “each language...contains a characteristic

worldview” (see, Suhandano, 2004:15). The relations of language and cultural relations





146

(anthropology) or culture and language have similarities, although both give different emphasis

and direction. Linguistic anthropology (Duranti, 1997) looks at the cultural content in linguistic

classes. Conversely, anthropological linguistics (Foley, 1997) examines the linguistic content

reflected in cultural classes.

Local languages have dominant and various cultural contents. Moreover, local languages

also possess various idioms and lexicons to express contextual ideas. For instance, the word

“eat” in Indonesian has a wide range of words and variations in local languages such as in

Javanese or Using language.1This indicates that local language appears more expressive as a

medium for self-actualization and even reflects the language owners’ worldviews.

Thus, how do local languages and the owner’s cultural expression relate to each other?

How does such a relation reflect the worldview of the local community?

This paper aims to share some insightful information in response to those questions based

on the concept of anthropological linguistics (or linguistic anthropology). It also aims to explain

the relation between language and culture in daily, ritual, and local literary works.

METHOD

This study aims to explain the relation between local language, the language owners’

cultural expressions, and worldview. To comprehend the relations between language and

culture, participatory data exploration needs to be conducted through observation and self-

engagement in daily social activities, arts, rituals, and creative literary works. Through daily

interaction context, expressions are reflected during the language used by linking the meaning.

In arts and rituals, the use of distinctive languages is observed and related to local values.

Whereas, in terms of literature, language aesthetics are expressed in local languages and

compared with the national language.

In addition, ethnographic mechanisms are operated to comprehend the cultural context.

Thus, in-depth interviews were also carried out with some selected people such as community

members, artists, tamers, shamans, and authors/poets concerning the use of local languages. In

this context, ethnographic work mechanisms (Spradley,1997:10) are implemented through

three data sources, such as (1) people’s statements, (2) the way people act, and (3) various

artifacts being used. The working mechanism emphasizes the tineliti perspectives (the

community being studied) so that the emotional perspective is used.

Textual and contextual data are classified as materials to analyze using the interpretive-

cultural paradigm (Geertz, 1989; 1992). The paradigm can be used as an academic tool to

comprehend substantive textual meaning in the context of Using the community. Thus, the

relation of local language and worldview and the cultural expression of the owner’s community

can be interpreted.


Using language is the local language used in the daily social interaction of Using the

community. This particular local language has a long history to be considered as a language,

not a dialect. The talk over the linguistic position of Using language status and its dialect status

sparks intense and exhausting debates. In that particular context, the Arps study of Using

language periods clarifiesUsing language position. Arps (2010: 230-239) formulated the

periods and development of Using language come into five periods, namely: (1) before the

1The word “eat” has similarities with words in Javanese:dhahar, nedha, nedhi, maem, mangan, madhang, ngelek, ngemplok,

nguntal, nggaglak,nyekek, nyamplong, nyikat, njeglak, mbadhog. Whereas, the same word can also be found in Using

language: mangan, madhang, nguntal, nyekek, mbadhog, ngamik-ngamik (nithili panganan sithik-sithik), ngantem, ngeleg,

ngeloloh, nothol, nyendhok, nggayemi, ngemplok, dan niliki. Another case, Javanese also has the word “waras” (“sane”). Yet, in the context of East Java, the word is interpreted as “sembuh” (“cured”) (due to physical illness), while in the context of

Central Java, it is interpreted as “recovering from mental illness”. In Central Java, recovering from physical illness is known

as “mari”, but the word in East Java is interpreted as “finished”.





147

1970s, (2) 1970—1990, (3) 1990—1997, (4) 1997—2002, and (5) in 2002—2009. The critical

part of Using language periods was that it was taught in formal education (elementary and junior

high school). The program has been carried out periodically since 1997—as a follow-up to the

Workshop of Using Language 1990—and was later supported by the Banyuwangi Regional

Regulation Number 5 of 2007 on Regional Language Learning at the Basic Education Level.

The daily local language used by Using people has characteristics that are parallel to their

social structure. Using is an egalitarian language as the speakers are considered to possess an

equal social position (Saputra, 2007: 62). However, as it has developed, cara Besiki—the

language subtle variety—was introduced and perceptibly as Javanese hegemony’s impact.

Nevertheless, cara Besiki is only based on the principle of relatively polite use of the language

without considering the context of social status (see, Andang et al., 2015). This is one of the

distinguishing characteristics of Using language compared to Javanese.

Aside from its formal legitimacy in education, local language has become the main choice

for self-expression in daily social activities related to the historical dimension and collective

ownership based on weluri. Weluri (Saputra, Maslikatin, & Hariyadi, 2019:622) is the legacy

of values, traditions, beliefs, and customs from the predecessors accepted by the next generation

with openness, no criticisms, and carried out as the way it is. In this context, Using language

becomes part of the tradition as well as part of weluri.

With local languages, cultural expressions appear intensifying and internalized in relation

to appreciation and taste. In everyday social relations, in cultural activities, such as performing

arts, carrying out rituals, producing literary works (prose/poetry) are also dominant in using

local languages. Cultural expression tends to be tasty, aesthetic, and appreciative through Using

language. In the context of the Banyuwangi community, Using language becomes collective

bounds as well as cultural identity in preserving and developing the values local heritage of the

Kingdom of Blambangan.

Some cultural expressions such as basanan, tembangor gendhing, mantra (spells), art

performance, and literary works are dominantly used through Using language in Banyuwangi.

Basanan is a daily expression used to express feelings as well as symbolic communication in

Using language. Even in the previous study (Saputra, Maslikatin, & Hariyadi, 2018b), pure oral

traditions have now become an integral part of technological advances and thus become

secondary oral products, which is still used Using language.

To obtain an aesthetical overview and the locality of basanan, the following words are

excerpts as part of the works revealed by Kemiren traditional figure, Kang Pur (interview, 10

August 2018).

Basanan (Translation)

Nggoreng kopi aja kari cemeng

Kadhung cemeng gampang pecahe

Golek laki aja nggantheng-nggantheng

Wong nggantheng akeh tingkahe

Frying coffee of not too black

It is easy to break when black

Looking for the man of not too

handsome

Handsome man act too much

Wader Pethak neng Jurang Jero

Rokok kretek mbako kosrean

Kemethak arep rabi loro Bandha entek awak sesehan

Wader Pethak2in Jurang Jero3

Cigarette snuff tobacco4

Being arrogant with two wives Broken with a severely injured body

Klambi putih teka Kejaya White shirt from Kejaya5

2 Name of fish. 3Name of place. 4Tobacco used forsusuranornginangwomen including elderly people. 5Name of sub-village.





148

Nandur sawi dicucuk pitik

Aja milih calon liya

Pak Jokowi iku wis apik

Planting cassava6pecked by a chicken

Do not choose another candidate

Mr. Jokowi is already good

Nang Surabaya tuku pitik

Pak Prabowo iku ya apik

To Surabaya to buy chicken

Mr. Prabowo is also good

The basanan text excerpts can be examined in the light of aesthetic and taste which

exhibits the local language as it is, and emphasizes rhythmic poetry, parallel repetitions, and

expressive internalization. When translated into another language (Indonesian or English), the

aesthetics and expressive values are lost, so only meaning remains. Like food, the form can be

the same, but the value tastes different; one is delicious, while the other is tasteless. This

indicates that local language idioms and lexicons contain knowledge, values, and aesthetics

which are different from non-local languages.

The same thing works for tembang, gendhing-gendhing in rituals, spells, and other

supernatural-dimensional expressions. Gendhing in Seblang rituals, both Seblang Olehsari and

Seblang Bakungan express the narrative of local communities’ life, such as agrarian societies

(Wessing, 2012—2013; see also, Saputra, 2014), yet non-local language discourses cannot

replace it. Likewise, tembang narrates religious stories (Arps, 1992).

A similar pattern also appears in slametan rituals. The study of religious variations or

slametan rituals (Beatty, 2001), for instance, with many local idioms or lexicons, appear which

reflect local languages to be uneasily replaced in meaningful ways. Non-local languages are not

able to represent the meanings and values resided in the local language.

To illustrate the spells used in the Seblang Bakungan ritual, the following excerpts are

from Nylameti spells spoken by the Seblang Bakungan handler, Ruslan (October 21, 2013).

1. Nylameti

(1) Cikal bakal para dhanyang para leluhur

(2) Hang mbaureksa nong Bakungan

(3) Isun nylameti njaluk keslametan

(4) Sekul arum ubarampe sak cukupe

(5) Isun njaluk keslametan

(6) Sakjroning kampung Bakungan

1. Nylameti7

(1) Cikal

bakal8somedhanyang9someleluhur10

(2) Protecting in Bakungan

(3) I apply the ceremony for safety

(4) Sufficient Kemenyan

(5) I ask for safety

(6) Throughout Bakungan neighborhood

The spell mainly functions to ask for slamet condition. Slamet does not necessarily refer

to conditions of safety, but also harmony, peace, mutual care, and mutual trust. Slametrefers to

social harmony and the word slamet cannot comprehensively replaceable for ‘safety’—

likewise, words such as cikal bakal, dhanyang, and leluhur. The three words have historical,

mystical, and mythological dimensions. Nylametispells become the standard text bound by

mystical laku and must be carried out by a Seblang handler with supernatural power.

6Sawi in context Usinglanguage is cassava, not vegetable (mustard leaves as found elsewhere). 7This spell is pronounced in a series of Seblang Bakungan ritual processions, especially at the tomb of the Seblang Bakungan ancestors also

known as the tomb of Mbah Witri (interview, Ruslan, 21 October 2013). On another occasion, Ruslan confirmed that the first Seblang

Bakungan doer was male, known as Mbah Kantok (Gendhing Lakento in Seblang. Seblang Lakento refers to Mbah Kantok). Then, in the

era of Dutch imperialism, female Seblang appeared so that no ban imposed by the Netherlands. Furthermore, this particular effort was used

as medium to persuade the Dutch to permit rituals (interview, Ruslan, October 24, 2013). Mbah Ruslan passed away on December 23, 2017,

then was replaced by Aseri of Watu Ulo who has become Seblang Bakungan handler since 2018. The following excerpts are parts of Nylameti

spells spoken by the Seblang Bakungan handler, Ruslan (October 21, 2013). 8Cikal bakal (Pioneer/Forerunners) is forerunner that can be interpreted as a spirit that becomes the founderor opening of land from forest land

into a dwelling. In Using-Indonesia dictionary (Ali, 2003:68), cikalbakalis interpreted as a precursor, founder, pioneer, leader of a region or

descendant. 9Dhanyang (The spirits) can be interpreted as a spirit that protects and maintains the fertility of the village. One village can have several

dhanyangs. 10Leluhur (Ancestors) come from the term dhanyang leluhur, but later became popular with leluhur (ancestors). When cikalbakalis gone, then

the descendants of the cikalbakaland dhanyang can unite to become dhanyangleluhur or only leluhur.





149

Not only sacred, profane cultural products also have an inner bond with the local

language. Literary works, both poetry and prose genres, are created by Using languages. For

poets and authors from Banyuwangi, “mother tongue” is more inherent in the mind, more

capable of accommodating non-verbal dimensions into local languages, so more optimal

appreciation is obtained. Even so, the publication of poetry, short stories and novels in Using

language can be understood by wider community. Then, efforts have been made to publish

bilingual works of Using and Indonesian.11One of the bilingual novels popular for achieving

the Rancage prize is Agul-agul Belambangan novel by Moh Syaiful. As an illustration, the

following excerpts are quoted two opening paragraphs taken from the novel, both in Using

language and translated version (Indonesian) (Syaiful, 2016:1).

Using Language Version Indonesia Version (Translation)

“Blak-blak kukuruyuk!”

Ya, pitike sesautan, unine

nengeri gantine dina nyang

raina. Bang-bang wetan

sunare cemelorot nong

ndhuwure segara. Kinclong-

kinclong membat mayun

digawa angin segara. Semilir

gadug bucune perengan ring

pesisir pinggir wetan. Ring

sawahan kanca tani nyincing

panganggone ambyak-

ambyakan liwat galengan.

Pacule nong pundhake,

tangane nyangking arit, hang

liyane ngindhit welasah

gawan nyang sawah. Ijone

tetanduran ngancani

kekarepane ring dina mburi.

Kesuk-kesuk bakal ulih ganti

asile rekasa ring dina iki.

Sak dalan-dalan manuke

magih ngoceh ngancani nong

ndhuwure uwit bendha

nggawa warta isuk nyang

sapadha-padha. Desa

Kebalen mula endah, sing

sapa uwonge hang sing

kepincut nyang endah lan

subure panggonan iki. Paran

bain hang ditandur mesthi

mecukul. Paran bain hang

didhedher mesthi bain urip

meceger. Rakyate guyub

rukun, urip bebarengan

pating tetulung sing ana

Semburat cahaya

matahari pagi mulai

menyelinap dari balik

rerimbunan daun kelapa. Di

bibir pantai, telah tampak

bayangan sang gegana yang

perlahan bergerak naik.

Gulungan ombak saling

berkejaran, diiringi

hempasan angin yang

semilir menyisir tepian

pantai.

Kukuruyuuuuk.... Kokok

ayam menambah sejuk

suasana pagi. Nyanyian

burung-burung kecil yang

hinggap di rerantingan

pohon menjadi melodi

tersendiri yang turut

melengkapi. Jauh dari

hingar bingar deru ombak,

berduyun-duyun orang desa

berjalan menyusuri

pematang sawah, membawa

cangkul juga ani-ani.

Sebagian lagi menyusuri

pematang sawah, membawa

A tinge of morning

sunlight began to slip from

behind the grove of coconut

leaves. On the shoreline, the

gegana’s shadow has

slowly moved up. The

waves roll chasing each

other, accompanied by a

gentle breeze combing the

shore.

Cockadoodledoo....

Chicken crows add to the

morning cool atmosphere.

Small birds were singing

and perched on the trees of

a separate melody of

complements. Far from the

frenzied roar of the waves,

the crowds of villagers

walked along the paddy

fields, carrying hoes as well

as mowing the lawn. Some

of them along the rice

fields, carrying hoes as well

as mowing the lawn. Some

of them carry a little lunch

11Works by Sengker Kuwung Belambangan (SKB)—community of Using literacy activists —in the training of writing Using

language short story and publishing Using books is a cultural atmosphere which can boost the popularity of cultural existence

and Using literacy.





150

paido lan tukar padu sak

kanca-an. Bumine subur,

rakyate makmur, bendarane

kesuwur.

cangkul juga ani-ani.

Sebagian lagi membawa

sedikit bekal yang dikemas

dalam welasah, wadah

bambu bundar dan cekung.

Ada kebahagiaan tersendiri

saat melangkah melewati

pematang sawah dengan

dihibur hehijauan di kanan

dan kiri. Menatap ke tengah

hamparan tanaman yang

lebih mirip permadani

berwarna hijau, mewakili

harapan di kemudian hari.

Bahwa segala peluh yang

tertetes pada hari ini selalu

akan berbayar suatu hari

nanti.

packed in welasah, around

and concave bamboo

container. There is its own

happiness when stepping

past the paddy fields with

entertained green on the

right and left. Looking into

the center of a plant that

looks more like a green

tapestry, represents hope in

the future. That all sweat

drops on this day will

always be paid someday.

The two excerpts imply that SKB published the novel and as one example of prose using

good, aesthetic, and expressive local language. The author can freely play poetry, rhythm,

intonation, and other parallelistic sound effects. Thus, Using language is more aesthetic and

expressive than the translated version (Indonesian).

In terms of daily language, rituals, and creative works, they exhibit that local languages

reflect local communities’ characteristics and become one of their cultural identities. In this

context, cultural politics constructed by Banyuwangi rulers were quite important to preserve

and develop Using language. Using idiom with all the negative stigma attached (Margana,

2015), then reproduced positive and patriotic meanings started in Joko Supaat Slamet’s (the

Regent) administrations.

As a matter of fact, cultural politics through social construction projects have been

implemented in the administrations of Joko Supaat Slamet, Syamsul Hadi, to Abdullah Azwar

Anas (all regents). In a previous study, Saputra, Maslikatin, & Hariyadi (2018a:1) revealed:

The construction of social reality towards the Using community experiences three

phases by three local rulers. First, the construction in exploring the cultural roots of positive

variables from the Using stigma was carried out by Regent Colonel Joko Supaat Slamet

(1966-1978), published in the academic text of Selayang Pandang Blambangan. Second,

Regent Samsul Hadi (2000-2005) followed up with the spirit of “Banyuwangi Jenggirat

Tangi”. After going through three steps of the externalization process, objectivation, and

internalization (relations with citizens), the construction of social reality is produced,

making Using a positive cultural identity, not a degrading stigma. Third, the formulation

of Banyuwangi Festival (B-Fest), in which there is a Banyuwangi Ethno Carnival (BEC)

where Regent Abdullah Azwar Anas (2010-present) constructs art, tradition, nature,

environment, health, and culinary in a global whirlpool. With the support of the

technological revolution, oral civilization was constructed into an electronic civilization,

so that the tradition of nyantet shifted to ngenet. The construction of social reality led to

the spirit of The Sunrise of Java.

The cultural-political movement through social construction exhibits the contribution to

strengthen Using language identity. The locality values through Using language reflect their

worldview. It means that society orientation, in terms of cognitive, philosophical, values,

norms, and aesthetics, blends with other dimensions resided in the local language. Using

language becomes weluri used from one generation to another. This becomes a collective





151

imagination as well as the projection of cultural institutions in interpreting local language

functions.

CONCLUSION

Local language becomes a primary choice for self-expression as it sounds intensifying

and united. Various cultural activities, such as art, rituals, and social interaction are more

dominant in using local languages. In the context of Banyuwangi community, especially Using

language, local language becomes a binder of collectivity and cultural identity in preserving

and developing local heritage values of the Blambangan Kingdom. Various cultural expressions

such as basanan, tembang, gendhing, spells, art performance, literary works in Banyuwangi are

more dominant using local language namely Using language. The language reflects the

characteristics of Using a community and is one of their cultural identities. In this context,

cultural politics constructed byBanyuwangi rulers are fairly important to preserve and develop

Using language. These efforts aim to strengthen the identity of Using language. The locality

values reflected in Using language show their worldview. As a matter of fact, the orientation of

society, both concerning the dimensions of cognitive, philosophical, values, norms, and

aesthetics blends with the dimensions contained in the local language. This becomes a collective

imagination as well as the projection of cultural institutions in interpreting local language

functions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This paper is extracted and developed from a part of the research results entitled “Weluri

Ritual: Pandangan-Dunia Orang Using tentang Relasi antara Alam Sakral, Alam Profan,

Religiusitas Sinkretis, dan Harmoni Sosial untuk Mengkonstruksi Etnowisata Menjadi Basis

Produktivitas Sosial” (Weluri Ritual: The Worldview of People Using about the Relationship

between Sacred Nature, Profession Nature, Syncretic Religiosity, and Social Harmony to

Construct Ethnicity into a Social Productivity Base), PDUPT, DIKTI DRPM, 2019. The

Research Team thankDRPM DIKTI for this support.

REFERENCES Andang C.Y., Jusuf, A., & Noor, H.Z. 2015. Isun Dhemen Basa Using. Banyuwangi: SKB.

Arps, B. 1992. Tembang in Two Traditions: Performance and Interpretation of Javanese Literature.

Proefschrift ter verkrijging va de graad van Doctor aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden.

Arps, B. 2010. “Terwujudnya Bahasa Using di Banyuwangi dan Peranan Media Elektronik di Dalamnya

(Selayang Pandang, 1970—2009),” in Moriyama, M. & Budiman, M. (eds.). Geliat Bahasa Selaras

Zaman: Perubahan Bahasa-bahasa di Indonesia Pasca-Orde Baru. Tokyo: Research Institute for

Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA) Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Beatty, A. 2001. Variasi Agama di Jawa: Suatu Pendekatan Antropologi. Jakarta: Raja Grafindo

Persada.

Duranti, A. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Foley, W.A. 1997. AnthropologicalLinguistics. Massachussets: Blackwell Publisher Inc.

Geertz, C. 1989. Abangan, Santri, Priyayi dalam Masyarakat Jawa. Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya.

Geertz, C. 1992. Tafsir Kebudayaan. Yogyakarta: Kanisius.

Halliday, M.A.K. 1994. Bahasa, Konteks, dan Teks: Aspek-aspek Bahasa dalam Pandangan Semiotik

Sosial. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.

Margana, S. 2015. “Outsiders and Stigma: Reconstructions of Local Identity in Banyuwangi,” in

Legene, S., Purwanto, B., & Nordholt, H.C. (eds.). Sites, Bodies, and Stories: Imagining Indonesian

History. Singapore: NUS Press, 210—231.

Mujib, A. 2009. “Hubungan Bahasa dan Kebudayaan (Perspektif Sosiolinguistik),” Adabiyyãt,

8(1):141—254.

Santoso, A. 2007. “Ilmu Bahasa dalam Perspektif Kajian Budaya,” Bahasa dan Seni, 35(1):1—16.





152

Saputra, H.S.P. 2007. Memuja Mantra: Sabuk Mangir dan Jaran Goyang Masyarakat Suku Using

Banyuwangi. Yogyakarta: LkIS.

Saputra, H.S.P. 2014. “Wasiat Leluhur: Respons Orang Using terhadap Sakralitas dan Fungsi Sosial

Ritual Seblang,” Makara: Hubs-Asia, 18(1): 53—65.

Saputra, H.S.P., Maslikatin, T., & Hariyadi, E. 2018a. “Used to Nyantet, Now Ngenet: Cultural

Transformation of “Using” Community, Banyuwangi.” Paper. The 2nd International Conference on

Social Sciences and Humanities (ICSSH), Deputy of Social Sciences and Humanities, Indonesian

Institute of Sciences (IPSK-LIPI), Main Auditorium LIPI, Jakarta, Indonesia, 23—25 October

2018.

Saputra, H.S.P., Maslikatin, T., & Hariyadi, E. 2018b. “Towards Secondary Orality: Basanan Tradition

in Using Community in the Electronic Civilization Whirpool.” Paper. The International Seminar

on Globalizing Oral Tradition in the Industrial Revolution Era 4.0. Manado, 15—17 February 2019.

Saputra, H.S.P., Maslikatin, T., & Hariyadi, E. 2019. “Kejiman: Mekanisme Metodologis Penentuan

Penari dan Waktu Pelaksanaan Ritual Seblang Olehsari, Banyuwangi,” in Anoegrajekti, N.,

Saputra, H.S.P., Maslikatin, T., & Umniyyah, Z. (ed.). Teori Kritis dan Metodologi: Dinamika

Bahasa, Sastra, dan Budaya. Yogyakarta: Kepel Press.

Spradley, J.P. 1997. Metode Etnografi. Yogyakarta: Tiara Wacana Yogya.

Suhandano. 2004. “Klasifikasi Tumbuh-tumbuhan dalam Bahasa Jawa (Sebuah Kajian Linguistik

Antropologis),” Disertasi. Yogyakarta: Universitas Gadjah Mada.

Syaiful, M. 2016. Agul-agul Belambangan. Banyuwangi: Sengker Kuwung Belambangan.

Wessing, R. 2012—2013. “Celebrations of Life: The GendhingSeblang of Banyuwangi, East Java.” In

Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 99:155—225.





153

MEANING OF DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION

IN MANDAR SEA MANTRA POETRY (ROLAND BARTHES STUDY)

Laeli Qadrianti

Institut Agama Islam Muhammadiyah Sinjai

Muhammad Ilham Universitas Borneo Tarakan

Naim Irmayani Universitas Al-Asyariah Mandar

Corresponding Author: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study, namely 1) to describe the connotative meaning in the Mandar sea

spell poem (Study of Roland Barthes), 2) to describe the denotative meaning in the Mandar sea

spell poem (Study of Roland Barthes). To solve the problem in this study, researchers used

research methods. This research was a qualitative descriptive study. The data source was

obtained from the Mandar sea spell poem (Study of Roland Barthes). The thing analyzed is the

connotative and denotative meaning of the Mandar sea spell poem. The data that has been

obtained is then analyzed using the theory of Miles and Huberman which includes data

reduction, display or presentation of data, then conclusions. The results of this study, namely

the discovery of the connotative and denotative meaning of the Mandar sea spell poem (Roland

Barthes). The meaning of denotation, in this case, is the meaning of what is seen, while the

meaning of connotation is the level of the sign which explains the relationship between signifier

and signpost, in which the meaning is not explicit, indirect and uncertain (meaning open to

various possibilities). Mandar Sea Mantra Poetry (Study of Roland Barthes), contains

denotative meanings besides that, this poem uses many words that contain connotative

meanings.

Keywords: Denotative, connotative, meaning, poetry.

INTRODUCTION

Background

Semiotics as explained by Ferdinand de Saussure in the Course in General Linguistics is

“the study of the role of signs as part of social life. Semiotics is the study of the structure, type,

typology, and the relations of signs in their use in society1. There are a number of applied fields

of semiotics. In that sense, semiotics can be used for an unlimited number of applied fields,

from mass media reporting, advertising communication, nonverbal signs, films, comics,

literature, music, to culture.2

As representatives of the people, poets have a very noble humanitarian task. If the

channels for conveying the aspirations and conscience of the people are blocked, then the poet

must be at the forefront as mediation through words. The channel of words has a trigger magnet

to inspire anyone who reads and hears the lyrics framed with the rhythm of beauty. The essay

poetry book containing narrative poetry from West Sulawesi poets, which was later given the

title “Mantra Laut Mandar”, was actually an expression of the anxiety and concern of West

Sulawesi poets in capturing social and political phenomena mixed in a cultural frame. Thus, the

1Piliang, Yasraf Amir, Semiotika dan Hipersemiotika: Kode, Gaya &Matinya Makna, (Bandung: Matahari, 2012), h. 47. 2Putu Krisdiana Nara Kusuma, Iis Kurnia Nurhayati, Analisis Semiotika Roland Barthes Pada Ritual Otonan di Bali, Jurnal

Manajemen Komunikasi, Volume 1, No. 2, April 2017, h. 195-217.





154

essay poems contained in this anthology are based on or have nuances of Mandar cultural local

wisdom.

One of the poems in the Mandar Sea Mantra Essay poetry series is a poem written by

Subriadi Bakri Juhaepa with the theme of the story about the heroic biography of I Putu Bunga

Masagala, a Commander of the Tie Tie Kingdom in the Mandar region. As a highly respected

figure of a warlord, the poet describes various conflicts experienced by legendary figures. In

the essay poem written by Subriadi Bakri Juhaepa with the title, Pakkande Ate reveals the

attitude and character of I Putu Bunga Masagala’s courage. Because of his ferocity, he was

violent and became a man predator and was known as a heart eater.

Subriadi Bakri Juhaepa’s poetry essay is very historical and cultural. However, the

message the poet wants to convey is full of philosophical meanings for the Mandar people.

Therefore, the poet strikes historical and cultural awareness for the Mandar people to capture

the meaning of space that is stored in the history of Mandar land. The past is not just an artifact

but can be used as a foundation for the journey of the present life. Poets often use cultural

symbols as a sign of loyalty and cultural pride in their identity as Mandar people.3

The study of the meaning of this poem was studied using Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory.

Roland Barthes is a successor to Saussure’s thought. It can be proven from Barthes’ semiotic

theory that it is almost literally derived from de Saussure’s theory of language. According to

Barthes, semiology is the study of how humans interpret things around them. So objects are

signs which carry the implied message. If in Saussure’s view, it emphasizes marking only in

terms of denotation and connotation. But in Barthes’ thought, the marking was perfected from

Saussure’s semiology with the connotative and mythical marking system.4

Through Roland Barthes ‘semiotic analysis of the poem Pakkande’ Ate Karya Subriadi

Bakri Juhaepa in Mandar Sea Poetry, Indonesian Essay Poetry Series, the researcher wants to

explore and reveal the meaning contained in it through the signs contained in the poem. These

meanings include denotational and connotative meanings. According to the researcher, the

poem Pakkande ‘Ate Karya Subriadi Bakri Juhaepa in Mandar Sea Poetry Books Indonesian

Essay Poetry Series contains many signs not only of the real meaning (denotation) but also to

a more advanced stage, namely the meaning of connotation.

Theory

Roland Barthes developed the idea from Ferdinand de Saussure, which stated that a sign

consists of two inseparable faces. Signé consists of significant and signifiéor in the English

vocabulary, sign consists of a signifier and a signified. In Indonesian, it is termed a marker and

a marker.5

Barthes uses the significant-signifies theory which is developed into a theory about

metalanguage and connotations. The term significant becomes expression (E) and signifies

becomes content (C). But Barthes said that between E and C there must be a certain relationship

(R) so that a sign is formed. This is a structural concept as suggested by de Saussure. This

concept of relation makes the theory of sign more likely to develop because the user of the sign

defines R. According to Barthes E can develop to form a new sign so that there is more than

one marker with the same C. This symptom is referred to as metalanguage or synonymy.6

According to Roland Barthes, the process of having a relationship in semiotics results in

the development of meaning, meaning becomes very complex. There is a denotative meaning,

which is the initial meaning, the first meaning of the E and C relationship. The process of human

relations raises two possible secondary system level meanings, namely connotative meaning

3Adi Arwan Alimin dkk., Mantra Laut Mandar, (Makassar: Cerah Budaya Indonesia, 2018), h. vii-viii. 4Sinta Rizki Haryono, Dedi Kurnia Syah Putra, Identitas Budaya Indonesia: Analisis Semiotika Roland BarthesDalam Iklan

Aqua Versi “Temukan Indonesiamu”, Universitas Telkom. 5Susilo Pradoko, Semiotika Roland Barthes Guna PengembanganPenelitian Pendidikan Musik dan Seni, Prosiding Seminar

Nasional, Universitas Negeri Medan, 2015. h. 152. 6Benny H. Hoed, Semiotik dan Dinamika Sosial Budaya. Jakarta: Komunitas Bambu, 2014), h. 57.





155

and meta language meaning. The connotative meaning occurs when the E-R-C process in the

primary system becomes C in the secondary system.The following is a picture of the semiotic

relation.7

Denotation is a level of sign that describes the relationship between a sign and a sign, or

between a sign and its reference to reality, which produces an explicit, direct, and definite

meaning. The meaning of denotation in this case is the meaning of what is seen. The connotation

is the level of the sign which explains the relationship between the sign and the sign, in which

the meaning is not explicit, indirect and uncertain (meaning that it is open to various

possibilities). It creates second layer meanings that are formed when a marker is associated with

various psychological aspects, such as feelings, emotions, or beliefs. For example, a flower sign

connotes affection or a skull sign connotes danger. Connotation can produce a second layer

meaning that is implicit, hidden, which is called connotative meaning.8


This research is a research library research, namely by collecting data related to the

discussion in this study. The data analysis method uses the descriptive analysis method because

in this study the data will be presented as they are as the research was conducted. In addition,

the research report is also in the form of an explanation containing quotations from the data to

provide support for what is being reported.9

Data Collection Method

Data collection is obtained through the following steps: 1) In-depth reading of Pakkande

Ate’s poetry, 2) Determine the signs contained therein, 3) Collecting primary data, and 4)

Collecting secondary data.

Data Sources

1. Primary Data

Primary data in this study were obtained from the poem Mantra Laut Mandar with the

title Pakande Ate.

2. Secondary Data

To support the data in this study, it was obtained from journal references related to the

Roland Barthes Study.

7kapanpunbisa.blogspot.com 8 Clara Natalia Christina Mitak, Wacana Iklan Televisi Rokok Djarum 76 Versi “Pengin Eksis”: Analisis Tanda Menurut

Roland Barthes, Jurnal Ilmiah Kebudayaan Sintesis, (Universitas Sanata Dharma) Vol. 11 No. 2, 2017, h. 95-107. 9 Faizetul Ukhrawiyah1, Muhammad Munir, Eminisme Dalam Sajak Tukhôtibu Al-Marah Al-MishrīyahKarya Bâkhisah

AlBâdīyah (Analisis Semiotik Roland Barthes), Diwan: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Arab, Vol. 5 No.2, Desember 2019, h. 170-

181.





156

Data Analysis Technique

The method that researchers use in data analysis techniques in this study is the interactive

model of Miles and Huberman, namely data analysis is carried out when data collection takes

place, and after data collection in a certain period.10 This is explained as follows:

1. Data collection. The data are in the form of texts containing denotative and connotative

meanings which will be used as research data.

2. Data reduction, namely summarizing and selecting the main things and focusing on the

important things and looking for themes that are considered important and relevant to the

subject of the research.

3. Display or presentation of data, namely the presentation of data in the form of short

descriptions, charts, and the like which is a continuation after the data is reduced and

through the presentation of the data, the data about the denotative and connotative

meaning of the Mandar Sea Mantra poem with the title Pakkande Ate.

4. Verification or conclusion. Verification is the drawing of conclusions, that is, after the

data is patterned, focused and arranged systematically in a narrative form, then through

the induction method, the data is concluded. So that the meaning of the data can be found

in the form of interpretations and arguments. Conclusions were also verified throughout

the study.

DISCUSSION

Denotation Meaning of Pakkande ‘Ate Poetry in Mandar Sea Mantra Poetry Book Roland Barthes is widely known as a writer who uses semiotic analysis and is the

developer of the thought of his predecessor, Ferdinand de Saussure’s father of semiology or

semiotics. His writings were published in a magazine in France at the beginning of the middle

of the last century containing various messages, which he later called myths. Barthes takes

myths more seriously and put them in his book published by Noondy Press in 1972 entitled

Mythologies in the Myth Today section. In the context of old mythology, myth is related to

history and the formation of society at its time, but Barthes sees it as a form of message or

speech that must be believed to be true even though it cannot be proven. However, if we look

at the denotative meaning or the actual meaning of Pakkande Ate’s essay poetry, let us examine

it a little like the poem below:

/1/ Putu Bunga Masagala11

maraddia malolo12

panglima kerajaan Tie Tie13

memanglah gagah perkasa dan sakti mandraguna

tapi ia takluk juga pada remang senja

yang tawarkan pesona

di antara gemericik air lembah

yang gairahkan rasa di kesunyian

In the text of the poem above, it is explained that Putu Bunga Masagala maraddia malolo,

the commander of the kingdom, Tie Tie is a mighty and powerful commander, but he really

likes the beauty of the afternoon, especially with the addition of the sound of valley water which

adds to his liking and love even though he is often in a quiet place. The text was able to describe

how the Tie-Tie commander liked the natural atmosphere. Furthermore, the neat atmosphere is

illustrated in the poetry quote below. The author adds to the atmosphere of the place. In this

10 Sugiyono, Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif, Kualitatif dan R&D, (Bandung: Alfabeta, 2009), h. 246. 11Putu Bunga Masagala adalah panglima perang Kerajaan Tie Tie. 12Maraddia Malolo adalah gelar kebangsawanan. 13 Kerajaan Tie Tie adalah kerajaan yang berada di wilayah Mandar diperkirakan berdiri pada tahun 1300 —1400 SM





157

second verse, a distinctive rural atmosphere is built with the sound of nocturnal animals which

adds to the enjoyment of living in a village without the hustle and bustle of city noise. In the

text below, Putu Bunga Masagala also misses a woman whom he does not even know who that

woman is. During the full moon, the Commander of the TieTie got his spirits up even though

he was less enthusiastic and confused.

desir angin lembah

dan lapas suara binatang malam

deraskan rasa rindu pada seorang perempuan

walau sejumlah warna telah rebah ke tanah

tegakkan jiwa di bawah bulan

yang mulai benderang

tapi kepada siapa rindu tertuju

Putu Bunga Masagala

tak juga mampu menjawabnya

kendati pada bumi Suruang14

ia hamparkan tanyanya

Furthermore, in the following verse it is explained that the moon which is directly above

the thatch branches in the view of I Putu Bunga Masagala and the stars that are starting to

disappear makes them feel less excited like the silence of the atmosphere in that place. Initially

he hoped that the longing had begun to strengthen but the meaning of his longing had not yet

been expressed, he had no more power.

Cahaya rembulan yang bertengger di dahan rumbia15

serta kerlip bintang

yang mulai hilang satu persatu

benamkan sukma I Putu Bunga Masagala

pada kesunyian senyap

dan harapan yang boleh jadi

lepas sebelum tergenggam

The writer is very good at describing the atmosphere to feel the atmosphere depicted in

the poem. The way the writer explains is able to be captured by the reader with excellent diction.

saat jubah malam telah menawarkan kepekatan

I Putu Bunga Masagala justru melayarkan rindu

bersama darah malam dari sungging

sunyi piatu kenestapaan

bila saja I Putu Bunga Masagala seorang penyair

maka ia telah kehilangan kata-kata puitis

karena rasa yang bergelinjangan dalam buntalan cinta

telah habis memakannya

14 Nama kampung tempat bertemunya parkerajaan 15 Sejenis tumbuhan yang daunnya bisa dibuat atap





158

Furthermore, the two stanzas above explain how much feeling is currently plaguing I Putu

Bunga Masagala, the diction used by the poet is very apt to represent his solitude. The choice

of diction in the first verse above depicts a midnight atmosphere which adds to the sadness.

adalah ketenaran paras Ayu Calla Kanuku16

putri panglima perang Kerajaan Passokkorang17

yang terus melintas memainkan rasa

mengusik jiwa tualang I Putu Bunga Masagala

tapi sayap-sayap hasrat belum mampu terkepak

terbang melintasi gunung dan lembah

ngarai dan sungai

menemui sang pujaan di balik bukit Pasokkorang

yang bertakhta megah

Furthermore, the two verses above tell about Ayu Calla Kanuku, the daughter of the

warlord of the Kingdom of Passokkorang, who disturbed I Putu Bunga Masagala’s soul but was

unable to unite. He tried to meet Ayu Calla Kanuku by crossing mountains and valleys, canyons

and even rivers. The location of the Pasokkorang kingdom is behind the Pasokkorang hill.

Bayangan wajah Calla Kanuku

Dengan lesung di pipinya

Juga senyum di lengkung bibirnya yang tipis

Buncahkan rindu I Putu Bunga Masagala

bangkitkan gairah untuk segera merengkuhnya

tak heran jika kemudian

I Putu Bunga Masagala bersenandung

“kulukis wajahmu di pelataran rinduku yang biru

Kucari sosokmu di lembar mimpi yang dingin

Namun kau tetap saja samar

Ingin segera kuakhiri dengan sebuah pengakuan

segala rasa yang menyiksa ini

Lalu pada angin bersama embun pagi

kutitip segalaku untukmu”

Furthermore, the two stanzas above describe the beauty of I Calla Kanuku with dimples

and a smile from her thin lips which makes I Putu Bunga Masagala miss her even more; she is

so longing that she hums to express her hidden feelings for I Calla Kanuku because her

relationship is still vague, there is no irregularity. He wanted to end this lack of clarity by

confessing the feeling that tormented him.

16 Calla Kanuku adalah nama gelar dari putri panglima perang Kerajaan Pasokkorang yang terkenal kecantikannya. Digelar

demikian karena kukunya yang berwarna merah 17Pasokkorang adalah nama kerajaan yang berada di wilayah Bugis dan bertetangga dengan kerajaan Tie Tie





159

/2/segala harapan dan impian

yang terbangun dari rumbia dan kerinduan

lantaran cinta yang telah menggunung

dan meneteskan larva

telah menciptakan surga di puncak-puncak menara

yang dibangun pada ketinggian bersama mantra

karena cinta dan kerinduan

telah memenuhi segenap ruang dan waktu

maka bersama keyakinan leluhur

yang tertanam sejak bocah

I Putu Bunga Masagala menerobos malam yang pekat

menembus dingin subuh yang menusuk

tak peduli seberapa banyak melintasi lembah

tak peduli seberapa banyak mendaki gunung

langkah dan arahnya telah terpatri

pasti menuju Pasokkorang

The verse above explains the sincerity of I Putu Bunga Masagala to I Calla Kanuku. He

no longer cares about the piercing cold of dawn, the valleys he has traversed and the mountains

he climbs; his heart has been imprinted on the Pasokkorang area. He really hopes that his hopes

and dreams to be united with I Calla Kanuku can come true.

“Tunggulah aku, duhai Calla Kanuku

aku akan datang mengikuti sayembaramu

dan bersama keyakinan yang terpatri dalam hati

bahwa engkau memang diciptakan untukku”

gumamnya

matahari baru saja menjentik embun pagi

ketika I Putu Bunga Masagala

sampai di tanah Pasokkorang

alun-alun istana tempat pertarungan berlangsung

telah disesaki penonton

tak sungkan. Tak ragu

ia mengambil posisi di antara para petarung

memang sayembara kali ini

tidak seperti sayembara sebelumnya

yang hanya diikuti oleh jawara dalam negeri

tapi kali ini peserta berdatangan

dari segenap penjuru

bahkan putra bangsawan

dari kerajaan-kerajaan tetangga

seperti Towarani18 dari Tomadio19

pembunuh bayaran dari Tabulahan20

dan panglima perang Kerajaan Tie Tie

taruhannya pun bukan taruhan seperti biasanya

kali ini putri tunggal dari panglima perang Kerajaan Pasokkorang

yang kecantikannya bangkitkan hasrat laki-laki jantan

18Gelar yang diberikan bagi para jagoan Mandar. 19 Tomadio adalah nama kerajaan yang berada dalam wilayah Mandar yang berbatasan dengan Kerajaan Tie Tie dari arah

timur. 20Tabulahan adalah kerajaan yang berbatasan dengan Kerajaan Tie Tie dari arah selatan.





160

Several verses above tell about the competition that I Putu Bunga Masagala will

participate in. Early in the morning, he arrived at the land of Pasokkorang to take part in the

competition. Fighters had also crowded into the royal plaza. The bet was not a bet as usual, this

time the only daughter of the Pasokkorang Kingdom’s warlord whose beauty aroused the desire

of men who became gifts. Participants who come not only from within the country but from all

over, even the sons of nobles from neighboring kingdoms who want gifts in the form of

beautiful beautiful princesses. He is sure he can win the competition.

I Putu Bunga Masagala bersama penonton lainnya

terdiam dalam ketipak-ketipak gendang

yang mengalirkan aroma mistis

sementara para jawara dari berbagai lapisan masyarakat

mencoba peruntungan dan

atau sekedar menguji kedigdayaan

telah siaga dalam posisi bertarung

di atas panggung kehormatan

di atas kursi kebesaran

panglima Kerajaan Pasokkorang

menyapu area pertarungan

wajahnya yang tampan

memancarkan kharisma yang perbawa

sedang di sisi kanannya

nampak Calla Kanuku duduk dengan anggunnya

sebagaimana layaknya seorang putri bangsawan

I Putu Bunga Masagala

seolah tanpa kedip menatap wajah Calla Kanuku

yang duduk di sisi Pettanya21

bibirnya yang tipis dan selalu basah itu

membentuk garis lengkung

In the verse above, the atmosphere of the location is depicted with the sound of drums

flowing mystical to enliven the battle, while the fighters are ready. I Putu Bunga Masagala and

the other spectators was silent while continuing to watch. Some champions try their luck, but

some others are just testing their strength and are already in a position to fight. On the stage of

honor, on the seat of greatness, the Pasokkorang Kingdom commander was seen. His eyes

roamed the battle area with a charismatic, handsome face. On the right side, I Calla Kanuku sat

gracefully. I Putu Bunga Masagala looked at Calla Kanuku’s face without blinking. The third

verse above depicts the beauty of I Calla Kanuku’s face.

seketika hasrat kelelakian I Putu Bunga Masagala

membawanya pada pengakuan

bahwa di puspa hatinya telah tercipta taman

tempat bermain dan bersenda gurau

gong!

21Petta adalah gelar kehormatan bangsawan Bugis sebagai pengganti nama bapak.





161

Gendang telah ditabuh

pertarungan pun telah dimulai

para jawara menunjukkan kebolehan

tentu saja dengan senjata andalan masing-masing

ada yang bertarung menggunakan

gayang22, doe23, kalewang24, kondobulo25, dan kanjai26

Irama gendang kian bertalu

Pertarungan kian bergairah

satu persatu peserta berguguran

ada yang patah, ada yang pingsan

bahkan ada yang tewas seketika

tapi itu tidak membunuh nyali mereka

When I Putu Bunga Masagala’s male instinct strengthened, the desire to have I Calla

Kanuku grew bigger. He has thought and imagined the beauty of being with I Calla Kanuku.

The battle has started, the fighters are using their best weapons. The battle was getting fiercer,

one by one, the participants fell and some even died instantly, but that did not kill their guts.

menjelang senja pertarungan tertunda

tinggal empat orang jawara yang tersisa

I Lette Bassi dari Pasokkorang

Indindore dari Tomadio

ITotandiapa dari Tabulahan

dan I Putu Bunga Masagala dari Tie Tie

jelang beberapa saat

pertarungan kembali dimulai

I Putu Bunga Masagala menumbangkan

I Lette Bassi dari Pasokkorang

I Totandiapa dari Tabulahan menaklukkan

Indindore dari Tomadio

hingga akhirnya sampailah pada puncak pertarungan

siapakah yang lebih digdaya di antara keduanya

I Putu Bunga Masagala dari Kerajaan Tie Tie

ataukah I Totandiapa dari Tabulahan

sebelum pertarungan penentuan dimulai

panglima Kerajaan Pasokkorang berdiri dari kursinya

matanya menyapu area pertarungan

dan kemudian bertitah

“akhirnya telah sampai pada puncak pertarungan kali ini

Siapapun pemenangnya, dari mana pun asal negerinya

dialah lelaki yang pantas mendampingi putriku, Calla Kanuku

Maka bertarunglah kalian sebagaimana layaknya seorang lelaki”

22 Senjata khas Mandar sejenis keris 23 Tombak 24 Parang panjang 25 Sejenis parang panjang tapi berujung runcing 26Sejenis tombak yang bermata dua





162

The stanza above explains the remaining fighters. There were only four champions left, I

Lette Bassi from Pasokkorang, Indindore from Tomadio, I Totandiapa from Tabulahan, and I

Putu Bunga Masagala from Tie Tie. The battle was fierce, I Putu Bunga Masagala overthrew I

Lette Bassi from Pasokkorang, I Totandiapa from Tabulahan defeated Indindore from Tomadio.

The remaining two fighters are I Putu Bunga Masagala and I Totandiapa from Tabulahan. Until

the battle’s climax, the Pasokkorang royal commander ordered the remaining two fighters to

fight like men. Some of the verses above are beautifully described by the poet about the

atmosphere of the battle so that the reader is able to imagine as if he were in that location.

Penabuh gendang mempererat pengikat kepalanya

Membisikkan mantra pada gendang I Tumballe27

Lalu detik berikutnya terdengarlah ritmis yang tak seperti biasanya

Penonton terdiam

Desah napas berkejaran

Aroma kematian memenuhi udara

Di hati mereka terbetik tanya

“Siapa gerangan yang akan bersimbah darah hari ini?

“I Putu Bunga Masagala melangkah tegap

memasuki area pertarungan tanpa senjata

sedang I Totandiapa maju dengan Sossorang I Lekkong Amessa28

yang pada ujungnya masih ada bercak darah

yang mulai mengering

The verse above depicts a mystical atmosphere by the poet, the drums used during battle

events are added with spells and unusual drum blows to make the fight even tenser. The bravery

and might of I Putu Bunga Masagala It was clear that the battle was unarmed while the opponent

was using a sossorang (keris). Poets are able to tell stories with extraordinary diction; the battles

seem real to bring the audience as if they are in the arena.

pada langkah yang pertama

keduanya masih perkasa

pada langkah yang kedua

keduanya masih baja

pada langkah yang ketiga

lengan I Totandiapa terluka

pada langkah yang keempat


menyapu dadanya yang tergores

pada langkah yang kelima

I Totandiapa terkapar tak berdaya

tewas dengan ulu hati yang terbuka

I Putu Bunga Masagala telah merobek perutnya

In the two verses above, the fight began, the first step was both still strong, the second

step was all still equally strong, the third step I Totandiapa was injured, the fourth step I Putu

Bunga Masagala was injured in the chest, in the fifth step I Totandiapa died with an open

stomach.

27 Gendang I Tumballe adalah nama gendang yang khusus digunakan saat acara pertarungan maut. 28 Sossorang I Lekkong Amessa adalah keris pusaka yang mempunyai sembilan lengkungan.





163


melangkahi mayat I Totandiapa

yang tewas dengan perut terburai

berjalan ke arah panggung kehormatan

tapi dengan sigap para joaq29 panglima Kerajaan Pasokkorang

menghadang langkah I Putu Bunga Masagala

bersiaga membentuk barisan perisai

dengan tombak dan kanjai

I Putu Bunga Masagala menghentikan langkah

menatap mereka dengan sorot mata tajam

sedang dari kukunya menetes darah

tentu saja dalam kewaspadaan siaga perang

melihat situasi ini panglima perang Kerajaan Pasokkorang

bangkit dari kursinya lalu dengan isyarat

ia menyuruh para joaq itu membuka jalan

I Putu Bunga Masagala melanjutkan langkah

The verse above depicts that after the fight is over, I Putu Bunga Masagala wins. I

Totandiapa stepped towards the stage of honor. He met the Pasokkorang royal commander but

was intercepted by the royal guards. Still, on the battlefield, he stared one by one with sharp

eyes. The Pasokkorang royal commander stood up and ordered the royal servants to make way

for I Putu Bunga Masagala.

di hadapan panglima perang Kerajaan Pasokkorang

ia membungkuk sebagai tanda penghormatan

lalu berujar dengan kalindaqdaq30

“muaq diang na maq alapandeng

pura utujuq

apa guna

napetaeng di seddeq u

maneanna anna diang

gauq naditonganni

na dipoaja

muaq dipeppondoq i pura loa31

pemenang telah ditetapkan

penonton bubar. Area sepi.

Furthermore, I Putu Bunga Masagala paid respect to the warlord of the Pasokkorang

Kingdom then he became a chant, which means that if someone seizes the woman I have lured,

what is the use of a weapon in the waist, only this time an act has really been proven that will

cause death if you break the promise that has been said.

29 Joaq dalam bahasa Mandar berarti budak tetapi juga bisa dimaknai sebagai abdi kerajaan yang bertugas melindungi

bangsawan dan keturunannya. 30 Kalindaqdaq dalam bahasa Mandar adalah sejenis pantun 31 Terjemahan: (bila ada yang akan merebut/gadis yang telah kupikat/apa gunanya/senjata di pinggang/barulah kali

ini/perbuatan benar-benar akan dibuktikan/yang akan menyebabkan kematian/jika mengingkari janji yang telah diucapkan).





164

/3/ I Putu Bunga Masagala

memboyong Calla Kanuku

Di bawah sumpah kesetiaan

pesta berlangsung dalam suasana kegembiraan

tetamu berdatangan dari segenap penjuru

aneka masakan dan minuman disuguhkan

berbagai ragam seni pertunjukan ditampilkan

di atas pelaminan keduanya tampak bahagia

senyum di bibir seolah tak pernah berhenti

I Putu Bunga Masagala duduk dengan gagahnya

pakaian kebesaran panglima perang kerajaan dikenakan

sedang Calla Kanuku duduk di sisinya

memakai baju pokko32 berwarna merah dan doliq beruq-beruq33

sungguh, kian menampakkan keanggunannya

The above verse describes the implementation of the wedding ceremony of I Putu Bunga

Masagala and I Calla Kanuku. The party was lively. Guests from all over came to congratulate

the two. Various cuisines are served, various kinds of performing arts are displayed. The bride

and groom looked happy. I Putu Bunga Masagala wear the clothes of the royal warlord while I

Calla Kanuku wear traditional Mandar clothes and earrings that add to her beauty.

Parrabana34 dan pallake35

Sertatari pattudduq36 sempurnakan hajatan

segenap rakyat Tie Tie larut dalam kegembiraan

panglima perang sang kebanggaan

telah berhasil mempersunting wanita pujaan hati

para tetua dan sastrawan saling bergiliran menyampaikan

kalindaqdaq

tentu saja berisikan pujian dan kesyukuran

naluri sastrawi I Putu Bunga Masagala bangkit

setelah melirik manja pada Calla Kanuku sejenak

ia pun lalu berdiri dan berujar

Iq o tarrang di ateu

Alus di paqmaiq u

Apa iq omo

Surugana ateu

Uru-uru uitangmu

Tappa mongeaq

mating

32Baju Pokko adalah pakaian khas wanita Mandar. 33 Doliq beruq-beruq adalah anting-anting yang dihiasi dengan bunga melati 34Parrabana berarti penabuh gendang. 35Tarian khas Mandar yang dimainkan oleh kaum laki-laki. 36 Tari Pattuduq adalah tarian khas mandar yang diperankan oleh gadis-gadis cantik yang biasanya dipertunjukkan pada saat

acara kebesaran





165

Tappa andiang

Tambar paulinna

Surugana ateu37

Uru-uru uitangmu

Tappa mongeaq mating

Tappa andiang

Tambar paulinna38

Furthermore, some of the above verses are able to describe the atmosphere of a lively,

happy, and joyful party; the elders and writers take turns delivering rhymes containing praise

and gratitude because the Tie-Tie royal warlord has succeeded in marrying the beautiful

daughter of Pasokkorang. I Putu Bunga Masagala also played rhymes to show his love for I

Calla Kanuku.

/4/

gagak hitam meluncurkan tangisan maut

dari paruhnya yang tajam

menghadirkan kengerian yang menciutkan nyali

penduduk kerajaan Tie-Tie saling berbisik

petaka kematian menyebar di hati mereka

pastilah akan ada yang terkapar, batinnya

“Apa yang terjadi?”

Tanya salah seorang di antara mereka

“Putri panglima terbunuh”

Jawab yang lainnya

“Siapa pelakunya?”

“Pembunuh bayaran dari Tabulahan”

“Di mana?”

“Di taman belakang rumah panglima”

“Sadis sekali!”

“Memangnya kenapa?”

“Kepalanya dipenggal”

“Biadab!”

mereka tak melanjutkan pembicaraan

mereka diam

mereka marah

The verse above describes the tragedy of the murder of the son of the Tie-Tie kingdom’s

warlord who was beheaded by an assassin from Tabulahan. Poets are able to describe a tense

atmosphere with selected diction that adds tension to the location, not to mention the sound of

a black crow. Anger begins to characterize and continues in verse below.

37Terjemahan: (engkaulah yang terang benderang dalam hatiku/halus dalam perasaanku/sebab engkaulah yang membahagiakan

hatiku). 38 Terjemahan: (saat pertama kali kumelihatmu/langsung aku jatuh cinta kepadamu/lantas tiada/penawar buat mengobatinya).





166

marah atas kesadisan itu

marah atas kebiadaban itu

adalah I Putu Bunga Masagala

lelaki perkasa yang sakti mandraguna itu

duduk diam dalam sepi yang mahabening

sesekali bibirnya bergerak

berbicara tanpa suara

sedang di hadapannya tergeletak jasad poktowunai lakka belu39

putri semata wayang yang mewarisi kecantikan bundanya

terbujur kaku

tanpa kepala

bersimbah darah

gelora amarah jelas tergambar

dari bola matanya yang memerah

juga pada gemeretuk gerahamnya

yang kaku mengeras

ditatapnya tanpa kedip jenazah putrinya

sedang tangis membuncah dalam dada

sesekali air matanya mengambang di pelupuk mata

bahkan jatuh ziarahi peta luka

“Siapa yang membunuh putri kita, daeng?40

Kenapa dibunuh?

Di mana dibunuh?”

I Putu Bunga Masagala tak menjawab

Dipeluknya erat-erat tubuh istrinya

The above verse describes I Putu Bunga Masagala’s anger about the savagery and sadness

experienced by his daughter. the mighty man with the power sat silently in the lonely night. His

mouth cracked without speaking. In front of him lay his daughter who had been beheaded by

the assassin. His eyes flashed with rage, his molar stiffened even more. He looked at his son’s

body without blinking, and tears filled his eyes, his heart was very hurt. His wife was just as

shocked.

Calla Kanuku melepaskan pelukan I Putu Bunga Masagala

lalu dengan segenap naluri keibuan yang dimilikinya

ia memeluk jenazah sang putri kesayangan

“anakku...anakku...anakku”

Desisnya

Tenna rapandaq marepeq

Bisaq tangngama naung

Na muitai

Ateu lalang mongeq

39 Terjemahan: (saat pertama kali kumelihatmu/langsung aku jatuh cinta kepadamu/lantas tiada/penawar buat mengobatinya).

Poktowuna adalah nama putri tunggal I Putu Bunga Masagala dari pernikahannya dengan Calla Kanuku. Lakka Belua adalah

gelar yang diberikan pada Poktowuna karena rambutnya yang panjang 40Daeng adalah gelar kebangsawanan.





167

Raddaq uai mataq u

iqdai raqda liwang

raddaqdi tama

manjappoq i ateu

bayangan tentang anaknya selagi hidup

bermain-main dalam ingatan

betapa Poktowuna begitu manja kepadanya

beritakan segala hal yang dilakukan

sampaikan segala hal yang mengganggu

tidak siang juga tidak malam

segala kehendaknya harus terpenuhi

tak boleh tertunda

pantang tertawar

Terngiang ucapan Potowuna i lakka belua

Suatu ketika

“Ennya41...!

Ananda baru saja menolak pinangan

bangsawan muda dari Tabulahan dan Tomadio

aduh, anakkku...”

Furthermore, the verse above describes the sadness experienced by Calla Kanuku. Still

remembering Poktowuna being so spoiled for him. All his wishes must be fulfilled, it cannot

be postponed or negotiated. Prior to the incident, Poktowuna shared that he had just refused the

proposal of a young aristocrat from Tabulahan and Tomadio, this could be the reason.

Calla Kanuku kembali mendesis

Betapa batinnya merintih mengingat semua itu

I Putu Bunga Masagala tak mampu melihat

adegan itu lebih lama lagi

darah Mandar yang mengalir dalam nadi

bergolak mencuatkan kesejatian lelaki

bahwa tidaklah kanjai atau kalewang

akan menyurutkan niat

jika memang hal itu menyangkut marwah

Calla Kanuku endured pain over the death of her beloved daughter. I Putu Bunga

Masagala couldn’t see his wife like that. His anger was getting worse. Weapons will not deter

its intentions when it comes to its existence.

“sudahlah isteriku, Calla Kanuku

hentikanlah tangismu!

semayamkanlah putri kita

karena bagiku ini adalah siriq42

di tatapnya sekali lagi jasad putrinya

dalam keharuan yang membiru

dengan bibir bergetar terucap sumpah

41Ennya adalah pangggilan khusus kepada ibu dari golongan bangsawan di Mandar. 42 Siriq bisa dimaknai harga diri





168

lalu berjalan gontai menuju bukit suruang

dan pada lembahnya

ia tumpahkan segala amarah

yang menggetarkan dinding-dinding tebing

“Duhai putra bangsawan Tabulahan dan Tomadio

aku tahu kalau kalian yang melakukannya

Aku tahu kalau kalian bersekongkol

menuntaskan dendam

atas penolakan putriku pada hasratmu

aku tahu kalau kalian menggunakan tangan bayaran

karena ketakutan yang menciutkan keberanianmu

maka bersiaplah atas murka I Putu Bunga Masagala

yang gemar menunggang ombak

mencumbui maut”

Furthermore, in the verse above, the atmosphere before his daughter is buried is

described. The husband and wife experienced deep sadness. I Putu Bunga Masagala walked

unsteadily towards the Suruang hill. He poured out all his anger, his revenge was increasingly

burning towards the son of the nobleman Tabulahan and Tomadio, who according to

information that those who worked together to hire an assassin cut off his daughter’s head to

death because her love was rejected. I Putu Bunga Masagala, who is brave enough to face

problems and is always in a deadly battle, is not afraid at all.

pelan-pelan diangkatnya tangan I Putu Bunga Masagala

tinggi-tinggi ke arah langit

urat-urat tangan membesar, kukunya berdesing

bara amarah yang berkobar

seolah merontokkan dedaunan di sekitarnya

“Duhai

aku adalah lelaki Mandar

yang jika siriq telah menghampir

pantang bagiku menyimpan gayang43 dalam sarungnya

Di mana pun kalian bersembunyi

Siapa pun yang memberikan perlindungan

Aku akan tetap mencarimu

Aku akan tetap membunuhmu

karena aku tak akan peduli

pada gemeretak ranting kering

juga pada riak Maloso44

dan kepak sayap Maleo45

serta pada angin yang akan kabarkan berita tentangku

bahwa aku bukanlah merah yang sekadar saga”

43 Senjata khas Mandar yang biasa digunakan untuk berperang 44 Nama sungai yang mengalir di wilayah Kerajaan Tie Tie 45Nama sejenis burung langka yang hanya ada di wilayah Sulawesi Barat, kini menjadi maskot Provinsi Sulawesi Barat.





169

The stanza above describes the growing anger of I Putu Bunga Masagala to the person

who killed her beloved daughter. Yes, I no longer care about the environment. He felt

humiliated and he did not want to keep the keris in its sheath if that really happened.

/5/

Suasana mencekam di daerah perbatasan kerajaan Tie Tie dan Tomadio


mempersiapkan pasukan perangnya

Kali ini ia ingin menyerang Tomadio

yang dianggap menyembunyikan dan memberikan perlindungan

kepada pembunuh bayaran dari Tabulahan

Pembunuh putri kesayangannya, Potowuna i Lakka Belua

I Putu Bunga Masagala berkeliling

memeriksa kesiapan dan persiapan bala tentara perangnya

Pasukan keris

Pasukan tombak

Pasukan kanjai

Pasukan kalewang

Semua telah lengkap. Semua telah siap

Furthermore, the verse above describes the preparation process of I Putu Bunga Masagala

to attack Tomadio, who is considered to be hiding and providing protection. All troops of war

are ready, the weapons are complete. Then proceed to the next verse as follows.

I Putu Bunga Masagala menaiki saiyangbolong46 miliknya

dengan tangkas

Bendera perang Kerajaan Tie Tie yang

berwarna hitam dengan gambar telapak tangan di tengah

diangkat tinggi-tinggi sebagai isyarat pasukan mulai bergerak

Dan dengan satu hentakan pada tali kekang kuda

I Putu Bunga Masagala memimpin pasukannnya

amarah dan dendam berseteru berseliweran

di antara kilau kalewang

di antara desing tombak dan kanjai

dan di antara kelebat keris memburu nyawa

tarian kematian menggema dalam terik yang membara

Di tengah pertarungan yang kian dahsyat

Di saat sebagian besar pasukan Tomadio berjatuhan

I Putu Bunga Masagala melayangkan pandangan ke area pertempuran

matanya nyalang seolah mencari seseorang

Pembunuh putrinya

Saat ditemukan sosok yang diincarnya, maka ia pun menerobos hingga

berhadapan langsung dengan sang pembunuh

Tanpa membuang waktu I Putu Bunga Masagala

Menerjang dalam satu gebrakan yang mematikan

Dengan kukunya yang runcing

46Saiyang Bolong adalah kuda perang I Putu Bunga Masagala yang berwarna hitam pekat.





170

I Putu Bunga Masagala merobek perut musuhnya

dendam kesumat telah terbayarkan

dicengkeramnya dengan kuat dada musuh tanpa ampun

lalu detik berikutnya

jantung pembunuh putrinya dimakan mentah-mentah

Melihat kejadian itu

Pasukan Tomadio kocar-kacir

Melarikan diri

Termasuk sisa-sisa bangsawan Tomadio yang masih hidup

I Putu Bunga Masagala swiftly mounted his black horse. The Tie Tie Kingdom war flag

was raised high as a sign that the troops had moved and was led directly by I Putu, Masagala

flower. The anger and resentment between the two of them heat up. When most of Tomadio’s

troops fell, I Putu Bunga Masagala looked up as if he was looking for someone who killed his

daughter. When he found the figure he was looking for, he broke through and came face to face

with the killer. I Putu Bunga Masagala tore his enemy’s stomach. He gripped the enemy’s chest

without mercy and the next second the heart of his daughter’s killer was eaten raw.

/6/

Keadaan masyarakat Tomadio selepas ditaklukkan

dan di bawah kendali Kerajaan Tie Tie

selalu dalam situasi yang mencekam

Di hutan-hutan

Di pinggiran sungai

Di kaki bukit

Setiap pekan ditemukan mayat dengan perut terburai

Tak ada penduduk Tomadio yang berani ke luar rumah

Terutama di malam hari

Keadaan ini terus berlangsung

kendati telah diketahui siapa pelakunya

Tak ada yang berani menghentikan kebiasaan I Putu Bunga Masagala

Mereka tak punya nyali

Mereka sadar tak mampu melakukannya

Mereka maklum tak dapat mengadangnya

Maka teror dan kengerian itu berjalan dalam waktu yang lama

Memanglah, sejak I Putu Bunga Masagala

memakan jantung pembunuh putrinya

Seperti Naza yang menyerang generasi muda

ketergantungan untuk melahap jantung manusia

menjadi satu kenikmatan tersendiri

Situasi yang mengerikan ini memiriskan

sisa-sisa bangsawan Tomadio yang masih hidup

maka mereka pun bermufakat dengan para pembesar Tabulahan

yang masih terjalin persahabatan

Mereka mengatur siasat

Mereka mengatur strategi

Bagaimana cara membunuh I Putu Bunga Masagala

yang sangat terkenal dengan ilmu kebal yang dimiliki





171


memang kebal terhadap segala macam senjata tajam

beberapa kali telah dilakukan percobaan pembunuhan

baik perseorangan maupun berkelompok

bahkan saat I Putu Bunga Masagala dalam keadaan tak terjaga

Segala cara telah dilakukan

tapi tak ada yang berhasil

semua pelaku pada akhirnya terbunuh olehnya

Sadisnya, jantung mereka dimakan

Jadilah I Putu Bunga Masagala terkenal dengan gelar Pakkande Ate47

The stanza above describes Tomadio’s condition after the death of the son of the Kingdom

of Tomadio. Every week a corpse is found with its stomach cut open and under the control of

the Tie Tie Kingdom, always in a tense situation. Every week a corpse is found with its stomach

lying down. None of the Tomadio residents dared to go out of the house, especially at night. I

Putu Bunga Masagala’s habit of devouring human hearts is a pleasure. This condition is

troubling for the living Tomadio nobleman. They agreed to arrange a strategy to kill I Putu

Bunga Masagala. Several times they tried to commit murder but to no avail. He eventually

killed all the perpetrators, so I Putu Bunga Masagala was known as Pakkande Ate.

/7/

I Putu Bunga Masagala memenuhi undangan jamuan

dari sisa-sisa bangsawan Tomadio yang masih ada

Mereka mengadakan pesta dengan alasan persahabatan

Segenap penduduk Tomadio bekerja sama

Mereka sibuk menyiapkan segala jenis masakan

Kambing guling dengan rempah yang menyelerakan

rambutan, langsat, mangga manis

dan segala jenis buah-buahan telah disiapkan

tuak dari rasa yang manis sampai yang pahit

juga telah memenuhi meja-meja perjamuan

I Putu Bunga Masagala melahap segalanya

tanpa curiga dan tanpa sedikit pun keraguan

I Putu Bunga Masagala kekenyangan

I Putu Bunga Masagala mabuk

I Putu Bunga Masagala tertidur

Sisa-sisa bangsawan Tomadio tersenyum

Diberinya isyarat kepada anak buahnya

Beberapa detik kemudian pohon asam yang besar tumbang

Menimpa kepala I Putu Bunga Masagala

I Putu Bunga Masagala pun tewas

Furthermore, the verse above describes the plan carried out by the Tomadio community.

I Putu Bunga Masagala fulfilled the banquet invitation from the remaining aristocrats of

Tomadio who were still there. They have a party for friendship reasons. They are busy preparing

all kinds of dishes. Guling goat with spices that are filling, rambutan, langsat, sweet mango and

47Gelar sebagai pemakan hati manusia.





172

all kinds of fruits have been prepared, tuak from sweet to bitter taste. I Putu Bunga Masagala

devoured everything without suspicion and the slightest hesitation. I Putu Bunga Masagala died

when a large tamarind tree fell because of being full, got drunk and fell asleep in that place.

The remnants of the nobility of Tomadiopun smiled.

The Meaning of Pakkande ‘Ate Poetry Connotations in the Mandar Sea Mantra Poetry Book

/1/ Putu Bunga Masagala48

maraddia malolo49 panglima kerajaan Tie Tie50

memanglah gagah perkasa dan sakti mandraguna

tapi ia takluk juga pada remang senja

yang tawarkan pesona

di antara gemericik air lembah

yang gairahkan rasa di kesunyian

The meaning of the connotations contained in the quotation of Pakkande Ati’s poem,

iallah tells of a person who is strong and has powers that are unmatched by anyone. But he is

helpless when he faces women who can comfort him whenever he feels lonely.

desir angin lembah

dan lapas suara binatang malam

deraskan rasa rindu pada seorang perempuan

walau sejumlah warna telah rebah ke tanah

tegakkan jiwa di bawah bulan

yang mulai benderang

tapi kepada siapa rindu tertuju

Putu Bunga Masagala

tak juga mampu menjawabnya

kendati pada bumi Suruang51

ia hamparkan tanyanya

The meaning of the connotation contained in the quotation of Pakkande Ati’s poem is

that in the middle of the night a person who really misses the figure of a woman who actually

does not exist (dies). He himself was confused as to whom he should complain about the owner

of his longing because none of the people in his area knew the answer.

Cahaya rembulan yang bertengger di dahan rumbia52

serta kerlip bintang

yang mulai hilang satu persatu

benamkan sukma I Putu Bunga Masagala

pada kesunyian senyap

The quote from Pakkande ati’s poem has the meaning of the hope that Iputu Bunga

Masagala begins to disappear one by one as the night gets late until finally sleeping

accompanied by a sense of silence. In the next quotation, it is also explained,

dan harapan yang boleh jadi

lepas sebelum tergenggam

48 Putu Bunga Masagala adalah panglima perang Kerajaan Tie Tie. 49 Maraddia Malolo adalah gelar kebangsawanan. 50 Kerajaan Tie Tie adalah kerajaan yang berada di wilayah Mandar diperkirakan berdiri pada tahun 1300 —1400 SM 51 Nama kampung tempat bertemunya parkerajaan 52 Sejenis tumbuhan yang daunnya bisa dibuat atap





173

I putu Bunga Masagala’s hope can be lost or owned by someone else before he has it.

saat jubah malam telah menawarkan kepekatan

I Putu Bunga Masagala justru melayarkan rindu

bersama darah malam dari sungging

sunyi piatu kenestapaan

The quote contains a connotative meaning, which indicates that when nightfall I Putu

Bunga Masalaga poured out his longing through a picture that was unable to speak, only a

feeling of silence which made his heart more restless.

bila saja I Putu Bunga Masagala seorang penyair

maka ia telah kehilangan kata-kata puitis

karena rasa yang bergelinjangan dalam buntalan cinta

telah habis memakannya

The quote contains the connotative meaning even though I Putu Bunga Masalaga is a

poet, he will not be able to speak his poetic words because of his immense love for someone

who makes him a slave to love. This is reinforced by the quote below:

adalah ketenaran paras ayu Calla Kanuku53

putri panglima perang Kerajaan Passokkorang54

yang terus melintas memainkan rasa

mengusik jiwa tualang I Putu Bunga Masagala

tapi sayap-sayap hasrat belum mampu terkepak

From the quote above, it is clear that I Putu Bunga Masagala has been deceived by the

beauty of Ayu Calla Kanuku’s face. It made I Putu Bunga Masagala’s feelings feel uneasy

because her desire to have Ayu had not yet materialized.

terbang melintasi gunung dan lembah

ngarai dan sungai

menemui sang pujaan di balik bukit Pasokkorang

yang bertakhta megah

The quote above indicates that I Putu Bunga Masagala’s struggle was very great to find

his love which is easy to conquer because the woman he loves is a very rich woman.

tak heran jika kemudian

I Putu Bunga Masagala bersenandung

“kulukis wajahmu di pelataran rinduku yang biru

Kucari sosokmu di lembar mimpi yang dingin

Namun kau tetap saja samar

Ingin segera kuakhiri dengan sebuah pengakuan

segala rasa yang menyiksa ini

Lalu pada angin bersama embun pagi

kutitip segalaku untukmu”

53 Calla Kanuku adalah nama gelar dari putri panglima perang Kerajaan Pasokkorang yang terkenal kecantikannya. Digelar

demikian karena kukunya yang berwarna merah 54 Pasokkorang adalah nama kerajaan yang berada di wilayah Bugis dan bertetangga dengan kerajaan Tie Tie





174

The meaning of the connotation in the humming quote uttered by I Putu Bunga Masagala.

I paint your face on the court of blue longing which has the connotation that the longing he

feels is clean and holy. Then I looked for your figure on the cold dream sheet but you were still

the same, the connotation meaning in the quote is that Ayu is a female figure whose love is not

easy for a man to get.

/2/ segala harapan dan impian

yang terbangun dari rumbia dan kerinduan

lantaran cinta yang telah menggunung

dan meneteskan larva

telah menciptakan surga di puncak-puncak menara

yang dibangun pada ketinggian bersama mantra

The hopes and dreams of the love of I Putu Bunga Masagala finally bear sweet fruit

according to his hopes of having his idol girl.

CONCLUSION

Conclusion

Based on the results of the analysis of Subriadi Bakri Juhaepa’s Poetry in Mandar Sea

Poetry, the Indonesian Essay Poetry Series, Mandar Sea Mantra Poetry entitled Pakande Ate

‘does not only contain denotative meaning, but there is a connotative meaning used by the

author in this poem. The meaning of denotation, in this case, is the meaning of what is seen,

while the meaning of connotation is the level of the sign which explains the relationship

between signifier and signpost, in which the meaning is not explicit, indirect and uncertain

(meaning open to various possibilities).

Suggestion

As a reader, do not judge or interpret a work from one side only but interpret a work from

several sides, such as interpreting work in terms of denotation (true meaning) and other

meanings that follow it or figurative meaning (connotative).

REFERENCES

Adi Arwan Alimin dkk., Mantra Laut Mandar, (Makassar: Cerah Budaya Indonesia, 2018), h. 71.

Benny H. Hoed, Semiotik dan Dinamika Sosial Budaya. Jakarta: Komunitas Bambu, 2014), h. 57.

Clara Natalia Christina Mitak, Wacana Iklan Televisi Rokok Djarum 76 Versi “Pengin Eksis”: Analisis

Tanda Menurut Roland Barthes, Jurnal Ilmiah Kebudayaan Sintesis, (Universitas Sanata Dharma)

Vol. 11 No. 2, 2017, h. 95-107.

Faizetul Ukhrawiyah1, Muhammad Munir, Eminisme Dalam Sajak Tukhôtibu Al-Marah Al-

MishrīyahKarya Bâkhisah AlBâdīyah (Analisis Semiotik Roland Barthes), Diwan: Jurnal Bahasa

dan Sastra Arab, Vol. 5 No.2, Desember 2019, h. 170-181.

kapanpunbisa.blogspot.com.

Piliang, Yasraf Amir, Semiotika dan Hipersemiotika: Kode, Gaya &Matinya Makna, (Bandung:

Matahari, 2012), h. 47.

Putu Krisdiana Nara Kusuma, Iis Kurnia Nurhayati, Analisis Semiotika Roland Barthes Pada Ritual

Otonan di Bali, Jurnal Manajemen Komunikasi, Volume 1, No. 2, April 2017, h. 195-217.

Sinta Rizki Haryono, Dedi Kurnia Syah Putra, Identitas Budaya Indonesia: Analisis Semiotika Roland

BarthesDalam Iklan Aqua Versi “Temukan Indonesiamu”, Universitas Telkom.

Sugiyono, 2009, Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif, Kualitatif dan R&D, Bandung: Alfabeta.

Susilo Pradoko, Semiotika Roland Barthes Guna PengembanganPenelitian Pendidikan Musik dan Seni,

Prosiding Seminar Nasional, Universitas Negeri Medan, 2015. h. 152.





175

SOCIAL CRITICISM AND LANGUAGE STYLE

IN THE POEM “MALU (I) BECOME INDONESIAN PEOPLE”

AND “RESTORE INDONESIA TO ME” TAUFIQ ISMAIL’S WORKS

Surastina


Febriyantina Istiara


Effrina Yuricki


ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to describe the style of language and the content of social criticism

in the poems “Malu (Aku) Jadi Orang Indonesia” and “Kembalikan Indonesia Padaku” by

Taufiq Ismail. The method used in this research is qualitative. The results showed that the

poems “Malu (Aku) Jadi Orang Indonesia” and “Kembalikan Indonesia Padaku” by Taufiq

Ismail uses six irony styles, three sarcasm styles, four cynicism styles, and eight satire language

content. Social criticism of the poem “Malu (Aku) Jadi Orang Indonesia” and “Kembalikan

Indonesia Padaku” by Taufiq Ismail, there are social criticisms of moral problems found as

many as 13, social criticism of economic problems found as many as four, and social criticism

of political problems raised as many as nine.

Keywords: Language style, social criticism, poetry.

INTRODUCTION

Literature is a form of work of art whose object is human and life by using language as

its medium to convey the writer’s intentions. Humans and literature have an inseparable

relationship, both human creators of literary works and humans as connoisseurs of literary

works. Through literary works, humans learn to express themselves so that they become more

creative. This is certainly caused by the nature of literature that can change humans for the

better than before because of the moral messages or values of life contained in literary works.

Poetry is an imaginative fiction literary form that expresses the author’s inner experience,

both experienced directly and based on observations from others, and is packaged using

aesthetic, beautiful language, and there are various problems of life. The presence of poetry

literature in the midst of society will be able to have a positive impact, provide input, even a

means of conveying criticism to certain parties. Therefore, poetry is essential to be researched

or appreciated because it conveys the messages of life which of course is very beneficial for the

reader. Poetry expresses a concentration of life at a tense moment and a strict concentration of

life.

The process of creating poetry will not be separated from the use of appropriate and

beautiful words and full of meaning. This gives an affirmation that poetry literary works are a

form of play on the words of the author that contains a specific purpose, which will be conveyed

to the connoisseurs of literature. Literary works are overflowing with the author’s feelings

poured out in written form, using words arranged in such a way. Poetry literary work is a unique

discourse that in its expression uses language by utilizing all available possibilities. The main

medium of poetry literature is language, literature is created from a series of words and the

words themselves are part of the language. Language is a literary raw material. Literary works

are only a selection of some parts of a certain language, just as a statue can be considered as a

lump of marble that has been eroded by its parts.





176

Social conditions or social realities that exist in daily life are sometimes not in line with

most people’s expectations. Injustice, disappointment, dissatisfaction is often felt by the

community, especially to the authorities that have an impact on the lives of the wider

community and even the deteriorating condition of the nation. There are various ways to

convey, express, express criticism of the social situation, for example, by sending letters,

demonstrations, speeches, interviews, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and other media.

However, there is actually one more media that plays an important role in the delivery of social

criticism, namely literary works and one of them is through poetry. Poetry literature can be used

to convey criticism intelligently, elegantly and politely. Conveying criticism through literary

poetry is indeed not new. Nevertheless, there is always literary work aimed at criticizing the

ruling government and that is poetry. This can happen because poetry literature is often present

as a reflection or reflection of the social conditions of the community. Social problems and

events experienced, felt, and seen by the author give birth to ideas or ideas as outlined in his

work.

Social criticism is an innovation, meaning social criticism becomes a means of

communicating new ideas in addition to assessing old ideas for a social change. Social criticism

is a form of communication in a society that aims or serves as control over the course of a social

system or social process. Social problems are social symptoms that disturb society. Social

problems can arise because of the values or cultural elements at one-time experience changes

that cause members of the community to feel disturbed or no longer able to meet their needs

through that culture. Social problems can be in the form of social needs or can also be biological

needs. Problems of social needs are usually caused by a social imbalance in society; while the

problem of biological needs is caused by the difficulty or unmet biological needs, such as the

need for food, drink, and others.

One poem that is loaded with the beauty of language and criticism is the poem Taufiq

Ismail. One of Taufiq Ismail’s poems which is quite laden with social criticism is the poem

Malu (I) Becomes an Indonesian (MAJOI). As a review, the social criticism in the poem is

inseparable from poverty and employment, the problem of crime and its handling, and the

problem of political bureaucracy and security. In fact, the form of social criticism, most often

conveyed by Taufiq Ismail is the problem of poverty and government bureaucracy. Taufiq

Ismail wrote the poem as a form of criticism because he felt the existence of economic

inequality in society, the partiality of government policy, and militarism that was dominant in

government.

With regard to the background explanation of the problem, it is very interesting to study

the poetry of Taufiq Ismail in terms of the content of the satirical language and social criticism

conveyed. Therefore, the research to be carried out ‘is entitled “Language Style and Content of

Social Criticism in the Poems” Shame (I) Become an Indonesian “and” Restore Indonesia to

Me “by Taufiq Ismail”

THEORY OF THEORY

Literature is an art that emphasizes values beauty intended for connoisseurs of literature

and readers. Prayitno (2013: 11) states that literature is an imaginary work. Literature is the

result of the author’s creation throughout human life because humans need literature.

Surastina (2018: 1) literature is a text that contains instructions or guidelines. The word

literature is usually used to refer to literature or a type of writing that has a certain meaning of

beauty that makes language as a medium and a means of expressing the ideas and feelings of

artists can also be equated with other branches of art, such as dance, painting and so on. Kosasih

(2012: 1) states that literature is good writing or beautiful writing and contains good values

written in beautiful language.





177

In line with these two expert opinions, Priyatni (2012: 12) adds that literary works are

imaginary or fictional expressions of people’s lives. Siswanto (2013: 67) argues that literature

is a child of the author’s creative life and reveals the author’s personality. This can be

interpreted that literature was born through the creative process of the author so that the work

produced can be can express the author’s personality itself. Zaidan (2000: 181) that literature

is writing in a broad sense. Generally, literature is in the form of fictional texts, both poetry and

prose whose value depends on the depth of the mind and the soul’s expression.

The Nature of Poetry

Aminuddin (2014: 134) states that poetry is a branch of literature that uses words as a

delivery medium to produce illusions and imaginations, as well as paintings that use lines and

colors in describing the idea of the painter. Waluyo in Gani (2014: 15) poetry is a form of

literature that uses sound repetition as its trademark. This repetition will produce rhymes,

rhythm, and musicality.

Siswantoro (2010: 23) states that poetry is the densest and concentrated form of literature.

The density of the composition is marked by the use of a few words but reveals more. Hasanudin

(2002: 5) states that poetry is an imaginative feeling statement, that is a feeling that is fabricated.

The abstract poet’s feelings and thoughts are concreted. To make up the recorded events in the

thoughts and feelings of the poet, poetry is one of the ingredients. The intuition through words

is done with the principle of efficiency and effectiveness. Zaidan et al. (2000: 159-160) explains

that poetry is a variety of literature whose language is bound by rhyme, rhyme and other poetic

systems, compositions in languages whose form is chosen and arranged carefully so as to

sharpen people’s awareness of experience and generate special responses through the sound

arrangement, rhythm, and special meaning.

Language Style Language

Style or often also called exposure is an element that builds the beauty of literary works.

language style was born from the idea of the creativity of authors who use language as a medium

to obtain an aesthetic element. Nurgiyantoro (2010: 398) states that the expression (figure of

thought) is a technique of language disclosure, language, the meaning of which does not refer

to the literal meaning of the words that support it, but rather on the added meaning or implied

meaning, the style that plays with meaning that is by pointing to the intended meaning

indirectly.

Another opinion expressed by Tarigan (2013: 4) language style is a beautiful language

that is used to enhance effects by introducing and comparing certain objects or things with

objects or other more general things.

In line with these two opinions, Sadikin (2011: 32) states that language style is a style of

language in both written and oral forms used in an essay aimed at representing the feelings and

thoughts of the author. Kosasih (2012: 71-72) in the story, the use of language functions to

create a persuasive tone or atmosphere and to form a dialogue that is able to show relationships

and interactions between fellow characters. The author’s ability to use language carefully can

create an atmosphere that is straightforward, sympathetic or annoying, objective or emotional.

Keraf (2009: 113) states that the style or style of language can be limited as a way of

expressing thoughts through language specifically that shows the soul and personality of the

writer (the language user). Ratna (2009: 3) states that stylistics is the science of language style,

while style is generally defined as typical ways, how things are expressed in certain ways so

that the intended purpose can be achieved to the maximum. Pradopo (2007: 93) states that the

style of language is the arrangement of words that occur because of feelings that arise or live in

the writer’s heart, which causes a certain feeling in the heart of the reader.

Literary Critic

Graham Hough (Pradopo, 2008: 92) that literary criticism is not only limited to editing

and determining texts, interpretations, and value considerations, but literary criticism covers a





178

broader problem of what is literature, what for, and how it relates to the problem other

humanitarian problems. Abrams (1981) in Endraswara (2013: 4) states that literary criticism is

a study related to the process (definition, (b) classification (welding), (c) decomposition

(analysis), and (d) assessment (evaluation) of literary works.

Endraswara (2013: 4) explains that the definition of notions relating to literature was also

included literary criticism, as well as classifications kind (genre) or classification of literary

works based on the period also included literary criticism. so did the analysis work literature,

that is the decomposition of literary elements or norms, even the areas of literary criticism in

addition to judgments that determine the merits of literary works or assess the art of literature

or

not.Lescientists as members of the community try to communicate the problems that exist

in society by creating literary works that contain criticism in them, social criticism in literary

works have in common with and social criticism in a general sense which lies in its ability to

express all social problems.

Based on the explanation of literary criticism and its function, it can be concluded that

literary criticism covers a broader issue of what literature is, what it is for, and how it relates to

other humanitarian problems. Its function is to develop literary science itself, for the

development of literature, and as public illumination.

In relation to social criticism in the frame of literary criticism, Tarigan (1993) describes

several types of literary criticism namely judicial criticism, inductive criticism, impressionistic

criticism, historical criticism, philosophical criticism, formalist criticism, relativistic criticism,

absolutistic criticism, interpretative criticism, textual criticism, criticism linguistics,

biographical criticism, comparative criticism, ethical criticism, perspective criticism, pragmatic

criticism, elucidatory criticism (explanation), practical criticism, new criticism, psychological

criticism, mythopoeic criticism, and sociocultural criticism.

Social Criticism

Literary works created by the author or author will not be separated from conveying the

message of life, including conveying constructive criticism. Nurgiyantoro (2010: 331) explains

that literature that contains messages of criticism will usually be born in society if things go

wrong in social life in society. At the very least, it is in sight and can be suggested by sensitive

authors, who by the power of imagination can be said to be people who have a sixth sense. The

author generally appears as a defender of truth and justice or other noble qualities of humanity.

He will not be silent and through his essay will fight things that are believed to be true. Things

that are indeed wrong and contradicting human nature will not be covered up because art is only

responsible for itself.

In line with this, Faruk (2010: 35) states that social control and social criticism are two

sides of the same coin, which always exist in any society. Furthermore, Wilson in Tarigan

(1993: 210) states that social criticism is an assessment or consideration of everything about

society, everything in the form of norms, ethics, morals, political culture, economics, and other

aspects of social life. Social criticism in literary works can function as a medium for expressing

social problems and criticism to create more cohesive social conditions.

Social problems that occur in society can be reduced or even overcome by expressing

criticism. Through social criticism, it is expected to reduce social problems that occur in society,

so as to create a harmonious situation. The problems that exist are actually part of social

institutions that arise due to the instability of conditions for both individuals and groups.

Social criticism that will be used as the basis for analyzing social criticism research in Taufiq

Ismail’s poetry is social criticism of moral issues, social criticism of economic problems, and

social criticism of political problems.





179

RESEARCH METHODS

Research sites are adapted to situations and conditions. In other words, research can be

done at STKIP-PGRI Bandar Lampung, at home, or in a place that supports comfort in

conducting the research process. The study was conducted in 2018, while the time of its

implementation is estimated in March 2018.

The method used in this study is qualitative. According to Lubis (2018: 2) the qualitative

method is a procedure that produces descriptive data in the form of written or spoken words

from behaved people that can be observed and this approach is directed to the background and

the individual is holistic (whole). The method is used to describe the language of innuendo and

the content of social criticism in the poems “Shame (I) Become an Indonesian” and “Return

Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq Ismail.

Data and Data Sources

This research data is a language of satire and social criticism in poetry, while the data

source of this research is the poem “Shame (I) Become an Indonesian” and “Restore Indonesia

to Me” by Taufiq Ismail (the poem attached). The data examined are allusive language

including irony, sarcasm, cynicism, satire, innuendo, and antiphrasis, as well as the content of

social criticism regarding social conditions when the author creates his poetry.

Data collection uses documentation because the research data were obtained from poetry

documents “Shame (Me) Become an Indonesian” and “Restore Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq

Ismail. The collection step is by reading the poems “Shame (I) Become an Indonesian” and

“Restore Indonesia to Me” carefully to understand the meaning and message conveyed. Next,

make a mark or mark on the words in the lines and verses of the poem “Shame (I) Become an

Indonesian” and “Restore Indonesia to Me” which shows the language of satire and social

criticism and grouping it into research datasheets.

Data Analysis Data

The analysis was performed using content analysis accompanied by descriptive data

qualitatively. The steps taken include interpretation, analysis, evaluation. Interpretation is the

interpretation of the properties of literary works. The analysis is the decomposition of literary

works on parts or norms. Evaluation or assessment is an attempt to determine the degree of

success or beauty of a literary work. Based on this, the analysis steps can be modified as follows.

1. The lines in each verse of the poem “Shame (Me) Become Indonesian” and “Restore

Indonesia to Me” which have been declared as part of the language of satire and social

criticism that has been classified will be examined in depth.

2. Next, provide interpretation or interpretation to determine the interrelation of satirical

language and social criticism used by poetry writers.

3. Analyzing the sentence lines in the poetry verse “Shame (I) Become an Indonesian” and

“Return Indonesia to Me” in accordance with the language of satire and social criticism

delivered by means of descriptions or explanations in detail so that the intended purpose

can be understood.

4. The process of interpretation and analysis that has been carried out is then evaluated

thoroughly. Evaluation is carried out to determine the level of success or accuracy of data

interpretation and analysis so that it can be corrected if there is an inaccuracy in the

analysis process.

5. If the process of interpretation, analysis and evaluation has been carried out, then discuss

the research questions.

6. Make research conclusions.





180


Language Style in Taufiq Ismail’s Poetry

1. Irony Style

Some of the uses of the irony language style found in the poem “Shame (I) Become an

Indonesian” and the poem “Return Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq Ismail is stated as follows.

Data:

In my country, bureaucratic affair the number in the world number one,

(Source: MAJOI)

The use of irony language style in the quote line of the poem lies in bureaucratic

cheating in Indonesia ranked in the world number one. The style of language

expresses the meaning that in a large and rich country and is seen as a country that

was once respected in the world, showing the shameful behavior of bureaucrats.

The country struggles to become an economically sovereign state, but its people

have actually hurt the country by enriching themselves and disregarding the

people’s mandate. This style of language as well as criticism of the government for

the evil actions of the bureaucrats.

Data:

In my country the commission for the purchase of large equipment, light

equipment,

weapons, warplanes, submarines, soybeans, flour and

peuyeum was cut by bureaucracy more than half into

safari suit pockets (Source: MAJOI)

Similar to the poem quotations in the first data, the second data also shows the same

case. To show the disappointment of a Taufiq Ismail, the irony style was used to

express it. Taufiq Ismail intends to make fun of the condition of the country which

is able to buy a large variety of equipment, but only to get profit. In fact, more than

half of the proceeds of the purchase go into personal pockets without shame. It is

very ironic indeed, in the midst of chaos in the country’s economy, there are some

bureaucrats who take the opportunity to commit crimes against the state.

2. The Style of Sarcasm

Some of the uses of the style of sarcasm contained in the poem “Shame (I) Become an

Indonesian” and the poem “Return Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq Ismail are stated as

follows.

Data:

In my country girls, nephews, cousins

and grandchildren are spoiled by the power of fathers, uncles and grandfathers

shaky in a manner that need not be ashamed.

In the verse of the poem, Taufiq Ismail stated in clear, firm language and without

hesitation. To state it, Taufiq Ismail uses the language of sarcasm. When examined,

the language is very spicy felt by the ears and by the heart. There is no other

language to express a condition that has been damaged, disheveled and destroyed

apart from the word disintegrated which shows the peak of the destruction of an





181

order. However, this was conveyed by Taufiq Ismail as a form of thought and

concern for the condition of the Indonesian people.

Data:

In my country Udin and Marsinah became shaheed and shaheed,

kiss the fragrant scent they have bodies, now

only while they are defeated, later planners and

killers at the bottom of hell by security guards hereafter will be

trampled and chewed to death,

(Source: MAJOI) There is a reward that is pinned for innocent people killers besides hell is the place.

There is no other word besides the word being trodden on and crushed by the angels

to the murderers later in hell. That is Taufiq Ismail’s expression who was concerned

and sad to see the arbitrary and cruel rulers. Sarcasm language but only words that

are appropriate to be given to cruelty in a country that is sovereign and moral.

3. Style of Cynicism

Some of the uses of cynicism found in the poem “Shame (I) Become an Indonesian” and

the poem “Return Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq Ismail are stated as follows.

Data (12):

Return Indonesia to me (Source: KIP)

The line in the verse of the poem as well as the title of the poem is a form of

expression of doubt towards certain people or groups. The intended group is the

rulers of this country. The use of the word ‘return’ is a form of statement because

of an attitude of distrust of the authorities. Indonesia managed by the zholim

authorities will be destroyed if it continues. Therefore, it is natural that the people

of Indonesia ask for Indonesia to be returned to the people as a whole. In other

words, the mandate given to the people to the nation’s leaders has been betrayed so

that the mandate given must be revoked.

4. Satire Language Style

Some of the uses of the satire language style contained in the poem “Shame (I) Become

an Indonesian” and the poem “Return Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq Ismail is stated as

follows.

Data:

The sky is morally collapsed, my country is scattered all over

The law is not upright, doyong crackling (Source: MAJOI)

In the poetry verse, Taufiq Ismail uses a satire style. Disclosure of the moral

collapse, the law is not upright and crackling. Regardless of whether the aim is to

laugh or not, but Taufiq Ismail stated it as a form of protest over the weaknesses

and cruelty of the authorities. The purpose of Taufiq Ismail stated that it was none

other than for the authorities or the government to make improvements to the

increasingly chaotic state order.





182

Social Criticism in Taufiq Ismail’s Poetry

1. Social Criticism of Moral Issues

The content of social criticism of moral problems conveyed in the poetry of MAJOI and

KIP by Taufiq Ismail is described below.

Data:

Negeriku is six esteemed acclaimed

Feels great wrest independence from the Netherlands

FRIENDS classmate, Thomas Stone name,

Whitefish Bay village of origin

Amazed him on the Indonesian revolution

he authored about the battle of Surabaya

Obviously Tomo as the main character

and petty I nara-source

Mybusung become an Indonesian child bosom (Source: MAJOI)

The social moral crisis of the community was conveyed by Taufiq Ismail about the

state of Indonesian society that had just gained independence and was respected by

the world. However, some elites stated that they were driving the invaders violently.

In fact, upon the mercy of Allah SWT independence was obtained. There are some

elites who try to puff up their breasts and admit to having expelled the invaders.

Should be grateful and not by showing arrogance.

2. Social Criticism of Economic Problems

The content of social criticism of economic problems conveyed in the poetry of MAJOI

and KIP by Taufiq Ismail is explained below.

Data:

In my country, business conspiracy and bureaucracy are blatantly

cheating hard to find a match,

(Source: MAJOI)

Economic criticism in the poetry verse quotation is because there is a business deal

done by bureaucracy to make people more miserable. The economic needs of the

people are increasingly difficult because of the actions of the bureaucratic elite who

have compromised to enrich themselves and their families and groups. The elites

do not have a conscience and are blind in the heart so that they cannot see and feel

the suffering and equality of the people. If this is the case, then Indonesia’s

economic conditions will be even worse and fall.

3. Social Criticism of political issues

The content of social criticism of political problems conveyed in the poetry of MAJOI

and KIP by Taufiq Ismail is described below.

Data:

In my country, cheating bureaucracy ranks in the world number

one, (Source: MAJOI)

Political criticism conveyed in the MAJOI poem excerpts is that there is a

bureaucratic affair that is ranked number one in a country that is said to be eastern.





183

The condition is really not in accordance with the condition of a nation that is filled

with the majority of religious people who are Muslim. The occurrence of

bureaucratic violence is also due to the political interests of corrupt and immoral

political elites. Like it or not, this is a reality, not only in the era when the poem was

written by Taufiq Ismail, but until now, this country is still not free from dirty

bureaucratic cheating. This is a criticism conveyed by the poet in order to hope for

a better chance.

Based on the analysis and discussion of data about language style and social criticism in

the poem “Shame (I) Become an Indonesian” and “Return Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq Ismail,

the relationship between language style and social criticism in the poem can be described as

follows.

1. The use of language style in the poems “Shame (Me) Become Indonesian” and “Return

Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq Ismail? it can be argued that the following style of language

is found. (1) The irony style of 7 originates from the poem “Shame I Become an

Indonesian”. (2) The style of sarcasm was found as many as 4 sourced from the poem

“Shame I Become an Indonesian”. (3) The style of cynicism is as much as 1 from the

source of the poem “Restore Indonesia to Me”. (4) Satire’s style of language is found in

8 of the sources of the poem “Shame I Become an Indonesian”. All of the language styles

found in the poems “Shame I Become an Indonesian” and “Return Indonesia to Me” by

Taufiq Ismail are as many as 20 languages.

2. Data from research friends regarding social criticism can be stated as follows.

a. Social criticism related to moral issues when the poem “Shame (I) Become an

Indonesian” and “Restore Indonesia to Me” written by the work of Taufiq Ismail

found 14 data. Of the 14 findings, 11 of them are social critics of moral problems

conveyed in the poem “Shame I Become an Indonesian,” and 3 of them were obtained

from the poem “Return Indonesia to Me”.

b. The content of social criticism of economic problems in the poems “Shame (I)

Become an Indonesian” and “Return Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq Ismail found as

many as 4 quotes. Of the four data, three are sourced from the poem “Shame I

Become an Indonesian” and 1 data from the poem “Restore Indonesia to Me”.

c. Social criticisms of the political problems conveyed included 6 critical politics from

the poem “Shame (I) Become an Indonesian” and 3 data from the poem “Restore

Indonesia to Me”. All data found is based on political criticism from the two poems

totaling 9 data.

3. In connection with the use of language style as a means or tool to convey criticism, some

social criticisms conveyed by Taufiq Ismail through languages are as follows.

a. Through the style of irony, cynicism, sarcasm, and satire used by Taufiq Ismail as

many as 7 styles of language, through the style of language poetry writers want to

convey innuendos, both subtle and hard allusions to the authorities at that time

regarding policies that do not lead to the people. Taufiq Ismail felt a condition of

concern in all fields, both the conditions of unequaled social life, a devastating

economic situation, and a political state full of lies and lies. Through this situation,

Taufiq Ismail criticized Taufiq Ismail through the styles of the languages. He was

very firmly conveyed that the government or authorities would make a change that

could provide security and prosperity to their people.

b. The style of language used by Taufiq Ismail as a tool to convey criticism is also

substantial and harsh. However, there is only three sarcasm displayed by Taufiq

Ismail. Sarcasmic languages, such as, “crushed to the tip of a fingernail do not need

to be ashamed,” later the planners and killers at the bottom of hell by security guards





184

in the hereafter will be trampled on and chewed to pieces “,” there are open killings,

kidnappings and tortures of the people. in Aceh, “blatant denial” “blatant lying” is a

very form of criticism of the government’s tyranny. The aim is that the government

is aware of the grave mistakes committed because it has done tyranny to the people,

both murder, slaughter, and openly denying the people.

CONCLUSION

Data analysis and discussion carried out; it can be concluded that in the poem “Shame (I)

Become an Indonesian” and “Return Indonesia to Me” The work of Taufiq Ismail uses 7 irony

styles, 3 sarcasm styles 3, 1 cynicism style, and nine satire language style. In addition to the

content of language style, the content of social criticism of the poem “Shame (I) Become an

Indonesian” and “Return Indonesia to Me” by Taufiq Ismail, there are social criticisms of moral

problems found as many as 14, social-economic criticism found as many as 4, and socio-

political criticism was put forward as many as 10. The style of language conveyed in poetry

indirectly also conveys a sharp, decisive, and objective social criticism in accordance with the

conditions when the poem was written by the author. The purpose of the use of language style

and literary criticism conveyed is to build the nation and nation’s morals.

REFERENCES Aminuddin. (2014). Pengantar Apresiasi Sastra. Bandung: Sinar Baru Algensindo.

Endraswara, Suwardi. (2013). Teori Kritik Sastra: Prinsip, Falsafah, dan Penerapan. Yogyakarta:

CAPS.

Faruk. 2010. Pengantar Sosiologi Sastra Edisi Revisi. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Gani, Erizal. (2014). Kiat Pembacaan Puisi. Bandung : Pustaka Reka Cipta.

Hasanudin. (2002). Membaca dan Menilai Sajak: Pengantar Pengkajian dan Interpretasi. Bandung:

Angkasa.

Keraf, Gorys. (2009). Diksi dan Gaya Bahasa. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Kosasih, E. (2012). Dasar-dasar Keterampilan Bersastra. Bandung: Yrama Widya.

Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. (2010). Teori Pengkajian Fiksi. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.

Pradopo, Rachmat Djoko. (2012). Beberapa Teori Sastra, Metode Kritik, dan Penerapannya.

Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Ratna, Nyoman Kutha. (2009). Stilistika: Kajian Puitika Bahasa, Sastra, dan Budaya. Yogyakarta:

Pustaka Pelajar.

Sadikin, Mustofa. (2011). Kumpulan Sastra Indonesia. Jakarta: Gudang Ilmu.

Prayitno, Hadi Teguh. (2013). Sastra Jurnalistik. Yogyakarta: Tiara Pustaka.

Priyatni, Endah Tri. 2012). Membaca Sastra dengan Ancangan Literasi Kritis. Jakarta: Bumi Aksara.

Siswanto, Wahyudi. (2013). Pengantar Teori Sastra. Malang: Aditya Media Publishing.

Siswantoro. (2008). Metode Penelitian Sastra. Surakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Surastina. (2018). Pengantar Teori Sastra. Yogyakarta: Elmatera.

Tarigan, Henri Guntur. (1993). Prinsip-Prinsip Dasar Sastra. Bandung: Angkasa.

Tarigan, Henri Guntur. (2013) Pengajaran Gaya Bahasa. Bandung: Angkasa.





185

REPRESENTATION OF VERBAL MEANINGS

IN THE KAILI LANGUAGE SLOGAN

Ulinsa

Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program


TADULAKO UNIVERSITY


ABSTRACT

The problems in this study are (1) what is the representation of the form of verbal meaning in

the slogan Kaili dialect of Rai? and (2) what is the representation of the function of verbal

meaning in the slogan Kaili Rai dialect? This study aims to (1) describe the representation of

the form of verbal meaning in the slogan Kaili dialect of Rai, and (2) describe the representation

of the function of verbal meaning in the slogan of the Kaili dialect in Rai. This type of research

is qualitative with descriptive methods. The research was conducted in Tondo Village, Sirenja

District, Donggala Regency, Central Sulawesi Province. The data source is in the form of oral

data. Data collection techniques, namely, observation, interviews, recording and recording. The

data analysis technique is done by; collect the data, reduce the data, present the data, and

conclude. The results showed that the representation of the form of verbal meaning in the Kaili

language slogan is 15 slogans that represent two forms of meaning, namely denotative meaning

and connotative meaning. Meanwhile, the representation of the function of verbal meaning is

in the slogan of Kaili’s language, which is appealing and encouraging.

Keywords: Representation, verbal meaning, form, function, slogan, Kaili language

PRELIMINARY

This research was conducted on the background that Indonesia has a wealth of culture

and language. The local language is one of the assets owned by Indonesia which is a matter of

pride, on the other hand, it is also a difficult task, especially when thinking about how to protect,

gain benefits, and maintain diversity. Indonesia is respected by other nations because of its

natural wealth and diversity. One of the characteristics of diversity can be seen from various

ethnicities, languages and religions. This diversity can be seen from the regional languages as

the identity of the speakers. The regulation of regional languages in statutory regulations is not

the main thing, except in several local regulations. Regulations for the use of regional languages

are complementary to regulations on Indonesian or State languages. In Law number 20 of 2003

concerning the National Education System including Law Number 4 of 1950 in conjunction

with Law Number 12 of 1945 and Law Number 2 of 1989 which became the forerunner of Law

Number 20 of 2003, namely the use of Regional languages are regulated as a complement to

the use of the Indonesian language which is required in the implementation of national

education in Indonesia. Local languages may be used in the early stages of education to convey

certain knowledge and skills.

The use of regional languages as the language of instruction in class proof that since 1950

Indonesia has implemented the EFA (Education for all) principle which was initiated by

UNESCO in the 1990s. The use of traditional languages as the language of instruction in the

world of education is an effort to reach students who have not been able to follow lessons

delivered in Indonesian. This is also proof that Indonesia is also implementing the MLE

(multilingual education) program, an education program that uses the first language as the

language of instruction at the initial rank, namely the low class before continuing to the high

class then switching to the national language. Protection of regional languages is based on the

mandate of Article 32 Verse 2 of the 1945 Constitution, which states that the state respects and





186

maintains regional languages as national cultural assets. Besides, the State provides

opportunities and flexibility for the people to preserve and develop their language as part of

their respective cultures. Besides, the State advances Indonesia’s national culture in the midst

of world civilization by guarantee the freedom of society in maintaining and developing its

cultural values. The freedom granted by the 1945 Constitution does not mean freedom without

restrictions because to a certain extent the development and use of regional languages will

inevitably conflict with other provisions. For the purposes of the state, the mandated freedom

to use regional languages will collide with limits on the use of state languages. For the purposes

of life and social interaction, the flexibility to use one regional language must also respect the

use of other regional languages. In other words, flexibility in the use and development of

regional languages in many cases must not violate “social” norms and existing statutory norms.

Related to government regulations described above, this research was conducted as a

follow-up to the implementation of the Republic of Indonesia government regulations and

regional government regulations. Traditional language is an ancestral heritage that is passed

down from generation to generation to the community as social creatures. Its existence as a

traditional language has a function shaping of ethnic personality, enforcing regional identity,

and a means of expressing and developing regional literature and culture within the Indonesian

frame. On the other hand, traditional languages also function as a means of communication

within the family and local communities, the language of the local mass media, a means of

supporting the Indonesian language, and a source of Indonesian language development. Based

on the function of regional languages, this research was conducted with the target of the Kaili

regional language whose speakers are in the Donggala Regency area of Central Sulawesi

Province. Kaili also has various dialects. Among them are the dialects of Ledo, Rai, Tara, Da’a,

Unde, Doi, etc. In line with the statement above, the dialect according to Meilet (in Karim,

2012: 7) is a set of different local speech forms with common characteristics and more similar

to other speech forms of the same language. Thus, this dialect is what distinguishes the Kaili

tribe who stay in a certain area.

To Kaili or the Kaili people have a cultural message that is full of values that are contained

in utterances in the form of proverbial expressions. The proverb that is uttered is used to advise,

educate, remind, instruct, entertain, prohibit, praise and even insinuate. The utterances in the

proverbial expression in question can be used as a tool for character education learning in

schools by inserting a proverb in the Kaili language in the learning process and parenting in the

family and community environment. A living saying developed in the Kaili tribe community is

generally conveyed orally. Proverbial expressions have formed in oral literature. Oral literature

is part of a tradition that develops orally in a society that uses language as the main medium.

This oral literature emerged and developed in society before written literature.

Likewise, in local languages, a proverb is also spoken to convey an intention so that

someone who is the topic of conversation does not feel that he is the one being discussed.

Proverbs and local languages are very closely related. Because regional languages are

languages that have a high value of politeness. Therefore, people who use regional languages

often use expressions in communicating. Examples of expressions in the Kaili Rai dialect are

“daa saridali ue naongamo”. This expression means the denotation “the water still reaches the

ankles, but has drowned”. However, this expression has a connotative meaning, namely

“someone who is arrogant even though he has not been successful”. The next example, “tau

na’pii”. This expression means the denotation “narrow people”. However, it has the connotation

of “stingy person”.

The explanation above makes this topic important to be studied so that the form of verbal

meaning and the function of verbal meaning that contains the values of local wisdom contained

in the proverb in the Kaili language can be used as a guide for the life of a community owner is

living in the community. Related to this, the problems raised in this study are, 1) how is the





187

representation of the form of verbal meaning in the proverb in the Kaili language, in the Rai

dialect? and 2) How does the function of verbal meaning in the proverb in Kaili in the Rai

dialect?

RESEARCH METHODS

The type of research used is qualitative by using a descriptive approach. The research

location is located in Tondo Village, Sirenja District, Donggala Regency, Central Sulawesi

Province. This location was chosen by the researcher because in that place most of the

population are native speakers of the Kaili Rai dialect so that the data obtained can be

accumulated clearly because interactions with native speakers are directly intertwined. On the

other hand, researchers are part of native speakers of the Kaili Rai dialect who are also fluent

in Kaili Rai so that in the data collection process to data analysis, they can describe the form of

verbal meaning and the function of verbal meaning represented in the Kaili Rai dialect

expression.

The type of data namely oral data obtained from direct speech and interviews with the

community in Sirenja sub-district. Subjects observed in the field also become data in collecting

research results. The data sources in this study are informants who are native speakers of the

Kaili Rai dialect who can provide information about proverbs in the form of proverbs in the

Kaili Rai dialect. The data collection techniques used in this study were observation, interview,

recording and note-taking. Observation is the first step taken before choosing the research title

“Representation of Verbal Meanings in the Proverb of Kaili in Rai Dialect” which is focused

on Sirenja District, Donggala Regency. The aim is to observe the availability of data related to

the proverb in the Kaili language, the Rai dialect. An interview is a technique of collecting data

in the form of questions and answers with informants. The researcher asked the informant

questions related to the proverb in Kaili, the Rai dialect, then the informant gave the answer.

This answer can be the data for researchers. The type of interview that researchers use in this

study is an unstructured interview. A recording is the process of collecting data carried out by

researchers by recording the answers given by informants in the interview process. The

recording tools that the researchers used were mobile phones and voice recorders. The

researcher recorded the informant’s answer without the informant’s knowledge. The purpose

of this recording is to make it easier for researchers to collect data. So that the data that has

been obtained is not easily forgotten. In addition, by recording the informants’ answers, the

researcher also obtains complete data in accordance with what the informants have expressed

so that the error rate in writing data can be minimized. Note-taking is a data collection

technique that is carried out by recording information obtained during the interview process.

This recording is done to record important information provided by the informant. The

information is in the form of proverbial data in the Kaili language, the Rai dialect in the village

of Tondo, Sirenja District, Donggala Regency. In addition, this recording can anticipate if the

recording is less clear.

The instrument used in this study was that the researcher carried out a series of activities

from planning, data collection and data analysis to the results of the research. In the observation,

interview, recording and recording techniques, the researcher was directly involved in the

conversation and researched using a recording device in the form of a cellphone and a note tool

in the form of paper and pen, and the researcher used documentation as a complement to the

research. The data analysis technique used in the study refers to the opinion of Miles and

Hubermen (Sugiyono, 2014: 91). Qualitative data analysis consists of four stages, namely: data

collection, data reduction, data presentation, and then a conclusion. Data collection. At the data

collection stage, all data that has been obtained during observation and listening are collected

according to their respective classifications. Researchers classified all data obtained during the

observation and listening process in the form of field notes, recordings, and other documents.





188

Data reduction, data obtained from the field needs to be recorded carefully and in detail.

Reducing data means summarizing, choosing the main things, focusing on the things that are

important. Thus the data that has been reduced will provide a clearer picture, and make it easier

for researchers to carry out further data collection, and search for it if needed Sugiono, (2014:

92). In this case regarding the meaning of the proverb in the Rai dialect kaili language. Data

Presentation, after the data is reduced, the next step is to present the data. According to Miles

and Hubermen (Sugiyono, 2014: 95) that what is most often used to present data in qualitative

research is narrative text. Furthermore, the data is presented in a descriptive form to describe

the results of searches conducted by researchers about the meaning of the proverb in the Kaili

language, Rai dialect. Withdrawal of conclusions, the initial conclusions put forward are still

provisional and will change if no strong and supporting evidence is found at the next data

collection stage. But if the conclusions put forward at an early stage are supported by valid and

consistent evidence when the researcher returns to the field to collect data, the conclusions put

forward are credible or trustworthy and real. The collected data were then analyzed using

qualitative methods. This qualitative method is used to interpret, interpret, describe and describe

the verbal meaning represented in the proverb in the Kaili language in the Rai dialect.


The results of the research that answered the two formulations of the problem raised,

namely the form and function of verbal meanings in the proverbial Kaili language, Rai dialect,

are described and discussed below.

Representation of the Proverbial Verbal Meaning in Kaili, Rai dialect

This section describes the representation of the verbal meaning of the proverb in Kaili,

the Rai dialect, with the results of the data obtained totaling 16 proverbs that have been analyzed

based on the meaning of denotation and connotative meaning as well as the purpose of each

proverb meaning. The following is the description.

Data (1): Ane mojarita nemo momi risumba pai riate

Meaning of Denotation: When talking, don’t be sweet with lips, bitter in the heart

Meaning of Connotation: The mouth speaks another, it is different in the heart

Purpose of Phrase: This phrase aims to advise children, not to speak on another lip.

Data (2): Agina mainga, ne maonga

Meaning of Denotation: Better to be careful, don’t drown

Meaning of Connotation: Better to be careful before anything happens

Purpose of Phrase: This idiom aims to advise everyone to be careful in their actions

Data (3): Nemo matuari Sumba

Denotation Meaning: Don’t be talkative

Meaning of connotation: Do not just speak

Purpose of Phrase: This conversation aims to advise children not to speak in imitation of the

habits of those who are older than them.

Data (4): Nemo mareso mpo yalu

Meaning of Denotation: Don’t just get tired like a pestle

Meaning of Connotation: Don’t just get tired of nothing

Purpose of Phrase: This expression aims to advise children not to work if the wages of work do

not match the work being done.





189

Data (5): Ane malau risakampuna, nemo moura ane rai nte toya

Meaning of Denotation: If you go to someone’s village, don’t go home without a swing

Meaning of Connotation: If you want to wander, marry the community

Indigenous

Purpose of the phrase: This phrase is intended to advise young people so that if you go abroad,

don’t go home if you are not successful and marry the indigenous

people

Data (6): Nemo mangoli taveve rilara karu

Denotation Meaning: Don’t buy a cat in a sack

Meaning of Connotation: Don’t buy something that is uncertain because it is too

Believe

Purpose of Phrase: This phrase aims to advise young people not to choose a life partner just

because they believe what other people say.

Data (7): Nemo mosondu uta vai

Denotation Meaning: Don’t scoop out stale vegetables

Meaning of connotation: Be careful in choosing a life partner, do not get used to other people

Purpose of the Conversation: This phrase aims to advise young people not to choose a life

partner arbitrarily

Data (8): Ane malau risakampuna nemo mokura kodi

Meaning of Denotation: Don’t go to other people’s villages, don’t be a little proud

Meaning of connotation: If you go to someone else’s village, don’t be someone who is easily

offended by what other people say

Purpose of the phrase: This phrase aims to advise young people not to become easily

discouraged if they are in someone else’s village.

Data (9): Nemo manganasi without eye, rakalingasimo mate

Meaning of Denotation: After looking at the eye, do not forget to die

Meaning of Connotation: After God has given a high degree (respected) in the world, the

afterlife (death) has been forgotten

Purpose of Expression: This expression aims to advise young people to always balance the

hereafter and the world.

Data (10): Ane Mojarita, Rapomeili Bengo

Meaning of Denotation: When speaking, look back

Meaning of Connotation: When talking, let yourself reflect

Purpose of Phrase: This phrase is meant to advise everyone that before speaking, look at

yourself first.

Data (11): Agina malalo bangko, aga ne masala ganggo

Meaning of Denotation: It is better not to have children, as long as you make no mistake

take

Meaning of connotation: It’s better to be an old girl/boy, as long as you don’t choose the wrong

choice.

Purpose of Phrase: This phrase aims to advise young people, not to choose carelessly in

choosing a life partner.





190

Data (12): Nemo mavatu ntiongu

Denotation Meaning: Not the stone and the circle (shape)

Meaning of Connotation: Don’t be so naughty

Purpose of Phrase: This phrase is used to advise young children not to be naughty

Data (13): Ane matuvu often or, nemo ntani Motungoa

Meaning of Denotation: If you live in a land of people, don’t look up too much

Meaning of connotation: If people live in the world, don’t be arrogant

Self

Purpose of the phrase: This phrase aims to advise young people not to act arrogantly in overseas

lands.

Data (14): Nemo mamomipa, raome nturusimo

Denotation Meaning: Don’t just swallow it because it’s sweet

Meaning of Connotation: Don’t just swallow it because it’s sweet

Purpose of Expression: This expression aims to advise young people not to always trust people

who are very close to them.

Data (15): Ane majadi manggubine nemo mandate Sumba

Meaning of Denotation: If you are a woman, don’t have a long mouth

Meaning of Connotation: If you are a woman, do not like to talk

Purpose of Phrase: This phrase aims to advise girls not to just talk carelessly.

Data (16): Isema Mandiu, Etu Maobe

Denotation Meaning: Who takes a bath, that’s wet

Meaning of Connotation: Whoever errs he himself will receive

the reward

Purpose of Phrase: This phrase is intended to advise young people, to put solidarity of friendship

in the right situation.

Representation of Proverbial Verbal Meaning Function in Kaili Language, Rai dialect

This section describes the meaning functions represented in the proverb in Kaili, the Rai

dialect. Of the 16 proverbs that have been described above, their meanings are both denotative

and connotative. Well, the following is described as its function.

Data (1): Ane mojarita nemo momi risumba pai riara

Meaning of Denotation: When talking, don’t be sweet with lips, bitter in the heart

Meaning of Connotation: Another is spoken by the mouth, it is different in the heart

Function: this adage conveyed by parents, is usually used when parents get angry when the

child does work with a sullen face. Parents assume the child is doing work with

insincerity. Because if ordered to say “yes”, but works muttering inwardly, because

it affects the look on his face.

Data (2): Agina mainga, ne maong

Meaning of Denotation: Better to be careful, don’t drown.

Meaning of Connotation: Better to be careful before anything happens.

Function: this proverb is expressed by parents to their children who are careless in doing

something. This adage is used when trying to remind a child to always be careful

before something unwanted happens.





191

Data (3): Nemo matuari Sumba Kapeaba-Abo

The Meaning of Denotation: Don’t act nag and chatter.

Meaning of connotation: Do not just talk and connect the conversation of parents.

Function: this proverb is expressed by parents to their children who like to talk imitating the

habits of parents who are not the same age as him. This expression is usually used

when parents are angry if a child likes to hang out and listen to the conversations of

parents who do not deserve to be heard, then imitate.

Data (4): Nemo mareso mpo yalu

Meaning of Denotation: Don’t just get tired like a pestle

Meaning of Connotation: Don’t just get tired of nothing

Function: this proverb is expressed by parents to their children who work for other people. This

expression is usually conveyed by parents to the child when they hear that the work

wages the child receives are not in accordance with the work they do. Therefore,

parents advise by expressing this proverb. Indirectly, parents tell the child to leave

his job.

Data (5): Ane malau risakampuna, nemo moura ane rai nte toya

Meaning of Denotation: If you go to someone’s village, don’t go home without a swing

Meaning of Connotation: If you want to wander, marry the indigenous people.

Function: this proverb is expressed by parents to their children who want to migrate to other

countries. This adage is usually uttered by parents at the last moment before the child

leaves. This expression implies telling the child that you should not go home unless

you are successful and get married.

Data (6): Nemo mangoli taveve rilara karu

Denotation Meaning: Don’t buy a cat in a sack.

Meaning of Connotation: Don’t buy something uncertain out of overconfidence.

Function: This adage is usually expressed by parents to their sons when they want to ask

permission to propose to a girl they like just because they hear stories from people

that the girl is behaving well. This expression indirectly advises the child not to make

the wrong choice. It would be nice to see for yourself first, so as not to lose.

Data (7): Nemo mosondu uta vai

Denotation Meaning: Don’t scoop out stale vegetables

Meaning of Connotation: Be careful in choosing a life partner, do not let someone else’s mark.

Function: this adage is usually expressed by parents to their sons who want to marry a woman

whom he does not know well. In order for the boy to find out first the woman’s

background, so as not to get marks from other people.

Data (8): Ane malau risakampuna nemo mokura codI

Meaning of Denotation: If you go to someone’s village, don’t be proud.

Meaning of connotation: If you go to someone else’s village, don’t be someone who is easily

offended by what other people say.

Function: this proverb is expressed by parents to their children who want to migrate to someone

else’s village so that their child does not become discouraged or easily offended when

in someone else’s village, even if he meets new people around him.

Data (9): Nemo manganasi without eye, rakalingasimo mate

Meaning of Denotation: After looking at the eye, don’t forget to die.





192

Meaning of Connotation: After being given by God a high degree (respected) in the world, the

afterlife (death) has been forgotten.

Function: this adage is usually expressed by parents to their children who are successful, get a

new job, or get a lot of sustenance. This advice was expressed by parents so that their

children would not be complacent with what they had in the world, and always

remember that death would definitely come. That is, living in the world must balance

the world and the end.

Data (10): Ane Mojarita, Rapomeili Bengo “

Meaning of Denotation: When speaking, look back

Meaning of Connotation: When talking, let yourself reflect

Function: this adage is often expressed by parents to anyone they think is arrogant when talking.

This proverb implies that when speaking someone should look at who he is and ask

himself whether he speaks like that.

Data (11): Agina malalo bangko, aga ne masala ganggo

Meaning of Denotation: It is better not to have children, as long as you don’t take it wrong.

Meaning of the connotation: It’s better to be an old maid / old boy, as long as you don’t choose

the wrong partner.

Function: this proverb is expressed by parents to their sons or daughters who are in a hurry to

get married. This saying implies that the child is better off being an old maid / old

boy as long as he doesn’t choose the wrong life partner.

Data (12): Nemo mavatu ntiongu

Denotation Meaning: Don’t be like a round stone (shape)

Connotation Meaning: Don’t be naughty and stubborn

Function: this saying is often advised by grandparents to their grandchildren. This adage shines

away from what the grandparent means so as not to offend his son-in-law. That he

wanted to tell his grandson not to be naughty.

Data (13): Ane matuvu often or, nemo ntani Motungoa

Meaning of Denotation: If you live in a land of people, don’t look up too much.

Meaning of connotation: If you live overseas, don’t be proud of yourself.

Function: this proverb is expressed by parents to their sons or daughters whom their son-in-law

wants to bring to his hometown. This adage shines away from what parents mean not

to boast about living in someone else’s village.

Data (14): Nemo mamomipa, raome nturusimo

Denotation Meaning: Don’t just swallow it because it’s sweet

Meaning of Connotation: Do not listen to his seduction and then obey/trusted.

Function: parents often express this adage to advise their children to filter information received

from people who are very close to them. This expression is expressed when the child

is very close and believes in someone. This proverb kicks up what parents mean so

that their children don’t always trust people, even those closest to them. Because the

enemy doesn’t always look bad.

Data (15): Ane majadi manggubine nemo mandate Sumba

Meaning of Denotation: If you are a woman, don’t have a long mouth

Meaning of Connotation: If you are a woman, do not like to talk





193

Function: this proverb is expressed by parents to girls who like to chat with their friends. This

expression is expressed when girls start associating with the surrounding community.

This adage reinforces the intention of parents so that their daughters do not like to

gossip or deliver unsure news.

Data (16): Isema Mandiu, Etu Maobe “

Denotation Meaning: Who takes a bath, that’s wet.

Meaning of Connotation: Whoever errs he himself will receive the reward

Function: this adage is often expressed by parents to their sons who always emphasize the

solidarity of friendship above personal safety. This phrase is put forward by parents

when their son gets into a fight with someone. However, after further investigation,

it turned out that the boy was only helping his friend who was the source of the

problem. Because sometimes this boy in Sirenja District often fights because he

defends his friend, even though the friend he is defending is the one who is at fault.

So, this proverb kicks up what parents mean so that whoever does the wrong, it is

enough for him to bear the consequences himself.

CONCLUSION

The results of the research and discussion described in the previous chapter show that the

proverb used by the Kaili people is an oral tradition. The Kaili tribe has an expression that is

commonly used by the community to convey something of an intention or purpose and is used

spontaneously to those who are listening. So that those who listen are moved and are not easily

offended by what the speakers say. Proverbs are also used to advise, praise, insinuate,

encourage, urge and even give messages and messages from parents for their children. Proverbs

are also educational. In an area, expressions are considered as culture. The culture that is

preserved by society by means of oral. Because through this expression we are indirectly

introduced to the life of the Kaili tribe.

The proverb prioritizes meaning and function is closely related to the socio-cultural life

of society. This is considering that basically the proverb is used by the community to regulate

social and cultural life, because, in the Kaili tribe, the customs or customs are not inherited in

writing by the parents, but are spoken, one of which is the form of expression. Thus the author

raises the verbal meaning and the function of its use in society.

Based on the proverb data in Kaili, the Rai dialect that has been described, a proverb is a

language commonly used by the community at official or informal meetings. The use of the

proverb has been described as a translation and connotative meaning (the meaning that is not

true), and the meaning of denotation (the real meaning). This is intended so that someone who

is spoken does not feel offended, because the language has a sense of value and the Kaili people

still place great importance on the value of taste in speaking.

REFERENCES Abdillah, et al. (2002). Kamus Lengkap Bahasa Indonesia. Surabaya: Amelia.

Aminuddin. (2011). Semantik Pengantar Studi tentang Makna. Malang: Sinar Baru Algesindo Bandung.

Anwar, D. (2002). Kamus Lengkap Bahasa Indonesia. Surabaya: Amelia.

Badudu, J. S. (1978) Sari Kesusastraan Indonesia. Bandung: CV Pustaka Prima

Chaer, et al. (1997). Nilai Budaya dalam Ungkapan dan Peribahasa Sunda. Jakarta: Ministry of

Education and Culture.

Chaer, A. (2002). Kamus Ungkapan Bahasa Indonesia. Rineka Cipta: Jakarta.

Chaer, A. (2009). Pengantar Semantik Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

Chaer, A. (2011). Tata Bahasa Praktis Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

Digilib.unila.ac.id (accessed Thursday, 28 September 2017 at 14.30 WITA)





194

Djajasudarma, F. (2013). Semantik 2 Relasi Makna Paradigmatik, Sintagmatik, dan Derivasional.

Bandung: Refika Aditama.

http://repository.usu.ac.id

Karim, Ali. (2012). Analisis Wacana Kajian Teori dan Praktik. Palu: Tadulako University Press.

Mahdi, Adnan. (2014). Panduan Penelitian Praktis untuk Menyusun Skripsi, Tesis, dan Disertasi.

Bandung: Alfabeta.

Mahsun. (2014). Metode Penelitian Bahasa Tahapan Strategi, Metode, dan Tekniknya Jakarta: Rajawali

Perss.

Nikma. (2016). Makna Ungkapan pada Pelamaran Masyarakaat Suku Taa di Desa Lemo Kecamatan

Bungku Utara Kabupaten Morowali Utara. Thesis not published. Palu: FKIP Tadulako University.

Pateda, Mansoer. (2001). Semantik Leksikal. Rineka Cipta.

Sugiyono. (2014). Memahami Penelitian Kualitatif. Bandung: Alfabeta.





195

FUNDAMENTAL IDENTITY OF PANGERAN DIPONEGARA

IN JAVA WAR (1825-1830) AND ITS TRACE IN PASAREAN GUNUNG KAWI

Bani Sudardi

Faculty of Cultural Sciences



Istadiyantha

Faculty of Cultural Sciences



Dwi Sulistyorini

Student of Cultural Studies Doctoral Program



ABSTRACT

UNESCO, UNO recognizes Javanese Literature Babad Diponegara as a “memory of the world”

in 2013. There are three unique aspects in Babad Diponegara: (1) its wrote in the hand of

Diponegara Prince, (2) Babad Diponegara is about Diponegara himself so it is as an

autobiography, (3) it has been written in a place that far away from Javanese culture, Manado.

Babad Diponegara has local identity aspects and triggers the esthetic soul of its reader. In the

Javanese literature context, Diponegara Prince is the first autobiography writer titled Babad

Diponegara. He had written it during his exile in Manado in 1832. Today The Babad

Diponegara manuscript is in Indonesian National Library as Brandes’s collection. This paper

attempts to examine the identity of Diponegara in writing the Babad Diponegara in exile.

Fundamental identity is another name for ideological identity. This identity is optional and

forms part of belief. In the context of Javanese culture at that time, joining the Dutch and

opposing the Netherlands was an ideological identity. Prince Diponegara chose an ideological

identity against the Dutch and rejected all Dutch ideologies. Diponegara’s ideological identity

in fighting the Dutch was due to establishing an Islamic sultanate in Yogyakarta. The Dutch did

not respond to this desire and valiantly destroyed the house and mosque of Prince Diponegara

in Tegalrejo. Diponegara then fled to Selarong. The ideals of establishing the kingdom were

realized in Selarong Cave by declaring themselves Sultan Sultan Hamid ing Selarong, shortly

after his escape from Tegalrejo.Diponegara’s war with the Dutch entered a new stage in the

discourse of war against infidels (Wong kopar). This was a world discourse at that time, namely

the conflict between the Ottoman Turks who wanted to stem the west trade and spread

Christianity. This fundamental identity is traced to Pasarean Gunung Kawi (Gunung Kawi

Tomb). Diponegoro had indeed been caught and had been exiled outside Java. Furthermore, a

new story emerged about Diponegoro’s troops who were scattered in various places. One of the

stories is about the kyai Zakaria or who is often referred to as Grandpa Joego who fled to East

Java after the end of the war. This is what later gave birth to the folklore of the Gunung Kawi

Pesarean in which the kyai Zakaria and his followers were buried. Pesarean Gunung Kawi is

well-known as a place to look for an estate by asking for help in the waterworks that are buried

there.

Key words: Diponegara, Babad Diponegara, fundamental identity





196

INTRODUCTION

Diponegara’s chronicle (Babad Diponegara) is part of Javanese history. The history of

Java has been going on for thousands of years (Raflles, 2008). Diponegara was a 19th-century

Javanese historical figure when Java was occupied by the Dutch and Diponegara fought the

Dutch until he was finally caught in a cunning way, which was invited to make peace and then

be arrested when negotiations were being held.

In the field of literature, Prince Diponegara was the first autobiography writer with his

work entitled Babad Diponegara. This work was written in exile in Manado in 1832. The text

of the Chronicle of Diponegara is now stored in the Jakarta National Library, as a collection of

Brandes manuscripts (Noegroho, 2010: 1, Behrend, 1997).

This work has been recognized worldwide by the UNESCO included as “memory of the

world” in the year 2013. The Chronicle of Diponegara is a unique chronicle because of 3 things:

(1) the chronicle was written directly by Prince Diponegara, (3) the chronicle of Prince

Diponegara, and (3) written in locations far from the Javanese cultural context, namely in

Manado (Carey, 2010). This chronicle has aspects of local identity and also thrills the aesthetic

spirit of its readers (Hartoko, 1984)

In connection with this, this Chronicle will be examined from the perspective of identity

with the mindset according to Sheldon Stryker’s identity. According to this theory, there is a

relationship of mutual influence between individuals with a larger social structure, namely

society. There is a relationship between the concept of role and self-concept. This is related to

the anthropological conditions of the owner’s community (Koentjaraningrat, 1982). This

connection is also related to ethnographic aspects (Spradley, 1997).

Diponegara’s chronicle is examined by the expression of identity between Diponegara’s

role and self as an outcast and at the same time a Prince from the Javanese tribe who is furthest

from his community. In this case, the expression of identity, resistant cultural values in the work

of the Babad Diponegara as well as influential elements in the community in Manado will be

examined. This is to emphasize also that a paper cannot be separated from its social (Wollf,

1981).

In accordance with the above principle, this identity study approach utilizes a genetic

structuralism approach (Goldman, 1973, Siswanto 2001) which studies the birth of a literary

work from its origins aspect.

Prince Diponegara is a prince who has a very strong sense of identity in his day. When

the Dutch influence was very strong, Prince Diponegara had a deviant identity principle in the

Mataram Javanese Palace that principle was.

1. Prince Diponegara does not want to be appointed crown prince and subsequently becomes

king if the person who appoints is the Dutch government

2. Prince Diponegara in arranging his ranks did not use the European or Dutch troops system

but instead used the Turkish Sultanate system

3. in determining these ideas Prince Diponegara got his inspiration from his hermitage in

Parangkusumo; this act was an attempt to find his identity obtained from his ancestor

Panembahan Senopati who got the idea to establish the Mataram kingdom together within

Parangkusumo

Thus at least 3 elements of local identity contained in Prince Diponegara this later will

also are found in the Diponegara chronicle in which the local identity of Prince Diponegara

appears in the writing of the chronicle even though the chronicle was written far from Javanese

land in Manado when he was at the disposal of the Dutch government. Prince Diponegara built

his identity in preparing the Javanese war for 12 years. Prince Diponegara for 12 years prepared

him in case of sabil war is what he aspires for. Tegalrejo is a markplaats, namely a place to “sell

and buy” ideas, ideological concepts, politics, statehood, culture, military, strategic plans and

actions; a gathering place for community leaders when in the Sultanate of Yogyakarta there





197

was a leadership vacuum; the place where Diponegara gained its legitimacy base through the

voluntary agreement of the interested parties (Louw, 1894: 106)

In this regard, this study seeks to examine the aspects of identity contained in the

Chronicle of Diponegara. The identity aspects studied were divided into 3 according to the

research plan for 3 years.

METHOD

The subject of this research is the Diponegara chronicle manuscript stored with the

brandes collection code or BR 149 a b c d. The manuscript consists of 4 volumes and is currently

stored in the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia. This manuscript has been recorded

in the Katalog Induk Naskah-naskah Nusantara manuscripts volume 4 published by the

National Library of Indonesia (1998: 85-87). The manuscript is in Javanese script and in the

new Javanese language and is in mocopat form. To obtain these data, the data sources of this

research are:

1. The informants consisted of experts on Babad, especially Babad Diponegara.

2. Events and Behaviors: The events or behavior that is the source of the data are events or

behavior related to Diponegara.

3. Documents: This document is in the form of notes or publications about Javanese batik.

Included in the document data sources are reviews and writings in newspapers/magazines

and the internet regarding Diponegara.

4. Artifacts: The artifacts used in this study are all artifacts related to Diponegara such as

the Tegalrejo Museum, the Elephant Museum, and so on.

Interviews were conducted by informal interviews (in-depth interviews) with other

informants mentioned above. To maintain the validity of the data, the interview will be

accompanied by a member check (see Nasution, 1992: 117).

The involved and non-involved observations were made on the events and behavior of

the informant/data source. The type of observation is carried out according to field conditions.

The observation results will be recorded into an electronic file (digital photo).

The study of written documents (content analysis) is used to read the document and record

things in the data display in accordance with the research theme.h

In this study, the validity of the data was tested using data triangulation, namely the

researcher used several data sources to obtain similar data (Sutopo, 1988: 31) in order to obtain

a comprehensive cross-data understanding. The validity of the data will also be strengthened

utilizing peer debriefing (see Nasution, 1992: 117). Peer de briefing is pursued by inviting

people who are not involved in the research to provide comments about the research results in

a validation seminar. The comments are then used to improve the research results. Validity and

data collection will be carried out using the FGD (focus group discussion) technique to obtain

an overview of identification in the Diponegara Babad.m. The model used in this data analysis

takes an interactive analysis model (see Miles and Huberman, 1993: 20), where the three

components of data analysis interact with each other during the research process. This analysis

is thus carried out in the field and recorded in the fieldnotes for further use of the results in the

preparation of the final research report.

ANALYSIS

In Babad Diponegara, it seems that Diponegara has an identity that seeks to portray the

superiority of the Javanese over foreigners. In the story contained in the folklore, it is about the

arrest of an old man who came to Ki Ageng Selo while he was in the fields. In the story, it is

told that Ki Ageng Selo fought back against an old man who attacked him. Ki Ageng Selo won

the resistance, which was then witnessed by the common people and the grandfather was

brought to the Demak Palace. The grandfather was imprisoned, but then a grandmother





198

approached him giving him water and then exploding as lightning. According to Javanese

belief, grandparents were the incarnation of lightning. In this case, Diponegara wanted to show

his ancestor’s superiority, Ki Ageng Selo, who was superior to outsiders who were symbolized

as lightning (p. 49).

The story about this lightning arrest, the cause is different from the story that develops in

the community. At the door of the Demak mosque, there is a door known as Lawang lightning

or Lawang Bledhe. The door is in the form of a dragon’s snout, while in the story of the

Diponegara chronicle being arrested is a very smelly old man. The grandparents were then

visited by an old grandmother who splashed the water. Then there was an explosion and the old

man disappeared from prison.

What’s interesting in this episode is that Ki Ageng Sela actually felt guilty because he

had caught the old man. Yes, then asked forgiveness from Allah and also to the Prophet

Muhammad. This section shows that the identity of Pangeran Dipanegara is the identity of a

Javanese Muslim.

The story that shows the supernatural powers of Dipanegara’s ancestors, namely Ki

Ageng Sela, shows the superiority of the ancestors of Pangeran Dipanegara and Dipanegara

itself as well. According to Dipanegara’s chronicle, this incident was the cause of the making

of Dipanegara’s ancestors as the ruler of the Land of Java. After asking for forgiveness from

Yang Widhi or God Almighty, Ki Ageng Selo asked tomorrow for his descendants to rule in

Java, but four prohibitions must be obeyed which religious prohibitions are, namely prohibited

specialties, drengki, riya, and kibir. All these prohibitions in the context of Islam are

prohibitions and are a disease of the heart.

An interesting thing in the Diponegara chronicle which increasingly shows about the

fundamental identity of Pangeran Diponegara that Pangeran Diponegara was a prince who

wanted to uphold Islamic teachings as well as possible. Pangeran Diponegara seemed to have

a different view from the other aristocrats at that time. Some of the teachings of Pangeran

Diponegara that differed from the views of the aristocracy at that time were as follows.

1. Pangeran Diponegara advised people not to fight for power which in Javanese is called

kepingin Kedhaton.

2. Pangeran Diponegara forbade people to believe in shamans.

3. He also advised against performing wayang gedhok (wayang Panji).

4. He forbade performing kerawitan.

5. He taught not to find fault.

6. Prohibit friends with people who are not obedient to religion.

7. Do not be a trader

8. Do not be someone who does not want to pay zakat (p. 54).

This section clearly shows that the values held by the prince of Dipanegara as one of his

fundamental identities. It seems that in Dipanegara’s life, there is an attempt to apply Islamic

values well.

What is Pangeran Dipanegara which shows a sense of supremacy is the story about Baron

Sekendher. This story tells of a barongsai keder from Spain who wants to visit Java. Baron

Sekendher has a twin named Baron sukmul. The two twin brothers have a vehicle in the form

of a Garuda named Baron Sekeber. By driving Baron Sekeber, Baron Sukmul and Baron

Sekendher headed for Java Island land. Arriving on the island of Java, Barok Sekendher and

Baron Sukmul experienced confusion. At that time, Panembahan Senopati was praying

midnight prayers. The three creatures from Spain, then fell right in front of Panembahan

Senapati. The three of them became paralyzed, but thanks to Panembahan Senopati’s kindness,

they later recovered. They then changed form and got their respective assignments from

Panembahan senapati. When that creature later became a servant of Panembahan Senapati as

follows.





199

1. Baron Sekendher becomes the guardian white tiger or Juru Taman.

2. Baron Sukmul is the guardian of the buffalo to be the guardian of the tomb of Ki Ageng

Mataram.

3. Baron Sekeber became a garuda and guarded the tomb of Ki Ageng Mataram.

The story above actually has a symbolic meaning: the island of Java is superior to Spain.

Furthermore, by carrying out the midnight prayer, Panembahan Senapati becomes a person with

supernatural powers that can defeat external powers.

In his book entitled Strategi Menjinakan Diponegoro, Djamhari (2014: 32-33) explains

that Dipanegara hates the Netherlands because of the Dutch behavior that does not respect the

values of the Jogjakarta palace life. Resident Baron de Salis has appointed Raden Mas Menol,

who is only two years old, to become Sultan. This contradicts the view of Pangeran Diponegoro

that it is not proper for a Sultan to have unmarried children. Furthermore, according to

Diponegoro’s view, a Sultan must be the main descendant. Meanwhile, Raden Mas Menol is a

descendant of slaves. In the Dipanegara chronicle, we see that Dipanegara placed his ancestors

in a noble position because he believed heredity was very important. As a form of protest against

this situation, Dipanegara refused to read the decree of appointment as Sultan and refused to

worship the sultan who was newly appointed by the Dutch. From this incident arose displeasure

with the Dutch. Pangeran Dipanegara then approached groups outside the Keraton, namely

Islamic groups and Keraton relatives who did not like Dutch influence.

Diponegoro had indeed been caught and had been exiled outside Java. Next, a new story

emerged about Diponegoro’s troops who were scattered in various places. One of the stories is

about the kyai Zakaria or who is often referred to as Grandpa Joego who fled to East Java after

the end of the war. This is what later gave birth to the folklore of the Gunung Kawi Pesarean in

which the kyai Zakaria and his followers were buried. Pesarean Gunung Kawi is well-known

as a place to look for an estate by asking for help in the waterworks that are buried there.

Pasarean Gunung Kawi is located in the administrative area of Wonosari Village, Wonosari

District, Malang Regency, and East Java. As a ritual space, the existence of the Gunung Kawi

pasarean as a sacred place for pilgrims who wish to come to this area has been widely known,

even to foreign countries. Every day the Gunung Kawi pasarean area is visited by many visitors

who aim to make a pilgrimage to the graves of Eyang Djoego and R.M. Faith Soedjono or just

traveling.

The existence of Gunung Kawi pasarean as a ritual space has been known by the

community for a long time. The fame of the name Gunung Kawi pasarean is caused by two

things, namely (1) the buried character is a historical figure that has joined the followers of

Prince Diponegoro against the Dutch and (2) the growing public trust in the graves of the two

figures as an intermediary medium for fulfilling wishes has made Gunung Kawi’s name

increasingly resound.

The results of the study show that the Diponegoro chronicle does not directly tell about

the characters in the story about Pasarean Gunung Kawi. However, the text about Pangeran

Diponegoro has a very important position as the background of the story about Pasarean

Gunung Kawi because in it there are figures from the events of Prince Diponegoro’s war facing

the company. The two texts appear to be different texts, but they are actually a development of

a new text from an existing text so that the Diponegoro chronicle text is followed by a story

about the followers of Pangeran Diponegoro who fled to Malang, East Java. Furthermore, the

text about Pasarean Gunung Kawi then developed according to the conditions that occurred in

the community, namely the relationship between the Malang people and the Chinese

community. Then came Chinese community leaders who participated in enlivening and

building the Gunung Kawi Pasarean and the establishment of Chinese temples under the

Gunung Kawi Pasarean. This shows the union of two identities, even though in principle each

one is completely different. The principal difference is that the founder of the Gunung Kawi





200

pasarean was a propagator of Islam while the people who developed the Gunung Kawi Pasarean

and founded the temple were followers of the Confucian or Tridharma faith with the

establishment of temples related to the Tridharma belief such as the Dewi Kwan In temple.

CONCLUSION

Based on the description above, it can be concluded several things about the identity

contained in the Dipanegara chronicle.

1. Babad Dipanegara is a statement of the Dipanegara prince’s identity who is a Javanese

who is currently in conflict with foreigners. In this case, even though Pangeran

Dipanegara was in food, his identity was still ingrained in him that he and his ancestors

were people who were superior to rulers from outside.

2. Dipanegara takes a fundamental identity by providing Islamic values in everyday life.

This was a counter against the Dutch rulers who were Christians, whom Dipanegara

referred to as infidels or kofar people.

3. With this identity, he tried to build his personal identity as a Javanese who was Muslim

and had a different view from the other aristocrats in the Kraton. The difference is shown

by the deviation of Dipanegara’s views from the concept of the palace which likes wayang

karawitan and so on. Dipanegara deliberately opposed the traditional arts that were

prevalent in the Kraton as a form of a statement of its fundamental identity.

4. On the other hand, Dipanegara cannot be separated from the fact that he is a descendant

of Javanese ancestors who have certain traditions. To show this, the state still recognizes

various things about the origins of its ancestors, but it tries to give Islamic values to what

happened to these ancestors.

5. There are traces of the fundamental identity of Diponegoro in Pasarean Gunung Kawi,

the tomb of former Diponegoros soldiers.

REFERENCES Behrend, TE. 1997. Katalog Induk Naskah-naskah Nusantara. Jilid 4. Jakarta: Obor.

Carey, Peter. 2010. Memory of the World Application Letter. Jakarta: PNRI

Goldmann, Lucien. 1973. “Genetic Structuralism in the Sociology of Literature”. dalam Burns, Tom

dan Elizabeth. Sociology of Literature and Drama. Harmondswort: Penguin Book.

Koentjaraningrat. 1983. Pengantar Ilmu Antropologi. Jakarta: Aksara Baru

Louw, P.J.F. 1894. De Java Oorlog van 1825-1830, I, Leiden: E.J. Brill

Miles, Matthew dan A. Michael Huberman.1992. Analisis Data Kualitatif. Terjemahan. Jakarta: UI

Press.

Nasution. 1992. Metode Penelitian Naturalistik Kualitatif. Bandung: Tarsito

Pangeran Diponegara. 2010. Babad Diponegara. Penyunting Komari dkk. Jakarta: Perpustrakaan

Nasional Republik Indonesia.

Raffles, Thomas Stamford. 2008. The History of Java. (Terjemahan Eko Prasetyaningrum, Nuryati

Agustin, Idda Qoryati Mahbubah). Yogyakarya: Narasi.

Siswanto. 2001. “Penelitian Sastra dalam Perspektif Strukturalisme Genetik”. Dalam Jabrohim. Ed.

Metodologi Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta: Hanindita Graha Nugraha.

Spradley, James P. 1997. Metode Etnografi. Yogyakarta: Tiara Wacana.

Sutopo, Heribertus. 1988. Pengantar Penelitian Kualitatif : Dasar-dasar Teoretis dan Praktis.

Surakarta: Pusat Penelitian Universitas Sebelas Maret.

Wolff, Janet. 1981. The Social Production of Art. New York: St. Martin’s Press.





201

HARMONIZATION AND LOCAL INTEREST IN “KULAR KULAR” LEGEND

IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 4.0

Basuki Sarwo Edi

Balai Bahasa Sumatera Selatan


ABSTRACT

One of the popular folklore in Palembang society is Cerito Pulo Kemaro. The Pulo Kemaro

story shows the harmony of the life of two ethnic groups in Palembang, namely the Palembang

ethnic group and the Chinese ethnic group. This research aims to (1) describe Cerito Pulo

Kemaro. and (2) analyze the local wisdom needed in Cerito Pulo Kemaro in the industrial

revolution era 4.0. and information collected from informants who studied the intricacies of

Cerito Pulo Kemaro in the Palembang community. Speakers are Rogaya attending 74 years,

who reside in 19 Ilir, Palembang. Data collection was obtained by analyzing the harmonization

and local wisdom provided in Cerito Pulo Kemaro. with descriptive methods. Data collection

is done by way of listening, recording and recording. The method used in this research is the

descriptive qualitative method. Based on the results of data analysis and discussion, it shows

that Cerito Pulo Kemaro in Palembang society is very rich in harmonization and local wisdom

in the Industrial Revolution Era 4.0.

Keywords: Harmonization, Local Wisdom, Legend, Pulo Kemaro, Industrial Revolution 4.0.

PRELIMINARY

From the Srivijaya era to the Sultanate of Palembang Darussalam, Palembang had a

wealth of oral traditions. Various types of traditions developed through oral stories, including

legends, fables, myths, and sage. The presence of oral literature in social life is a reflection of

solidarity and identification that is conveyed orally and has a specific purpose. Atmazaki (2007:

138) states that oral literature has many functions. With oral literature, ancient society or the

ancestors of humankind expressed the turmoil of their souls and reflections about life. This

study aims to find the harmonization and values of wisdom (local wisdom) in the folklore of

Pulo Kemoro.

This research uses the descriptive qualitative method. The research subject is the folklore

of Pulo Kemaro. Data were collected from primary sources utilizing direct observation (natural

observation) and in-depth interviews with the informant (Linda, 62 years), the critical key at

Pulo Kemaro.

According to Hasanuddin WS (2009: 555), legends are taken from the English term,

legend, namely folk tales, which contain specific figures, events, or places that mix historical

facts with myths. According to Emeis (in Djamaris, 1990: 98), legends are part of folk tales that

are thought to have happened, where the stories are still ancient and half is based on history and

half are wishful thinking. Apart from folk tales in the form of myths and legends, there are also

folk tales in the form of fairy tales.

According to Sugiarto (2009: 9), fairy tales are stories based on someone’s wishful

thinking or imagination which is then told from generation to generation. Because they are

imaginary, the events in a fairy tale are events that do not actually happen. This is in accordance

with the term fairy tale in the Dictionary of Literary Terms (Zaidan, et al. 2007: 60), which

states that the term fairy tale is a fictional story in which fantasy plays a role freely and is not

tied to the historical background and local colors. While. Bascom (in Danandjaja, 1994: 83),

fairy tales are folk prose that is not considered authentic by the owners of stories and fairy tales

are not bound by time or story. In its development, fairy tales are now used as entertainment





202

for children, but still in human experience or knowledge about events in life. In online KBBI,

harmonization is harmony, the search for harmony

Etymologically, “wisdom (wisdom) means a person’s ability to use their mind to respond

to an event, object, or situation”, while local means events that occur in their area. Local wisdom

is positive human thoughts related to nature, the environment that comes from customs,

religious values, ancestral advice formed by the surrounding community. This inheritance is

used as a means of control in society and has been institutionalized to become a culture

(Ermawi, 2009: 17).

According to Hasbullah (2012: 233), local wisdom is a community culture that has been

created by their ancestors and has become a legacy for their children and grandchildren and as

a means of controlling people’s behavior. Values that are considered as a means of social

control are also considered religious values , which serve as guidelines for human life.

Meanwhile, values that are not in accordance with religious values are considered by the

community as those that cannot appreciate values. The values used as the benchmark of local

wisdom in society have long evolved in society and the environment and have experienced

several generations from generation to generation.

Diknas classifies the values of local wisdom into 18 types, namely: (1) Religious:

obedient attitudes and behavior in implementing the teachings of the religion they adhere to,

being tolerant of the worship of other religions, and living in harmony with adherents of other

religions; (2) Honest: Behavior based on efforts to make himself a person who can always be

trusted in words, actions, and work; (3) Tolerance: Attitudes and actions that respect differences

in religion, ethnicity, opinion, attitudes and actions of others who are different from oneself;

(4) Discipline: Actions that show orderly behavior and comply with various rules and

regulations; (5) Hard Work: Actions that show orderly behavior and comply with various rules

and regulations; (6) Creative: Thinking and doing something to produce a new way or result

from something that is already owned; (7) Independent: attitudes and behaviors that are not

easily dependent on others in completing tasks; (8) Democratic: A way of thinking, behaving

and acting that values the rights and obligations of oneself and others; (9) Curiosity: attitudes

and actions that always seek to know more deeply and broadly from something they have

learned, seen, and heard; (10) National Spirit: A way of thinking, acting and having an insight

that places the interests of the nation and the state above the interests of themselves and their

groups; (11) Love the Motherland: A way of thinking, acting, and having an insight that places

the interests of the nation and the state above the interests of themselves and their groups; (12)

Respect Achievement: Attitudes and actions that encourage him to produce something useful

for society, and recognize and respect the success of others; (13) Friendly / Communicative:

Attitudes and actions that encourage him to produce something useful for society, and recognize

and respect the success of others; (14) Love Peace: Attitudes and actions that encourage him to

produce something useful for society, and recognize and respect the success of others; (15)

Love to Read: The habit of taking time to read various readings that are good for him; (16)

Environmental Care: Attitudes and actions that always strive to prevent damage to the

surrounding natural environment, and develop efforts to repair natural damage that has

occurred; (17) Social Care: Attitudes and actions that always want to provide assistance to other

people and communities in need; and (18) Responsibility: The attitude and behavior of a person

to carry out his duties and obligations, which he should do, towards himself, society, the

environment (natural, social and cultural), the country and God Almighty.

Local Wisdom is ideas, values , or a view from a place that has a wise and good value

which is followed and believed by the people in that place and has been followed from

generation to generation. Local wisdom has several characteristics, namely: 1) It can control,

2) It is a fortress to survive the influence of outside culture. 3) Having the ability, 4)





203

accommodating foreign cultures, 5) Having the ability to give direction to cultural development,

6) Having the ability to integrate or unite external cultures and indigenous cultures.

DISCUSSION

Harmonization of the “Pulo Kemaro” Legend

The harmonization of relations between Palembang and China has always been going

well through the trade aspect. This can be seen from one version of the Pulo Kemaro story,

which states that in the past, trade relations between Palembang and China were good, resulting

in marriages between Palembang sons and Chinese women. After marrying the Chinese

Princess, she settled in Palembang. The name of the Chinese Princess after marriage was named

Siti Fatimah.

When a Chinese merchant was going to Palembang, the mother entrusted the gold and

gems to her son, Siti Fatimah, because she had not seen her child for a long time and her mother

was so sad to Siti Fatimah. However, because in ancient times there were many pirates in the

waters of the Musi River, the gold gems were put in jars and coated with mustard greens. Due

to the long journey, the sawi-sawi which functioned to coat the gold gems, was rotten.

When he arrived in Palembang, the urn from Siti Fatimah’s parents was handed over by

a merchant from China to Siti Fatimah. How shocked Siti Fatimah was when she opened the

jar her mother from China had left in the form of rotted mustard greens. Siti Fatimah was

disappointed and angry, and then she threw the jars into the sea. Until the seventh urn was going

to be thrown into the river, the jar hit the ship’s mast and broke it. It seems that under the rotten

mustard greens, there are gold jewels. Then, immediately Siti Fatimah told her husband to take

the jars she had thrown into the river.

For a long time, Siti Fatimah waited for her husband to come out of the river, but he did

not come to the surface. After waiting for Siti Fatimah for a long time, she finally caught up

with diving into the river. The place where Siti Fatimah and her husband, who drowned became

an island named Pulo Kemaro.

Another version also states that the harmonization was already visible when Chinese

traders made trade visits in Palembang. Another version states that there was a son of a Chinese

king named Tan Bun Ann trading in Palembang land. While in Palembang, Tan Bun Ann fell

in love with a Palembang daughter named Siti Fatimah. Tan Bun Ann and Siti Fatimah fall in

love with each other. Tan Bun Ann also went to see Siti Fatimah’s father about to propose to

Siti Fatimah as his wife. Siti Fatimah’s father allowed Tan Bun Ann to apply for Siti Fatimah

by submitting a condition to Tan Bun Ann to provide nine jars of gold. When Tan Bun Ann

informed him of the proposal, Tan Bun Ann’s family provided nine jars of gold. Worried about

the safety of the jars filled with gold, the jars were coated with mustard greens.

Arriving at Palembang land, Tan Bun Ann examined the contents of the jar. How shocked

Tan Bun Ann was when he saw that the jars only contained rotten mustard greens. In anger,

Tan Bun Ann threw away the jars. One by one, he threw the jars into the river. Until the seventh

jar was broken by the ship, a golden Tan Bunn Ann was in the jar.

Seeing this, Tan Bun Ann deeply regretted his stupid actions. Without thinking, he

immediately threw himself into a very deep river and was about to pick up the gold that had

fallen into the river. Tan Bun Ann hopes that he can take the gold and collect it again.

Siti Fatimah, who had been waiting for the appearance of Tan Bun Ann, who had plunged

herself into the river, did not appear immediately, so finally Siti Fatimah also threw herself into

the river to follow Tan Bun Ann while giving the message, “If I do not appear on land again,

and if there is any soil growing on the banks of this river, that means my grave”.

Another version also shows the harmonization that has occurred in Palembang society

with China. The Chinese place great trust in the Palembang people. This version states that this





204

island is Tan Bun Ann’s ship, which he abandoned because Tan Bun Ann plunged into the river.

This is based on the fact that the Kemaro Pulo is shaped like a ship.

Pulo Kemaro according to the Palembang people means an island that is never flooded or

inundated even though the volume of the Musi river is high tide. Pulo Kemaro is located in the

eastern city of Palembang with an area of approximately 24 hectares, which holds a mystery

about the love story of two people of different ethnicities who fall in love with each other. At

Pulo Kemaro there is the Hok Tjing Rio Temple and inside is the Earth God (Hok Tek Cin Sin)

who is the god of Buddhists. In this complex, there is also the tomb of Siti Fatimah.

The legendary story of Pulo Kemaro is classified as a legend that contains the origin of a

place. The reason is that this story is closely related to an event of a place, place name, and

topographic form, namely the shape of the surface of an area which is a hilly, gully, and so on.

In Pulo Kemaro, there is a place of worship for Chinese people, namely the temple. The

building of the Hok Tjing Rio Temple with an area of 3.5 hectares is one proof of China’s

presence in Sriwijaya. At Pulo Kemaro we can see the harmony between ethnic groups of

different beliefs.

Local Wisdom The Legend of “Pulo Kemaro”

1. Honest

Honest is behavior based on efforts to make himself a person who can always be trusted

in words, actions, and work. In trading, Chinese and Palembang traders are honesty. For

them, trust is important. This can be seen from Tan Bun An’s belief in the Palembang

people by leaving his ship in Palembang while trading.

2. Tolerance Attitudes and actions that respect differences in religion, ethnicity, opinions, attitudes,

and actions of others who are different from themselves. Despite the different religions

and beliefs of Chinese traders and Palembang, they still work together in trading. For

Palembang people, belief is not a significant problem, which is a good trade relationship.

That is why many Chinese people have always traded in Palembang.

3. Curiosity

As a social person, everyone has curiosity. This was seen when Siti Fatimah threw herself

into the Musi River. “Hurry up Siti Fatimah. Seeing Tan Bun Ann not appearing, finally,

Siti Fatimah threw herself into the river.”

4. Hard Work

Actions that show orderly behavior and comply with various rules and regulations. The

Chinese are fighters in commerce, so it is no wonder they trade up to Palembang.

5. Friendly/Communicative

Attitudes and actions that encourage him to produce something useful for society and

recognize and respect the success of others. This can be seen in the friendship between

Tan Bun an and Palembang people when communicating and trading.

6. Social Care

Attitudes and actions that always want to assist others and society in need is

characteristics of social care. This is reflected in China and Palembang (Tan Bun an and

Siti Fatimah).

7. Responsibilities

Attitudes and behavior of a person to carry out his duties and obligations, which he should

do, towards himself, society, the environment (natural, social and cultural), the country,

and God Almighty. This picture of responsibility can be seen when Tan Bun An will hand

over the jars to Palembang people, he first checks the jars.

The legend of “Pulo Kemaro” in the Industrial Revolution Era 4.0

The world has changed. These changes require technology in accordance with the times.

Folklore-folk tales should also adapt to the progress of the times. One of the efforts that can be





205

taken is the digitization of folklore. The folktales are made in various forms, including pictorial

stories both in audio and visual form. This of course makes folklore known by various levels

of society.

CLOSING

The legend “Pulo Kemari has a harmony between Palembang and Chinese people. Apart

from the harmony, the legend of “Pulo Kemaro” is rich in local wisdom. These local wisdoms

are (1) Honest: behavior based on an effort to make himself a person who can always be trusted

in his words, actions and work; (2) Tolerance: Attitudes and actions that respect differences in

religion, ethnicity, ethnicity, opinions, attitudes and actions of others who are different from

oneself; (3) Hard Work: Actions that show orderly behavior and comply with various rules and

regulations; (4) Friendly / Communicative: Attitudes and actions that encourage him to produce

something useful for society and recognize and respect the success of others; (5) Social Care:

Attitudes and actions that always want to provide assistance to other people and communities

in need; and (6) Responsibility: The attitude and behavior of a person to carry out his duties

and obligations, which he should do, towards himself, society, the environment (natural, social

and cultural), the country and God Almighty. In the era of revolution 4.0, the folklore “Pulo

Kemaro” needed to be made in various digitization forms, including pictorial stories both in

audio and visual form.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Atmazaki. 2007. Ilmu Sastra: Teori dan Terapan. Padang: UNP Press.

Danandjaja, James. 1994. Folklor Indonesia, Ilmu Gosip, Dongeng, dan lain-lain. Jakarta: Temprint.

Djamaris, Edwar. 1990. Menggali Khazanah Sastra Melayu Klasik (Sastra Indonesia Lama).

Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.

Ermawi, Imam Santoso. 2009. Kearifan Lokal Dalam Perencanaan dan Perancangan Kota Untuk

Mewujudkan Arsitektur Kota Yang Berkelanjutan. Malang: Group Konservasi Arsitektur dan

Kota, Universitas Merdeka Malang.

Hasbullah, 2012. “Rewang: Kearifan Lokal dalam Membangun Solidaritas dan Integrasi Sosial

Masyarakat di Desa Bukit Batu Kabupaten Bengkalis,” Jurnal Sosial Budaya, Vol. 9, No. 2,

2012, 231- 232.

Hasanuddin WS. 2009. Ensiklopedi Sastra Indonesia (Edisi Revisi). Bandung: Titian Ilmu.

Sugiarto, Eko. 2009. Mengenal Dongeng dan Prosa Lama: Fabel, Legenda, Mite, Sage, Hikayat,

Cerita Berbingkai, Cerita Pelipur Lara, Epos. Jakarta: Pustaka Widyatama.

Zaidan, Abdul Rozak, dkk. 2007. Kamus Istilah Sastra. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.





206





207

BANJIHA, ANOTHER SIDE OF KOREAN CULTURE

PARASITE FILM CASE STUDY

ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL STUDIES

Brillianing Pratiwi

Open University, Indonesia


ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to analyze parasite films that represent the other side of Korean

culture. Banjiha is underground or semi-basement apartment that is small, shabby, and dark.

Banjiha residents can peek at the atmosphere outside the apartment from the window which is

located almost under a narrow alley. Banjiha was originally built as a shelter from the North

Korean attacks. Later, as the demand for housing was high, banjiha became a place to live. The

data source is the video recording of the Parasite film as primary data and is strengthened by

secondary data, namely literature study. Collecting data with documentation and literature

study, which then analyzed by descriptive qualitative. The results showed that banjiha was very

different from Hanok. Hanok is the name for a traditional Korean house that is used to

distinguish it from western-style houses. Hanok architecture considers the location of the house

from its surroundings, especially considering geography and seasons. While Banjiha is not the

case. Even though they live in Banjiha, Korean society does not necessarily escape Korean

culture, namely drinking soju, removing shoes when entering a house, eating rice, and being

concerned with family.

Keywords: cultural studies, parasite film, banjiha

INTRODUCTION

The film contains a fact and adds a film image. Films are a means of expressing creative

ideas, especially for filmmakers. Filmmakers need ideas, concepts, techniques, and it takes time

to produce quality works visually and verbally. Good sound effects and an interesting and

unpredictable storyline make movie lovers do not get bored enjoying it. Film according to

Manesah (2017: 178) is a communal media and a combination of various technologies and

elements of fine arts, theater, literature, fine art architecture, theater, literature, architecture,

films that grow against tradition and a combination of art and technology making films have

high selling power and can develop rapidly in society. Meanwhile, for the public or film lovers,

films have become a medium of entertainment and educational media. Besides, films convey

messages and reflect the culture that is carried. Likewise, with the Parasite film, which

originated from Korea.

Korea is a country that applies cultural influences and is invading Asia, including

Indonesia. The rise of Korean films and soap operas on television and everything Korean from

food, music, fashion, lifestyle, industrial products such as shoe models, hair, to eyebrows have

started to become a kind of trend in Indonesia. Korean culture developed rapidly and expanded

and was accepted by the public to produce a Korean fever phenomenon. Korean Wave

according to Robertson (1992: 87) is a term given to the spread of the global Korean wave in

various countries in the world including Indonesia and categorized as a phenomenon. The

Korean phenomenon also ignores the Hallyu (Korean language) which is called “Drama Fever”.

The film Parasite comes from South Korea which is directed, produced, and written by

Bong-Joon-ho and Kwak sin-ae. The film premiered at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on 21

May 2019 and became the first South Korean film to win the Palme d’Or. The film was later

released in South Korea by CJ Entertainment on May 30, 2019. The film Parasite received more

than 180 awards. Among these, the film Parasite has won four awards in the 92nd Academy





208

Award, including best picture, best director, best original screenplay, and best international film

(id.wikipedia.org).

The theme of the film Parasite is different from Korean films in general, which have the

theme of talent search and matchmaking. This film tells the story of the poor Kim family

consisting of a father, wife, son, and daughter living in a banjiha. Banjiha is underground or

semi-basement apartment that is small, shabby, and dark. Banjiha residents can peek at the

atmosphere outside the apartment from the window which is located almost under a narrow

alley. They try to survive to make ends meet by folding pizza boxes. Until finally, one by one

the Kim family members can work for the Park family. A wealthy family living in a luxurious

house. The Kim family eventually became parasites (parasites) in the Park family.

The spread of Korean films, along with the spread of the Korean wave, was driven by the

development of social media and mass media. This was followed by the spread of Korean

culture. According to Abdullah (2020: 39) migration from one place to another is no longer

needed to bring a culture to move, only with access to the internet, culture from another country

can be absorbed by users, the emergence of “electronic space” in life extensively causes the

loss of “social processes”. Learning “which allows empathy to be carried out in human

relationships. In other words, cultures are mobile. Culture is contradictory forms of common

sense that have taken root and helped shape everyday life (Hall, 1996: 439). Meanwhile,

according to E.B Taylor (1887: 1), culture includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, and

other capacities and behaviors accepted or studied by humans who are members of society. This

has become a cultural study.

Cultural studies according to Storey (1993: vi) is a form of theory raised by thinkers who

view the production of theoretical knowledge as a political practice. The scope of cultural

studies is clearly expressed by Barker (2002), namely 1) the relationship between culture and

power, 2) all practices, institutions, and classification systems embedded values, beliefs,

competencies, life habits, and forms. The usual forms of behavior of a population, 3) various

links between forms of power gender, race, class, colonialism and so on with the development

of ways of thinking about culture and power commonly used by agents in pursuing change, and

4) various discourse links outside the academic world with social and political movements,

workers in cultural institutions, and cultural management.

The largest part of cultural studies is representation. Cultural representation and meaning

according to Santoso (2007: 3) has certain materiality. Representation and meaning are attached

to sounds, inscriptions, objects, images, books, magazines, and television programs. Likewise,

representation is also attached to the film.

Based on this background, the problem in this study is “How does the Parasite film

present the other side of Korean culture?”. Thus, this study aims to analyze the Parasite film,

which represents the other side of Korean culture by analyzing cultural studies. Cultural studies

is a scientific movement and cultural praxis that tries to be critical-intelligent in capturing the

spirit of biased cultural theories of “the interests of cultural elites and power” while drawing

attention to cultures that have so far been untouched or not recognized by traditional social

sciences and humanities. which has been established (Cavallaro, 2004: xiv). By knowing the

representation of Korean culture, this research is useful to increase knowledge about Korean

culture, work ethic, and self-image.

METHODS

This research is a qualitative descriptive. According to Anggito (2018: 8-9) qualitative

research is a study where the results of the research are not obtained through statistical

procedures or other quantification methods but through data collection, analysis, then

interpretation. According to Nana SyaodihSukmadinata (2010) that the descriptive method





209

examines the form, activity, characteristics, changes in relationships, similarities, and

differences with other phenomena.

John Creswell (2008) in J.R. Raco, M.E. (2010: 18-19) presents the stages in qualitative

research, which include the following: 1) The first stage begins with the identification of the

problem that is the target of the research. 2) The second stage is a continuation of the previous

stage, namely the discussion / literature search. 3) The third stage is determining the aims and

objectives of the research. 4) the fourth stage focuses on data collection. At this stage, it also

concerns the selection and determination of potential participants. 5) The fifth stage is data

analysis and interpretation. And 6) the last stage of reporting.

In this research, the six stages are applied. The subject of this research is the film Parasite

written by Bong-Joon-ho and Kwak sin-ae. The object of this research is the Parasite scene and

subtitles. Data collection using the documentation method. The documentation method,

according to SuharsimiArikunto (2013: 274) is looking for data about things or variables in the

form of notes, transcripts, books, newspapers, magazines, inscriptions, minutes, agendas and

so on. In line with Suharsimi, Moleong (2017) argues that films are a stable source of documents

and are useful as evidence for testing. The data source is the video recording of the Parasite

film as primary data and is strengthened by secondary data, namely literature study.

Collecting data with documentation and literature study, starting with collecting data from

the Parasite film and books or literature sources related to this research, then analyzed by the

data reduction process, selecting, centralizing and simplifying the data needed, interpreting and

finally reporting.

DISCUSSION

The film contains a fact and adds a film image. Films are a means of expressing creative

ideas, especially for filmmakers. Filmmakers need ideas, concepts, techniques, and it takes time

to produce quality works visually and verbally. Good sound effects and an interesting and

unpredictable storyline make movie lovers do not get bored enjoying it. Film according to

Manesah (2017: 178) is a communal media and a combination of various technologies and

elements of fine arts, theater, literature, fine art architecture, theater, literature, architecture,

films that grow against tradition and a combination of art and technology making films have

high selling power and can develop rapidly in society. Meanwhile, for the public or film lovers,

films have become a medium of entertainment and educational media. Besides, films convey

messages and reflect the culture that is carried. Likewise, with the Parasite film which

originated from Korea.

The Park family suddenly canceled their vacation due to heavy rain and called Chung

Sook. The Kim family kept Moon Gwang and husband in a bunker and cleaned the living room,

and went into hiding, while Chung Sook scrambled to cook ramyeoun as Yeon Kyorequested.

When Moon Gwang managed to escape to the living room, Chung Sook kicked him back so

that Mun Gwang bounced down and Mun Gwang’s head hit the wall and had a concussion and

eventually died. Her husband was crying. While Dong Ik and his wife slept, Kim Taek and his

two children left the house and ran to their house. They found that their neighborhood had been

hit by a flood, their apartment was flooded to chest level and immediately tried to save what

could still be saved.

The next day, Yeon Gyo throws a birthday party for Da Song. He invited the entire Kim

family. MyunHoon ambushed Ki Woo and hit his head with a rock then ran away, he took a

kitchen knife to take revenge for his wife’s death. He stabs Ji Jeong in front of the party guests

who scream in fear. Da Song has a traumatic seizure after seeing MyunHoon, while Kim Taek

rushes over to stop Ji Jeong’s bleeding. Dong Ik yells at Kim Taek to take Da Song to the

hospital, but Kim Taek throws the car keys and the keys get caught under the fighting Chung

Sook and MyunHoo, just before Chung Sook kills MyunHoo with a flesh prick. Kim Taek





210

harbored anger at Dong Ik’s behavior toward him who showed disgust after he smelled

MyunHoo’s body odor while taking the car keys, took a knife and stabbed Dong Ik to death and

fled.

A few weeks later, Ki Woo awakens from a coma and his mother is convicted of fraud

and is serving probation. Ji Jeongdies, and Kim Taek disappear. Ki Woo continues to spy on

the Park family home which has now been sold to a German national and sees the Morse code

of the flashing lights which translates as a message. Message from Kim Taek who is hiding in

the banker. Kim Taek buried Mun Gwang’s body in the backyard. Ki Woo writes a letter to his

father and swears that he will earn enough money to buy a house and reunite the family. The

film ends with Kim Chung Sook and Kim Ki Woo still living in the banjiha, just like the initial

scene.

The theme of the film Parasite tells the story of the inequality of the Kim family who are

all unemployed and the Park family, the owner of a global IT company. The Kim family lives

in poverty and lives in slums, which is very different from the Park family who lives in luxury

and wealth. This is reflected from the beginning to the end scene because more of the setting is

the Kim family home and the Park family home. The Kim family makes ends meet as cardboard

folders for pizza and live in the banjiha.

The Banjiha was originally built as a shelter from the North Korean attacks. Later, as the

demand for housing was high, the banjiha became a place to live. Banjiha residents can peek

at the atmosphere outside the apartment from the window which is located almost under a

narrow alley. When there is heavy rain or high rainfall, the banjiha that are located low are

easily flooded.

Jolie Yoon from BBC Korea meets some residents who live in banjiha and find out what

life is like in their place of residence. The article has been published on kompas.com with the

title “The story of the inhabitants of the banjiha, the narrow and dark apartment that became

the inspiration for the film Parasite” with the page https://internasional.kompas.com/

read/2020/02/10/20213301/kisah-penghuni-banjiha-apartemen-sempit-nan-gelap-yang-jadi-

inspirasi?page=all. No sunlight can enter the Banjiha. There was so little sunlight that even the

tiny plants could not survive. Pedestrians can peek inside the apartment through the window.

Teenagers often smoke outside their apartments or spit on the ground. In the summer, they must

contend with the excruciating humidity of the rampant mildew dam. The bathroom in the

apartment is tiny and half a meter higher than the ground. The bathroom ceiling was also low,

so you had to open her legs wide apart so she would not hit her head.

As a cultural study, namely representation. This Parasite film reflects the other side of

Korean culture, namely reflecting poverty. Poverty according to a report issued by the World

Bank (2000) in DiahAryatiPrihartini (2007) describes the basic causes of poverty, namely: (1)

failure in land and capital ownership; (2) limited availability of necessities, facilities, and

infrastructure; (3) biased and sector-biased policies in development; (4) there are different

opportunities between community members and less supportive systems; (5) differences in

human resources (HR) and differences between traditional and modern economic sectors; (6)

low productivity and low level of capital formation in society; (7) living culture associated with

a person’s ability to manage 17 natural resources (SDA) and their environment; (8) governance

is not clean and good (good governance); (9) excessive management of natural resources and

not environmentally sound. However, the main indicators of poverty according to the World

Bank are limited land ownership and capital, limited facilities and infrastructure needed by the

community, city-biased development, differences in opportunities between community

members and other communities, differences in human resources and economic sectors, low

productivity, the culture of life. that is bad, bad governance, and excessive management of

natural resources.





211

The Kim family’s poverty is evident in several scenes. First, the banjiha, the small and

narrow basement house, represents limited land and capital ownership. Second, looking for free

wifi signals even having to look near toilets illustrates that the limited facilities and

infrastructure needed by the city community. Third, the house with insects represents a slum

and unsanitary occupancy resulting in a limited economic sector. Fourth, the Kim family’s

distinctive odor, such as that of a subway, reflects the difference between human resources and

the economy. Fourth, houses that are easily submerged represent limited land and capital

ownership and poor governance. Fifth, the refugee camps in sports arenas depict bad

governance. Thus, the film Parasite depicts poverty.

Reinforced by the opinion of Randy Wirayudha (2020) quoted from https://historia.id/

urban/articles/banjiha-potret-kemiskinan-korea-dalam-parasite-vQJ9athat data from the South

Korean government as of 2015 recorded 360,000 families living in Banjiha, in various cities in

South Korea and 220,000 of them in Seoul, both property and lease. Before the appearance of

the film Parasite, there were rarely Korean films that depicted the lives of the poor living in

Banjiha. Banjiha, reflects the other side of Korea’s rich culture and the glittering industrial

sector holds a portrait of poverty.

Banjiha is also very different from Hanok. Hanok is the name for a traditional Korean

house that is used to distinguish it from western-style houses. Hanok architecture considers the

location of the house from its surroundings, especially considering geography and seasons. This

is in line with the opinion of DewiYosephineMareta (2015) that the characteristics of Hanok

are made of nature such as wood, soil, stone, and even grass. The hanok design considers natural

conditions built facing east or south to obtain adequate lighting. Hanoks are built against the

mountains and facing the river to allow fresh air to pass. When winter comes, there is one part

of the house that functions as a roaring heater or ondol. Underfloor is built under the floor and

uses the kitchen to create heat. During summer, the extensive wooden floor structures in the

hanok called the Maru served to cool off.

Korea has several things that have become a culture. Quoted from

https://www.befreetour.com/id/read/hal-hal-yang-harus-anda-ketahui-tentang-budaya-korea-

selatan those things that are known as South Korean culture, namely Kimci is culture; take off

shoes when entering the house; drink soju; eat rice; clothes hanbook; South Korean folk dance;

and conscription for South Korean men. Likewise, for naming. In South Korea, the position of

the name is the opposite of western culture. Family name as the first name and real name as the

last name. It is considered impolite to greet his real name. They are called by appendages like

Mr., Mrs.

The representation of Korean culture is also seen in the film Parasite. First, drink soju

when the Pak family camped last night for Da Song’s birthday. The Kim family partied hard,

enjoyed luxurious amenities, and drank soju to get drunk in the house. Soju drinks are like

vodka so it is intoxicating. The Korean style of drinking is sitting close together with the noise

and the clinking of glasses and shouting.

Another thing that is Korean culture and can be seen in the second Parasite film is taking

off your shoes when you enter the house. For Korean people, when they enter the house, they

take off their shoes or sandals, it is said that South Koreans have a special relationship with

their floor as a place to sit and sleep. Dirty floors cannot be tolerated in Korean homes.

Third, eat rice. Koreans eat rice using a spoon and never lift the rice bowl from the table

in front of their mouths. The chopsticks should not be allowed to stick out of the rice bowl.

Besides, Korean people value their privacy. It appears that the rich Park family only installed

CCTV outside the house and there were no security guards.





212

Through this film, it gives a message that rich people must work hard and undergo a high

education to be able to find their own money for themselves and their families later. This can

be seen in the last scene, Ki Woo collects money, aspiring to be able to buy the Park family’s

house even though this has not been achieved due to educational constraints.

CONCLUSION

Parasite film presents another side of poor Korean culture. Some representations of

poverty are depicted in the condition of the banjiha which is a slum, dark and narrow. The

unemployed Kim family and poor environment. MyunHoo, who is willing to live and live in a

bunker, is being chased by loan sharks due to debt. Several poverty indicators from the World

Bank are also depicted in the Parasite film, for example, limited land ownership and capital,

limited facilities and infrastructure needed, slum and unhealthy housing as a limited economic

sector, differences in human and economic resources and poor governance. The film Parasite

also reflects Korean culture, namely drinking soju for celebration, removing shoes when

entering the house, eating rice, respecting privacy, and working hard.

After looking for references from various sources regarding the Banjiha’s whereabouts,

360,000 families were recorded based on South Korean government statistics. Banjiha, which

reflects the other side of Korea’s rich culture and the sparkling industrial sector, holds a portrait

of poverty and highlights the realities of life found in the scenes, settings, and dialogues of the

film Parasite.

Based on this research, it is suggested that this research can be refined with other studies,

for example in terms of communication between rich and poor people. Meanwhile, by knowing

the representation of Korean culture, adding knowledge about Korean culture, work ethic, and

self-image. Koreans are typically hard workers. With limited natural resources, Korean people

persevere and never give up. Korean people are also disciplined and orderly and cultivate

queues. If on public transportation such as trains and buses, passengers who sit in priority seats

will prioritize (pregnant women, older people, and people with disabilities) if the priority seat

will be vacated if no one is occupied.

Another thing that is like Indonesian culture is the culture of helping help. When Kim’s

house got flooded, neighbors also asked for help. Many things from Korean culture are good

and can be imitated by us. With the entry and spread of Korean culture to Indonesia, it becomes

a valuable commodity for the nation thus enriching Indonesian culture.

REFERENCES Abdullah, Irwan. (2010). Konstruksi dan Reproduksi Kebudayaan. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Anggito, Albi dan Johan Setiawan. (2018). Metode Penelitian Kualitatif. Sukabumi: CV Jejak.

Arikunto, Suharsimi. (2013). Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktik. Jakarta: RinekaCipta.

Barker, C. (2000). Cultural Studies: Teori dan Praktik. Terjemahan oleh Nurhadi (2004). Yogyakarta:

PenerbitKreasiWacana.

Cavallaro, D. (2001). Teori Kritis dan Teori Budaya. Terjemahan oleh Laily Rahmati (2004)

Yogyakarta: Niagara.

Dewi, Yosephine Mareta. (2015). Pusat Seni dan Budaya Populer Korea Selatan di Yogyakarta dengan

Menerapkan Prinsip Arsitektur Tropis dalam Bentuk Arsitektur Tradisional Korea. Yogyakarta:

Universitas Atmajaya Yogyakarta. Skripsi

Prihartini, DiahAryati. (2007) Perbandingan Total Kemiskinan Versi Pemerintah Indonesia dan Bank

Dunia dengan Peran Strategisdari Usaha Mikro untuk Mengentaskan Kemiskinan. Fakultas

Ekonomi Universitas Gunadarma.

Hall, Stuart. (1996). “On Postmodernism and Articulation: An Interview with Stuart Hall” dalam David

Morley dan Kuan-Hsing (eds), Stuart Hall, London: Routledge.

Manesah, Dani. (2017). Aspek Sosial Budaya pada Film Mutiara Dari Toba Sutradara William Atapary.

JurnalProporsi, Vol 2 No 2 Mei 2017.





213

Moleong, Lexy J. (2017). Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif (Edisi Revisi). Bandung: PT Remaja

Rosdakarya.

Robertson, Roland. (1992). Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture.SAGE.

Raco, J.R. (2010). MetodePenelitianKualitatifJenis, Karakteristik dan Keunggulan. Jakarta: Gramedia

Widisarana Indonesia.

Santoso, Anang. (2007). “Ilmu Bahasa dalamPerspektif Kajian Budaya” dalamJurnal Bahasa dan

SeniTahun 35, Nomor 1, Februari 2007.

Storey, J. (1993). TeoriBudaya dan Budaya Pop: Memetakan Lanskap Konseptual Cultural Studies.

Terjemahan Dede Nurdin (2003). Yogyakarta: Qalam.

Sukmadinata, Nana Syaodih. (2010). MetodePenelitian Pendidikan. Bandung: RemajaRosdakarya.

Taylor, Edward B. (1887). Primitive Culture: Researches into the Developmen of Mythology,

Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Cumton, New York: henry Holt.

Internet Sources Id.wikipedia.org accessed 2 August 2020 at 8.00 pm

https://historia.id/urban/articles/banjiha-potret-kemiskinan-korea-dalam-parasite-vQJ9a acc accessed 2

August 2020 at 8.17 pm

https://www.befreetour.com/id/read/hal-hal-yang-harus-anda-ketahui-tentang-budaya-korea-selatan

accessed 2 August 2020 at 7.17 pm





214





215

STRENGTHENING THE CHARACTER OF THE YOUNG GENERATION

THROUGH VERBAL EXPRESSIONS OF ORAL TRADITIONS

IN THE CUSTOMARY PROCESS

Dakia N. DjoU

Faculty of Literature and Culture the State University of Gorontalo

ABSTRACT

The problem examined in this paper is the role of verbal expressions of oral tradition in

Gorontalo on character building for the younger generation. This problem is raised considering

how many verbal expressions are embedded in the oral tradition, which in principle can be used

as a means to educate the young generation of Gorontalo. For example, 15 kinds of oral

literature are always expressed during the ritual processions in Gorontalo to this day. These

traditions include: palebohu (advice), tuja’i (traditional poetry), paantungi (traditional poetry),

paa’iya lo hungo lopoli (reciprocal poery. All of these traditions are a means of character

education for the younger generation. That is considered important, given the prevalence of

embarrassing and frightening events such as brawls among youths, rape, robbery, sexual

immorality, and various terrible events in various media or our environment. Such conditions

require a clear way of thinking to overcome the degradation of the younger generation’s

character, which is getting dissolved and carried away by the times’ progress. The efforts that

have been, are being, and we will be doing, are mentoring through formal education such as

schools and non-formal education such as youth organizations or religious lectures. Another

effort we may be able to carry out is through oral tradition.

Keyword: character, generation, expression, tradition, traditional

INTRODUCTION

Indonesia is a country that is rich in cultural diversity. This wealth is an asset that must

be maintained, preserved, developed, and employed as a reflection of life to increase cultural

resilience. The substantial resilience of Indonesian culture will undoubtedly provide many

benefits for the life of its people. The existence of Indonesian culture was born from cultures in

all regions that are widespread in this country’s mainland. Gorontalo is one of the regions in

Indonesia that has different cultural characteristics and values from other regions.

These differences in the cultural characteristics of Gorontalo give a distinctive color to

the Indonesian culture. Each group of people who live in a particular area, having different

goals and values. In other words, culture is a result of people’s thought that grows and develops

in that community group. Therefore, culture has a unique role in building a value system that

will determine the life goals of a community, region, and even a nation.

Even though each region has different cultural characteristics and values, they have the

same aspiration to contribute to the country’s progress. Therefore, the culture that is owned by

the people in any area must be respected and upheld. It is because culture contains mutually

agreed upon functions and values to regulate the people’s behavior and lifestyle in the area. The

efforts made by the people of Gorontalo who uphold the implementation of traditional rituals

as a cultural institution are one example. This effort was made because the people of Gorontalo

came from five different customary areas called “limo lo pohala’a” whose customary

philosophy is “custom based on sharia, syariah based on the scriptures of Allah (Al-Qur’an).

This customary philosophy is then used as a reference in implementing various aspects of

cultural activities, including oral traditions in Gorontalo Province.

Based on Van Vallenhoven’s research (in Masinambow, 1997: 142), Gorontalo is one of

19 customary law areas in Indonesia. The designation of Gorontalo as one of these customary

law areas is based on two criteria: “culture” or customary rules and “geographical





216

environment.” As a customary law area, Gorontalo continues to maintain and preserve its

people’s traditions, including their oral traditions. In Gorontalo, oral literature, which is part of

oral tradition, is more potential or dominant in people’s lives (Baruadi: 1998). There is quite a

lot of oral literature in traditional processions in Gorontalo. Sedyawati (1996: 5) considers oral

tradition as a conveyed discourse orally, following the methods or customs that have been

patterned in a society. For example, in Gorontalo, there are 15 kinds of oral literature containing

traditions that have always been expressed during the traditional procession until today. Some

of these traditions are palebohu (advice), tuja’i (traditional poetry), paantungi (pantun), and

paa’iya lo hungo lopoli (reciprocated rhymes).

The oral tradition of Gorontalo is a cultural product and ancestral heritage and a series of

life values that can be used as a guide for life. These values are conveyed through the diction

and lines of the Gorontalo oral tradition, which are full of advice, such as advice always to be

the right person, build good relationships with parents, maintain a friendship with the

community, run a harmonious household, and maintain relationships with The Creator. These

pieces of advice will be useful for the community if used as a guide for life.

Besides, the Gorontalo oral tradition can be employed as a means of character building.

This function’s importance is based on the fact that many events in various regions show the

degradation of this generation’s character. For example, brawls among youths, rape, robbery,

fornication, and various other terrible events are happening around us and can be witnessed

through sharing information media. The character of the younger generation is at a very

worrying point. This nation’s morality has deviated from noble norms, ethics, religion, and

culture (Hasana, 2016: 19). Overcoming these problems certainly requires clear thinking.

This condition encourages and forces all elements of society to improve the behavior of

the younger generation. The development of each individual’s behavior differs from one

another. Each student’s development is influenced by self-character from birth, self-image, and

environment (Mappiare: 1982). The environmental influence in question includes the cultural

life that the community lives in its growing environment. This influence will then shape the

character of the generation. A character appears in the daily life of an individual. Character is

the same as behavior, temperament, psychological traits, and morals that distinguishes a person

from others (Poerwadarminta, 2007: 521). Something that is done repeatedly will become a

habit that instills a culture in the subconscious mind. Thus, the values of goodness instilled in

each individual will naturally form the appropriate behavior and character.

It is necessary to make various efforts to achieve these expectations. The efforts that have

been, are being, and will be carried out, are mentoring through formal education such as schools

and non-formal education such as youth organizations, religious lectures, and cultural activities.

One of the efforts related to cultural activities that we can carry out is the Gorontalo oral

tradition. The verbal expressions it contains can contribute to character building for the younger

generation. It is due to verbal expressions embedded in the oral tradition, which in principle can

be used as a means to educate the young generation of Gorontalo as part of our nation’s

generation.

DISCUSSION

Gorontalo Oral Tradition

Gorontalo is one of the regions that are rich in culture. One of them is the oral tradition

contained in the oral literature of Gorontalo. Gorontalo oral literature has existed for a long time

and is trying to be preserved by its people. There are 15 varieties of oral literature from

Gorontalo, which Tuloli (1991) divides into the following oral traditions.

1. Tuja’i

Tuja’i is oral literature in poetry that the number of lines does not bound rhymes but.

Tuja’i is usually performed in a marriage proposal, which in Gorontalo is called





217

tolobalango, weddings, coronations of kings, lemon baths (a tradition for girls),

conference titles, and commemoration Islamic holidays.

2. Palebohu

Palebohu has similarities with Tuja’i. Both are oral Gorontalo literature in rhyme poetry

and are not bound by the number of lines. Palebohu is usually conveyed as advice to

people entering a new phase of life, such as to a bride and groom who has just officially

become husband and wife or to someone who has just been appointed as a leader. For the

bride and groom, palebohu usually contains advice on marriage and tips for living a

married life. Meanwhile, for someone who has just been appointed to be a leader, it

contains more advice about being a good leader.

3. Tinilo

Tinilo is an oral tradition or oral literature of Gorontalo in the form of a rhyme pantun

where each verse consists of 4 lines. This oral literature contains flattery, entertainment,

prayer, history, or solicitation. The delivery is in the form of poetry that is chanted

together in certain traditional ceremonies. One example is the hundingo, which is the

tradition of cutting hair for newborns, commonly known as aqikah, wedding ceremony,

and ceremony for the 40th day of death.

4. Lohidu

Lohidu is a type of rhyme pantun in the Gorontalo language, consisting of four lines. It

can be demonstrated by one person or two people reciprocally.

5. Bungga

Bungga is Gorontalo’s oral literature in the form of non-rhymes poetry and is not bound

by the number of lines. This oral literature is used to encourage a group of people, such

as those who are working. It usually acts as an encouraging command.

6. Pantungi

Pantungi is oral literature, which is the same as poem in Indonesian. Some have rhymes,

and some do not. Like any pantun in general, Pantungi also has a rule where each verse

consists of four lines.

7. Tanggomo

Tanggomo is Gorontalo’s oral literature expressed rhythmically in narrative poetry and is

not bound by the line number rules. The storyteller conveys it according to the existing

social context. Besides, it also contains history or predictions.

8. Mala-Mala

Mala-mala is a non-rhyming poem that is not bound by the rules of the line number. This

oral literature contains an invitation or appeal.

9. Taleningo

Taleningo is a kind of rhyme poetry containing advice, where each verse consists of four

lines.

10. Leningo

Leningo is a rhyme pantun where each verse consists of four lines. This oral literature

contains proverbs, wise words, or expressions that can be used as a guide for life.

11. Lamanu

Lamanu is a type of rhyme poetry that consists of only two lines. It contains riddles,

figures of speech, or parables.

12. Bunito

Bunito is a kind of poetry that contains a spell. It is usually said by a shaman during the

healing process of an illness, before going to war, or while occupying a new home.

13. Wungguli

Wungguli is an oral tradition in the form of prose. It usually contains a saga, story, legend,

genealogy, or life history of a character.





218

14. Pilu

Pilu is prose containing fairy tales of humans, animals, and plants.

15. Tahuli dan Tahuda

Tahuli and Tahuda are the oral traditions of Gorontalo, pronounced by customary

stakeholders or regional elders. Tahuli means “message,” and Tahuda means “the word

of the Prophet.” Thus, this oral tradition contains advice or messages considered to bring

good luck and are believed to bring disaster and death to those who break them. This oral

tradition is also only pronounced in traditional ceremonies, especially the conferment of

traditional titles and customary salutations for regional guests and officials who have

served in provincial and district / municipal areas in Gorontalo (Djakaria, 2017: 151).

Those are some forms of oral tradition which are also included in the Gorontalo oral

literature. These various types of oral traditions are presented in separate customary processions

for specific purposes. The expressions conveyed through the Gorontalo oral tradition contain

educational values that can be used to build the character of the younger generation.

Strengthening the Character of The Young Generation

through The Gorontalo Oral Traditions

Character building is being promoted from various lines by the government, society, as

well as parents. Various sectors, such as education, which are the main forum for building and

improving the quality of the younger generation’s character, are also encouraged to collaborate.

The legal sector also takes part in legal reforms that can suppress law violations related to

character. Also, the cultural sector cannot be sidelined. The values contained in Indonesia’s

cultural diversity can be used as a means of character building. One of them is through the

Gorontalo culture related to the oral tradition in the traditional process. The Gorontalo oral

tradition is expressed through oral literature, which is full of character-building values.

In essence, character building has several pillars. According to Suyanto (in Asmani, 2008:

50), there are nine pillars of character building, namely: (1) Love to God and all of His creation,

(2) Independence and responsibility, (3) Honesty or trust, (4) Respect and courtesy, (5)

Generous, helpful, mutual cooperation, or cooperation, (6) Confidence and hard work, (7)

Leadership and justice, (8) Kindness and humility, and (9) Tolerance, peace, and unity. These

pillars must be developed through the various lines and sectors described earlier. Through the

Gorontalo oral tradition, the strengthening of character building based on these pillars can be

described by the following groupings.

1. Character Building Related to The Individual

Character building related to the individual is needed to teach children to love and be kind

to themselves. This teaching will directly shape a good personality or behavior from

within. Examples of characters related to the individual are independence, responsibility,

trustworthiness, self-confidence, hard work, the courage to make decisions and not doing

bad things. Take a look at the following tahuli fragment.

Tahuli ode diti mooli Message for the younger generation

Po’opiyohe pi’ili wau popoli Watch your manners and behavior

Taali butu asali Take care of your home country

Motombulu to amali Good service must be practiced

The Tahuli fragment contains a profound message for the younger generation that

they have to maintain their manners and behavior to protect this country and provide good

service or dedication. This message recommends having good behavior to provide a good

impact on the nation and country. It is an example of the value of self-oriented character

building. A good personality will undoubtedly give birth to a good relationship with the

social environment or with God.





219

2. Character Building Related to The Social Environment

This character building is related to the social environment in the form of relationships

with society and peers. Relationships and social interactions can influence a person’s

character. The unfavorable influence of the environment will contribute to the failure of

children’s character building. Likewise, the evil character of the children will affect their

relationship with their social environment. Therefore, it is essential to teach the younger

generation about the urgency of having an excellent character to establish relationships

with their environment and maintain social stability. These character values can also be

strengthened through the following verses or diction.

Ti mongoli potaabia Live with compassion

Dila posangaja to la’ia Avoid scolding each other

Dila bolo polo’ia hilotola Do not speak out loud

Uito u moali lii’ola It will lead to the dispute

Uito u mo’obuubuutola It will cause the fight

Ti mongoli potooli’ anga Live in harmony and peace

Dila bolo pototoom buanga Do not instigate each other

Dila pomite-mite batanga Avoid putting others down

Wonu ma moali bijana If it has become a slander

Mo’ohina sama-sama You will be humiliated together

Ti mongoli mo’iisingia Live with mutual respect.

The palebohu lines contain advice to maintain relationships with the social

environment. Those lines advocate living in mutual love and politeness, living in harmony

and peace, mutual respect, and full of tolerance. These characters will maintain good

social relations and avoid disputes and bad social conditions. One of the reasons for

brawls among adolescents is the lack of affection, mutual respect, and tolerance. If the

strengthening of the values in palebohu poetry can be applied optimally to the younger

generation, social problems such as brawls among students, fornication, or bullying can

be suppressed.

Motidupapa to ayuwa Humility

Odutuwa lo u tombuluwa Many people will appreciate

Moti’ uda’a to pi’ili Snobbism

Daata u mowali bali Many people will be hostile

Huta duta-duta’o Where the earth is stepped on

Hulungo wuntu-wuntu There the sky is upheld.

Apart from Palebohu, character values related to the social environment are also

reflected through Tahuli. The first line explains that being humble will lead to

appreciation from others. However, pride or pride will result in many enemies. The adage

“where the earth is stepped on, there the sky is upheld” suggests that we are obliged to

obey all rules and norms applied in the environment we live in, interact with, and develop.

The illustration mandates to always maintain a relationship with the social environment

through educated characters.

3. Character Building Related to Family/Parents

Having a good relationship with parents and having commendable behavior towards

parents are examples of attitudes that can be used as benchmarks for children’s character.

Parents are the figures closest to children. Family is the first place to gain knowledge and

build character. Most children with flawed characters come from unharmonious families





220

or receive the wrong character building. Therefore, every young generation must know

and improve their family and parents’ character.

Ti maama woli paapa Mother and father

Wanu bolo ohuata If you hurt their hearts

Batanga malo masasa You will have a hard time

Hilalanga hi tapata And you will be roasted

To tulu lo naaraka In the fire of hell

ti paapa woli maama Mother and father

wano bolo otombuanga If you scold them

malo masasa batanga You will have a hard time

hitapata hilalanga You will be roasted

To naaraka jahannama In hell

The palebohu fragment contains character values related to parents. As children,

each individual must respect, love, and appreciate their parents and family before

interacting with the outside environment. The advice in the palebohu clearly states that if

a child hurts his mother and father, such as misbehaving, causing problems, saying

inappropriate words, he will experience difficulties, such as moral problems,

psychological problems, legal problems, even the threat of hell. Therefore, character-

building must be started and strengthened from the family, especially by parents.

4. Character Building Related to Religion

Religion is one of the factors that significantly influence the character building of the

young generation. The first precept of Pancasila as the state ideology has emphasized that

the Indonesian nation is “Belief in the one and only God.” The values in the first principle

of Pancasila are related to belief in the Creator, religious diversity, and religious tolerance.

One of the polemics that is currently troubling the Indonesian nation is the rampant strife

between religious communities, friction caused by religious issues, the tolerance that

seems to be fading, and awareness of the values of each religion. These phenomena are

seen in the following fragments of the Tuja’i verse.

De tonggadu ajali when death comes

Bolo meenggi u kakali eternity will be gone

Oyintaliyo dunia first, the worldly

Mayilo’otaabiya attracts people

Maasukali ohuliya it is challenging to let go

Dee mate o napia it will be abandoned when death comes

Dunia diila kakali the world is impermanent

Tuwotiyo u mowali the sign that happened

Luludemu lo’amali clean with good deeds

Wolohilawo sabari with patience

Dunia piloyitohe the world is a playground

Piohiyo bililohe it is gorgeous to look at

Aakhiri bomo oohe in the end, it is scary

Meyilo’opate tohe turn off the light

Dunia otoli’ango beloved world

Bo’o racungi o tuhiyango there is only poison and thorns.





221

The advice in the above verses is still general for all religions and beliefs. It reminds

us of the certainty of the hereafter to not continue to be complacent with the impermanent

world. This advice can certainly make the younger generation think about worldly matters

and neglect the affairs of the hereafter. It also contains calls to be tolerant of others, value

time, and do more useful things. Good things will happen if all young generations can

share these character values. Furthermore, pay attention to the following tuja’i lyrics.

To aagama pohutua ‘Practice your religion’

Alihu mohumbua ‘to live peacefully’

Boli mopoonua ‘And live with love’

Duluo kaliimata sahaadati ‘Practice the two sentences of the creed’

U pilo jaanjia to bii’ati ‘Which is a promise when you are enshrined’

Mola mo’osalaamati ‘Which will save you someday’

Dunia aaherati ‘From this world to the hereafter’

Tabia wau puasa ‘Pray and fast’

To dunia Malo masasa ‘Because in the world you will have trouble’

Wonu motitihata ‘If you do not do good deeds’

Mola mo’otoduo naaraka ‘You will only go to hell’

Pojakati po pitara ‘Pay out zakat and fitrah’

To okakaya lo Allah ‘From the treasures given by Allah’

Molamahu pomalihara ‘To clean yourself’

Wanu ma oharata ‘If you are already rich’

Odelo mopo’omata ‘Try to pilgrimage’

Mohaji ode Maka ‘To the land of Mecca’

Ode lipu mulia ilata ‘To the glorified holy land’

Gorontalo is one of the areas in Indonesia, where the majority of the population is

Muslim. Thus, the Gorontalo oral tradition also provides more religious advice, which is

dominated by Islam. One of them is the Pelebohu oral tradition, as described earlier. This

oral tradition provides advice to carry out one’s obligations as a Muslim to obtain the

goodness of life in this world and salvation in the hereafter. If every young generation of

Indonesia, especially Gorontalo, has such a character, then the character problems

currently rampant are very likely to be overcome.

The descriptions of the contributions of various oral traditions in building and

strengthening the younger generation’s character, as previously described, show the

contribution of culture in overcoming character problems. However, the question that

might arise is how it is applied? What efforts can be made to optimize the role of oral

tradition? The answer is quite simple; all parties must be visible and contribute to

optimizing this effort. The Gorontalo oral tradition as a cultural product should not only

decorate the traditional process. It should also be used as a reference for learning at school

or building character at home/family. It is not enough for the younger generation to just

listen to these oral traditions. They must also be endeavored to know, study, Practice, and

preserve them. If the existence of the Gorontalo oral tradition can be optimized, especially

by the younger generation, then the character values contained in it will also be embedded

in their life.

CONCLUSION

Today we are witnessing various events that show the degradation of the character of the

younger generation. We can witness brawls among youths, rape, robbery, sexual immorality,

and various terrible events in various media or even our environment. This condition





222

encourages and forces all elements of society to build the younger generation’s behavior. One

of them is through the contribution of Gorontalo culture, namely the oral tradition.

The oral traditions of Gorontalo are cultural products and ancestral heritage, and life

values that can be used as a guide for life. The values of life are conveyed through diction and

lines of the Gorontalo oral tradition, full of advice. These bits of advice contain suggestions

always to be the right person, build relationships with parents, maintain friendships with the

community, run a harmonious household, and maintain a relationship with God. These values

will be useful for society if used as a guide for life.

As a cultural product, the Gorontalo oral tradition should not only decorate the traditional

process. It should also be used as a reference for learning at school, character building at

home/family, or cultural performances. It is not enough for the younger generation to just listen

to these oral traditions. They must also be endeavored to know, study, Practice, and preserve

them. If the existence of the Gorontalo oral tradition can be optimized, especially by the

younger generation, then the character values contained in it will also be embedded in their life.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Asmani, Jamal Ma’mur. 2008. Buku Panduan Internalisasi Pendidikan Karakter di Sekolah.

Yogyakarta: DIVA Press, Cet. III.

Baruadi, M. Karmin. 1998. Sastra Lisan Gorontalo Bernuansa Magis. Jurnal Penelitian dan Pendidikan.

Vol. 3, Nomor 1, April 1998.

Djakaria, Salmin. 2017. Tahuli dan Tuhuda: Tradisi Lisan dan Pembentukan Karakter Bangsa di

Masyarakat Gorontalo. Jurnal Patanjala. Sulawesi Utara. Volume 09, Nomor 02.

Hasanah, Uswatun. 2016. Model-model Pendidikan Karakter di Sekolah. Jurnal Pendidikan Islam.

Volume 7.

Mappiare, Andi. 1982. Psikologi Remaja. Surabaya: Usaha Nasional Surabaya.

Masinambow, E.K.M. 1997. Koentjaraningrat dan Antropologi di Indonesia. Jakarta: Yayasan Obor

Indonesia (YOI).

Poerwadarminta, (2007). Kamus Umum Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta, Balai Pustaka.

Sedyawati, Edi. 2008.Kedudukan Tradisi Lisan dalam Ilmu-Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu-Ilmu Budaya dalam

Warta ATL‖. Jurnal Pengetahuan dan Komunikasi Peneliti dan Pemerhati Tradisi Lisan. Edisi II

Maret. Jakarta: ATL.

Syaifuddin, Muhammad Arif dan Eni Fariyatul Fahyuni. 2019. Penguatan Pendidikan Karakter melalui

Kurikulum Muatan Lokal di SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Taman. Palapa: Jurnal Studi Keislaman dan

Ilmu Pendidikan. Volume 7, Nomor 2.

Tuloli, Nani. 1991. Tanggomo: Ragam Sastra Lisan Gorontalo. Jakarta: Universitas Indonesia Press.





223

LOCAL WISDOM TANGGAP ING SASMITA IN SERAT WULANG REH

AS CONTRIBUTION TO JAVA CULTURE FOR GLOBAL WORLD LIFE

Esti Ismawati

UniversitasWidya Dharma Klaten


Warsito



Kun Andyan Anindito



ABSTRACT

This study aims to describe the value of local wisdom tanggapingsasmita (sign understanding)

in SeratWulangReh as a contribution of Javanese culture towards the life of the global world.

The problems that will be answered are how is the realization of the value of local wisdom

tanggapingsasmita in SeratWulangReh for the life of the Indonesian nation and the global

world? How concrete is the value of local wisdom tanggapingsasmita for Javanese people? Is

the value of local wisdom tanggapingsasmita still relevant to the present life? The method used

was structural hermeneutics with note-taking. The instruments used were informants and data

cards of appreciation results, which were triangulated by Javanese cultural experts. From the

results of the research discussion, it can be concluded that the value of the local wisdom

tanggapingsasmita in SeratWulangReh is still relevant in the global era. The value of local

wisdom tanggapingsasmita concretely appears in the individuality and soul of the Javanese

people, namely giving priority to preventive behavior, and this is very useful as prevention

against the greed of lust, mental rudeness, which has an impact on the loss of sensitivity of the

human soul in life in the global era. If this is left unchecked, it will destroy the peaceful world

order that we dream of together.

Keywords: local wisdom, sign understanding, WulangReh, global world

INTRODUCTION

The global era is characterized by the loss of ideological boundaries of a nation, like a

world in its hands. Of course, this has an impact on the political, economic, socio-cultural and

educational fields that cannot be prevented. However, the world has known that Javanese since

ancient times were known to have a superior culture in their spiritual lives, such as the culture

of keeping awake at night, the culture of submitting to God’s fate after trying hard, culture of

meditation with various kinds of abstinence, sign understanding culture which is discussed in

this paper. That causes Javanese culture not to be crushed by the culture of the outside but is

able to stand side by side, compete, and fight and is able to give benefits to the welfare of the

Javanese people in particular and the people of Indonesia and the world in general. That is the

meaning of contribution.

Java is identical with a way of thinking which is a basic form of culture that continuously

improving itself, adjusting to the era without losing its identity. There are certain dynamics in

the values of life from the past to the present. This is very interesting to study by ourselves as

heirs of Javanese culture, Indonesia, before losing this area of research because it was taken by

foreign researchers, such as Clifford Geertz (Mulders, 1983). Koentjaraningrat (1990) stated

that until now there are 179 definitions of culture, but only a few are still being used. One of





224

the most famous definitions of culture belongs to Edward B Tylor culture, which includes

complex knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and habits, as a member of society, culture

is a complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, morals or values, laws, customs or

traditions, and habits acquired by humans as members of society (Ismawati, 2013). Culture

takes the form of three dimensions of nature, namely abstract, concrete, and human activities.

According to Van Peursen culture is seen as something dynamic, not something static/rigid.

Culture is a story of change.

One part of the culture that is abstract is what is called local color, local wisdom (local

wisdom, local knowledge, local genius) is defined as a set of knowledge and practices in a

community, both from previous generations and from experience relating to the surroundings

and other communities, to solve problems well and correctly and / or difficulties faced, which

have strengths such as law or not (Ahimsa-Putra, without years). Some of this local wisdom

according to Ahimsa is stored in the language and literature of a society. In Java, local wisdom

includes various forms of art such as dance (from inside the palace and outside the palace),

Javanese language that has unda-usuk (levels of stratification) for many things to many people

(Sasangka, 2000), works of courtly poets and outside the palace, tembang (song) macapat, and

still many more. Local wisdom always connotes good, positive, beautiful, and excellent in the

form of symbols.

The examples of Javanese local wisdom stored in the form of language and literature are

several books written by courtly poets of Surakarta palace Hadiningrat including KGPAA

Mangku Nagara IV with his monumental work entitled Wedhatama, SeratTripama,

PakuBuwono IV with his monumental work WulangReh, RonggoWarsito with his many works

entitled Kalatida, Sabdajati, Sabdatama, JakaLodhang, Wedharangga, Tjemporet, Chandra

Rini, PakuBuwono X with a work entitled WulangEstri and etc. This study reviews

SeratWulangReh by PakuBuwono IV (Suwondo, 1994) which contains the heritage of the noble

values of Javanese culture (Ismawati, 2017).

There were many examples of Javanese local wisdom in the form of language

expressions, for example, Sedumukbathuksenyaribumi den lakoni taker pati, meaning in terms

of the wife (although only the forehead of the wife is touched) and in matters of the land

(although only small land) will be colonized, it will be defended until the last drop of blood.

This shows a very responsible and nationalist character. Other expressions are for example

Ngonoyangono, ningmbokojongono, which means, “Maybe you will (kill, for example) but

don’t do that kind of way (for example mutilated); Meliknggendonglali, meaning that if we

already like or love something, we like to forget that something is not ours, then we just take it;

Sapa nandurngundhuh has the literal meaning of who has planted must crop, but this expression

is more preventive so that people do not commit crimes (nandur ala) because later their

grandchildren will get its result (Ismawati, 2013).

Javanese culture also has many repertoires of teachings that are related to the inner

attitude. This mental attitude is very important in the life of Javanese people because they

believe that what makes life happy or unhappy, happy or miserable, is their inner attitude.

Among many teachings of the inner attitude that are very important to be shown and

exemplified are the attitude of submitting to God’s fate after trying hard and keeping awake

during the night to get a wish. Both of these inner attitudes, if properly understood will result

in superior Javanese person, calm heart, submitting to God’s fate after trying hard, not easy to

give up, and there is always a solution through keeping awake during the night to get a wish.

Humans like this are able to stand upright in the midst of a storm of shifts and changes in the

orientation of life in this global era, from the orientation of “sing pentingurip” (meaningless

life) to the orientation of “urip sing penting” (meaningful life). The exemplary fairies of

Javanese life were inspired by puppet figures, who were very close to Javanese philosophy

(Ismawati, 2016).





225

The sign understanding is one of the excellent values of Javanese culture originating from

Javanese literary works such as the book of Tripama, the book of Wedhatama, and the book of

WulangReh. Tanggapingsasmitaconsists of three basic forms namely tanggap (understand), ing

(on), and sasmita (sign). The word sasmita comes from Sanskrit sasmita which means

“polataningpraen”, “ngalamat”, “pratanda” (facial expressions, signs of events experienced by

someone / community, signs) (Poerwodarminta, 1939). Another opinion was given by Muljono

(2012), tanggap means being able to capture (talk, the direction of conversation), sasmita means

symbolic information. Tanggapingsasmitameans the ability to capture symbolic information. It

is something complicated but can be learned through life experience. Symbolic information can

be both verbal and non-verbal, in the form of gesture. Understanding body language is also the

first step to capture symbolic information.

In everyday life, humans (Javanese) cannot be separated from the interpretation of

sasmita. When we want to meet the authority, for example, we must see sasmita from his face,

whether he is calm, happy, or angry with his eyebrows fused, sleepy (yawning). If he is angry,

of course, we must delay to meet him if we do not want to fail in communication. There are a

saying dugangdemangesemmantrisemubupati (Ismawati, 2013), which means that at every

level there is a task of its own, there is a system of individual facial expressions. The discussion

on sasmita in SeratWulangReh is interesting to study. Sasmita is a term that has the same

meaning as conversational implicature (Brown & Yule, 1996), namely the additional meaning

conveyed by the speaker, meaning that might be interpreted, suggested, or intended by the

speaker, which may be different from what the speaker actually said. According to

Kartomihardjo (1993) sasmita is a kind of sign, verbal or non-verbal, destined to participants

who are involved in social interaction. Participants interpret speech according to the meaning

contained. It is not easy to interpret sasmita, but with a lot of practice and experience, one will

be able to interpret it that is close to meaning.

Sasmita can be both a physical sign and a symbols. Symbols can be gestures, even certain

colors, such as black as a sign of grief, white as a sign of resignation, surrender to the Owner

of Nature. It invites people to be sensitive and to look more inside. Tanggapingsasmitameans

being responsive to inner cues. SeratWulangReh tends to be destined for young people. In

SeratWulangReh there are teachings about kawaskithan (carefulness), sensitivity to sasmita,

honesty and patience, respect, and other teachings of life.

RESEARCH METHODS/APPROACHES

This study uses a hermeneutic approach. The definition of hermeneutics is still growing.

According to Richard E. Palmer (1985), the definition of hermeneutics can at least be divided

into six, namely (1) the theory of biblical exegesis; (2) general philological methodology; (3)

the science of all linguistic understanding; (4) the methodology foundation of Geisteswissens-

chaffen; (5) phenomenology of existence and existential understanding; (6) the systems of

interpretation, both recollective and iconoclastic, used by man to reach the meaning behind

myths and symbols (Palmer, 1985). Since the beginning, hermeneutics has often been defined

as the science of interpretation. However, broadly as Palmer said above, hermeneutics is defined

as, first, the interpretation theory of the Bible (theory of biblical exegesis). Second,

hermeneutics is a general philological methodology. Third, hermeneutics is the science of all

language understanding (the science of all linguistic understanding). Fourth, hermeneutics is a

methodological foundation of the humanities (the methodological foundation of

Geisteswissens-chaften). Fifth, hermeneutics is as an existential understanding and

phenomenology of existence (phenomenology of existence and of existential understanding).

And six, hermeneutics is a system of interpretation. Hermeneutics as a system of interpretation

can be applied, both collectively and personally, to understand the meaning contained in myths

or symbols.





226

The six definitions are not only a sequence of historical phases but a very important

approach in the problem of interpreting a text. They respectively represent various dimensions

that are often highlighted in hermeneutics. Each definition carries different, but accountable

nuances from interpreting human actions, especially interpretations of texts (Palmer, 1985).

Another opinion regarding the definition of Hermeneutics comes from Paul Ricoeur who

defines hermeneutics by returning to textual analysis, which has distinctive and systematic

concepts. Hermeneutics “rules that guide a process of interpretation, namely the interpretation

of particular texts or a collection of signs which can also be referred to as text” (Palmer, 1985).

Various forms of interpretation that humans can do encourage Ricoeur to form two kinds

of hermeneutics, namely the first hermeneutics as an attempt to interpret hidden meanings in a

text or symbol, and second, hermeneutics as a way to be critical and then destroys all forms of

illusion or false consciousness, which may arise due to certain symbols or texts. This second

form is also called “demystification” hermeneutics.

With so many methods that can be used in hermeneutics, Ricoeur argued that there is no

form of the universal norm in human interpretation, but separate theories, and debating each

other (Palmer, 1985). However, there are at least two major forms of this hermeneutic method.

On the one hand, there are interpreters who see the text and symbols as something sacred and

try to interpret the sacred to find the hidden meaning behind it. On the other hand, there are

interpreters who say that symbols and texts are false realities, which must be peeled out of their

oppressive structures. One of Ricoeur’s messages that will be used in the discussion of this

research is interpreting the creative one, namely interpreting logically and can be returned to

the interpreted text structure.

Hermeneutics comes out of the discipline of philology and goes beyond the meaning of

the four levels of medieval interpretation when Schleiermacher states that the process of

interpretation is far more general than merely looking for the meaning of a text. He then made

hermeneutics a new philosophical discipline (Sumaryono, 1999).

At the end of the 20th century AD Paul Ricoeur introduced his theory of hermeneutics.

Hermeneutics was a way of interpreting the text, but its scope was broader than what was

intended by medieval and modern scholars and was slightly narrower than what Heidegger

intended. The text studied in Ricoeur’s hermeneutics can be standard text as generally, can be

a symbol, or a myth (Sumaryono, 1999). The aim is to understand the real reality behind the

existence of the text.

In this study the interpretation was carried out in stages, starting with the interpretation

of words, then sentences, then the unity of sentences, and continued unity of the text to find the

meaning contained in the text of SeratWulangReh. The results of the interpretation were then

triangulated by Javanese literary experts.

DISCUSSION

SeratWulangReh is a Javanese Classical work in the form of poetry in macapat songs in

Javanese. This was written on Sunday Kliwon 19 Great Year 1768-1820 in the palace of

Kasunanan Surakarta (Darusuprapto, 1988). SeratWulangReh by PakuBuwono IV was

composed in the form of macapatsongs containing 13 pupuhs (the form of Javanese traditional

poems which have the same number of certain syllables and rhymes in each line) namely

Dhandhanggulo, Kinanthi, Gambuh, Pangkur, Maskumambang, Megatruh, Durmo,

Wirangrong, Pocung, Mijil, Asmaradana, Sinom, and Girisa. Each pupuh contains guidance

that must be carried out by human beings so that their lives are safe, not fall into the abyss of

evil. The teachings are conveyed in the form of songs with the style of commanding, advising,

prohibiting, forbidding loudly, giving examples, and giving descriptions in the form of stories.

The style is adapted to each character so that the contents are in accordance with the taste and

values that must be done by the reader (Nurhayati, 2013). Six teachings contained in





227

WulangReh according to Nurhayati are Teachings on Science, Leadership, Moral Values, Inner

and outer state, Mystics, and Perfection of Life. From here the researcher begins to interpret the

meaning of sign understanding.

Meaning of Sign Understanding in WulangReh

To possess a signed understanding someone needs uneasy requirements, as written in the

first stanza of Kinanthipoem in SeratWulangReh:

Padhagulangeningkalbu

Ing sasmitaamrihlantip

Aja pijermangannendra

Kaprawiran den kaesti

Pesunensariranira

Cegahendhaharlanguling

(To understand symbolic information/sign, someone needs to train his heart and mind,

does not only eat and sleep, prioritizes heroism, trains his physics, and avoids eating and

women).

Lines one and two are utterances in the form of invitations. Lines three and four are

utterances in the form of prohibitions. Lines five and six are utterances that give stress to the

previous lines, namely three and four.

In the Javanese language, there is the expression Tanggap ing sasmita,

lantipingpanggraita, which means being clever in reading cues and smart in interpreting signs.

This is a skill that needs to be trained so that people are sharp in analyzing situations and

conditions. Tanggapingsasmita is sensitive to the situation, whether expressed or not, but the

situation can be captured as a sign (Astokodatu, 2010). The form of sign understanding is highly

tested when we meet the form of pasemon (satire) from low to high levels. The noble (priyayi)

will not speak bluntly in the Javanese culture, especially those that involve taboos, for example

showing compulsion, asking for services, and so on.

Kang tinitahdadianom,

Aja masgul

Batinrumongsoa

Yen wistitahing Hyang Widi

Yen masgulangowahi

Kodratingsuksma

The one who is entrusted to be a young person does not bother, it is thought to be a

problem if it has been ordained by God if it is always changing God’s nature.

Sasmita in the poem above is addressed to the youth, meaning that they always sharpen

the mind so that it is clean (it is a sign of a person whose mind is not clean). The way to convey

this warning is very subtle, it appears as a person who has a relationship, so the reader does not

feel offended. This category is called SasmitaPiwulang. In the following stanza, the invitation

to worship is increasingly tender:

Uripirapintersamubarangkardi

Sakingiburama

Ing batinsaking Hyang Widhi

Mulanewajibsinembah

Pan kinarsakakening Hyang kanglinuwih

Kinaryalantaran

Ana ingdonyapuniki

Weruhingbecik tan ala





228

That your life is smart in everything is from your parents, the essence comes from God,

so you must worship because of the will of the Highest God, as a means of being in this world,

knowing which one is good and which one is bad.

Father is a means from God for us to exist. Sasmita reminds, that in this world there is

goodness and badness, and we must see it as a mirror, whether we take it or not. Sasmita

conveyed by the poem above is a reminder, that humans must remember the parents who must

be worshiped as God’s representative in the world.

Kaping lima dunungesembahpuniki

MringGustikangmurba

Ing patikalawanurip

Murahsandanglawanpapan

Wong nengdunyawajibmanutaingGusti

Lawandipunawas

Sapratingkahdipunesthi

Aja dupehwusawirya

The fifth is the respect for the powerful God, in dying and living, cheap clothing and food,

people in the world must obey God, beware, do all actions diligently and do not be arrogant

because of being rich.

This also includes a sign reminder that there is God Almighty, Allah Almighty, who

makes life, death, cheap food and clothing and alert to arrogance.

Lamunsiraanggeguru kaki

Amilihamanungsasanyata

Ingkangbecikmartabate

Sartakangwruhingkukum

Kang ngibadahlankangngirangi

Sokur oleh wong tapa

Ingkangwusamungkur

Tan mikirpawehingliyan

Ikupantessiragurunana kaki

Sartanekawruhana

When you learn, choose a person who has the knowledge and good dignity, knows about

the law, worships with a pure heart, maybe if you can meet a hermit, who is obedient, not

thinking of getting a gift from others. He is appropriate for you to learn you need to understand

it.

Sasmita also includes reminders, so that you choose the knowledgeable person if you are

going to learn. What is meant is that he does not think the world life matters, perseveres in

worship, knows the law, especially if he gets a hermit teacher. Sasmita of the hermit is an

outwardly and inwardly perfect teacher.

Poma kaki padhadipuneling

Lan den samimantebmaringbecik,

Lan ta welasingong

Aja kurangiyapanrimane

Yen wustinitahmaring Hyang Widhi

Ing badan puniki

Wuspapancenipun





229

Nulinarimaterusingbatin

Tang mengengingkatong

Tan rumangsaingkanikmatane

SihingGustitekenganak rabi

Wong narimabecik

Kang mengkonoiku

You must always remember, and preserve in goodness, and my message, do not be less

grateful, that God has commanded, to us, it should be. Then surrender, that the heart, not to

oppose the king, not feel pleasure of God’s gift until the child gets married. People accept well

that kind of message. It means humans must always thank God that they have been given life,

then put their trust in Allah.

The above statement also includes sasmitapengingat (reminder) that humans are always

in goodness, it seems clear that sasmita reminds humans to thank God for His given creations,

then surrender all that is faced, and not oppose the authorities. Sasmita is very relevant to the

life of a globalized world that has a lot of intrigues, opposing the authorities, so that there is an

inconvenience. People are not grateful for the conditions that exist, without remembering that

the servant’s duty is to serve his Lord.

CONCLUSION

Sasmita contained in SeratWulangReh is in the form of a preventive reminder. This is

very useful because, in scientific theory, preventive is easier and cheaper than curative.

Sasmitapengingat refers to preventive actions, vigilance actions to situations and conditions, so

that life will be more calms inwardly through interpretation and understanding of written and

non-written forms of sasmita, both that are static and dynamic. Such a life will be a form of

exemplary from Java, Indonesia, to the global world, and needs to be passed on to the next

generation, especially the youth. From the results of the research discussion, it can be concluded

that the value of the local wisdom of tanggapingsasmita in SeratWulangReh is still relevant in

the middle of the global era. The value of local wisdom in tanggapingsasmita concretely

appears in the person and soul of the Javanese people, namely giving preventive behavior, and

this is very useful as a prevention against the greed of lust, mental rudeness, which has an

impact on the loss of sensitivity of the human soul in life in the global era. This if left unchecked

will destroy the peaceful world order that we dream of together.

REFERENCES Ahimsa-Putra, Hedi Shri. 1988. “Levi-Strauss, Orang-orang PKI, NalarJawa, dan Sosok Umar

Kayam” dalamUmar Kayam dan JaringSemiotik, Aprinus Salam (Ed), “Levi-Strauss, PKI people,

Javanese reason, and the figure of UmarKayam” in Umar Kayam and Semiotics nets, Aprinus

Salam (Ed), Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Ahimsa-Putra, Hedi Shri, Bahasa, Sastra, dan Kearifan Lokal di Indonesia. Language, Literature, and

Local Wisdom in Indonesia. Yogyakarta: FIB UGM, Tanpa Tahun.

Astokodatu, Emmanuel. 2012. Tanggaping Sasmita Para Pahlawan. Respect in Sasmita Heroes.

Jakarta: Kompasiana.

Brown, Gillian & George Yule. 1983. Discourse Analysis. USA: Cambridge University Press.

Darusuprapto. 1988. Serat Wulang Reh.Wulang Reh Book. Surabaya: Cipta Jaya Mukti.

Ismawati, Esti.2013. Ilmu Sosial dan Budaya Dasar. Basic Social and Cultural Sciences Yogyakarta:

Ombak.

Ismawati, Esti. 2013. Makna Ungkapan Jawa. Meaning of Javanese Expressions.Klaten: Oncek-Oncek

Kawruh Sapala.

Ismawati, Esti. 2017. Religiousity in Wedatama by KGPAA Mangkunagara IV: An Education Model

Ala Javanese Culture. International Journal of Active Learning, 1 (2).





230

Ismawati, Esti. 2014. Nilai-nilaiBudayaJawadalamWedatama dan WulangRehsebagaiBahan Ajar

Sastra. Javanese Cultural Values in Wedatama and WulangReh as Literary Teaching

Materials.Prosiding Seminar Nasional. National Seminar Proceedings Surakarta: UNS Press.

Ismawati, Esti. 2005. Transformasi Perempuan Jawa.The Transformation of Javanese Women.

Surakarta: Pustaka Cakra.

Ismawati, E. 2012. Metode Penelitian Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra. Research Methods for Language

and Literature Education Yogyakarta: PenerbitOmbak.

Ismawati, Esti. 2017. Pengembangan Model Pembelajaran Sastra Berbasis Karakter di SMA-SMK

Kabupate nKlaten, Development of Character-Based Literature Learning Model in SMA-SMK

Klaten Regency, Metasastra, Jurnal Penelitian Sastra Terakreditasi B. Vol. 9 No 9 (2) 2017. ISSN.

2085-7268. Bandung: Balai Bahasa ProvinsiJawa Barat, Halaman: 10-21.

Ismawati, Esti. 2013. “Karakter Perempuan Jawadalam Novel Indonesia BerwarnaLokalJawa: Kajian

Perspektif Gender dan TransformasiBudaya”, Javanese Women’s Characters in Indonesian Novels

in Javanese Local Color: Study of Gender Perspectives and Cultural Transformation Metasastra,

JurnalPenelitian Sastra Terakreditasi B. Volume 6. Nomor 1. Juni 2013. ISSN. 2085-7268.

Bandung: Balai Bahasa ProvinsiJawa Barat, Halaman: 10-21. 2013.

Kartomihardjo, Soeseno. 1993. “Analisis Wacana dengan Penerapannya pada Beberapa Wacana”

Discourse Analysis with Its Application to Several Discourses, PELBBA 6, Jakarta: Lembaga

Bahasa Unika Atmajaya.

Koentjaraningrat, 1984, KebudayaanJawa, Javanese Culture, Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.

Koentjaraningrat. 1990. Kebudayaan, Mentalitas, dan Pembangunan. Culture, Mentality, and

Development Jakarta: Gramedia.

Marsono. 2007. “Revitalisasi Kearifan Lokal guna Mewujudkan Masyarakat Sejahtera” dalam

Kemajuan Terkini Riset UGM, Revitalization of Local Wisdom to Create a Prosperous Society “in

Recent Progress of UGM Research, Yogyakarta: LPPM UGM.

Mudjanto, G. 1987. KonsepKekuasaanJawa. Javanese Concept of Power.Yogyakarta: Kanisius.

Mulder, Niels. 1983. Jawa – Thailand BeberapaPerbandinganSosialBudaya. Java - Thailand Some

Socio-Cultural Comparisons.Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.

Muljono, Iwan M. 2014. Perilaku dan Pitutur ala Jawa.Javanese Advice and Behavior.A little book of

Javanese life.

Nurhayati, Endang. 2010. Nilai-nilai Moral Islam dalamSeratWulangReh. Islamic Moral Values in

Serat Wulang Reh. Millah: Jurnal Studi Agama, 10 (1) 41-56, 2010.

Palmer, Richard E. 1985. Hermeneutics. Illinois: Northwestern University Press.

Poerwadarminto, WJS. 1939. BaoesastraDjawa. Batavia: J.B. Wolters Uitgevers Maatschappij N.V.

Priyatna, Aquarini et all. 2017. Budaya, Agama, Seksualitas, Culture, Religion, Sexuality Medan: Obelia

Publisher bekerjasamaDepartemenSusastra dan Kajian Budaya FIB UNPAD.

Sasangka, Sry, Satria Wisnu. 2005. UndaUsuk Basa Jawa. Javanese Language Gradation.Jakarta:

Setneg.

Suseno, Franz Magnis. 2000. Etika JawaSebuah Analisa Falsafati tentang Kebijaksanaan Hidup Jawa,

Javanese Ethics, A Philosophical Analysis of Javanese Life Wisdom, Jakarta: Gramedia.

Sumaryono, E. 1999. Hermeneutik: Sebuah Metode Filsafat. Hermeneutics: A Philosophical

Method.Yogyakarta: Kanisius. Hal. 23-24

Suwondo, Tirto, SlametRiyadi, Dhanu Priyoprabowo, Sukardi, Mp. 1994. Nilai-nilai Budaya Susastra

Jawa. Cultural Values of Javanese Literature.Jakarta: Pusat Bahasa.





231

THE LOCAL WISDOM VALUES IN THE FOLKLORES

OF CENTRAL SULAWESI: A CHARACTER-BUILDING STUDY

M. Asri B

Balai Bahasa Sulawesi Tengah


SitiFatinah



Sitti Harisah

Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan

Universitas Tadulako


ABSTRACT Central Sulawesi folklores are full of moral teachings. They can be used as a learning media in

strengthening character building. This study aims to describe the values of local wisdom

contained in the folklores of Central Sulawesi. The method used in this research is the

descriptive analysis method. The data of this research are three stories of Central Sulawesi

folklore, namely (1) The Origin of Bamba Limo Toaya, which depicts the local wisdom of the

Kaili tribe in Central Sulawesi, (2) Kapal Bangga Kaasan, which depicts the local wisdom of

the Tolitoli tribe in Central Sulawesi, and (3) Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako, which depicts the

local wisdom of the Bada tribe in Central Sulawesi. The three folklores were the winners of the

2018 Central Sulawesi Folklore Writing Competition held by the Language Office of Central

Sulawesi. The result of this study indicates that the folklore of Central Sulawesi has very diverse

local wisdom values, including the values of simplicity, patience, persistence, solidarity, hard

work, harmony and brotherhood, politeness, affection, deliberation, trustworthiness, justice,

gratitude and respect, helping each other, courage and confidence, wisdom, independence,

commitment and integrity. The values of local wisdom contained in the folklore of Central

Sulawesi are in accordance with the values of character building. This shows that the folklore

of Central Sulawesi, which has various values of local wisdom, needs to be preserved and

revitalized so that it can be passed on and taught to the young generation as the basis for the

building of the nation’s cultural character.

Keywords: folklore, local wisdom, character building

INTRODUCTION Central Sulawesi, which is inhabited by dozens of ethnic groups, has a variety of cultural

properties that have their own distinctive patterns and characteristics. Central Sulawesi’s

culture consists of folklores, folk songs, folk arts, traditional ceremonies, traditional knowledge

systems, local languages, folk games, traditional food and drinks, traditional weapons, local

architecture, and others. This cultural wealth is the local potential for the people of Central

Sulawesi, which are spread across twelve regencies and one municipality. They are the

reflection of the local identity as the habitual factors of local communities in Central Sulawesi.

They are the manifestation of the noble values of the ancestors which are full of local wisdom

values. The value of local wisdom is a rule that is imposed in a place (Inriani, 2017; Sibarani,

2012: 19--20). Local wisdom that applies in a place and in a certain community can also be

found in the culture of a certain community in other areas. One of them can be found in several





232

fairy tales or other oral literature that develops in society and is attached to the community’s

life.

There are various kinds of folklore in Central Sulawesi, which generally exist only in the

memory of the people and fill the void of the flow of civilization. They exist and to be known

only by certain people. It happens for a reason. There is an undeniable phenomenon that in

terms of reading and writing literacy, especially regarding folklore, the adolescents in Central

Sulawesi are low literate. Civilization has led people to turn to a new and modern cultural model

which caused local cultural products that are full of wisdom are slowly being abandoned. It

should not be ignored and needs to be revitalized by stakeholders and society to prepare the

next generation to face the increasingly complex challenges of globalization so that the richness

of local wisdom, especially folklore, does not disappear along with the times.

The extinction of oral literature, including folklore, needs to be watched out for and

should not be ignored because folklore is full of local wisdom values and has the power to

regulate the social life of the people who own it. It is possible because folklore cannot be

separated from the personal and social life of its owner. This shows that local wisdom contained

in folklore can be used as a medium to build and develop the positive side of community

behavior and to reduce the negative side of community behavior and character.

Based on it, the writer chooses the title “The Value of Local Wisdom in Central Sulawesi

Folklore: A Study of Character Building”. It examines three folklores of Central Sulawesi from

the aspect of local wisdom values, which are (1) Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako, compiled by

Ahmad Maulidi (2018), (2) The Bangga Kaasan Ship, compiled by Firman (2018), and (3) The

Origin of Bamba Libo Toaya, compiled by Indrawan Panggagau (2018). These manuscripts

were studied for the aspects of local wisdom values. The extinction of oral literature, including

folklore, needs to be watched out for and should not be ignored because folklore is full of local

wisdom values and has the power to regulate the social life of the people who own it. It is

possible because folklore cannot be separated from the personal and social life of its owner.

This shows that local wisdom contained in folklore can be used as a medium to build and

develop the positive side of community behavior and to reduce the negative side of community

behavior and character.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The Definition of Folklore

Each community has a variety of folklores and different values of local wisdom. It

includes the folklore of Central Sulawesi. Folklore is an anonymous story that is not bound by

time and space, which is conveyed from mouth to ear among a society who are oral literature

lovers. Folklore consists of legends, fairy tales, animal stories, myths, and saga (Sudjiman,

2006: 16). Folklore is one of the media used by the community to strengthen the social

institutions by transforming local values, manners and wisdom from a generation to the next

one.

Suradi (1996) states that folklore is a part of the cultural and historical wealth possessed

by a particular area or community. Folklore which is found in an area can also be found in other

areas. For example, there are stories of mouse deer and crocodiles in Sulawesi and some in

Java.

The Definition of local Wisdom

According to Gunawan, local wisdom is the wisdom, knowledge, and intelligence

possessed by an area. It is the result of the adaptation of a community that comes from life

experiences that are communicated from generation to generation (Gunawan, 2008). Local

wisdom is local knowledge that is used by local people to survive in their environment which

is integrated with belief systems, norms, and cultures that are expressed in traditions and myths

that have been adhered to over a long period of time. The regeneration process of local wisdom





233

is carried out through oral traditions or folklore and literary works. Local wisdom is the original

wisdom or knowledge of a community that comes from the noble values of cultural traditions

to regulate the order of community life (Sibarani, 2012: 112). Itis used to organize community

life. Itis obtained from oral traditions or local cultures that are transmitted or passed down from

generation to generation. The values of local wisdom are used to regulate the order of life in all

aspects.

Balitbangpos Depsos RI in Sibarani (2012: 113) states that local wisdom is the maturity

of the community at the local community level which is reflected in the attitudes, behaviors,

and perspectives of the community that is conducive in developing the local potentials and

resources (material or non-material) that can be used as resources in realizing positive change

for the better life. In line with that, Ratna (2008) states that local wisdom can shape personal

behavior based on individual awareness as well as instill a social spirit that prioritizes common

interests over individual interests. Yuliati (2013) explains that local wisdom can be translated

as the work of reason, deep feelings, character, forms of the character, and encouragement for

human dignity. The mastery of local wisdom will shape their souls to become even more

virtuous.

Sibarani (2012: 134) states that local wisdom has two dimensions, namely peace and

prosperity. The dimension of peace relates to the internal elements of a social community,

namely politeness, honesty, social solidarity, harmony and conflict resolution, deliberation,

commitment, positive thoughts, and gratitude. The dimensions of prosperity are related to hard

work, discipline, education, health, mutual cooperation, gender management, nature

preservation, cultural creativity, and environmental care.

Based on those opinions it can be stated that local wisdom is all forms of wisdom,

knowledge, and intelligence possessed by a certain area which is based on good values or norms

that can be trusted and applied and are always maintained hereditarily for a long period of time

by a group of people in a certain environment or area where a community lives.

The Definition of character building

Regarding character building, each ethnic group has different sources in shaping the

character of the next generation. In building the Indonesian nation’s character, local wisdom is

an important means that must be owned by the next generation of the nation. Character building

teaches a variety of local wisdom to the young generation. The implementation of it which

derived from local wisdom as the ancestor’s cultural heritage will make the young generation

of the Indonesian nation succeeded in various fields, especially in the aspect of education and

economy. It can also prepare them to become civilized and successful in the future.

Character building is an effort that is planned and designed systematically to help students

to understand the values of human behavior related to God Almighty, to themselves, to their

fellow humans, to the environment, and to the nationality that is manifested in thoughts,

attitudes, actions, words, feelings which base on religious norms, customs, culture, law and

manners. It is an effort that is made to shape and train the individual abilities related to the

character; psychiatric, moral traits in order to make oneself living a better life.

Local wisdom in the three regional folklores in Central Sulawesi as the source of this

study is an ancestral cultural heritage originating from the culture of the country itself and is

very necessary to form a civilized human being, a person who is intelligent and has a very high

humanistic nature. Character building means passing on local wisdom as the basis for a person

in living a social life. In line with that, Dimenson (2009) explains that character building can

be interpreted as an effort to encourage and develop thinking competencies and uphold moral

principles and have the courage to do right, even though a man is faced with various challenges.

Character building is not limited only to the transfer of knowledge of values of goodness, but

also an effort to make these values embedded and integrated thoroughly in thought and action.





234

METHOD OF RESEARCH

The data was taken from the folklore of the winners of the 2018 Central Sulawesi Folklore

Writing Competition held by the Language Office of Central Sulawesi Province. There are three

folk tales used as samples of the study, namely the Origin of Bamba Limo Toaya, which depicts

the local wisdom of the Kaili tribe in Central Sulawesi; Bangga Kaasan Ship, which depicts the

local wisdom of the Tolitoli tribe of Central Sulawesi; and Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako, which

depicts the local wisdom of the Bada tribe of Central Sulawesi. The method used in this research

is the descriptive analysis method. It means that the researcher describes the facts of the existing

object and then analyzes it. According to Ratna (2004), the descriptive method of analysis is

obtained from combining two methods into one whose characteristics are not contradictory.

This research method is very suitable to seek and to describe the structure, narrative context,

creation process, function, meaning, as well as the motive of punishment as a whole in folklore.

Data collection techniques are carried out by reviewing literature studies, field studies or

observations, and data analysis.

The results of this study are presented descriptively, which is trying to present an object

or thing in such a way that it is as if the object is in front of the reader’s eyes (Keraf, 1995).

After presenting the data, the researcher then reviewed the previous data. Conclusions in the

form of descriptions of the discussed objects which were previously unclear will be drawn based

on the reviewed data.

DISCUSSION

Description of Data Analysis Results

1. The story of Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako

In the story of Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako, six values of local wisdom are found, namely

(a) the value of simplicity, (b) the value of patience (c) the value of persistence, (d) the

value of solidarity (e) the value of hard work, and (f) the value of harmony and

brotherhood. The six values will be described as follows.

a. The Value of Simplicity

The value of simplicity in the story of Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako is illustrated in

the following story excerpt.

“Their crops were always abundant. Because of that their life was

sufficient. Never once did they worry about a shortage of food.

However, they still lived as very humble farmers. The yields they

get were always satisfying. Therefore, they always thanked God for

their abundant sustenance.”

The value of local wisdom in the story is that simplicity is an important thing

that must be instilled in everyday life. It teaches humans that even if a person is given

sufficiency and an abundant income, it does not mean that he has to change the

pattern of his life by prioritizing the world, accumulating wealth, and living life

lavishly. A simple lifestyle can encourage a person to become a tolerant person,

appreciating all of God’s graces.

The quotation of the story describes a simple lifestyle that is applied by people

in an area even though they live well.

b. The Value of Patience

The value of patience in the story of Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako is illustrated in the

following story excerpt.





235

“What sins have we ever committed which made God give this

kind of fate upon us?” complained Ngimpu to his wife.” We must

be patient with this trial. Only to God we pray, we must not stop

hoping that everything we wish can come true,” said Ina Tua,

comforting Ngimpu, her husband.”

The value of local wisdom in the story is that humans should not complain and

give up. The advice given by Ina Tua to her husband implies a message to us that

humans must remain patient in facing all trials from God. Always ask and rely on

God the Creator and the answerer of all the prayers and requests from His servants

that He wants.

c. The Value of Persistence

The value of persistence in the story of Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako is illustrated in


“Over time, they continued to pray and tried to get a baby. Even

though they were no longer young to have children, they still ask

God incessantly. Because of their continuous prayers to God,

finally, Ina Tua became pregnant. After waiting for a long time,

they would finally be blessed with a child.”

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story is that everything we

do needs to be based on strong faith and good intentions. Do not give up and always

pray until God grants our request. The snippet of the story also illustrates how great

and useful the power of prayer is to the Creator.

d. The Value of Solidarity

The value of solidarity in the story of Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako is illustrated in the


“Every time he hunted into the forest, Lengkatuwo would come

home with a lot of prey. If his friends only got one, Lengkatuwo

got more than that. The preys he got were distributed to his

friends who did not get the catch. He would bring the rest home

to be eaten with his mother and father.”

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story is that in this life we

should not be greedy and selfish. We must nurture an attitude of caring and sharing

with others. In this excerpt of the story, a child named Lengkatuwo is depicted having

high solidarity with his friends. He has a sincere attitude and is willing to share with

his friends. Moreover, he also has a high sense of concern for his friends.

e. The Value of Hard Work

The value of hard work in the Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako Story is illustrated in the


“As time went by, his father prepared Lengkatuwo to become a

leader. Therefore, his father taught him various kinds of war

skills. Every day he was trained in martial arts, horseback riding,

archery, spearing and slashing. It was done by his father because

he wanted his son to become a king or a leader in the future.”





236

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story is that if you want to

succeed in achieving your goals, you need to be based on tenacious effort and tireless

hard work. The excerpt of the story depicts a hardworking father who trains his son,

Lengkatuwo, with a variety of skills that prepares him to become a future leader or a

king who is tough and wise.

f. The Value of Harmony and Brotherhood

The value of harmony and brotherhood in the Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako Story is

illustrated in the following excerpt of the story.

“Lengkatuwo was determined to free the land of Bada from war.

The land of Bada should not fall into the hands of the enemy.

However, if outsiders came with good intentions to the land of

Bada, they would be received with open arms because the

brotherhood must be kept.”

The value of local wisdom in the quote from the story is that we not only have

to be brave enough to defend our homeland from the invaders, but we must also live

in peace with tolerance and mutual respect with other tribes or nations. In the excerpt

of the story, it is described that the Bada tribe highly upholds the meaning of

brotherhood and peace.

2. The Story of The Bangga Kaasan Ship

In the story of the Bangga Kaasan Ship, five values of local wisdom are found, namely

(a) the value of politeness, (b) the value of affection, (c) the value of deliberation, (d) the

value of trustworthiness, and (e) the value of justice. The five values will be described as

follows.

a. The Value of politeness

The value of politeness in the Bangga Kaasan Ship Story is illustrated in the


“The Sultan of Ternate’s envoy then asked permission to recite

the noble decree of the Sultan of Ternate. The entire audience

bowed respectfully at the commandment. After reciting the

decree, the Sultan of Ternate’s envoy paid tribute to the Tolitoli

royal family and nobles.”

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story is that we must be able

to respect each other to create a safe and secure community life. A peaceful and

serene atmosphere is created by behaving well and not causing a conflict. In the

excerpt of the story, respectful behavior is described. The envoy of Sultan of Ternate

as a guest highly upholds local customs. The members of the Tolitoli royal family

also highly appreciate their guests who visit their kingdom.

b. The Value of Affection

The value of affection in the Bangga Kaasan Ship Story is illustrated in the following

story excerpt.

“Prince Imbasiug put his hands on his younger brother’s shoulders

then he looked at his beloved younger brother while dripping his tears.

He said, “Listen, my brother! It’s been three nights I dreamed of

meeting our late father.” Prince Imbasiug really loved his younger

brother. They had never been separated since childhood.”





237

The value of local wisdom in the quote from the story is that affection is very

important because it will make us feel comfortable, peaceful, and at ease. It is done

bygiving the best for others and not taking other people’s happiness. In the excerpt

of the story, the affection of two nobles or princes of the Tolitoli Kingdom, namely

Prince Imbasiug and his younger siblings is described.

c. The Value of Deliberation

The value of deliberation in the Bangga Kaasan Ship Story is illustrated in the


“The nobles and royal princes we respect, last night we buried

the Young King Imbasiug. May his soul rest in peace. I hope this

tragedy can make us more patient and aware that we are weak in

front of God. Therefore, the assembly is presented to fill the void

in government, please share your opinion!”

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story is that in determining a

leader or ruler in an area, it should be done by means of deliberation. It is hoped that

this will result in a mutual agreement so that the things that are decided can be fair

and no one blames each other in the future.

d. The Value of Trustworthiness

The value of trustworthiness in the Bangga Kaasan Ship Story is illustrated in the


“Across the country, remember your family and ancestral land;

O my son, our words and customs must be preserved,” said the

Empress Mother to Imbasiug.”

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story is something entrusted

to us that must be carried out based on the values of honesty and responsibility.

Therefore, trustworthy people can be sure to be honest and responsible. In the story

excerpt, it is described as a mother who entrusts a mandate to her child who will go

abroad so as not to forget the family and always maintain his words and traditions.

“You King Imbasiug will be remembered as Tamadikalantik, if

your life is long. Therefore, uphold justice and goodness and

make the book of Allah and Islamic law as law in the Tolitoli

kingdom.”

This story excerpt describes a person who entrusts the mandate of duties and

responsibilities that must be carried out. Thus the commandment entrusted to the

King of Imbasiug must be carried out sincerely because someday it will be accounted

for before the Creator of the universe.

e. The Value of Justice

The value of justice in the Story of the Bangga Kaasan Ship is illustrated in the


“Truth would certainly win, that’s how the life of the Tolitoli kingdom

was then tidying up with their new king, His Majesty Raja Djamalul

Alam. Later on, King Djamalul Alam ruled the Tolitoli area very

wisely. Justice was enforced so that the Tolitoli community became

welfare, just and prosperous.”





238

The value of local wisdom in the quote from the story teaches us that a leader

who can lead the community fairly is needed. Because by doing so, the leader has

carried out noble deeds, has a fair attitude towards others, and maintains a balance

between rights and obligations and creates a civil society that is just and prosperous.

3. The Origin Story of Bamba Libo Toaya

In the story of the origin of Bamba Libo Toaya, ten values of local wisdom are found,

namely (a) the value of gratitude and respect, (b) the value of the trust (c) the value of

mutual cooperation (d) the value of politeness (e) the value of courage and self-

confidence, (f) the value of wisdom, (g) the value of deliberation, (h) the value of hard

work, and (j) the value of commitment. The ten values will be described as follows.

a. The Value of Gratitude and Respect

The value of gratitude and respect for the story of the origin of Bamba Libo Toaya is

illustrated in the following story excerpt.

“Lolo and Odi grew up to be handsome and beautiful children.

In addition, they also had good behavior, such as being diligent

in helping their parents with their work, either in the garden or

at home. They also respected their parents and cared about their

environment all the time. Tangga Loba and Tambu were very

grateful to have children like Lolo and Odi.”

The value of local wisdom in the story quotation illustrates that we must always

be grateful for the blessings given by God. We have to admit that all the sustenance

and grace that we enjoy is not obtained by our own efforts, but only from Allah Swt.

The story excerpt depicts the figure of parents who are very grateful to God for the

gift of a pair of children who are smart and have good behavior.

b. The Value of Trustworthiness

The value of trustworthiness of the story of The Origin of Bamba Libo Toaya is

illustrated in the following story excerpt.

“One day, Lolo and Odi were about to play into the forest. They

said goodbye to their parents. Tambu advised his son, “Don’t

play too far into the forest, because there are many wild

animals.”

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story teaches that if we are

given a mandate or responsibility, that mandate must be carried out and completed

properly. We must have the attitude of trustworthiness and train ourselves to so that

itis ingrained and become our habit. In the story quotation, the parents give a mandate

to their children not to play near the forest because there are many wild animals.

c. The Value of Mutual cooperation

The value of mutual cooperation in The Origin of BambaLiboToayais illustrated in


“Lolo and Odi loved to help their parents all the time. They

pulled all the grown grasses so that the corn and sweet potato

could grow well. They worked happily and helped each other.”





239

The value of mutual cooperation in the story teaches us to help each other in

good things because it can make hard work become easy to do. A harmonious family

is described in the excerpt of the story because they love to help each other.

d. The Value of Politeness

The value of politeness on the origin of the Bamba Libo Toaya story is illustrated in


“Forgive me, gentlemen, I am very disrespectful to gentlemen, I

did not know that these gentlemen are the king’s entourage from

Kulawi” said Lolo with a tone of regret. Then a man who looked

very modest said to Lolo, “We also apologize if our presence

disturbs the people here. In fact, the man was King of Kulawi.”

The value of local wisdom in the quote from the story teaches that we must

maintain the norms of courtesy in social life. We must behave in mutual respect.

Young people and elders must respect each other, and also care for younger ones.

The quote from the story depicts a figure who is still a young man, Lolo who respects

older people, King of Kulawi and his entourage. Likewise, the King of Kulawi also

respects and gives affection for him.

e. The Value of Courage and Confidence

The value of courage and confidence in the story of the origin of Bamba Libo Toaya

is illustrated in the following story excerpt.

“That’s right, O Lord King. In our forest, there are many wild

animals. However, if you take or hunt animals in this area, you

will have to pay a fine to us because the animal is the guardian

of our village,” said Lolo with a trembling tone.”

The value of local wisdom in the story quotes teaches that we must build the

value of courage and confidence in ourselves by maintaining self-calm and being

able to control ourselves in any situation, including in difficult situations. Building

self-confidence starts with the development of a positive attitude in seeing yourself

and having a strong belief that you are able to do something. With the possession of

a self-confident attitude, an attitude of courage will automatically appear in us. In the

story’s excerpt, it is described as a child, Lolo who has high courage and confidence

in conveying something he thinks is true.

f. The Value of Wisdom

The value of the wisdom of the story The Origin of Bamba Libo Toaya is illustrated

in the following story excerpt.

“However, this is not the case with King of Kulawi. He tried to

address these problems wisely. The King then said, “Son, take

the fine from us, which are a pair of cows, a pair of buffalo, and

a pair of male and female goats who are still alive,” said the

King, pointing to some of the animals he meant.”

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story tells us that if you

become a leader, a king, or an official who has the authority or power, you cannot be

arbitrary to the common people. In deciding something, a leader must put the public

interest or society first and should not prioritize his personal interests. The quotation





240

of the story illustrates the wise attitude shown by the King of Kulawi, who obeyed

the demands of the common people.

g. The Value of Deliberation

The value of deliberation on the origin of the Bamba Libo Toaya story is illustrated


“All right, I ask that if all these animals reproduce, I will come

back to take some of these castles. How about it, son? Do you

agree?” asked the King to Lolo. Lolo agreed to the King’s

request. Then there was an agreement between the King and

Lolo. Lolo is given a number of animals for him to breed, and

one day the King will ask for the results of these cattle.”

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story tells us that in making

a decision, it must be based on the nature of deliberation to reach a consensus. The

making decision process must be based on a spirit of togetherness and kinship, not

on competition. It means that we cannot prioritize our personal or group interests, but

we have to find the best solution for all parties. The quotation of the story illustrates

a good behavior in Raja Kulawi who does not impose his will but listens to

suggestions and input from small people.

h. The Value of Hard Work

The value of the hard work of the Bamba Libo Toaya story is illustrated in the


“Almost every day Lolo and Odi herd their livestock from

Ranga-Ranga village to the pasture. When it was dusk they

returned to lead their cattle back to the village. Actually, they

have to travel quite a long distance every day. However, for the

sake of their livestock, Lolo and Odi, who was starting to feel

tired, remained excited.”

The value of local wisdom in the quotation of the story tells us that if we want

to be successful, our efforts must be based on hard work. It means that the work must

be done sincerely and tirelessly. We cannot stop before reaching our goals. In the

story excerpt, Lolo and Odi are depicted as young who are full of enthusiasm and

tirelessly in carrying out their duties, grazing their cattle.

i. The Value of Independence

The value of the story’s independence The origin of Bamba Libo Toaya is illustrated


“The longing for their parents suddenly caught Lolo and Odi

very strongly. The image of the happy days they have spent

together often comes to their mind. However, they try to be

strong in living their life even though without their parents

anymore. They kept continuing their normal daily life, grazing

their cattle.”

The value of local wisdom in the quote from the story illustrates how important

an independent attitude is. By having an independent attitude, it will bring us to a

high self-confidence and optimism that we will be able to face a problem and not





241

have a dependence on other parties. In the story, an excerpt depicted the figure of the

children, Lolo and Odi who remained strong and able to work even though their

parents had died.

j. The Value of Commitment and Integrity

The value of the independent work of the Bamba Libo Toaya story is illustrated in


“Lolo, we have come here to retrieve the animal that the king

once gave you,” said the king’s guard. “Yes, I am giving you

some of these cattle sincerely, but I have one request,” replied

Lolo.”

The value of local wisdom in the story excerpt illustrates how important the

value of commitment and integrity is. By having an attitude of commitment and good

integrity, someone who is consistent in his actions has an honest personality and has

a strong character. People who are committed do not easily break promises to stick

to things that have been agreed upon together. In the story, excerpt depicted the figure

of children, Lolo and Odi who did not break the promise or agreement made by King

of Kulawi.

SUMMARY

Based on the result of the research explained in the exclamation point, one of the heritages

of the local culture in the form of folklores in Central Sulawesi containing local wisdom. It is

depicted in three stories, namely (1) Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako (2) The Bangga Kaasan Ship,

and (3) The Origin of Bamba Limo Toaya.It can be known from them that the people of Kaili,

Tolitoli, and Bada have possessed the positive values which are the value of simplicity, the

value of patience, the value of persistence, the value of solidarity, the value of hard work, the

value of harmony and brotherhood, the value of politeness, the value of affection, the value of

deliberation, the value of trustworthiness, the value of justice, the value of gratitude, the value

of mutual cooperation, the value of courage and confidence, the value of wisdom, the value of

independence, and the value of commitment. These folklores must be revitalized to be

implemented and taught to the young generation as the foundation of character building.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Dimenson, Sara, Ed. 2009. Character is Key: How to Unlock the Best in Our Children and in Our Self. Ontario:

John Wiley and Sons Canada.

DepartemenPendidikan Nasional. 2012. Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia Pusat Bahasa Edisi Keempat. Jakarta:

PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Firman. 2017. Kapal Bangga Kaasan. Palu: Balai Bahasa Sulawesi Tengah.

Gunawan, Restu. 2008. “Kearifan Lokal dalam Tradisi Lisan dan Karya Sastra”. Makalah Kongres Bahasa 28—

31 Oktober 2008, Jakarta.

Inriani, Kethy, 2017. “Nilai Kearifan Lokal dalam Legenda Cerita Rakyat Muntok: Sebuah Kajian Pendidikan

Karakter”, in Seminar Bahasa dan Sastra, 2017, pp. 167-177.

Keraf, Gorys. 1995. Eksposis: Komposisi Lanjutan II. Jakarta: Gramedia Widiasarana Indonesia.

Maulidi, Ahmad.2017. Lengkatuwo Sang Tadulako. Palu: Balai Bahasa Sulawesi Tengah.

Panggagau, Indrawan. 2017. Asal Usul Bamba Libo Toaya. Palu: Balai Bahasa Sulawesi Tengah.

Ratna, N.K. 2008. Teori, Metode, danTeknikPenelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta: PustakaBelajar.

Sibarani, R. 2012. Kearifan Lokal Hakikat, Peran, dan Metode Tradisi Lisan. Jakarta: Asosiasi Tradisi Lisan

(ATL).

Sudjiman, P. 2016. KamusIstilahSastra. Jakarta:UniversitasIndonesia.

Yasil, Suradi. 1995/1996. Nilai-Nilai Budaya yang Terdapat dalam Cerita Rakyat Bugis. Laporan Penelitian

Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional Sulawesi Selatan. Ujung Pandang.

Yuliati,Yayuk. 2011. Perubahan Ekologis dalam Strategi Adaptasi Masyarakat di Pegunungan Tengger (Suatu

Kajian Gender dan Lingkungan). Malang: UB Press.





242





243

LOCAL IDENTITY IN THE SRAGEN’S BATIK PARANG SUKOWATI LINK

Nanang Rizali

Universitas Muhamadiyah Bandung


Bani Sudardi

FIB UNS Surakarta


ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to examine the Sukowati batik in Sragen. This batik is a batik

that has a network with batik in Java, especially the Surakarta palace batik. The subject of this

research is the batik parang Sukoawati in Sragen Regency. It is a formal batik in the Regency

government. The aim is to know how the process of finding the batik and the link the batik to

the Javanese batik in Surakarta, or in the Javanese Palace (kraton). To obtain these data, the

data sources of this research are: (1) The informants consisted of experts of the batik and

government employee; (2) Events and Behaviors: The events or behavior that is the source of

the data are events or behavior related to batik production and other activity; (3) Documents:

This document is in the form of notes or publications about Javanese batik. Included in the

document data sources are reviews and writings in newspapers/magazines/ and the internet

regarding Batik parang Sukowati; (4) Artifacts: The artifacts used in this study are all artifacts

related to batik parang Sukawati. Interviews were conducted by informal interviews (in-depth

interviews) with other informants mentioned above. To maintain the validity of the data, the

interview will be accompanied by a member check. In imaging batik, it is not just decorating a

piece of cloth, but also as a container for life values and beliefs. In its development, various

patterns have been born, from traditional motifs to the creation of modern batik (new creations).

Its presence is caused by various factors and needs. Consumers who continue to grow, as well

as the development of communication technology as a more effective and efficient medium of

expression, the concept of imaging the city of Sragen Regency with the slogan The Land of

Java Man reminds one of its superior potential, namely the Sangiran Museum through the

development of batik motifs. The Sangiran Early Man Site and later developed the Ancient

Elephant Gading, which has become an icon in the tourism sector by processing the Sangiran

batik motif now into Batik Parang Sukowati symbolic and meaningful identity. In order to

spread the meaning of the city to the people of Sragen Regency itself, socialization should be

carried out, especially to its users. Public perceptions of the potential influence of Sangiran

tourism and its batik have not been fully realized. By packaging the motifs taken from the

Sangiran site icon, the local batik products are continuously produced which can become an

image of the local culture and identity of Sragen Regency. In matters related to Charles

Darwin’s theory of Human Evolution, the Sragen Regional Government reviewed it

considering that images built from the basic idea of early human creation were no longer

relevant. Therefore, since the beginning of 2017, there has been a change in Sragen Regency’s

identity by lifting Batik Parang Sukowati as its icon.

Keywords: batik, parang Sukowati, Sragen.

INTRODUCTION

Batik is a cultural object that has typical philosophical and symbolic values of the

archipelago. During its development, batik has changed from time to time in its technical

processes and motives in several areas. As a product of material culture, it is an inherent part

of the national culture and becomes the Indonesian people’s cultural identity. Batik is not only





244

a Javanese product but has become a cross-ethnic cultural instrument with its application as a

formal dress. Since 1970, batik has hatched into an industry and economic strength and in the

aspect of creativity it has become a medium for expressing local identity.

In Sragen Regency, north of Solo, Central Java, there is an archaeological site called

Sangiran. As a world heritage (World Heritage) with the name Sangiran the Early Man Site.

Various handicraft products of the community around Sangiran include souvenirs, one of which

is batik. As a local cultural heritage, Sangiran batik is considered to have awakened local

identity and the surrounding environments potential.

Since the beginning of 2017, after going through his exploration, there has been a change

from Sangiran batik’s transformation into what is called “Padang Sukowati” batik.

Philosophically, the batik design comes from combining the traditional motifs of the Keraton

Surakarta batik motifs with abstract motifs from the Sangiran site and the Sragen icon. The

result of this combination produces a harmonization of batik works that are easily recognized

as the development icon of Sangiran batik. Batik Parang Sukowati is a model of batik

development as a cultural tradition of Indonesia in the search for local identity in Sragen

Regency.

METHOD

The subject of this research is the batik parang Sukoawati in Sragen Regency. It is a legal

batik in the Regency government. The aim is to know how to find the batik and link the batik

to the Javanese batik in Surakarta, or in the Javanese Palace (kraton).

To obtain these data, the data sources of this research are:

1. The informants consisted of experts of the batik dan government employee

2. Events and Behaviors: The events or behavior that is the data source are events or

behavior related to batik production and other activity.

3. Documents: This document is in the form of notes or publications about Javanese batik.

Included in the document data sources are reviews and writings in newspapers/

magazines/and the internet regarding Batik parang Sukowati

4. Artifacts: The artifacts used in this study are all artifacts related to batik parang Sukawati.

Interviews were conducted by informal interviews (in-depth interviews) with other

informants mentioned above. To maintain the validity of the data, the interview will be

accompanied by a member check (see Nasution, 1992: 117).

The involved and non-involved observations were made on the events and behavior of

the informant/data source. The type of observation is carried out according to field conditions.

The observation results will be recorded into an electronic file (digital photo).

The study of written documents (content analysis) is used to read the document and record

things in the data display in accordance with the research theme.h

In this study, the validity of the data was tested using data triangulation, namely the

researcher used several data sources to obtain similar data (Sutopo, 1988: 31) in order to obtain

a comprehensive cross-data understanding.k. The validity of the data will also be strengthened

by means of peer debriefing (see Nasution, 1992: 117). Peer de briefing is pursued by inviting

people who are not involved in the research to provide comments about the research results in

a validation seminar. The comments are then used to improve the research results. Validity and

data collection will be carried out using the FGD (focus group discussion) technique to obtain

an overview of identification in the batik parang Sukawati. The model used in this data analysis

takes an interactive analysis model (see Miles and Huberman, 1993: 20), where the three

components of data analysis interact with each other during the research process. This analysis

is thus carried out in the field and recorded in the fieldnotes for further use of the results in the

preparation of the final research report.





245

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BATIK ART IN NUSANTARA

Batik cloth is one of Indonesia’s cultural heritages, which is made through waxing as a

color-poking material, which causes the color to be covered in dyeing wax. Basically, making

batik includes painting as an original skill possessed by the Indonesian people since centuries

ago. The tool used for painting is the canting which has various sizes depending on the type and

smoothness of the desired line. The result of the canting scratches on the cloth is called a

decoration which will provide an overview of the geographical location of the batik making

area, beliefs and customs, the nature and order of life, including natural conditions and the

contact between the batik areas. Thus it can be known and recognized the decorative body’s

characteristics and batik colors from certain regions. However, batik activities initially

developed in Java, especially in the Keraton Solo and Yogyakarta areas.

Since the development of batik in the archipelago as a distinctive form of Indonesian art,

it has spread to several regions. In Indonesia, several batik areas are scattered, especially in the

island of Java, from West Java to East Java, and Madura and parts of the island of Sumatra.

Several batik centers in Java, Madura, and Sumatra, namely Jambi, Indramayu, Cirebon, Garut,

Tasikmalaya, Pekalongan, Yogyakarta, Solo, Lasem, Tuban, and Tanjung Bumi. Based on the

words of batik, there are two cities, namely Yogyakarta and Solo which are grouped with

vorstenlanden batik. Apart from these two cities, the other cities are categorized as coastal batik

although there are cities that are not located in coastal areas. This type of coastal batik has

naturalist characteristics and various foreign cultural influences with its various colors.

One type of batik that has developed in the archipelago is Jambi batik according to P.W.

Philipsen (in Djomena, 1990: 84) in approximately 1875 H, Mahibat along with a family from

Central Java who settled in Jambi and worked on Jambi batik. According to sources, Jambi

batik was developed by the kings of the Malay-Jambi family and gradually subsided after the

collapse of the kingdom. Based on its history, there has been a trade relationship between Jambi,

which is located in the Batanghari river area, and several batik cities in Java. Therefore there is

an influence of Javanese batik on Jambi batik art, although there are also influences from Arabic

and Chinese culture. In general, Jambi’s batik decorations are naturalist with typical Indonesian

plants. The influence of Arabic culture is seen in geometric decorations and calligraphy, while

the influence of Chinese culture is the tumpal motif on the edge of the cloth. The original colors

of Jambi batik are dark blue, blackish blue, dark red, and yellowish.

In the past, Indramayu was one of the coastal port cities of West Java which was a

stopover for foreign and inter-island kapa. Although it is a neighboring area of Cirebon as the

palace city, Indramayu is a fishing area located at the Cimanuk River’s mouth. Besides being a

port city, Indramayu is also a batik city where the batik makers are fishermen’s wives.

Indramayu batik is known as Dermayon which has a characteristic of coastal batik. In its

simplicity, Dermayon’s batik art has its own charm because its long cloth has a tumpal.

Indramayu’s batik decorations are influenced by the surrounding flora and fauna, such as Jarot

Asem, Dara Kipu, and Algae, Urang Ayu, and Iwak Entong. Reddish-brown batik color. The

color of brown nuances is influenced by the ratio of noni and mahogany as natural dyes.

Cirebon city, located on the border of West Java and Central Java, is a port area as well

as a batik city. Cirebon is a stopover city for traders from abroad and between islands, besides

being famous for the Kasepuhan and Kanoman Palace and one of the centers of the spread of

Islam. The condition and nature of the environment influence the cultural arts, including the art

of batik, especially the decoration and color. The influence of Arabic, Hindu and Chinese

culture on Cirebon art can be seen in the batik arts of Peksi Naga Liman and Singa Barong.

Things that are characteristic of Cirebon are celebrating Chinese tastes such as the mega cloud

batik, with red, blue, green and white colors which are also the colors of the coastal batik. The

distinctive feature of Cirebon batik is that it often displays the shape of the natural image





246

surrounding it as a coastal area, as well as folklore and the beliefs or views of its people. The

ivory yellow background color which is Cirebon’s distinctive color is called Cirebon Yellow.

Parahayangan is an area that is inhabited by Sundanese ethnicities in West Java, one of

which is the city of Garut, because of its beautiful scenery and cleanliness, this city has received

the title City of Diamonds, in addition to the girl whose skin is olive, her skin is like gumading

color, the distinctive color of Garut’s batik background. Besides being associated with the color

of kul.

THE COMBINATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE KRATON BATIK

IN THE PARANG SUKOWATI BATIK

The palace culture makes batik a form of legitimacy. Only certain officials are allowed to

wear certain motif batik, which is called batik parang. This batik is known as the palace batik.

Batik Kraton is the forerunner of all types of batik that developed in Indonesia. The motive

contains the meaning of life philosophy. These batiks are made by court princesses as well as

expert batik craftsmen who live in the palace environment. Basically, the motive is forbidden

to be used by “ordinary” people such as Batik Parang Barong, Batik Parang Rusak, including

Batik Udan Liris.

Especially for batik Parang, this name is closely related to the history of Mataram

Javanese culture, which considers the origin of the Mataram kingdom to be from mystical

events on Parangkusuma Beach. Parangkusumo Beach in Bantul is another interesting side of

Yogyakarta. Not only because it has sand dunes, there are also sacred stones with the myth of

Ratu Kidul. In that area, there are two stones called Selo Gilang as the meeting place between

the founder of the Mataram Panembahan Senopati dynasty and the ruler of the south coast

Kanjeng Ratu Kidul. The two stones are also often referred to as the “Stone of Love”.

Parangkusumo is located not far from the Parangtritis area. Precisely in the west or before

entering the Parangtritis Beach area. The distance from the city of Yogyakarta to the area is

approximately 3 km. The Parangkusumo area is more widely known as a destination for

pilgrims, especially in the month of Sura based on the Javanese calendar. Meanwhile, on

weekdays, the area is crowded with visitors on Tuesday Kliwon and Friday Kliwon nights.

Around the area, there are many flower sellers of setaman or sow flowers, incense and incense.

Apart from Parangkusumo Beach, a place that is known to be sacred that many pilgrims

visit is Cepuri Parangkusumo. There is a myth that is believed to be the meeting place between

the founder of the Mataram dynasty, Danang Suto Wijoyo who later had the title Panembahan

Senopati and the ruler of the south coast, Kanjeng Ratu Kidul. In Cepuri Parangkusumo, an

area of approximately 80 square meters is surrounded by two large black stones. The two large

stones were the place where Panembahan Senopati met when he was meditating with Kanjeng

Ratu Kidul, which led to a marriage contract between Panembahan Senopati and Ratu Kidul

which was then continued by the kings of the Mataram dynasty, especially the Yogyakarta

Sultanate until now. Until now the Yogyakarta Palace has always held a port procession every

year.

The Sangiran batik patterned cloth was then applied to school students’ uniforms at

various levels and government employees (PNS) in Sangiran Regency during 2012 - 2016. The

uniform was worn on study days with different types of models and colors at each level, while

for civil servants worn on certain days and at flag ceremonies. However, not all fabrics are

made through the batik process and done with printing techniques. Local government policy in

developing tourism potential and Sangiran batik as an image of Sragen city. This is intended to

foster a sense of pride and realize to the public that the concept of batik design that has a

historical philosophy can become an icon depicting identity. Thus Sangiran batik has become

a medium of communication and local identity in Sragen Regency.





247

Since early 2017, after going through a process of exploration, the Sangiran batik results

have changed into what is called “Parang Sukowati” batik. Philosophically, this batik design

combines the traditional motifs of the Keraton Surakarta batik with decorative abstraction

motifs. The hallmark of the Sangiran site and the Sragen icon. This combination produces a

harmonization of batik works that are easily recognized. Some of the icons contained in the

“Parang Sukowati” batik as development or transformation of Sangiran batik include:

1. The Modern Parang Contour (the development of a machete motif in the classical batik

of the Surakarta Palace) describes the Sragen community’s dynamism.

2. The ancient elephant ivory gate is the entrance gate to Sragen Regency, a historical and

ancient tourism destination in the Sangiran area.

3. Pendopo is the government center of Sragen Regency

4. Plants depicting flora and fauna as a distinctive icon of Sragen Regency in black

5. The Branjang bird represents one of the fauna icons in the Sragen area

A batik person who describes Sragen Regency, which is one of the batik industries,

especially in the Kliwonan area. The basic color of fresh or brown depicts the fertile agricultural

land of the city of Sragen (source; Catalog of Sukowti Museum, Sragen Regency 2017).

Batik Parang Sukowati is a development of Sragen’s local identity in the form of a

harmonious blend of elements of the Surakarta Kraton cultural tradition and the potential of the

Sragen area, as well as changing the comprehensive impression of Sangiran batik. The

development of a regional product related to its local identity cannot be separated from the

policy of the governing regional head official. The development of Parang Sukowati batik in

Sragen Regency is an effort of the local government in the search for its local identity.

Beginning with Sangiran batik’s existence, which only depicts elements of the Sangiran

Museum site, which later developed into batik Parang Sukowati is a model for the development

of batik as a traditional culture of the Indonesian nation.

CONCLUSION

In imaging batik, it is not just decorating a piece of cloth, but also as a container for life

values and beliefs. In its development, various patterns have been born, from traditional motifs

to the creation of modern batik (new creations). Various factors and needs cause its presence.

Consumers who continue to grow, as well as the development of communication technology as

a more effective and efficient medium of expression, the concept of imaging the city of Sragen

Regency with the slogan The Land of Java Man reminds one of its superior potential, namely

the Sangiran Museum through the development of batik motifs. The Sangiran Early Man Site

and later developed the Ancient Elephant Gading which has become an icon in the tourism

sector by processing the Sangiran batik motif now into Batik Parang Sukowati as a symbolic

and meaningful identity.

In order to spread the meaning of the city to the people of Sragen Regency itself,

socialization should be carried out, especially to its users. Public perceptions of the potential

influence of Sangiran tourism and its batik have not been fully realized. By packaging the motifs

that are taken from the Sangiran site icon, the local batik products are continuously produced

which can become an image of the local culture and identity of Sragen Regency. In matters

related to Charles Darwin’s theory of Human Evolution, the Sragen Regional Government

reviewed it considering that images built from the basic idea of early human creation were no

longer relevant. Therefore, since the beginning of 2017, there has been a change in the identity

of Sragen Regency by lifting Batik Parang Sukowati as its icon.





248

REFERENCES Djoemana, Nian. S, 1990, Ungkapan Sehelai Batik, Jakarta: Djambatan

Doellah, H. Santosa, 2002, The Impact of Time and Environment, Surakarta: Danarhadi

Koentjaraningrat, 1985, Kebudayaan Metalitas dan Pembangunan, Jakarta: PT. Gramedia

Rizali, Nanang, 2013, Nafas Islami dalam Batik Nusantara, Surakarta: UNS Press

Sunarya, YanYan, 2014, Batik; Digitalisasi Kreatif Motif Dalam Gaya Desain Dunia, Bandung:

Penerbit ITB

Zaman, Biranul Anas, 2011, “Batik-Kreatifitas-Ekonomi” Menggapai peran Batik dalam Ekonomi

Kreatif, makalah dalam World Batik Summit 2011, Jakarta 28 September 2011

Balai Pelestarian Situs Manusia Purba Sangiran, 2010, “Undang-undang No. 10, Tahun 2010 tentang

Cagar Budaya”

Katalog Museum Sukowati dan Dinas Perindustrian Perdagangn Kabupaten Sragen, Tahun 2017

Pemda Sragen. 1987. Sejarah dan Hari Jadi Pemerintah di Kabupaten Sragen Tahun 1987, Penerbit

Perpustakaan Daerah Kabupaten Sragen





249

FIGURE OF SEMAR IN THE JAVANESE PUPPET STORY

AS A SYMBOL OF CHARACTER BUILDING IN THE JAVANESE SOCIETY

Nanik Herawati

D. B. Putut Setiadi

Erry Pranawa

Study Program of Language Education, Postgraduate School

Universitas Widya Dharma Klaten

ABSTRACT

This research aims to analyse the figure of Semar in puppet show as a symbol of character

building in Javanese society. The method used in the research is a descriptive method, and the

approach is qualitative. Data collection is done by documentation and observation in the show;

it can be direct or by means of looking at the video. Researchers also read literature work about

Semar. The result of the research shows that Semar in the puppet story has wise nature, helping

hands, and patient. He also often gives bits of advice to his knights and lower people. He has a

democratic attitude and high tolerance for others. Very often he entertains and makes others

feel comfortable with him. The figure of Semar always becomes a role model for the Pandawa

Family and others.

Keywords: Semar, puppet show, Javanese society

INTRODUCTION

The figure of Semar in the puppet show has a symbol of moral for Javanese society,

especially those who love the Javanese culture. The writings on Semar are works of art

containing human life dimension. The figure of Semar is creatively and imaginatively written

that contains about moral education and ethic for Javanese people such as humility, patience,

tolerance, sincere sacrifice, and other moral teachings. The puppet show is an ancient Javanese

cultural product that has united with society containing symbolic norms both for ordinary

people and the community leaders. Up to now, this show is very interesting.

Semar is one of the characters in the show; he is actually a god, Ismaya. His other name

is Badranaya. He lives in Karang Kedempel. Semar is always with his three sons: Gareng,

Petruk, and Bagong. All his sons have a physical disability. Although physically they are less

interesting, their stage appearances are desired for their comical acts. He always gives

suggestions to his sons about life in detail including local wisdom. Many high moral teachings

expressed by Semar are followed by Pandawa in whom he serves as a servant and spiritual

teacher. In the same time, Semar’s teachings are followed by people in real life.

The problems which will be discussed in the paper are related to two main questions.

They are: (1) How is the Semar figure described? (2) How does he act as a symbol of moral

and character building in the Javanese society?

LITERATURE STUDY

Before the figure of Semar is discussed, the literature study on a puppet show, Semar

figure, and symbolic meaning will be reviewed first.

1. Puppet Show

Semar cannot be separated from the art of puppet show which in the Javanese language

is called wayang ‘shadow’. It takes the story from the books of Ramayana and

Mahabarata. In Java, the show is done in two ways. First, it is acted by a real figure; it is

called wayang orang. Second, it is acted by a puppet; it is called wayang kulit ‘puppet

show’. Mahabarata is a story about the war of Pandawa and Kurawa. Pandawa is five

brothers in whom Semar serves as their servant and spiritual advisor; they are





250

protagonists. And Kurawa has hundreds of soldiers; they are antagonists. As one of the

puppet show sources, Mahabarata contains moral education for common people and

community leaders. Both wayang orang and wayang kulit has dalang, a mastermind. In

ancient times, the puppet show was done as a religious ritual, but now this function

gradually changed; it is now mostly a show for entertainment. Only a certain occasion

they put on the show for special purposes such as ruwatan and nyadran. Ruwatan is a

ritual prayer for certain children; and nyadran is a ritual prayer for the ancestors.

2. Figure of Semar

Semar is the son of Sang Hyang Tunggal God. He has two brothers: God Guru and God

Antaga. God Antaga is the oldest son of Sang Hyang Tunggal God with his wife, Dewi

Wiranti. While Semar or God Ismaya is the second son. God Guru is the third. Semar is

sent to the world to keep peace and serenity in the world. Semar and his three sons are

called Punakawan; they are Semar, Gareng, Petruk, and Bagong. Semar always guides

the Pandawa brothers tenderly and patiently; shows them how to be good leaders. Semar

always guides Pandawa to be patient, wise, humble, honest, clever, and wide

knowledgeable. Semar has those characters and applies them in daily life. Physically

Semar is fat, his belly is like the earth, happy face and always smiles at people showing

unlimited love. His eyes are swollen indicating that life is full of happiness and sadness.

3. Symbolic Meaning

Meaning is a semantic study dealing with natural language. The word semantic, which is

a part of linguistics, is derived from Greek sema ‘sign’. The word symbolic is also derived

from Greek symbollein ‘to match something which is separated into a two-piece.’

Symbolic is a part of semiotics. The relation of symbolic meaning in the puppet show is

that wayang is the symbol of life. When people watch the show, they will get the

knowledge of living and human life in reality. The symbol contains idea and certain

meaning which have been understood and agreed by the community. The function of a

symbol is a means of communication among the community; as a messager of idea and

thought to society.

4. Character Building

Character building in the Javanese language is budi pekerti. Budi is thought; and pekerti

is a deed. So budi pekerti is a deed guided by thought as stated by Sugeng Subagyo (2010)

that budi pekerti is an action that is guided by thought; so the action is the realization of

the thought. Budi pekerti is human behavior relating to moral that is suitable with the

society and religion norms. The behavior is tightly related to norms which contain good

moral, full of ethics and courtesy. Budi pekerti, in this case, has a close relation with

Semar. He, who takes care of Pandawa, is able to give good examples to them how to be

good knights, responsible leaders, gives respect to common people.

Character building in the puppet show is indicated by Semar who always follows

and guards his knights patiently and tenderly. The tusk of Semar in the world is to keep

peace in the world and guide society to have good deeds (Dwijo Carito, 2000: 90).

Education of behavior has the same substance as moral education. The word moral

is derived from Latin mores ‘meaning manner in life or customs.’ According to WJS

Poerwodarminto (2002), the moral is a certain teaching about the human deed, their

behavior, and responsibility. In other words, moral education has close relation with

social norms and religion which arrange human behavior in order to have a good life in

society.


This research used a qualitative description methodology. It has a goal to gain factual

description systematically and accurately about facts, character, and the relation among the





251

phenomena being analyzed (Nasir, 1999: 63). The research reviews the figure of Semar in the

puppet show as a means of moral education in the Javanese society.

The data is collected from an interview and books about a puppet story. The main data is

gained from an interview with an expert. According to Arikunto (1970: 127) interview is a

dialog done by an interviewer to gain information about someone or something from the

interviewee.

The interviewee in this research is Ki Wisnu Nugraha, S.Pd. He is 29 years old; his

occupation is a dalang (mastermind); he lives at Krajan RT 02 RW 06, Kalikotes, Klaten

Regency, Central Java. The dialog is about to answer these questions:

1. Who is Semar?

2. How is the character of Semar?

3. What morals and ethics can be applied in society?

4. What role of Semar can be the symbol of moral and ethics education in the Javanese

society?

RESEARCH RESULT AND REVIEW

1. Description of Semar

Javanese puppet show has been known since the 11th century AD. A puppet show is

actually a shadow which is in the Javanese language is wayang. It is a stage show where

the mastermind, dalang, is the center person in the show. From behind the screen, the

mastermind imitates the voice and the nature of each figure in the story. The puppet show

is a means of entertainment, education, and propaganda. The story usually contains

religious, moral, ethical norms.

In the story, Semar is a figure of loyal servant together with his sons: Gareng,

Petruk, and Bagong. The four figures are called Punakawan ‘smart friends’. Semar is

actually a god, whose real name is Ismaya, which descents to earth as common man. His

duty is to guide and protect people, especially Pandawa family. His other name is

Badranaya, from the word bebadra ‘to build from the beginning’ and naya ‘messenger.’

He is actually handsome when he lives at heavenly. But when down to earth, his

appearance is changed: he is fat, he has a distended belly.

Semar is humble, polite, tender, and low profile to others. Semar is a symbol of a

good leader and protector. Although he is a servant, people respect to him including the

Pandawa family. When the Pandawas has a critical problem, they usually call Semar for

a suggestion.

Semar is the spiritual tutor and understands well about the mind and heart of others.

He has some personalities as a spiritual tutor such as:

a. Protector for knights, especially Pandawa family

b. Advisor and guide for knights when they in trouble

c. Savior for knights when they are in dangerous

d. Entertainer for knights when they are sad

2. Role of Semar as a Means of Moral and Character Education in the Javanese Society

Moral education is similar to behavior education. As stated by Haidar (2004) that

behavior education is a conscious effort done to internalize morals into the attitude and

behavior of students in order that they have the good deed in their daily life in relation to

Supreme God, to among people, and to the environment. The role of Semar as a means

of moral education for Javanese society can be described as follows:

a. Semar is always alert and wise in dealing with problems. Although acting as a

servant, he can be very wise. Alert and wise personalities of Semar can be found in

this quote.





252

Wonten ing Karang Kedhempel, Kyai Semar sanakira samya nedheng

reraosan bab para Pandawa, ingkang tinimbalan dening Kurawa

dating Ngastina. Semar rumaos eman dhateng para bendara, dene

datan emut lupiya ingkag sampun-sampun sauger katimbalan dhateng

Ngastina, mesti dipun krenah amrih pejahipun (lampahan Wayang

Purwa 41).

‘At Karang Kadhempel, Kyai Semar together with his sons discussed

Pandawa that is invited to Ngastina by Kurawa. Semar feels sorry to

Pandawa who don’t remember the past event when they’re invited to

Ngastina. It’s sure that Kurawa wants to exterminate the Pandawa.’

b. Semar is humble although actually he is a god. He serves as the servant of Pandawa

with patience like the ocean.

Kyai Semar saged wawon sabdo kaliyan Sang Hyang Ismaya, Sang

Ismaya sang pepemut lamun nyata awrat sasanggenipun dados

pamong. Jejering pamong kedah purun nampa sedaya lelampahan,

kanthi lelembaran rila lan legawa.

‘It’s easy for Semar to have a discussion with Sang Hyang Ismaya. He

always reminds his knights that it’s hard to be a spiritual tutor who must

be willing to accept all events sincerely.’

c. Semar has helping hands. As he learns that people have an economic problem and

their life is unpeaceful, Semar helps them by asking god descent to earth to help

miserable people.

Semar hanggadhahi pangajab, supados para dewa smya tumurun

sayekti pamanguning kawula badhe langkung sakawit para dewa badhe

ngawungingani sedaya betahipun para kawula. Kajawi punika para

dewa supaos sami tumut cawe-cawe pamanguning para manungsa.

‘Semar hopes gods can decent to earth to see common people live and

to help them fulfill their needs. Besides that, gods can interfere with

their life.’

d. Semar is obedient to the leader. As a royal servant, Semar is very loyal. This is proved

when Werkudara, one of his knights, is meditating, he has guests from Kurawa

family. Semar refuses the guests with all risk because they may have cruel intentions

toward Werkudara.

Kurawa lan Karno badhe pinanggih Werkudara ingkang nembe wonten

ing pertapan. Adipati Karno mundhut supados saget pepanggihan

kaliyan Raden Werkudara, ananing Semar mboten ngidinaken awit

wekdal punika Raden Werkudara nedheng manembah wonten

ngarsaning Hyang Wenang. Adipati Karno rumaos dipun sepelekaken

dene kadang sepuh mboten saged manggihi kadangipun anem. Durna

ugi nyuwun supados saged pinanggih Werkudara. Semar tetap teguh

mboten marengaken kadang Kurawa manggihi Werkudara.





253

‘Kurawa and Karno want to meet Werkudara who is meditating. Karno

begs Semar that he can meet Werkudara, but Semar doesn’t give the

permission. Karno feels to be insulted. Durna also begs Semar to meet

Werkudara, but Semar refuses.’

The personalities of Semar, which are above described, can be regarded as a

means of moral education in the Javanese society.

CONCLUSION

Semar is the symbol of leadership who always gives bits of advice to his knights.

Although Semar is only a royal servant, he is highly respected because he has good moral ethics.

Semar has good behavior, humble, alert, wise, and has helping hands.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Arikunto, Suharsimi. 1990. Prosedur penelitian Suatu Praktek. Jakarta: Bina Aksara.

Businingsih, C Asri. 2004. Pembelajaran Moral. Jakarta: PT Rineka Cipta.

Depdikbud.1985. Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia. Bandung: Pustaka Jaya.

Depdikbud. 2005. Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.

Dwijo Carito. 2000. Serat Pakeliran Sedalu Natas Kanthi Lampaham Semar Boyong. Sukoharjo:

Cendrawasih

Hadi, Sutrisno. 1989. Diksi dan Gaya Bahasa. Jakarta: Gramedia.

Haidar Putra Daulay. 2004. Pendidikan Islam dalam Sistem Pendidikan Nasional di Indonesia. Jakarta:

Prenada Media, Cet. Ke-1.

Harjana, Andre. Pengantar Sastra. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Utama.

Kayam, Umar. 2001. Kelir Tanpa Batas. Yogyakarta: Gama Media.

Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia edisi II. 1995. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.

Kodrat, Harsono. 1982. Gending-gending Karawitan Jawa Lengkap Slendro Pelog Jilid I. Jakarta: PT

Gramedia.

Koerntjaraningrat. 1974. Nilai Budaya, Mentalitet dan Perkembangan (bunag Rampaian). Jakarta: PT.

Gramedia.

Marwoto, R Budhy Moerhanto. 1996. Apresiasi Wayang. Sukoharjo: CV Cenderawasih.

Miles, Mttew B, dan A, Michael Huberman. 1992. Analisis Data Kualitatif. Terj. Tjetjep Rohendi

Rohidi. Jakarta: UL Press.

Mulyono, Sri Ir. Wayang. Asal-usul, Filsafat dan Masa Depannya. Jakarta: CV. Haji Masagung.

Multono, Sri. 1982. Apa dan Siapa Semar. Jakarta: Gunung Agung.

Paroeso, Bandung, Drs. 1983. Pengantar Pendidikan Moral Pancasila. Semarang: CV Aneka.

Satoto, Sudiro. 1995. Metode Penelitian I. Surakarta: Depdikbud.

Soetarno. 1995. Wayang Kulit Jawa. Sukoharjo: CV Cenderawasih.

Subagya, Ki Sugeng. 2010. Pembelajaran Etika Belalu Lintas. Artikel.

Winardi. 1982. Azas-azas Management. Bandung: Alumni.

_______. 1993. Dasar-dasar Evaluasi Pendidikan. Jakarta: Bumi Aksara.

_______. 1998. Prosedur Penelitian. Yogyakarta: Rineka Cipta.

_______. 1983. Simbolisme dan Mistikisme dalam Wayang. Jakarta: PT. Gunung Agung.





254





255

PATIWANGI, THE TRADITION OF MARRIAGE

IN CARITA CUTET KATIBÉN BÉN TEBÉN BY I MADÉ SUARSA:

A STUDY OF LITERATURE ANTROPOLOGY

Ni Nyoman Tanjung Turaeni

Balai Bahasa Bali


ABSTRACT

Inter-caste marriage brings its own phenomena in society in Bali. Even in the modern era, it is

questionable how the existence of patiwangi in Balinese society whose community consists of

various clans or social groups. This study aims to describe a marriage tradition in the Balinese

short story Katibén Bén Tebén by I Made Suarsa. The problem discussed in this study is how

the patiwangi marriage system, a tradition described in the short story. Patiwangi is a marriage

ceremony that involves a couple of different social group or caste. In analyzing the problem,

the anthropological approach to literature is used, namely an analysis of the understanding of

literary works in relation to culture, in this case, a marriage tradition. This research uses a

qualitative method with a content analysis description. The data source is a Balinese short story

titled Katibén Bén Tebén by I Made Suarsa. Through the anthropological approach to literature

and the study of the formal structure of the story, it can be seen that symbolically the patiwangi

ceremony reduces the caste/social group/nyerod to be the equivalent of the caste of a husband

or wife and no longer equals the family where she/he comes from.

Keywords: short story, marriage, and literary anthropology.

INTRODUCTION

In Law Number 1 of 1974 on one of the conditions for a marriage to take place is the

consent of the two prospective brides and groom. However, in Bali, this requirement is not

sufficient. The prospective bride and groom cannot just get married, even though they love each

other and even though they are old enough to get married. There are additional conditions that

must be fulfilled, even though it is not written in the law, but it is very decisive, that the two

prospective brides and groom must be equal in a social group. For Balinese who are familiar

with the caste system, that is the classification of people based on their descent, being equal

means that the two prospective brides and groom must come from the same caste. Marriage

between a man and a woman who is in the same caste is an ideal marriage because marriage is

a matter of level and class. But as a result of the interaction between society members, inter-

caste marriage cannot be avoided.

In Balinese customary law, there are three ways to carry out marriage procedures,

including (1) memadik (proposing); (2) marriage that is carried out by ngerorod (without

parents’ permission), which commonly carried out are (a) ordinary marriage and (b) nyentana

marriage; and (3) negen dadua marriage (Sudiana, 2019: p. 4). An ordinary marriage is a

marriage that is carried out in which the woman leaves her house and goes to the house of the

groom (future husband), and the woman will enter into the man’s family environment to

continue the lineage in the man’s family, through custom and officially registered in the civil

registry. This is in accordance with the kinship system in Bali, namely the patrilineal system.

This means that a man comes from a family consisting of several sons and daughters, marries

a woman from a family consisting of sons and daughters.

On the other hand, if a family has several daughters and no son, then one of the daughters

will be confirmed as a “man” (purusa), known as sentana rajeg. If the daughter is married to a

man who comes from a family with several sons, then he (man) follows his wife and his status

as a woman (pradana) and lives in his wife’s house. This kind of marriage is known as a





256

nyentana marriage. And what if each family has one son or one daughter and they love each

other, and each wants to be purusa, then a Negen Dadua marriage is carried out. Where marital

status like this both become purusas in their respective families (Sudiana, 2019, p. 11).

Related to this, literature is a portrait of life by involving social problems and social

phenomena in society that are reflected in literary works. Likewise, the social phenomenon is

reflected in the story entitled Katibén Bén Tebén by I Made Suarsa. Through literary works,

problems that become portraits and reflections of people’s lives, especially problems of inter-

caste marriage in Bali that bring problems in society, even though there has been a decision of

Regional People’s Representative Assembly (DPRD) of Bali in 1951 Article 4 explains that the

customary laws called Asu Pundung and Anglangkahi Karang Hulu are abolished. Essentially,

it is prohibited to apply patiwangi to brides whose caste is lower. The existence of customs and

caste in Bali is rich in peace, but also rich in conflict. Customary and caste conflicts are not as

conflicts between individuals or between groups, and as inner conflicts of the characters in the

story. The success of concocting customary conflicts with inner conflicts will certainly produce

a story that has a distinctive appeal (Soethama, 2019).

Based on these, this study tries to examine the literary anthropological approach to the

short story of Katibén Bén Tebén by I Made Suarsa (2013, pp. 37-41). The problem analyzed

is how the story structure and the occurrence of the patiwangi tradition in the story.

The study is more focused on the structure of literary works and anthropology as works

of art so that literary works are the primary elements in literary anthropology studies. Since

literary anthropology is related to cultural issues, apart from characterizations, literary

anthropology studies can also be seen through backgrounds, such as the background of Dayak,

Tengger, Irian Jaya, Kubu and so on. In addition, the study of literary anthropology serves to

introduce the richness of the nation’s cultural treasures so that each culture belongs to the others

(Kutha Ratna, 2004, p. 356).

Several studies are related to this one, which have been conducted before, including a

study entitled “Patiwangi Sanction In Balinese Hindu Community’s Legal Culture” by Sadnyini

(2016) states that the patiwangi ceremony is still carried out by the community, because they

are sure that the patiwangi ceremony sanction will bring balance and goodness for those who

carry out inter-caste marriage; Made Wadi Santiasa in his thesis entitled “Nyerod Marriage

(Down of Caste) According to Balinese Hindu Customs, Studies on Marriage Between Castes

in Beleke District, West Lombok (2017), in his research, nyerod marriage (down of caste) is

carried out after doing patiwangi and religious activities and with 3 witnesses while the

legalization can be implemented if it is linked to article 2 paragraph (1) of Law No. 1 of 1974

and there is no legal consequence, whereas in Balinese Hindu customary law, the consequence

is the severance of the family relationship from the woman’s family and her inheritance rights

are not obtained; Sari Adnyani in an article entitled “The Decision of Traditional Villages as

Legitimacy of Indigenous Peoples Against Nyentana Marriages in Tabanan Regency (2016).

From the study that has been done before, some similarities and differences have been

done and that will be done. The similarity is that both of these studies raise social issues or

phenomena about marriage in Balinese society, while the difference is that the object of study

used in this study is different from the object of the previous study.

METHODS

This study is a qualitative study. The data was taken from a collection of short stories in

the Balinese language entitled Nguntul Tanah Nuléngék Langit by I Made Suarsa, published by

Paramita Surabaya, 2013. Of the eleven stories in the book, the writer has only chosen one,

namely a short story entitled Katibén Bén Tebén as a study material. This is because the short

story can represent an analysis of the marriage system that will be carried out. The data

collection was carried out using the literature review method, note-taking technique, assisted





257

by data analysis with interpretation and understanding with the content analysis technique in

the short story. To study and analyze the patiwangi marriage system, critical analysis

descriptions were used to describe the data and then provided interpretations to find out how

patiwangi as a tradition of the marriage system in Bali and how the community’s response to

the marriage system reflected in the short stories.

DISCUSSION

Triwangsa Anomaly of Nyentana in Jaba’s House

The story of Katibén Bén Tebén, when it is interpreted word by word from the title of the

story, it can be described that katibén derives from the word tiba “fall” with the prefix ka-in (ka

+ tiba + in), there is a process of coding to katibén means falling, bén (bé ) “meat” and tebén

(teba + in) “behind/downstream”. It means “Being fell by meat from

behind/downstream/down”. In this story, it is told about the marriage of I Gusti Kusuma and

Ni Luh Sari. I Gusti Ngurah Kusuma comes from ksatria caste, while Ni Luh Sari comes from

sudra caste. According to the customs and traditions of this marriage, of course, it will bring

problems for the family of I Gusti Ngurah Kusuma, because he comes from ksatria caste and

will be demoted to become sudra caste. Due to circumstances, I Gusti Ngurah Kusuma

surrenders or Nyentana to marry Ni Luh Sari as the only daughter in the family, so the

inheritance owned by her parents will be transferred to Ni Luh Sari. Meanwhile, I Gusti Ngurah

lives in a large family and has nothing, in a poor life, even though in terms of caste he is higher

than Ni Luh Sari. But for I Gusti Ngurah Kusuma it is nothing coming from a higher or lower

caste; the most important thing is how he can survive and face the future, not determined by the

caste itself. As seen in the following quote.

“Ratu Betara … Luh Sari ngrereh sentana, napi ipun nyak ring titiang jadma tiwas”.

“Cek cek cek cek cek …” Suaran cecek ring iga-igane sakadi matutang sesambat Ngurah

Kusuma.

Luh Sari madalem Ngurah Kusuma dados kuli bangunan, Ngurah Kusuma madalem Luh

Sari tumbuh padidian. Kawit saling madalem, sayan sue sayan dalem, samara ratih kadi

kaulem, tilem mawali tilem, tresna asih leb matanem, kayun tan sida malih kapendem,

wekasan polih sareng makolem.

…, “Nggih pa, yen kanggeang bapa tiang lacur, tan ngelah geginan, tiang sanggup dadi

sentana dini pa”.

Panyawis Ngurah Kusuma ngesiabin Pan Sari, doning tan madaya pragusti kayun dados

sentana ring anak jaba

“Biang ajin gusti?”

“Nggih tiang jagi matur, dumadak ida tan duka”. (Suarsa, 2013, hlm. 38)

Translation: “Oh, my God … Luh Sari is looking for sentana, does she want to be with me, this poor

man.”

“Cek cek cek cek cek…,” the voice of a wall lizard on the ceiling of the house, as if

confirming Ngurah Kusuma’s words.

Luh Sari feels sorry for seeing Ngurah Kusuma become a construction worker, Ngurah

Kusuma feels sorry for Luh Sari living alone without any brother or sister. Starting from

mutual compassion, over time, a sense of love begins to grow, their desire can no longer

be stopped, in the end, they can live in the bound of marriage.

… well, Sir, if you accept me, a poor man, without any job, I am willing to be sentana in

this house.

Ngurah Kusuma’s answer is shocking Luh Sari’s father because he has no idea that pragusti

(ksatria caste) would be willing to marry Luh Sari from sudra caste.

“Sir, how about Mrs. Gusti?

“Okay, I will convey, I hope she won’t be angry”.





258

The above quote shows that there is an inequality in social strata that occurs between I

Gusti Ngurah Kusuma and Ni Luh Sari. One form of inequality from caste status, Ngurah

Kusuma comes from ksatria caste which is higher than Luh Sari (sudra). However, from social

strata, Ni Luh Sari is higher than Ngurah Kusuma, that is, economically, Luh Sari is richer than

I Gusti Ngurah Kusuma. In this case, a triwangsa is poorer than a sudra. However, from

triwangsa (Ngurah Kusuma) as a poor subject comes as a result of striving to achieve a stable

identity. The ideology still wants to be expressed through the image that the sanctity of blood

cannot be mixed up in a marriage of different status and social position.

From the fact, which occurs in society, this phenomenon can be said to be a symbolic

success that changes the constellation of the jaba-triwangsa relation, and will have a direct

impact on the social environment. Whereas the triwangsa which was previously dominant

without a match, now calculates itself with resistance, because that is how they can survive in

the present. This is done as an awareness to be able to survive and understand the real social

reality, even doing something unusual, willing to do nyentana to Jaba’s family.

Besides, awareness and understanding of the real reality are also seen in the characters of

the two figures who feel inadequate and can complement each other, regardless of whether they

come from the sudra or triwangsa caste. As seen in the following quote.

Turah mrasidang makarya. Tiang, len lacur, len cacad, len padidi, len ten ngelah

geginan. Yen nyelsel, sira selsel? Mula paduman tiange minab dados anak luh

nista”.

“Eda sebet Luh. Iraga patuh, lan besikan deweke paturu lacur”.

“Turah. Jakti seken kayun Turah dados sentana sik tiange? Ten lek pragusti

nyentanin sik nak jaba, lacur tur cacad?”

“Ragan luhe cacad, kewala keneh luhe tusing cacad. Iyang sing ngelah geginan,

iyang cenikan teken luh, tusing lek luh teken nyama-nyamane?” (Suarsa, 2013, hlm.

39)

Translation:

Turah, you can work. While me, I am poor, disabled, alone, I do not have any job.

Feeling regret, who is sorry? It is my fate to be a despicable woman.”

“Don’t be sad, Luh. We are the same, let’s unite ourselves who are both poor.”

“Turah, is it true that you are willing to nyentana to my house? Are you not

ashamed, a pragusti, doing nyentana to the family of a sudra, poor and disabled?”

“You are disabled, but your heart is not. I don’t have a job, I’m younger than you.

Don’t you feel ashamed of your brothers?”

The quote above implies a dialogue between Ngurah Kusuma and Ni Luh Sari. They both

have their own advantages and disadvantages. From their advantages and disadvantages, they

promise to unite themselves in one marriage bond. Apart from that Ngurah Kusuma comes from

the ksatria caste, it does not discourage them from getting married. As God’s creatures, these

two young humans do not see the social status of their partner, which is clear that they are able

to complement each other. From the meaning of the words Kusuma and Sari, the two words are

related. Kusuma means “flower” while sari means “essence of flowers”. So that the two words

are related to each other.

Patiwengi Tradition in the story Katibén Bén Tebén

The word patiwangi comes from the word “pati” which means deadly, and the word

“wangi” which means fragrance. So, the word patiwangi means to remove fragrance (caste,

name, degree). So patiwangi is a tradition carried out in the form of a ceremony with various

completeness in the form of offerings. This ceremony is carried out with the aim of lowering





259

the status, honor, and caste fragrance of women who come from Brahmana, Ksatria and Weisya

caste. This means that traditionally it is carried out for the bride whose caste is higher than the

groom. But in reality, there are some people who still perform the ceremony. The patiwangi

ceremony is presented in several lontars, such as Brahmana Tatwa, Widi Papincatat,

Purwadigama, and Dandang Bang Bungala. In the Brahma Tatwa, the implementation of pegat

wangsa ceremony is regulated (Sudiana, 2019, p. 108). For a woman from tri wangsa who is

married to a jaba man is known as nyerod. In literal terms, nyerod is defined as “falling,” or

“getting out of hand”. In this case, nyerod is intended for tri wangsa women married to jaba

men. However, this is not the case in the story of Katibén Bén Tebén, in fact, the man (Gusti

Ngurah Kusuma) married the jaba, Ni Luh Sari, as can be seen in the following quote.

Sadum titahing widhi, wiakti tan kena linésan”. Yan sampun titah Ida Sanghyang

Widhi, napi malih manusa, déwa déwata nentén sida ngelidin”. Sapunika munggah

ring Tantri Nandaka Harana. Pastika puniki taler titah, Ngurah katemu luah,

Kusuma katemu Sari. Ngurah Kusuma, Luh Sari wantah majatu karma. Upacara

pawidiwidanan kadulurin “mapati wangi” mamargi antar. Yadiastun sakadi

mareratengan ring cangkem paon, ring rerun dumunan panes tinimbang ring

ajeng. Kukuh pikayunan Ngurah Kusuma nenten sida rubuh antuk griguh semeton

mupuh inguh kadi jun embuh. (Suarsa, 2013, hlm. 40).

Translation:

Because it is God’s command, it cannot be avoided. “If it becomes the will of the

Almighty, let alone humans, gods are unable to avoid it. That is what is written in

the Tantri Nandaka Harana. Likewise, with His will, Ngurah Kusuma met Luh

Sari. Ngurah Kusuma and Luh Sari come in a bond. The wedding ceremony, which

begins with “mapati wangi”, goes well. Although it is like cooking rice on a

traditional stove, the side is first hot, compared to the main one. Ngurah Kusuma’s

desire is not shaken, because the riot of his siblings is confused, like a jug lacking

water.

In the above quotation, it is implied how the meaning of marriage. Marriage is not just a

meeting between a man and a woman with the aim of being husband and wife or simply a

relationship between two other human beings who live together and have children. However,

marriage is a bond of service between husband, wife and children. Moreover, it is just as

important as the emotional bond that brings a partner to a spiritual bond. The spiritual bond in

this case begins with a pawiwahan ceremony. In Balinese tradition, the validity of a marriage

is very much influenced by the community’s culture, Balinese traditional customs. The validity

of a marriage is also influenced by the lokacara and loka dresta, namely the presence of

witnesses in a marriage (evil witnesses and god witnesses and human witnesses), namely

witnesses of the prajuru adat (customary board). By the presence of witnesses (god witnesses

and human witnesses), the marriage is considered valid. Likewise with marriages that are

carried out due to different caste (wangsa), a patiwangi ceremony will be carried out, namely a

ceremony of degrading and equalizing the lower caste (wangsa), which is more popularly

known as nyineb wangsa (eliminating aristocracy). This is done to avoid both families from

bad things.

The concept of inter-caste marriage based on the decision of the Regional People’s

Representative Assembly (DPRD) of Bali Number 11 of 1951, article 4 states that the

customary law called Asu Pundung is the marriage of a woman from the caste of Brahmana

married to a man from ksatrya, wesya and sudra castes; and Alangkahi Karang Hulu, namely

the marriage of a woman from the ksatrya caste married to the wesya caste and the sudra caste;





260

the woman from the wesya caste is married to the man from the sudra caste. This type of

marriage was abolished. And in article 5 states that the rules of marriage relations between catur

wangsa (the four castes) in Bali, came into effect on the day it was announced, July 12th, 1951.

However, in fact, that in the community, inter-caste marriages with or through the patiwangi

ceremony still take place. There is even a concern for married couples who experience this. As

happened to I Gusti Ngurah Kusuma, who worried about his life in his old age.

“Ning … bapa nak dadi sentana dini. Buin pidan idewa lekad turin kelih, eda nyen

bapa gedianga uli dini nah ning! Yan gediang cening, kija men lakun bapa? Bapa

suba ngutang awak, tusing dadi buin mabalik mulih” (Suarsa, 2013, hlm. 41)

Translation:

“My Dear …. Here I am as a sentana. When you are born and grow up, don’t throw

me out of here. Well, my dear! If you throw me out of this house, where should I

go, my dear? I’ve thrown myself away and left my house, I have no right to go back

home”.

Nyentana marriage is a little more unique than marriages that are common in most

societies. In ordinary marriage, usually, the man proposes the woman to be his wife. However,

in nyentana marriages, it is the woman who proposes the man as a husband, to then live in the

woman’s house, and the offspring will continue the descent of the wife’s family. However, in

the event of a conflict in the future, the legal status and inheritance are not known exactly who

take part in helping to resolve it. So that there is a concern because legally it is very weak. In

the above quote, it is implied that there is a concern I Gusti Ngurah Kusuma to himself if one

day there is a problem in his household. He feels that he doesn’t have anyone, and has nothing

else, even though he now enjoys being a sentana who lives in the house of a sudra (Ni Luh

Sari). He also works hard to repay the kindness of his wife’s family, but in his deep heart, he

has a feeling of worry in his old age.

CONCLUSION Form the results, it can be concluded that, patiwangi is a tradition in a marriage ceremony

to reduce the degree, honor, and fragrance of caste (brahmana, ksatria and weisya), so that a

person, both male and female who experiences this feels left out or thrown away from his/her

own family and united with the family of the husband or wife, so she/he feels anxiety if one

day they divorce. The sanction of inter-caste marriage is against the values of justice, Hindu

religious values such as the teachings of Tat Twan Asi, Manusapada, Ahimsa, and others. Social

problems because of the sanction of inter-caste marriage still implemented in society, because

people still believe in the tradition that if patiwangi is not implemented, there is a concern that

something will happen in the family in the future. To avoid this, nyentana marriages in society

need a strong legal basis relating to status, position and responsibility. So that in the future there

will be no worries, and its status is legal, and there is a lack of socialization of the decision of

the Regional People’s Representative Assembly (DPRD) of Bali of 1951.

REFERENCES Kutha Ratna, Nyoman. 2011. Antropologi Sastra, Peranan Unsur-Unsur Kebudayaab dalam Proses

Kreatif. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar. _______, 2004. Teori, Metode dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Sari Adnyani, N.K. 2016. Putusan Desa Adat Sebagai Legitimasi Masyarakat Adat Terhadap

Perkawinan Nyentana di Kabupaten Tabanan. (Prosiding, Seminar Nasional Riset Inovatif (Senari)

Ke-4 Tahun 2016. ISBN 978-602-6428-04-2.





261

Suarsa, I M. 2013. Nguntul Tanah Nuléngék Langit. Surabaya: Penerbit Paramita.

Sudiana, I G. N., dkk. 2019. Upacara Patiwangi Pada Perkawinan Antarklen di Bali. Denpasar: IHDN

Press.

Sadnyini, I. A. 2017. Patiwangi Sanction in Balinese Hindu Community’s Legal Culture. (dalam Jurnal

Mimbar Hukum, Volume 29, Nomor 2, Juni 2017, halaman 363—375).

Soethama, G.A. 2019. Konflik Kasta dan Adat dalam Kesusastraan Bali Modern (disampaikan dalam

Seminar Internasionak Sastra Indonesia, di Gedung Ksirarnawa, Taman Budaya, Denpasar-Bali,

10—13 Oktober 2019).

Tim Penyusun. 2001. Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia Edisi Ketiga. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.

Tim Penyusun. 2002. Kamus Istilah Agama Hindu. Denpasar: Pemerintah Provinsi Bali.

Tim Penyusun. 2016. Kamus Bali – Indonesia. Denpasar: Balai Bahasa Bali.

Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 1 Tahun 1974, Tentang Perkawinan.

Wadi Santiasa, M., 2017. “Perkawinan Nyerod (Turun Wangsa) Menurut Adat Hindu Bali, Studi

Tentang Perkawinan Antara Kasta di Kecamatan Beleke Lombok Barat. (Skripsi): Fakultas

Hukum, Universitas Mataram.





262





263

MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN GEGURITAN SIRNA KERTANING BUMI

Ni Putu Parmini


ABSTRACT

Geguritans Sirna Kertaning Bumi (GSKB) is a traditional Balinese literary work in the form of

poetry but its contents tell stories. Geguritan Sirna Kertaning Bumi tells the story of the people’s

struggle against Dutch colonialism. The people and national leaders, especially the Banjar

people, are very determined to fight for their homeland. All multicultural educations which are

based on knowledge are supported by democracy, justice, cultural values, ethos, togetherness

in diversity, and others. Concepts that support multicultural education can generate a spirit of

struggle, strengthen the sense of nationality, unity and respect for diversity. The GSKB tells

about the attitudes of loving the land of birth, loving the nation, respecting differences in

ethnicity, religion, customs, culture and also telling about attitudes of human rights violations

by the colonizers. The method used to analyze is the learning method. The multicultural

education presented includes education for social organizations, national struggles, history,

customs and habits. The Indonesian people are obliged to fight for the nation and state. The

people under his leadership as mentioned in GSKB fight willingly and courageously against the

invaders for the sake of unity and integrity of Indonesian. They respect the differences in

ethnicity, religion, customs and culture of each region. It is also encouraged to unite the

differences for the sake of the homeland.

Keywords: Education, multicultural and GSKB

INTRODUCTION

Geguritan Sirna Kertaning Bumi (GSKB) is a form of traditional Balinese literary work.

Literary works are created by the author to convey messages that are beneficial to life and

livelihood. Life and livelihood are mostly drawn from social realities even though literary works

also “imitate” nature and the subjective world of humans (Budianta, Dikk 2002: 19). The GSKB

implicitly describes multicultural education which invites people to have a fighting spirit for

their homeland. According to Wikipedia (2008) multiculturalism is an ideology that requires

the unity of various cultural groups with the same rights and status. According to KBBI (2008)

multiculturalism means cultural diversity. On the other hand, multiculturalism is also often used

to describe the unity of various ethnic groups in a country. Furthermore, Wikipedia Indonesia

(2019) in Ismawati et al (2019 Language Education Journal) describes multiculturalism as a

person’s view of the variety of life in the world or cultural policies that emphasize acceptance

of the diversity and variety of cultures that exist in people’s lives regarding system values,

culture, customs and politics.

Based on the description above, multiculturalism can be expressed as the use of more

than one culture or views of cultural differences. Multicultural education requires appropriate

special methods so that educational goals can be achieved. Methods suitable for creating

multicultural education are exemplary methods, habituation methods and rewards. Giving

multiculturalism values to students is very important in building their understanding of

diversity, so there is the character of unity among children (Kartika, 2016).

Indonesia as a country of Bhineka Tunggal Ika Tanhana Dharma Mangrwa, shows that

the Indonesian nation has a variety of differences in terms of religion, culture, customs, and

ethnicity, but still has a sense and spirit of unity as the Indonesian nation. Primawati (2013)

views that multicultural-based learning provides opportunities in educational practice to accept

differences.





264

In multicultural-based learning, students need to be invited to discuss or play roles with

the theme of diversity. In this way, students will be trained or be able to simulate loyal attitudes

towards differences in culture, religion, customs, ethnicity and language from each region.

Geguritan Sirna Kertaning Bumi (GSKB) shows the persistent struggle of the people against

the invaders even though there are many differences in society, but with mutual acceptance of

their differences, they unite against the invaders.

MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

According to Yakin (2005), multicultural education is an educational strategy that is

applied to all types of subjects by using cultural differences owned by students, such as

differences in ethnicity, religion, language, gender, social class, race and abilities. By accepting

the differences among students, it will help the effectiveness of the learning process.

Thus multicultural education can be integrated into subjects. In literature learning, for

example, besides instilling literary knowledge, multicultural education can also be integrated.

This can be done by showing examples or figures that show an attitude of always being united

in diversity. It can also be done through telling stories and showing the attitudes of characters

who need to be emulated by exemplary methods. It can also be done through singing geguritan.

Al-Ma Ruf (2011) states that multiculturalism is a fundamental reality of people’s life. Besides,

multiculturalism is an authenticity in the life of modern society.

Multicultural education values in the National Education System No. 20 of 2003 Chapter

III Article 4 paragraph 1 covers democratic values, justice values, tolerance values, religious

values and cultural values. A literary appreciation teaching material essentially has a criterion

that is relevant to learning objectives (Yudianti, 2014). Based on the values of multicultural

education in the National Education System, the study of GSKB is conducted so that later it can

be used as a reference in the implementation of multicultural education.

Multiculturalism is basically an understanding of how different cultures hit people’s life

and must be accepted (Masinda, et al, 2014). In the GSKB, the culture of people who fought

and united against the invaders has a variety of cultures which are considered as the belonging

of the nation.

STUDY OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

IN GEGURITAN SIRNA KERTANING BUMI (GSKB)

Tinggen (1994: 31) states that geguritan as one of the Balinese literary works needs to be

explored and developed and even must be noticed by the reader because geguritan reflects the

culture of a region and era. Agastia (1980) states geguritan is bound by stanzas - so that it can

be sung. GSKB reflects the culture of the people’s struggle (banjar) against the Dutch

colonialism (invaders). The GSKB consists of Pupuh Sinom, Pupuh Pangkur, Pupuh Durma,

Pupuh Ginanti, Pupuh Ginada, Pupuh Semarandana and Pupuh Pucung. Gautama (2007)

states that pupuh functions according to its character. Furthermore, Suarka (2011: 2) states that

pupuh is often stated as a type of tied song. GSKB implied the people’s struggle against Dutch

colonialism. People are urged to unite to state the differences that exist from each region and

personnel, and respect differences. GSKB implied multicultural education which was very

supportive to fight Dutch colonialism.

The character in the GSKB is depicted through pupuh according to its function in

geguritan. Tinggen (1994: 35 - 36) states that the pupuh function in geguritan is a reflection of

character. The review of pupuh in GSKB is as follows:





265

1. Pupuh Sinom

Keto sujatine Ida, Ida Sang Katur

Iriki kangkat anggen tatuladan

Ida munggawane rihin. Maring wawidangan.

Asri jenggala kusa kasumbang. Taksunin

Turing patut sura Magada Sengguhan

Translation:

He is a leader who is appointed as a role model

He is a sub-district head who leads the region democratically

Jenggala kusa, Banjar Village

Who should be admired for its fighting spirit

Based on the Pupuh Sinom above, the Banjar region with an exemplary leader is

described. The function of Pupuh Sinom in the painting is in accordance with its function,

namely to convey messages, information that is useful for life.

2. Pupuh Pangkur

I kompeni erang jengah, gramak grumuk

Metu bangras mesuang munyi

Cutet tuara ngomong liyu

Daduane patut otangang kapertama

Mayah upeti ngatahun kaping dua

Ne utama ngangkenin I Welanda dini

Translation:

The colonialist was very ambitious to take control

His speech is harsh and coercive to the people

To pay dues every year

The Dutch colonialists were willing to rule without knowing humanity

and no justice

The description above illustrates the Dutch ambition to colonize the region.

Implicitly, it educates that the attitude to control other people’s territory is not good and

is against humanity and justice.

3. Pupuh Durma

Keto I kompeni ngucap, mangalantur

Gusti Regent ngawewehin

Ada galah duang minggu, mangdane

Ida ring Banjar, manimbangang

Ala ayune pamuput, Ida sinah

Uning pesan, nyen I Welanda tuwi

Translation:

That was said by the kompeni, next

Head of Regent, Gusti gave

Allocation of time two weeks to

Confirm the kompeni request

He already knows the truth

Who is the Dutch





266

The above description implies the vigilance of the leaders who respect the people’s

opinion. This shows a democratic attitude. The function of Pupuh Durma in this case is

a painting of a mutually challenging atmosphere.

4. Pupuh Ginanti

Diastun suba pasti sampun

Mrupa tan sida tandingin

Sanjatane I Welanda nanging

Iraga sujati ngelah kapatutan

Sinah bela negari utami

Translation:

Yes, of course, there is no competition

Armament, the Dutch though

We have rights and obligations

To defend the country

The description above shows that Pupuh Ginanti functions as an appeal that

defending the state is the right and obligation of the people.

5. Pupuh Ginada

Manawi lintang ring domas

Warga Banjare ngiterin I Dada lan I Kamasan

I Made Guliang ditu saregep

Antuk sanjata maka cari

Satya bela agungnya

Arang langah sang nakonang.

Ngalih panyawisnya pasti

Tuwin mrupa kapatutan

Sang ngagem Agama tuhu

Yan sangkaning jati saja

Meled manggih

Ngudyang tuara sida bakat

Translation:

Approximately eight hundred

The residents of the banjar protect I Dada and I Kamasan

I Made Guliang is ready with guns.

It signifies the banjar residents unite and loyal to its leader

Without hesitation and doubt they believe, on the basis of truth.

Balanced with the basis of religion

If you really do

Strive to achieve goals

Why didn’t it work

The above description is an appeal that all people who clearly have differences in

culture, religion, customs, are united to protect their leaders and are confident in a truly

successful effort against the Dutch colonialism. Pupuh Ginada in GSKB has fulfilled its

function as a painting of sadness and disappointment towards the Dutch colonialism.





267

6. Pupuh Semarandana

Tan wenten buwat ajerih

Yan sampun kuwat

Ditu metu saling emban

Ngaptiang dharma sadana

Anggon dasar idup di jagat

Ne patut alih karuruh

Yan jati ngajegang jagat

Translation:

Not disappointed and dizzy

If the unity is strong

Can definitely help each other

On the basis of religion and truth

As a basis for living together

That’s what to aim for

If you really lead

and strengthen the unity and integrity of society

The description above implies that in facing the invaders, the people do not need to

be disappointed and pessimistic. The important thing is to respect each other’s differences

even though they have different religions, beliefs, customs, habits, cultures, but if you

have a strong determination to unite against the invaders, you can be sure that your goals

will be achieved with that fighting spirit and unity. Pupuh Semarandana in GSKB has

been in accordance with his function of describing a suggestive and sad atmosphere.

7. Pupuh Pucung

Ditu lawut ada kawigunan idup

Kawenangan ada

Kapatutan wenten masih

Keto nerus

Tan dadi maneh – anehan

Translation:

Finally, all came to a conclusion

Humans have the right to live

Have the authority to regulate society

There is also legal truth

And other authorities

On condition that they do not discriminate

People or groups

The description above implies multicultural education that everyone has the right

to live and develop according to their determination, nature and beliefs. Even though there

are differences in people and groups in customs, religions and cultures, they still respect

differences to achieve common goals.





268

CONCLUSION

Multicultural education in GSKB is education that teaches a democratic attitude which is

described from the attitude of the Banjar Village leader. The attitude of the people describes

the education that teaches an attitude of justice against the Dutch in defending truth and justice.

Education that teaches an attitude of tolerance is illustrated by Gusti Regent’s attitude

who gave time allocation in making decisions about Dutch requests. Education that directs

religious attitudes is depicted from the story characters’ attitude in determining attitudes and

actions against the Dutch, always on the basis of their religious beliefs. Education that teaches

cultural attitudes and insights is illustrated by the attitudes of story characters in Pupuh Pucung,

it is the attitude of respecting differences and unity in opposing the colonizers that will bring

success in defending and defending the homeland.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Agastia. 1980. Geguritan Sebua Bentuk Karya Sastra. Denpasar: Denpasar Bhakti.

Al-Ma Ruf, Ali Imron. 2011. “Peran Sastra Multikultural sebagai Media Komunikasi antar Bangsa”.

Dalam Jurnal UNEJ.

Budianta, Melani, dkk. 2002. Membaca Satra. Magelang: Indonesiatera.

Depdiknas, 2003. Undang – Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003. Tentang Sistem

Pendidikan Nasional. Jakarta: Dekpiknas.

Depdiknas, 2008. Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Depdiknas.

Gautama, Buda Wayan, 2007. Penuntun Pelajaran Gending Bali. Denpasar: Kayu Mas Agung.

Ismawati, Esti dkk. 2019. “Multikulturalisme dalam Sastra Indonesia sebagai Bahan Ajar Apresiasi

Sastra”. http://journalikippgriptk.ac.id/index.php/bahasa Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa. Vol. 8 No.1

Juni 2019.

Kartika, T. 2016. “Verbal Comunication Culture and Local Wisdom: The Value Civilization of

Indonesia Nation”. Jurnal Lingua Cultura. Vol. 10 No.2.

Marinda, Rudita dkk. 2014. “Multikulturalisme dalam Novel Kusut Karya Ismet Fanani”.

https://media.neliti.com/media.

Okara, Dewa Made. 2014. Sirna Kertaning Bumi. Denpasar: Paramita.

Promawati, Laurencia. 2013. “Pembelajaran Multikultural melalui Pembelajaran” dalam Jurnal JUPILS.

Vol. 5 No. 2.

Suarka, I Nyoman. 2011. “Metode dan Teknik Pengajaran Tembang Macepat”. Makalah FS UNUD

Denpasar.

Tinggen, I Nengah. 1994. Aneka Sari Gending – Gending Bali. Denpasar: Rhika Dewata.

Yakin, M. ainul [ed]. 2005. Pendidikan Multikultura: Cross – Cultural Understanding untuk Demokrasi

dan Keadilan. Yogyakarta: Pilar Media.

Yulianti, A. 2014. “Representasi Pendidikan Multikultural dalam Novel Yin Galema Karya Jan Sancin

sebagai Upaya Penyediaan Bahan Ajar Apresiasi 4” https//ejournalupi.edu: article.





269

TABOO IN THE BAJAU TOROSIAJE TRIBE SOCIETY,

POHUWATO DISTRICT, GORONTALO PROVINCE

Nur Aina Ahmad

IAIN Sultan Amai Gorontalo

Eka Sartika

Universitas Negeri Gorontalo

ABSTRACT

This study aims to describe the taboo concepts that are still valid as a legacy of customs,

traditions, and culture of the Bajau people in Torosiaje Village, Pohuwato Regency, and their

application in everyday life. In this study, the taboo is any form of prohibition in the form of

actions or words used as the cultural heritage of the Bajau Torosiaje people from generation to

generation. This study is expected to provide theoretical and practical contributions as sources

of information and reference, especially regarding the Bajau people’s traditions. The deeds

taboo, which is still preserved as a legacy of tradition and culture in the Bajau Torosiaje

community, Pohuwato Regency, Gorontalo Province, is the community’s social and moral

control in their daily behavior. These prohibitions govern all contexts of community life from

birth to death. These taboos can be in the form of prohibitions that must be avoided by a

pregnant woman or restrictions that fishers must obey while at sea. It is quite reasonable,

considering the Bajau Torosiaje community’s activities, which cannot be separated from the

sea as a place to live and as a source of livelihood. Language or speech taboo includes all

prohibitions aimed at controlling the use of diction or words, which, if violated, are believed by

the Bajau Torosiaje people to bring harm. The language taboo in the Bajau Torosiaje

community can be the prohibition of mentioning individual animals’ names or mentioning the

names of demons and spirits. This taboo is part of the traditional community beliefs that are

still maintained in modern life today. Various taboos in the Bajau Torosiaje people’s culture,

Pohuwato Regency, Gorontalo Province, can be concluded as a legacy of extraordinary value.

Taboo becomes a strong fortress in preventing immoral acts and controlling society to act and

speak following the values regulated in religion. In the end, modern life that has developed does

not necessarily keep the Bajau Torosiaje people away from their ancestors’ traditions.

Keywords: Taboo, Bajau Torosiaje

INTRODUCTION

Humans and culture are two essential components that cannot be separated as the identity

of the social group of an individual community who eventually decide to live together in an

orderly interaction based on togetherness, which is called society. Culture also contains many

forming elements, including religion, language, customs, clothing, works of art, etc. The

cultural system in a region sources from hereditary heritage and is usually passed on from

generation to generation. Cultural preservation is necessary in order to maintain the existence

of a tribe amid modernization.

Indonesia is a multiethnic country with a diversity of ethnicities, cultures, religions, and

languages. Referring to the population census by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in 2010, Indonesia

has around 1,340 ethnic groups or 41 percent of the total population. History records the

uniqueness of the Bajau Tribe as a nomadic sea tribe that inhabited most of the waters in

Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries. It is in line with the lifestyle of the Bajau Tribe,

which cannot be separated from sea or water areas. The sea and water are a place to live and as

a symbol of their identity for centuries. Currently, most of the Bajau people choose to live on





270

the mainland. However, it does not mean that they forget the tribal identity, which is deeply

rooted in their lives from the beginning.

The Bajau or Bajo Torosiaje people are a group of people who speak with their own

identity and uniqueness. The Torosiaje area, located in Popayato District, Pohuwato Regency,

the western part of Gorontalo Province, is above Tomini Bay’s sea. It has become part of the

administrative area of Gorontalo Province, which at the beginning of its formation in 1901, was

still the territory of North Sulawesi Province. Since the beginning of its existence, the long

history of the Bajau Tribe’s journey has given birth to an extraordinary cultural heritage with

strong customs and regional languages that remain alive today.

Wundt explains the concept of the word taboo55 as the oldest unwritten code of law

belonging to humans. People assume that the age of taboo is older than the gods’ age and has

existed since pre-religious times. Restrictions in taboo are different from restrictions in religious

or moral prohibitions. Likewise, the prohibitions in taboo are different from those in religion

and morals. The taboo prohibitions have no justification, and their origin is unknown. Even

though we do not understand it, the taboo is accepted by those who adhere to it. Taboo can also

be interpreted as a form of public expression of condemnation of behavior or speech believed

to harm community members’ lives.

Taboo is a form of value that grows and becomes the community’s social control in

reviving the conditions of the people who adhere to customs. One of the various types of taboos

or prohibitions in the Bajo Torosiaje tribe’s culture is the language or speech taboo. Language

taboo is interpreted as spoken or written speech, prohibited or avoided as much as possible in a

communication. The application of taboos such as language taboos in the Bajau Torosiaje

Tribe’s cultural context begins with imparting politeness in speaking. The Bajau language, also

known as the Bajo language, is a language spoken in the Torosiaje region, spread from Tilamuta

and Lemito on the Gorontalo peninsula to the Nain islands in North Sulawesi. In practice,

language taboos are the moral control of the Torosiaje Bajau people in avoiding all forms of

deeds deemed inappropriate, followed by other taboo forms.

RESEARCH METHOD

This field research was carried out by collecting all forms of data and information from

the people of the Bajau Torosiaje Tribe, Pohuwato Regency, Gorontalo Province, both in oral

and document form. The data is then processed using a qualitative descriptive approach to

describe all forms of taboo, both deeds and language taboos, which are still used in the Bajau

Torosiaje tribe’s cultural traditions, Pohuwato Regency, Gorontalo Province.

FINDINGS AND RESULTS

The History of the Bajau Torosiaje Tribe

Based on the study and literature records results, the Bajau people originated from

Peninsular Malaysia around 2500-1500 BC. The history book Tuhfat An Nafis56 by Ali Haji

states that the sea people (Bajau / Samee) were informants or spies who observed all ship traffic

and shipping developments in the Malacca Strait to be reported to the Sultan Johor. The

Bajau/Samee tribe has its role in the kingdom, as do other tribes are given particular tasks such

as being a royal boat oarsman, weapon maker, coast and strait guards, or food suppliers.

The Bajau / Samee tribe used to be an ethnic group that had an enormous influence and

role in maintaining the upholding of the extensive maritime kingdoms that existed on the

Malaysian peninsula and Riau, including helping small kingdoms win the power struggle. The

dispersion of the Bajau Tribe, which ultimately required them to live on a boat, which is known

as bido or soppe / leppa, is historically based on the story of the disappearance of Putri Papu

55 Totem & Taboo, Sigmund Freud, (Yogyakarta: Immortal Publishing dan Octopus, 2017 h.34) 56 Tuhfat Annafis, H. Umar Nanga (Mengenal Sejarah Perkembangan Suku Bajau), (Poso,1996)





271

(the name for the King’s daughter). Another historical record states that the Bajau Tribe’s cause

to move around, such as leaving Johor Malaysia in the 17th century, was due to the instability

of the political situation and a shift in domestic power. Historians argue that the Bajau migrated

from Johor to the east, sailing along the coast of Borneo to the north, passing through Sabah

and the southern Philippines, and finally anchored in East Sulawesi. Bone and Gowa were their

first stopovers in Sulawesi, where they were recorded as excellent navigators and defenders of

the Makassar kingdom.

The legend of Putri Papu, which is believed to be the origin of the spread of the Bajau

tribe in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, tells the story of a princess who is on a field trip

accompanied by a son of a hulubalang (commander) named Simaruning. When Putri Papu and

Samaruning’s canoes were exploring the Malacca / Johor Beach, suddenly, a tremendous storm

came along with rain and lightning. They then drifted somewhere. Papu (Raja Bajau), a relative

of the Kingdom of Malacca and Johor, then gathered his people and ordered them to look for

Putri Papu.

The King ordered them not to return unless the princess was found. About 200 biduk /

soppe consisted of handsome and young men and their families gathered to carry out the search

mission for Putri Papu and Samaruning under the command of a retainer named Si Mungkame

accompanied by his wife. The search was carried out in soppe groups for months. The first

search was carried out on Abalan Island, which is today called Singapore. On the island, their

search was fruitless, so the group eventually spread to the Indonesian Archipelago. Another

group headed for the Riau Islands (Karimun Jawa) under Si Apitan Dara’s command and his

wife, Mancinnong. The group, commanded by Si Mantaria and his wife Sitti Jailolo, headed for

the Thousand Islands to Jawakattar Matabana (Jakarta), Bawean, and Kangean. The group led

by Baharukun and his wife Sitti Alimuna headed to Nusa Tenggara, Sumbawa, and settled on

an island called Bunging Island, which is now better known as Labuan Bajau. Another group

headed to Borneo Island and Brunei Darussalam. This group then headed to Bontang Island,

led by Si Mabakka, accompanied by his wife, Si Danriapitu. This group became the Bajau

tribe’s forerunner, who inhabited the Philippines’ Sulu and Mindanao Islands. Meanwhile, the

group led by Punggawa Mungkamme, who was accompanied by his wife, Kaca Kaummu,

headed to Sulawesi and eventually settled in the Sapukkang Islands, Pangkajene Kepulauan.

Putri Papu, who was swayed by the waves for days, was then stranded on the Dajang-

Dayang Islands. The Makassar fishermen who found the princess then took her to the King of

Tallo (Gowa), who welcomed Putri Papu with great honor. Her noble behavior and character

made the King of Gowa marry and make Putri Papu one of the queens, who later gave birth to

a son. Within the Tallo Royal palace, Putri Papu nurtured and raised the son with great affection.

However, she was often thoughtful, reluctant to speak other than sign language, and did not

wish to tell her origins. The King schemed to empty the palace and leave the princess and her

son in the palace to reveal the princess’s origin. The King then ordered one of the maids to

infiltrate the attic to monitor Putri Papu’s movements. The King’s tactic worked. The infiltrator

witnessed Putri Papu putting her son to sleep by singing over and over with the following verse:

Manua Bajo ta Bajoa

Manna Tidung ta tidua

Tidung Karaeng, Bajoa

Disomba tonji

The translation of the verse is as follows:

Even though Bajau are Bajau

Even though the great Tidung

The royal Tidung, Bajoa

Still worshipped





272

The verse sung by Putri Papu was interpreted as a sign to her beloved son that she was

from the Bajau family who would be worshiped eventually. On all maps of Indonesia, the

distribution of the Bajau can be seen from the number of settlements on the coast of Labuan

Bajau, from the eastern Sunda Strait Islands to the west coast of Sumatra. Another area that is

still part of Tomini Bay’s coast where the Bajau Tribe live is Torosiaje, which today is known

as one of the famous marine tourism destinations in the Pohuwato District. Torosiaje has been

around since 1901. This village was formed by the decision of several owners of the soppe

(large boats where the Bajau lived) to settle down and eventually set up a village.

The Concept of Taboo in Bajau Torosiaje Society

The Bajau Torosiaje people have a significant dependence on natural ecosystems. It is

quite reasonable, considering their livelihoods, which cannot be separated from the sea.

Mangrove forests are a safe source of food consisting of various types of animals, including

fish. Since a long time ago, the belief that has grown in the Torosiaje people, especially the

belief in the spirit or demonic power, has significantly contributed to preventing community

activities, especially activities that can damage marine ecosystems and habitats. Likewise, with

the existence of taboos that are still maintained. The Bajau Torosiaje people classify taboos into

two types: deeds taboo and language or speech taboo. The two types of taboos can be described

as follows:

1. Deeds Taboo

The life of the traditional Bajau Torosiaje people cannot be separated from the animist

belief system, although, in general, they adhere to the teachings of the Islamic religion. It

is manifested in rituals, which are a form of belief in both good and evil spirits. For the

Bajau people, happiness and sadness in life, including the emergence of certain

epidemics, are controlled by the spirit. Thus, rituals to please spirits in all aspects of life

are still found today. Land demons and sea devils have become the center of public belief.

The ritual of repelling reinforcements has been carried out on a large scale in Torosiaje

Village in 1984, 2006, and 2018. Meanwhile, in 2019, the ritual was re-performed as a

refinement of the previous year’s repelling reinforcement ritual, which was considered

imperfect.57

Shamans, known as sanro, have long occupied a central position in the Bajau

Torosiaje people’s lives. Medical developments and health facilities such as Poskesdes

(Village Health Center) do not necessarily replace sanro’s position. Mr. Uten Sairullah,

S.Pd.58, the head of Torosiaje village, in an interview with the author, stated that:

“90 percent of the people in this village entrust health problems to sanro or

shamans. Although there are midwives and nurses in the village, the Bajau people

still choose to go to sanro instead of going to the Poskesdes when they are sick. It

can be said that the belief in a shaman is still very dominant even in modern life

like today.”

The life of the Bajau Torosiaje people from birth to death cannot be separated from

religious rituals, traditions, and culture. This fact places traditional leaders and shamans

as the main components of any traditional ceremonies. They primarily play an essential

role in maintaining customs and controlling all forms of taboo values or prohibitions in

society.

The deeds taboo as a legacy from generation to generation in the Bajau Torosiaje

community can be described as follows:

a. Prohibition of Sitting in Front of The Door of The House for Pregnant Women

In the traditions of the Bajau Torosiaje people, women get very high respect. Long

before they lived a settled life, maintaining the honor of women in the house was the

57 Rena Pasanre (Pemerhati Pariwisata dan Budaya Bajau Torosiaje, Wawancara Tgl 5 Februari 2020 58 Uten Sairullah (Kepala Desa Torosiaje, Wawancara Tgl 5 Februari 2020)





273

responsibility of all family members, even when they were still living on a leppa

(boat) and soppe (big boat). Customary and religious sanctions are present as a

protective barrier so that there is no reason for any member of society to disobey this

social institution. The sanctions given for the unpleasant treatment of women in the

Bajau Torosiaje community are moral sanctions and customary fines. Although

customary fines are starting to become extinct and replaced with sanctions based on

Indonesia’s prevailing laws and regulations, loyalty to the heritage of traditional

cultural values is well preserved.

A similar thing can be seen in the inheritance of taboo values or prohibitions

imposed on a woman from when she was a girl until she married, became pregnant,

and gave birth. Various forms of taboo exist as protection for women, such as taboos

or prohibitions of sitting in front of or on the house’s doorstep for pregnant women.

This prohibition is intended so that babies who are being conceived do not experience

problems at birth. This assumption is based on the belief that babies are born through

the door (womb). Therefore, their birth should not be obstructed or blocked.

Therefore, a woman or pregnant woman is not allowed to sit at the doorway or the

house’s doorstep.

b. Prohibition of Chopping Wood, Repairing Nets, and Sewing for Pregnant Women

This second taboo is also customary or legal protection for a woman during

pregnancy. The prohibition on chopping wood, repairing nets, and sewing aims to

keep the mother’s womb safe. It is believed that the activities described in the taboo

or prohibition can damage the placenta of the unborn baby. Implicitly, this taboo is

quite reasonable as a traditional way of protecting women or pregnant women.

However, health experts allow and even recommend pregnant women to continue

their activities within reasonable limits for their health.

In the Bajau Torosiaje people, the placenta is believed to be the twin of every

newborn. Therefore, since birth, the placenta receives special treatment through

certain rituals by the dukun beranak (Traditional Birth Attendance). The placenta

from each newborn will be wrapped in a mat and tobacco, cigarettes, salt, and betel

nuts and then released into the ocean. The time chosen to carry out the procession of

releasing the placenta into the ocean is also not arbitrary. This ritual is held just before

sunset or when the sun is no longer hot so that the baby does not have a fever. The

relationship between ritual and belief that is placed on scientific grounds proves the

Bajau people’s commitment to upholding traditions and culture from the very

beginning of their birth.

The items that must be prepared for the complete ritual of releasing the placenta

into the sea are three cigarettes or tobacco, lime, betel, and rice. The procedure for

releasing the placenta into the ocean starts with burning candles in a coconut shell,

taking a small amount of rice, then blowing the baby’s crown by a dukun beranak.

The ritual ends with releasing the placenta into the ocean accompanied by prayers or

incantations and the utterance “do not disturb your brother.”59 The utterance or

prayer is addressed to the placenta, which is believed to be the baby’s twin. The Bajau

believes that if the ritual of releasing the placenta into the ocean is not carried out

properly, the placenta can disrupt the baby’s life.

c. Prohibition of Refusing to Taste The Food Offered

Taboos concerning how to behave in everyday life, including how to behave towards

others, are arranged accordingly. Included in it are rules on responding to offers to

taste food when visiting relatives or neighbors. In the Bajau Torosiaje Tribe culture,

giving each other food, spices, and others is a common thing that has been a tradition

59 Bapak Yunus Apunye (Wawancara Tanggal 6 Februari 2020)





274

from generation to generation. A form of generosity for someone when visiting

someone else’s house is by offering a banquet or only a cup of coffee or tea. Thus,

refusing the offer to taste the food is taboo.

The prohibition against refusing to taste the food offered while visiting other

people’s homes has grown into a taboo tradition still practiced today. If this taboo is

violated, it is believed that it will bring disaster to those who refuse the offer.

Therefore, in the Torosiaje Bajau Tribe culture, it is abstinence not to taste dishes

offered by other people even when they are full. It is recommended to taste the food

even a little before saying goodbye to the host.

d. Prohibition of Extinguishing The Fire by Dipping Wood

in The Water While Crossing Rivers or Seas

The life of the Bajau Tribe, which cannot be separated from the sea, creates various

taboos concerning specific actions that can be done openly while on the move in the

middle of the sea. The prohibition of extinguishing fires by immersing firewood in

the water while in the middle of the sea is one form of this taboo. For thousands of

years, the Bajau people have lived on leppa or soppe, a boat that serves as a place to

live. Therefore, it is only natural that daily activities cannot be separated from the

sea.

So it is not surprising that when the Torosiaje Bajau Tribe have settled by

building settlements over the sea, leppa or soppe are still used as a means of

transportation and the primary means of earning a living. Because their life is very

dependent on the sea, the primary source of livelihood for the Bajau Torosiaje tribe

is fishing. Looking for fish is usually taken overnight or even days. Therefore,

activities on the boat, such as cooking, are every day. Firewood used to cook rice or

burn other things is not allowed or prohibited from being turned off by immersing it

in water. If the Torosiaje Bajau fishermen violate this taboo, then they are believed

to face dangers at sea.

e. Prohibition of Washing Pan in The Sea

Another taboo related to taboos that should not be practiced at sea is the prohibition

of washing pans. The activities of Torosiaje Bajau Tribe fishers who usually spend

days at sea looking for fish require them to cook with makeshift equipment on the

boat.

As one of the cooking utensils that are always on the fishermen’s leppa or

soppe, the pan cannot be washed by dipping it in the sea. Washing the pan in the sea

is a taboo that should not be done to avoid unwanted events. The activity of washing

pans in the sea is believed by the Torosiaje Bajau Tribe to bring disaster because it

can disturb the existence of sea demons. 60

f. Prohibition of Eating in The Afternoon for Girls

The routine of life for the Bajau Torosiaje Tribe is as it is in other tribal communities

in the archipelago. Among the tribes in Sulawesi, several taboo forms that prevail in

society have several similarities, such as the prohibition of eating outside the usual

community times, namely breakfast in the morning, lunch at noon, and dinner at

night.

Eating outside these times is a prohibition or taboo, especially for unmarried

girls. Unmarried girls are prohibited from eating in the evening because this affects

dating problems. Girls who always eat in the evening before sunset are believed to

have an elderly mate whose age is very different from his age.

60 Elsi K Ika (Remaja Putri Suku Bajau Torosiaje Wawancara Tgl 7 Februari 2020)





275

“Since we were little, we were forbidden to eat in the afternoon by our mothers

and elders, ma’am, especially at dusk before sunset. If we violate this

prohibition, we will be matched with old people.”61

From a scientific point of view, these taboos have no rational correlation with

the stipulation of human matchmaking. No human being can be sure who and how

old his mate is. However, this taboo carries other social messages, which, if

interpreted simply, can be very important in everyday life.

g. Prohibition of Bringing Animals That Live on Land While at Sea

Animals that live on lands such as dogs, cats, and others, are living things that are

strictly prohibited from being carried or included on every fishing trip of the

fishermen and the Torosiaje Bajau people as a whole. Fishing activities have many

restrictions that are believed to be capable of wreaking havoc if they are violated.

The taboo regarding animals is about the act of carrying the animal and includes the

taboo of mentioning the names of animals that live on land.

h. Prohibition of Grumbling

This taboo can take any form of action that usually occurs because of reluctance or

laziness. Children raised in Bajau families since they are young are always taught not

to oppose orders or requests from their parents. When children are ordered by their

parents to take or do something, they are not allowed to complain. Complaining or

grumbling when doing parental orders is considered an act of impoliteness and

violating taboos.

i. Prohibition of Wrapping a Scarf or Sarong Around The Body during Pregnancy

There are many prohibitions for pregnant women in the Bajau Torosiaje

community. The entire action, speech, or the way of dressing are regulated in such a

way according to unwritten taboo values. A pregnant mother or woman is not allowed

to wrap a scarf or sarong around her limbs, such as the neck. If this taboo is violated,

it is believed that it can cause harm to the fetus or the unborn baby. The following is

the narrative of Mrs. Regina Pasandre62 regarding this taboo, in an interview with the

author:

“Women who are pregnant in our community are prohibited from wrapping

cloth such as scarves or sarongs, especially around the neck. The community

believes that if it is violated, it can make the baby entangled by the umbilical

cord, which could lead to death.”

Taboos of the same type or form usually grow in one tribe or culture and are

owned by various tribes in the archipelago.

j. Prohibition of Walking Around during Maghrib Prayer

The evening before sunset is believed to be a sacred time. At this time, demons were

believed to be hanging around. This belief is in line with Islam’s advice to

immediately close the doors of houses and windows at dusk. One of the Prophet’s

sunnah at dusk is to immediately enter children into the house as an effort to protect

them from wandering demons.63

The taboo then becomes teaching of life, which is believed to be in line with

Islam’s beliefs as the majority religion adhered to by the Bajau Torosiaje people.

Towards the evening before the call to prayer rang out, all the Bajau Torosiaje

people’s activities outside the house were stopped for a moment. Those who work

outside the home are obliged to return home based on this taboo.

61 Fera Sompah ( Remaja Putri Suku Bajau Torosiaje, Wawancara, 5 Maret 2020) 62 Regina Pasandre (Wawancara, Tanggal 2 Maret 2020) 63 HR. Al-Bukhari dan Muslim





276

k. Prohibition of Buying Salt at Night

Buying and selling activities in the Torosiaje Bajau Tribe traditions do not exist in

written rules like other rules. However, specifically for specific items, some things

are taboo to buy at certain times. One of them is the prohibition of buying salt at

night. This taboo exists in the Torosiaje Bajau Tribe and becomes a prohibition that

applies to Gorontalo people in general.

l. Prohibition of Eating Turtle Meat

Turtles are a type of animal that is believed to help humans who are experiencing a

disaster. Based on this belief, the Torosiaje Bajau people are prohibited from eating

turtle meat. Breaking this taboo is believed to bring havoc or certain disasters such

as storms at sea or disturbance by evil spirits. Besides, every fisher who violates this

taboo will return empty-handed or not get any results.

m. Prohibition of Eating Soup Food for The Bride and Groom

Another taboo that applies in Torosiaje’s Bajau Tribe is a wedding celebration where

the bride and groom are prohibited from eating soup food. If this taboo is violated, it

is believed that the celebration will take place in the rain.

2. Language or Speech Taboo

a. Prohibition of Mentioning The Names Of Demons

Belief in spirits or demons has been known to the Bajau Torosiaje people since

ancient times. Long before they knew Islam, the Bajau people relied on their spiritual

life on animistic beliefs. Satan and spirits are believed to be crucial components in

the Bajau Torosiaje people’s spiritual life as both evil and protective elements.

Communication between the Bajau people and demons and spirits is done

through a shaman or sanro intermediary with various rituals. Satan, who is

considered an evil spirit, is also believed to appear in various forms, including in

human form, which violates taboos in everyday life.

“It is strictly forbidden to mention the names of demons here. Even if they say

their name on the computer, they can immediately get into a trance. They feel

invited when their name is called.”64

Therefore, the Bajau Torosiaje people have always been bound by the belief in

the prohibition of mentioning demons’ names, both living on land and in the sea.

These taboos are binding and will bring unwanted things if they are broken like any

other taboo. Chanting the name of the devil is considered a summons that can

suddenly present a demon or spirit. Thus, it is not surprising if a newcomer or an

outsider who does not know this taboo accidentally mentions the devil’s name, he

can immediately go into a trance. The taboo of mentioning demons’ names is a

language control for the community to always maintain their speech in

communicating with others.

The taboo of mentioning the names of demons in the Bajau Torosiaje people

applies not only in the sea but everywhere, including on land. This taboo even applies

in forest areas where some people work to fulfill their basic needs, such as collecting

wood, looking for materials to make boats or house support poles, and so on. Demons

on land and at sea are believed to be present at any time or in any situation if someone

mentions their names intentionally or not.65 Sanro also prepared a healing ritual for

those who broke this taboo with ingredients that adjusted the demons’ number. The

healing ritual ingredients are six grains of rice, six fish, six cigarettes, and a coin, all

of which are wrapped in woka leaves and then put into a kalingkong (a container

64 Yunus Apunye (Wawancara 6 Februari 2020) 65 Bapak Yunus Apunye (Wawancara Tanggal 7 Februari 2020)





277

made of coconut fruit). The number of six is adjusted to the number of types of

demons in the sea.

b. Prohibition of Using Foul Language

The language taboo that grows in society as a cultural heritage forms a value system

maintained from generation to generation. The prohibition of using language that has

negative connotations or in simple contexts is called foul language, indirectly shaping

a child’s politeness since childhood. The regional Bajau language is the mother

tongue, which is still spoken today in the Bajau Torosiaje people. Like other regional

languages in the archipelago, the Bajau language system also recognizes pleasantry

and foul language.

This prohibition against using foul language applies to everyday life at home

and applies to the sea, especially when fishing in the sea. The appearance of various

disturbances in the middle of the sea, such as accidents due to weather or storms, is

also believed to be a warning due to violations of this language or speech taboo. In

general, the Bajau Torosiaje people can see demons’ presence through the emergence

of natural symptoms and certain diseases.

The form of diction or word choices of the Bajau Torosiaje language, which

falls into the foul language category, is illustrated in the prohibition for a child to

mention the parent’s name. Likewise, it is taboo for married couples to call each

other’s names, especially their first names. A wife who calls her husband’s name is

considered a katula, someone who will face misfortune and even death.66

Apart from addressing or calling, the form of diction, which is also included in

the foul language, is cursing, such as mentioning the genitals’ names. The following

are some forms of language taboo in the Bajau Torosiaje Language:

1) Kimmanu

2) Tommboni

3) Alanneko

4) Pukimmanu

Since childhood, children born into the Bajau Torosiaje community are

educated to respect their parents through special greetings or calls. Based on the

kinship system, it is mentioned about the mention of pua for uncle or aunt. This

respect is formed without exception, which ultimately forms the value of politeness

in attitude and language from an early age.

c. Prohibition of Mentioning Animal Names While at Sea

The activities of the Bajau Torosiaje community that cannot be separated from the

sea as a place to live and their primary source of life requires every member of the

community to protect the sea and its entire ecosystems. Taboo becomes the legacy

of unwritten guidelines that are believed without the need for rational reasons.

Academic and rational considerations are not needed in analyzing all forms of taboo

that have lived and grown in society since ancient times.

The prohibition of mentioning animals’ names during their activities at sea is

one of the language taboos that is believed to be just like any other taboo. This taboo

was formed on the fear of a disaster or danger that could endanger fishing activities

such as fishing as the primary livelihood source for the Bajau community.

“While at sea, we, Bajau people, are prohibited from mentioning the names of

animals, especially those that live on land. It is not even allowed to take the

animal out to sea.”67

66 Robert Zacocot (Orang Bajo Suku Pengembara Laut/ Pengalaman Seorang Antropolog: KPKG 2008) 67 Ika (Nelayan Suku Bajau Torosiaje, Wawancara Tanggal 8 Februari 2020)





278

This taboo is still alive and firmly held by the Torosiaje Bajau people from

ancient times until today. Fishing activities become a ritual full of tradition. In this

context, the taboo is not just a requirement to fulfill the necessities of life.

d. Prohibition of Uttering Exclamatory Words when Smelling Certain Scents

in The Sea

Exclamatory words referred to in this taboo are word choices that express

amazement, admiration, including words that mean to question something that

suddenly exists or appears in the sea. For example, a fisherman at sea is shocked by

the presence of sounds or aroma of unknown origin.

CONCLUSION

Taboo is any form of prohibition that has been enforced in the traditions of the Torosiaje

people from long ago through hereditary inheritance by their ancestors. Taboo becomes the

moral foundation of social life in all oral aspects, not contained in written documentation like

written law, but is believed to be an inseparable part of the norm. Taboo in Torosiaje Bajau

society is present in the form of deeds taboo and language or speech taboo. Both types of taboos

are a hereditary inheritance received by a child born into a Torosiaje Bajau family. Some people

accept the inheritance of this taboo as an obligation without having to question the reasons.

REFERENCES Abidin, Zainal Yusuf, dkk. 2014. Pengantar Sistem Sosial Budaya di Indonesia. Yogyakarta:Pustaka

Setia

Endaswara, Suwardi. 2013. Folklor Nusantara, Hakikat, Bentuk, dan Fungsi. Yogyakarta: Ombak.

Freud, Sigmund. Totem & Taboo. 2017. Yogyakarta: Immortal Publishing dan Octapus.

Hakim, Lukma. 2013. Tabu dalam Masyarakat Gorontalo. Jurnal: Academia.Edu.

Nanga, Umar. 1996. Mengenal Sejarah Perkembangan Suku Bajau. Poso

Suardika, Ketut. 2013. Problematika Pendidikan Suku Bajo. Yogyakarta: Ombak.

Zacot, Robert Francois. 2008. Orang Bajo Suku Pengembara Laut (Pengalaman Seorang Antropolog).

Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia





279

PROTONATIONALISM REPRESENTATION

IN BABAD SUMENEP AND BABAD MADURA

Purwaningsih

Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kemdikbud


ABSTRACT

Indonesia is a multiethnic and multicultural society. One of the cultural products that have the

specificity of its ethnicity is manuscripts or old scripts which save the thoughts and history of

the Indonesian nation in the past. Manuscripts can be used as a major source of digging the

national values, one of which is national consciousness tracking efforts. This research problem

is about any ideas reflected in Madura manuscripts to develop the current national concept. The

purpose of this research is to find early national stub traces (protonationalism) in Madura

manuscripts (Babad Sumenep and Babad Madura). Madura manuscripts are still scarcely

researched, and both are quite interesting if related to Majapahit mainstream power in the past

which was in East Java. A qualitative method with descriptive analytic was conducted to

achieve this purpose. From the research results can be found early national ideas

(protonationalism) such as great leaders’ representation, culture as an identity, loyalty towards

leaders, and territorial expansion. Patterns or story motives found in the depictions of national

ideas are as follows: central and local government relations, the emergence of heroic characters,

political marriage, and war. The conclusion of this research is that sovereignty ideas,

independence and identity have far been there even before the Netherlands came to colonize

Indonesia. Meanwhile, the romanticism of the past/history time in the context of glory becomes

the foundation for a sense of nationality today.

Keywords: protonationalism, manuscript, nationality, sovereignty, identity

INTRODUCTION

Manuscripts have recorded many historical data about the life of Indonesian people in the

past. Therefore, it becomes an inevitability to make manuscripts as part of a major source of

digging national awareness and values. Manuscripts can be seen to be one of the genres of

intellectual history in the sense of ideography in the process and historical events; the

unexpected history of thoughts. Manuscripts can contribute in an attempt of tracking the origin

of Indonesian national consciousness and extremely relevant in the process of developing and

building a nation’s life, which constantly needs to be cultivated amid identity diversity.

The term of nationality or commonly also called nationalism is a modern terminology and

considered a doctrine or social-political movement. The new nationality extends like a

“common feeling” among society after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the French

Revolution in the 18th century.

In the former colonialized countries, nationalism formally emerged after two centuries.

In Indonesia itself, the awareness toward nationality was triggered on October 28th, 1928 and

formally pledged on August 17th, 1945 with the establishment of the Indonesian Unitary State

or called NKRI with a red white flag and philosophy of Pancasila as the basis of the country.

A sense of nationality had been growing a long time ago and was initiated by the

Indonesian people even before NKRI was formed. The nationality stub is called proto

nationalism. Protonationalism is the earliest idea of cultivating a sense of love for the nation or

country itself. The nation and country which is addressed in this research are Indonesia at

present. The idea can be traced in Indonesia since the early 14thcentury Majapahit Empire.

mailto:[email protected]





280

Majapahit Empire as a central or mainstream power in Java reflects a central power

system that uses a viewpoint of government (kings and kingdom) who becomes a sustainer for

the people. Kings in Negarakertagama scripts ought to have an obligation and able to guarantee

the people’s welfare so that the people and the kingdom can grow into a big nation. To balance

the search view of protonational trail from the king’s viewpoint requires manuscript that shows

power around the Majapahit Empire, those are other manuscripts such as Babad Madura and

BabadSumenep which represent kingdoms around Madura.

Those two manuscripts represent “small” power under the greater power. The kingdoms

in Madura at that time became one of the areas in power and the conquest of the great kingdoms.

Both manuscripts can show the traceability wholeness of protonationalism in the past. That is

the reason why these two manuscripts need to be examined more deeply.

The manuscript is included in historical literature that records important events in the

kingdom. The manuscript was written to serve an idea in the past based on a belief and drafted

to respect the reigning kings of the time. That work was made as a devotee force or legitimacy

of the kings (Berg, 1985: 71). As traditional historiography, these manuscripts can be used, as

follows; to reconstruct and dig the national values from the society.

In this regard, the problem discussed in this research is what ideas are reflected in both

Madura manuscripts in developing the nationality concept of the time? The purpose of this

research is to find the early national stub (protonationalism) in Madura manuscripts. This

research is only limited to two manuscripts, Babad Madura and Babad Sumenep.

A sense of nationality had been growing a long time ago and was initiated by the

Indonesian people even before NKRI was formed. The nationality stub is called proto

nationalism. The nationality stub is called proto nationalism. Protonationalism is the earliest

idea of cultivating a sense of love for the nation or country itself. The nation and country which

is addressed in this research are Indonesia at present. Proto nationalism in the past or nation at

present refers to a state, nation, and language terminology. In the Royal Spanish Academy

dictionary, before 1884, the word nacion meant a group of people in a province, a state or a

kingdom and a foreigner, however now that word is interpreted as a state or a political agency

that recognizes a central joint government of the highest and the territories controlled by the

country and the inhabitants viewed as a unity (Utomo, 2014: 54).

Broadly, the concept of nationality is related to objective factors such as language,

religion, custom, region and institution. A nation is historically formed and a stable structured

community which is based on the similarity of language, region, economic life as well as

psychological feeling manifested in a common culture. The other concept emphasizes more on

the subjective factors namely behavior, perception, and sentiment. The subjective concept sees

a nation as a political community envisioned and has territorial and sovereign boundaries

(Anderson, 2005).

According to Grosby (2011: 9), a nation is the community territory from the land of birth.

A person is born in a nation. One of the traits is the biological fact that has evolved throughout

history, territorial structure from the cultural community over a nation. A nation is one of

several kinship forms. It differs from other forms of kinship such as family as it is centered on

the territory. It is also in other regional communities such as tribes, city-states or other ethnic

communities due to their relatively common cultures. This concept of Grosby about nationality

is also discussed by Ahimsa-Putra (2017: 35) that the existence of a nation or nationality is

associated with something acquired that relates to the physical identity and something achieved.

He also says that it relates to the nation as an identity.





281

RESEARCH METHOD

This research is qualitative research using two transliterated and translated manuscripts

Babad Madura and Babad Sumenep as the data source. The method of collecting data is

conducted by literary research. The analytical method used in this research is the analytical

descriptive method.

The analyzing stage was is by identifying characters or the background of the story. The

next step is the description and interpretation in reconstructing the national values in the story.

The values mentioned are a value associated with cultural value consisting of the concepts that

live in the major society’s minds about the things that they consider sublime (Koentjaraningat,

1987:85).

RESULT

Protonationalism Representation in BabadSumenep and Babad Madura

Before recognizing a nation or a country, Indonesia has many kingdoms that also have

territorial power. Things related to the dynamics of the life of a kingdom become the forerunner

of the existential concept of nationality itself. Babad Sumenep and Babad Madura manuscripts

were made to legitimize the king’s power of the time. Those two manuscripts describe a story

of the dynamics of a kingdom in Madura. The ideas and concepts depicted in both manuscripts

can be traced throughout the related literary work.

Jokotole Represents a Great Leader

BabadSumenep revealed a story of the great leader from the people’s power, namely

Jokotole who was born by Ayu Potre Koneng, Madura’s daughter and her father Adipoday,

sacred herding. Jokotole was alienated in the forest due to his abnormal pregnancy. In the story

of his journey, Jokotole became a role model who succeeded in becoming a king and several

stories of the subsequent rulers of the king who led Sumenep. Jokotole dovoted his life to

helping the kingdom of Majapahit and succeeded in becoming a duke of Sumenep replacing his

grandfather, Prince Secadiningrat.

Jokotole was a charismatic figure who could become a true leader. Charismatic figures

in the past are those considered to have mystical power, strong, mighty and able to solve any

kind of problem. These kinds of traits can be predicted to be a future leader. These traits can be

found in the figure of Jokotole characters which is depicted as an influential figure, a mighty

figure, and a great character and possess mystical power. Jokotole is depicted as a God’s bead

man. When giving birth to Jokotole, the mother gave birth without bleeding and without a

placenta. Jokotole was born with a shiny and beaming face. A sacred birth is shown in this

quote below;

“Kyai Padhemmabu quickly approached the beaming shadow, then saw a baby boy, who

was only a beam of light. He took and held the baby. (Babad Sumenep, page 12)

The birth of Jokotole was considered sacred. Jokotole was born from a sacred marital

relation boat. The meaning and symbol of shining or light as a symbol of nobility, the purity of

the soul and the kindness of a person’s heart (Muljana, 1983: 43-44). Those traits legitimize

Jokotole as the king candidate blessed by gods.

Jokotole was a representation of Javanese kings of the time. In the 13th to 15th century,

the state concept adopted by the kingdoms of Java was king god. King means the chosen people

by gods. The kings presented the mystical elements on earth that boast of cosmic power.

Therefore, the regions under the kingdom’s power must radiate the power of a deity. It was no

wonder that many characters in the story of Babad are depicted as the characters of gods.

The king of the past was a symbol of nobility. The leaders from the past must have met

the four essential aspects, namely charisma, dignity, authority (legitimacy overpower) and

physical power. Leaders can be considered good if they can solve the problems of the people.

The success of a king becoming a macro and microcosm natural mediator will grow a great





282

nation. The kings must be able to create a state of harmony, and harmony in accordance with

himself, and harmony in accordance with the people, as well as a harmony in accordance with

god (Mulder, 1973:14–15).

The symbols of leadership were seen from the character of Jokotole. Powerful, mighty,

and able to solve problems of all people have met a character a sustainer of the people. Jokotole

was depicted as a figure full of compassion. Jokotole was trying to find his stepfather to

Majapahit because it was a long time since he last saw him. The spirit and the compassion of

Jokotole were shown when he was trying to find his father, Adipoday. That compassion was

also shown when he gave a helping hand to his wife to have her vision back.

His supernatural power was shown when he helped the Majapahit kingdom in making the

palace doors. At that time, Prabu Brawijaya the king of the Majapahit kingdom summoned all

the blacksmiths in the area of Java to make the palace doors. This quote below depicts the

greatness of Jokotole;

At that time, Jokotole went to Majapahit to follow his father, because he was waiting for

a quite long time that the father still didn’t show up. With his mighty power, Jokotole

could make a patch, by asking for the blacksmith to burn his body till scorched. White

liquid came out from his navel to patch the palace doors. Eventually, the palace doors

could be finished with the help of Jokotole. (Babad Sumenep, page 33)

The power of Jokotole is also told when King Brawijaya’s riding horse was in the rage.

Not a single troop could tame the horse. Then the King summoned Jokotole. Finally, the furious

horse could be tamed by him. For his service, Jokotole was given the title of Horse Panby (who

managed to tame horses) and Jokotole was also appointed as a young Patih. Therefore, Jokotole

often helped King Brawijaya, and then he became the trusted person of the King. Jokotole was

appointed to be Patih, as the King’s trusted man.

Then Jokotole along with Patih Gajah Mada was commissioned by King Brawijaya to

attack the Blambangan kingdom with his king named Menak Jayengpati. Long story short,

Jokotole succeeded in winning the battle against the troops of Blambangan kingdom and

managed to tackle the king Menak Jayengpati as well. The great power of Jokotole is also told

when he attacked the Chinese troops. Jokotole also succeeded to beat Dempo Awang, a warlord

from China who wanted to control the land of Java. They carried a boat that is said to be large

enough, as large as said, in Babad described as “Can sail on the sea, on top of a mountain and

between the world and the sky”. The spirit of Jokotole to beat the troops from China who wanted

to control the land of Java at that time was regarded to be the propagation of the struggle against

the enemy.

The national values that can be learned from Jokotole are that a leader must have a

charismatic soul, ready to sacrifice, brave, and a fighter who is able to solve all problems and

give a prosperous life for the people. In a verbal story, jokotole was described to be a heroic

person, knight and a role model for all the Madura people. Implicitly, it can be depicted that

Jokotole was the representative of Madura people who has an aggressive character, brave,

pious, and prioritizes the family bonding in life.

Madura’s Cultural Identity

Babad Maduratells about King Surakarta, Seri Paduka Kangjeng Susuhuna Pakubuwana

Senapati Alaga Abdulrahman Sayidin Panatagama, who wanted to marry putri Kangjeng Sultan

Cakradiningrat in Madura. Raden Kapitan Jengrana run commands from Kangjeng Gusti

Pangeran Adipati Aryo Kusumayuda who had arranged an journey story to Madura state, on

orders of Sri Baginda, to fetch his princess to be. This book consists of his journey story from

his departure to Madura state until he came back to Surakarta Adiningrat state.

In his story, King Surakarta was described as a great and wise king. He was much

respected and made to be a role model for the people. King Madura, Sultan Cakradiningrat felt

very respected if his daughter could marry King Surakarta. Through this long journey, so many





283

interesting things found related to the dynamic life of the king. One of which is the identity of

the Madura people.

The life of the king who would always have high cultural values became the top priority.

The king served as a cultural maintainer; a king must have a good relationship with the people

and maintain Javanese cultures. That is one of the ideas conveyed in Babad Madura. Babad

Madura tells about the Javanese cultures, such as wayang, tembang, gamelan and boats that can

be made with an art technic to be beautiful and Islam religion became the foundation of the

people of the time.

Boats became the transportation used at that time. In Babad Madura, described that Patihs

used boats to fetch PutriKanjeng Sultan Cakradiningrat. The boat depicted as beautiful and

luxurious.

With the roof colored blue fabric mota. Bubungan roof is decorated with flowers from

red yellowish silk, purple and white dice. Looks very pleasing to the heart. The floors

are from bricks. With the width of twelve feet. Tables and chairs managed with full of

food and drinks. Complete and beautiful. Bedrooms and bathrooms located at the back.

That is the ride of Kangjeng Gusti Pangeran Dipati Aryo Kusumayuda, who is a warlord

in the appointment of this journey. This beautiful boat is named Pujadewa. Why called

Pujadewa, because Pujadewa’s boat has a beautiful part like a handsome young man,

like a Pasteur who is studying someone’s behaviors, who is being sincere. Unstoppably

meditating, with a beautiful outfit (Babad Madura, page 201)

Glory and luxury are described as identifying traits of strength and power. Boats at that

time became the symbol of the kingdom troops. The second major power base of a state lies in

its excellence in the maritime field, hence no wonder why boats became the excellent vehicle

of the sea fleet. Many knights appeared in the kingdom era one of which is King Darmawangsa

and his son Airlangga (King Mataram), known as the ruler of the Javanese sea. In history, it is

also noted that Prince Cakraningrat from Madura was a maritime warlord with all the

sophisticated tactics that he had.

In history, the boat used in the Javanese kingdom era was neither as great nor luxurious

as the boat used in the Mataram Kuno era, which is related to the marine kingdom Sriwijaya in

Sumatra. However, in Babad Madura, we can see the depiction of how beautiful the boat was

that the kings of Java had at that time, boats played a role to keep and maintain the stability of

politics, economy and culture. Hence, it was no wonder that Madura was an important reference

for the cultural resilience in the past among the Madura fishers. Placing Madura to become an

important site is to understand the maritime tradition of the Madura people. The Madura people

have knowledge related to be sailing; therefore, the Madura sailors provide the boats to bring

traders from the other nations. Madura didn’t produce commodity trading which can be

exchanged, then assumed that the relationship was mere trading. (Sejarah Sumenep: 2010: 23).

Apart from the beauty of the boats, the music art of gamelan and wayang entertainment

are also described in this manuscript, as follows:

Bring a bullet not less than three hundred pieces. A corporal with parallels of four

pieces, along with a bed hug and a clock. We also must bring gamelan, limited is better.

Only two pieces to play wayang, a pelog and slendro. Must be complete, not a single

thing left, don’t forget “Carabalen’i, a lot of passengers of the boats, so it will be

crowded. (Babad Madura, page 192)

The above quote stated that art is also a part of important things. A king also must have

a close relationship with his people to maintain the Javanese culture. In that quote, they have

already known wayang and gamelan. Those two arts are played to entertain Patihs and the army

troops of Surakarta in their journey to Madura. Several times the vocabularies of wayang and

gamelan were mentioned in Badad Madura. This thing is used to strengthen the assumption





284

that wayang and gamelan music in Madura was brought by Javanese people and then expanded

to spread to the whole country.

The other interesting thing from the manuscript of Babad Madura is about the religion of

Islam which is often described. In this manuscript, described that the daughter of King Madura

was very submissive and performed the five daily prayers and hajat prayer and obeyed her

parents. The teachings of Islam became the foundation that was always taught by King Madura

to all his children. Islam does not teach us to be arrogant, envious and jealous. King Madura

also advised his children not to be disobedient, get drunk, like the following quote.

Don’t ever leave the truths. There are conditions for submissive people. One, don’t get

drunk. Second, don’t do drugs. Third, don’t be a thief. Fourth, don’t lie and cheat (Babad

Madura, page286)

In this manuscript, it is also taught to be respectful to the guests. It is also told when King

Madura welcomed the envoy from King Surakarta with a very festive. Although the one who

came was a Patih from King Surakarta, Kangjeng Sultan considered it as if Sri Baginda

Surakarta the one who came to Madura. Then the whole army troops and patihs were very much

welcomed. They served a lot of food and drinks. Seafoods were included as the wealth of

Madura maritime.

The story depicted in the manuscript is an identity for a society. The knowledge presented

in the manuscript became the civilization that we must look back at present. We can also trace

the acculturation process that happened from several cultures depicted in that manuscript. The

values excavation encompasses a view of life and the foundation of philosophy owned at a

certain time.

Loyalty Toward The King

According to the viewpoint of Javanese politics, the existence of values encompasses

the structure of the Javanese kingdoms. The source of the values can be returned to the Javanese

belief, manunggaling kawulo-gusti atau jumbuhing kawula-gusti (The reuniting of God and the

servants). In the social context, this explains the ideal relationship between the ruler and those

being ruled. It does show not only the high and the low relationship but also the form of

dependent relationship (Moertono, 1985:18)

The concept of union, according to Benedict Anderson, helps to explain “how nationalism

expresses the basis drive for solidarity and unity” (Anderson, 1972: 22-23). This shows the

strong concept of Javanese power as a political identity.

Union was manifested in the form of the loyalty of the people toward the king. The loyalty

of the king was manifested in the form of loyalty, obedience, devotion and self-sacrifice. There

was this belief that happened in the past that being obedient to the king as a form of devotion

and rewarding. Obeying the rules of the king was inclined to obeying the rules of God. Kings

were the “sense” for the micro world. Regarding the kings’ position, believed to be the

representative of God was the king’s power to rule and be respected by the people. The people

must be subject to the king’s commandments. Doing the commandments was the recognition

of the king. The strong social solidarity and the faithfulness of the people are what help the king

run the government. Nevertheless, the great power of the king must be balanced with the great

obligation as well. The full responsibility of the state is in the hands of the king. The king has

the responsibility to the welfare and the prosperity of the people. The unwise king would end

at the destruction of the kingdom.

The delivery of tributes and taxes can characterize loyalty. The manuscripts of

BabadSumenep and Babad Madura, described how tributes symbolize the king’s power. In

BabadSumenep, there was a fight against King Blambangan because King Blambangan would

not pay the tributes to the King of Majapahit. The matter of tributes was narrated in Babad

Madura, who said that King Madura always sent tributes to King Surakarta.





285

Loyalty and obedience were also shown by the Patihs, the army troops who would do the

commandments from the king. As happened to the troops and patih sent by King Surakarta to

Madura and in their journey, they found trouble.

Their boats were hit by the waves and crashed into the corals. However, as it was the

king’s order, they continued crashing the waves to arrive in Madura. As the following quote.

“All the wills of the king must be carried out, even though sacrificing life or death or heaven

and hell. Never reject the will of the king, for it must be sinful from the beginning till the end”.

The same thing happened to the troops of Jokotole that must face the troops from China

who wanted to control the land of Java. As also happened to the army troops of Sumenep who

would sacrifice life to depend on King Sumenep against the King of Japan. All those things

were a form of loyalty toward the king’s orders. “I would sacrifice my life for the sake of

defending the beloved King Sumenep, whispered the army troops of Sumenep inside their

heart”.

Power Expansion

To maintain power, the great kingdoms did all kinds of efforts to expand their territory,

such as through a political marriage, place their trusted person, and war.

History recorded, Madure never became a stand-alone political unity. Madura consisted

of small kingdoms that fight against each other. Those little kingdoms were very dependent on

the great kingdom centered in the land of Java. Between 1100 and 1700 subsequently, the

kingdoms in Madura were under the supremacy of Hindust kingdoms in East Java, the coastal

Islamic countries of Demak and Surabaya, the Mataram kingdom in Central Java (Huub de

Jonge, 1989: 44). The history of Madura began with the journey of Arya Wiraraja as the first

duke in Madura in the 13th century. The history recorded that Aria Wiraraja was the first duke

in Madura, appointed by King Kertanegara from Singosari, on 31 October 1269. The

government was in BatuputihSumenep, the first palace in Madura. The appointment of Aria

Wiraraja as the first Duke of Madura at that time was assumed to take place with a great

ceremony of Singosari kingdom brought to Madura. In Batuputih, which now has become the

district is approximately 18 km from the Sumenep city found relics of the palace Batuputih

(Sejarah Sumenep: 2010). In the book of Pararaton was also mentioned that the era of Singasari,

the King of Kertanegara appointed Aria Wijaya (Banyakwedi) as the first duke in Sumenep.

This was shown to be the ambition of Kertanegara who wanted to expand their territory by

placing their Patihs in a strategic place.

In history, there was a concept of mandala that depicted the power patterns in the era of

Hindust-Buddhist kingdoms in a social-political way. The concept of mandala was popularized

by O.W. Walters (1982) on the historical map of Southeast Asia. The mandala concept showed

a power system that had no geographic boundaries but emphasized the loyalty of the centered

kingdom that depicted the cultural influence, religion and the growing economic system.

Therefore, it can be understood that the central kingdom’s power had a wide influence including

its territory. In the concept of mandala, there was no need to use the concept of region

boundaries but needed the region loyalty tackled by acknowledging and sending tributes to the

King.

As told in BabadSumenep, that the existence of the kingdom in Sumenep could not be

separated from the help of the Majapahit kingdom. The faithful Jokotole toward King Brawijaya

rewarded concerning lead Sumenep. A few times told that King Majapahit sent his Patih in

several areas. He was also told that his daughter named Ratna Dewi Maskumambang, sent from

Japan to be a little king. The same thing also happened to Agus Wedi who became King Gresik

with the help of King Majapahit. Placing Patih or the trusted person in certain areas was the

king’s way to monitor his territory. At least, it could be understood that there was an idea of the

union of regions at the time.





286

In Babad Sumenep’s story, a strong representation was between the sovereignty and

coastal regional power with the mainstream (Majapahit). Majapahit through Gajah Madashouts

his vows of Palapa in the same concept that was the union of regions. Direct and indirect

colonialization transferred things related to Majapahit with the other regions with various fields.

The power expansion and influence expands the circle of regions in the structure of Majapahit

(Munandar in Wahyudi, 2013: 91).

Other than placing the trusted person in every area, political marriage was also the

strategy of the great kingdom in Java. In Badad Sumenep, Jokotole married the daughter of

King Brawijaya, namely Dewi Ratna Adi. The same thing described in Babad Madura; political

marriage became the dominant idea conveyed in that manuscript. The marriage between King

Surakarta and the daughter of Madura was a form of power expansion of the Javanese

kingdoms. Political marriage at the time was a common thing. The interrelated marriage was

also described in the dynamics of the Sumenep kingdom. The goal was to expand power.

War was also a strategy to expand power. Several times, wars described in Babad

Sumenep, such as a war against King Blambangan who would disobey King Majapahit, a war

against Dempo Awan, a war against The King of Japan, war Bali-Sumenep, and other several

events.

The war happened because the kings wanted to maintain the territorial sovereignty, as

what Jokotole had done in helping King Majapahit against Dempo Awan, the Chinese troops

who wanted to control Java. As well as a story about Prince Sumenep against Patih Tankondur,

patih from King Japan.

CONCLUSION

The conclusion from the above discussion is that the character development of a nation

explores the legacy from the past, as shown in the manuscripts of Madura. The idea of

sovereignty, independence, and identity has far been there even before The Netherlands came

to Indonesia. The pre-colonial national stub was colored by the concept of great leaders, identity

and political forces in every region to expand territorial power.

What both manuscripts have described is the depiction of the efforts of maintaining and

the desire gets bigger by promoting the symbols of identity. Past romanticism in the context of

past glory becomes the foundation of the sense of nationality at present. The glory from the past

kingdoms becomes the lessons for the future. The viewpoints of Majapahit as the reflection of

a great power trigger the awareness of identity. The most important thing understands that

Indonesia is an identity that will continuously evolve.

Those of us who live at present are at least almost in the same spirit even though with

different challenges. The wisdom of the past, the experience of the past and the fluctuated

dynamic of the past life become the capital for Indonesia to develop, become bigger and

stronger.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Ahimsa-Putra. 2017. “Bahasa Sebagai Model Studi Kebudayaan di Indonesia-Antropologi Struktural di

Indonesia” in JurnalMasyarakat Indonesia, page 1—33.

Anderson, Benedict. 2005. Imagined Communities: Reflections on The Origin and Spread of

Nationalism. Insistpress.

_________________. 1972. “The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture”, in Claire Holt (Ed), Culture and

Politics in Indonesia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Berg, C.C. 1985. Penulisan Sejarah Jawa. Bhratara: Jakarta.

Bambang, S. Purnomo. 2001. Serat Babad Madura: Teks Klasik dan Pesisiran dalam Naskah Lama

Jawa. Publisher: Badan Pekerja Kongres Bahasa Jawa.

Grosby, S. 2011 Sejarah Nasionalisme: Asal Usul Bangsadan Tanah Air (History of Nationalism: The

Origin of the Nation and the Motherland). Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.





287

Jonge, Huub De. 1989. Madura dalam Empat Zaman: Pedagangan, Perkembangan Ekonomi, dan

Islam: Suatu Studi Antrologi Ekonomi. Jakarta: PT. Gramedia.

Koentjaraningrat, 1987. Kebudayaandan Mentalitet, dan Pembangunan. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka

Utama.

Muljana, Slamet. 1983. Pemugaran Persada Sejarah Leluhur Majapahit. Inti Idayu Press: Jakarta.

Mulder, N. 1973.Kepribadian Jawa dan Pembangunan Nasional. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University

Press.

Moertono, S. 1985. Negara dan Usaha BinaNegara di Jawa Masa Lampau, Studi Tentang Masa

Mataram II, Abad XVI Sampai XIX. Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia.

Tim Penulis Sejarah Sumenep. 2010. Sejarah Sumenep. Sumenep: Dinas Kebudayaan Pariwisata

Pemuda dan Olahraga Kabupaten Sumenep.

Utomo, Wildan Sena. 2014. “Nasionalisme dan Gagasan Kebangsaan Indonesia Awal: Pemikiran

Soewardi Suryaningrat, Tjiptomangoenkusumo dan Douwes Dekker 1912-1914” inJurnal

Lembaran Sejarah, Vol.11, No.1., page. 54.

Werdisastra, Raden. 1996. Moh. Babad Sumenep. Pasuruan: PT. Garoeda Buana Indah.

Wolters, O.W. 1982. History, Culture and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives. Institute of Southeast

Asian Studies.

Wahyudi, Deny Yudo. 2013. “Kerajaan Majapahit: Dinamika dalam Sejarah Nusantara” in Jurnal

Sejarah dan Budaya. No. 1, VII, page. 91.





288





289

DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTERS OF ISLANDS COMMUNITY

THROUGH THE FOLKLORE OF PANGLIMA HITAM AND THE KING

OF TIDUNG AS LOCAL ACTIVITIES OF TIDUNG ISLAND

Siti Gomo Attas


Gres Grasia Azmin


Marwiah


ABSTRACT

The development of the character of the island community through the folklore of Panglima

Hitam and Raja Tidung as the local wisdom of the Tidung Island community. Tidung Island,

which is now a tourist destination, is slowly experiencing changes in the island community’s

life, which was originally a fishing community, but has now turned into a tourist destination.

The shift in function, which was originally strong with tradition, has turned into a tourist resort

ready to serve tourists who come to Tidung Island. Tidung Island’s existence is recorded in a

folk oral tradition that is still well known by the people. Local wisdom values and oral systems

are used to read both folk tales, especially the development of young characters on the island

of Tidung. The character of the island community that must be developed includes the overall

character, including a close view of life and always strives to improve the welfare of the people

and encourages the creation of attitudes and behavior of individuals that emphasize the harmony

of humans with humans and nature, and humans with the Creator.

Keywords: oral traditions, characters, folklore, local wisdom, and Tidung Island

INTRODUCTION

Who does not know Tidung Island? For the people of Jakarta, Tidung Island is a popular

destination as a natural island inhabited by residents, Tidung Island, known as “The jewels in

Jakarta Bay”. There are two islands in this area, namely Tidung Besar Island and Tidung Kecil

Island, both of these islands are served by a long bridge called Jembatan Cinta (The bridge of

Love). This island is located in the western part of the South Thousand Islands. To reach this

island from Jakarta requires approximately 3 hours from Muara Angke by passenger ship.

However, since September 2017, tourists can choose KM Express Bahari transportation as an

alternative provided by PT. Pelni, which can speed up the trip to just 1 hour.

Based on the Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 137 of 2017, the Government

Administration Area, Tidung Island is one of the villages in the South Seribu Islands District,

Seribu Islands. This island area is developing towards marine tourism, such as water recreation

and conservation of mangroves and coral reefs.

Apart from being a tourist destination and a conservation center, Tidung Island also

functions as a residential area, several stalls provide food and soft drinks. There are also public

facilities, such as police stations, high school-level schools for students from surrounding

islands. A row of stalls leading to the bridge of love that connects Tidung Besar Island with

Tidung Kecil Island which is devoid of inhabitants. In the end, walking on the beach of Pulau

Tidung Kecil, is a mangrove breeding bridge area, which can be traced by bicycle, through a

path filled with thatch and breadfruit trees and a quiet beach with soft white sand.





290

Demographically, Tidung Island, in 2017, was included in the village area, with a

population of 4,977 consisting of 2,479 men and 2,498 women, based on data from the South

Thousand Islands BPS in 2018. The existence of Tidung Island is not only beautiful in terms of

destinations, however, it also has a cultural heritage that is often visited by pilgrims, especially

the Tomb of King Tidung who is considered to be the first person to inhabit Tidung Island.

Including the Tomb of Panglima Hitam or Wa ‘Turup. These two figures live in the collective

memory of the people of Tidung Island as an oral tradition.

The definition of oral tradition according to UNESCO (in Simatupang, 2013, p. 15) (in

Gomo Attas 2015) states that oral tradition is “those traditions which have been transmitted in

time and space by the word and act”. The purpose of this statement is that the oral tradition is

a tradition that is transmitted in time and space by speech and action. This statement given by

UNESCO can be interpreted as a form of tradition that is still being carried out even though it

is limited in space and time. This community tradition is in the form of certain traditions that

are considered to have become the community’s characteristics. Furthermore, tradition is

conveyed in the form of speech and actions.

Meanwhile, Ong (1988, p. 3) states that oral tradition is “the orality of a culture untouched

by any knowledge of writing or print, primary orality”. The purpose of this statement is to

explain the oral tradition as the oral of a culture that is completely untouched by any knowledge

of writing or print as primary oral. In this concept, it can be understood that those who have

received a touch of knowledge are called secondary oracles. In line with Ong’s opinion,

Sweeney (1980, pp. 2-5) states that “oral tradition is a discourse system that is untouched by

letters.”

The term orality referred to in these statements is a cultural system that is not touched by

writing. Both statements use the term oral as a tangible form of oral tradition in general. Thus,

it can be seen that oral tradition is the knowledge that expresses the activities of a community

without relying on letters. In this case, it appears that there is a two-way process taking place,

namely verbalizing and listening. Thus, this concept is more advanced than the concept

proposed by Ong and Sweeney.

From the three concepts above, it can be described that orality in the oral tradition is a

form of expression that is spoken verbally, that the delivery of a speech by the storytellers and

the elements that are heard for the recipient is the keywords. The storyteller or in this case is

the speaker did not write the story being told and the recipient did not read what was heard.

There is an activity of telling oral stories, in which speakers are speaking the speech and the

audience who hears the traditional speech (storytelling). There is a two-way process taking

place, namely verbalizing and listening.

The folklore of Panglima Hitam is a folk tale that is believed by the people of Tidung

Island as a legend. This story tells of a character named Panglima Hitam, who is known by the

inhabitants of Tidung Island as Wa’Turup. Panglima Hitam is the Warlord of the Mataram

kingdom. Another story, namely Raja Tidung or Raja Pandita, the Tidung Kingdom leader,

which is located in Malinau Regency, North Kalimantan. King Pandita, who had an

uncompromising attitude and did not want to cooperate with the Dutch, was considered to be

against the Dutch Government; with the Dutch fighting strategy, King Tidung was exiled to an

empty island, then King Pandita named the island as Tidung, which was taken from the name

of his kingdom in Malinau Regency. Both stories as part of an oral tradition.

With various thoughts, the two-story characters can survive, even though it is an

emergency and far from all facilities. The two characters in the story are shown as characters

who have a passion and have strong principles. The story of Panglima Hitam and Raja Tidung

as heroic and brave figures. This attitude of courage was passed on to the children and

grandchildren of these two figures to the inhabitants of the Tidung Island community. Whether





291

the philosophical values of local wisdom or local wisdom of Tidung Island’s people is reflected

in the folk tales of Panglima Hitam and Raja Tidung.

What is meant by local wisdom? In accordance with the values depicted in the two folk

tales. According to Geertz (1973): “Local wisdom is part of the culture. Local wisdom is a

traditional cultural element that is deeply rooted in human life and community that is related to

human resources, sources of culture, economy, security and laws. Local wisdom can be viewed

as a tradition related to farming activities, livestock, build a house and so on “. Meanwhile,

local wisdom according to Keraf (20002), local wisdom is all forms of knowledge, belief,

understanding, or insight as well as customs or ethics that guide human behavior in life.

In line with Geerrz and Keraf’s opinion regarding the definition of local wisdom,

according to John M. Echol and Hasan Syadily in Siswandari (2017), they state that local

wisdom is local wisdom in general, so local wisdom can be understood as ideas. local ideas that

are wise, full of wisdom, of good value, which are ingrained and followed by members of the

community.

Gomo Attas, (Register and Indie (2017) that performing arts also function as a cultural

identity which is the value of local wisdom. This local wisdom is stored in the collective

memory of the community, especially local people who adapt to local culture. Local wisdom is

the binding of the local community’s life. Psychologically, the similarity in the characteristics

and character of a nation can unite the emerging expressions, one of which is through Betawi

cultural performances.

Furthermore, the concept of local wisdom mentioned above at least implies several

concepts, namely: (1) local wisdom is a long experience, which is faced as a guide to one’s

behavior, (2) local wisdom cannot be separated from the environment of the owner, (3) local

wisdom is dynamic, flexible, open and always adapting to the times. Local wisdom can also be

interpreted as a guardian or filter of the global climate that affects human life (Wagiran, 2010).

According to Yuwana Sudikan (2020), the local or local wisdom system is relative and

increasingly exists in global times, especially for the development of local wisdom-based

education. That is why, a strong community, especially a tourist destination such as Tidung

Island, needs to immediately design and determine the most appropriate character development

model for seeding local wisdom.

METHOD

The method used in this research was ethnography, which started from direct observation

on Tidung Island in July 2019, with a focus on folklore research in the Tidung Island

community, data were obtained by interviewing the figure of Mr. Abd Rasyad (62 years)

Masupi Age (52 know) and Mr. Syahruddin, 54 years old, Mr. Tidung Island Urban Village

Mr. Cecep Setiadi, ST (50 years) as well as 10 other informants in the Tidung Island

Community. Existing data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive methods as follows. The

interview data for the folk tales of Panglima Hitam and Raja Tidung were transcribed while still

paying attention to the lexical meaning according to the context. Furthermore, the data as a

whole are grouped according to the data needs in the research problem. The categorized data

were analyzed, then the data as a whole were grouped according to the data needs in the research

problem. The categorized data were analyzed using two paradigms, namely the oral paradigm

of folklore which is used to understand the form and context of the informants’ stories as

storytellers. The concept used to analyze aspects of folklore in terms of functions and values of

local wisdom offered by Clifford Geertz (1997) and Wagiran (2010) states that there are three

things of local wisdom, namely the form (1) knowledge, (2) belief, and (3) ) understanding of

customs.





292


Results

Ordinary form

Panglima Hitam’s story

It is said that Panglima Hitam was also known as

“Wa Kaca. When the war between the Mataram

Kingdom troops and the Dutch troops wanted to

control Batavia as a trading port through the

VOC, then with a limited fleet from the Mataram

Kingdom, were defeated by the Dutch ... It is said

that troops from the Mataram Kingdom were

scattered, including the war fleet at that time,

Panglima Hitam, with the available strength they

boarded a wooden boat to get to the island. When

he arrived at the island, Panglima Hitam and

some of his followers were able to survive on the

island with the best equipment they could.

Panglima Hitam until the end of his life lived and

reproduced on the island ...

The Story of Raja Tidung According to the informant, “it has not been long,

only three years. Previously, his grave was not

well maintained, it was found by Malinau people

and then moved here, “said informant Napsir.

King Pandita was known as a king who strongly

opposed the colonialists, namely the Dutch

colonialists. Because he strongly opposed the

invaders and did not want to cooperate, then King

Pandita was then exiled to Banjarmasin, then

Jepara then to Batavia and finally to Tidung

Island in 1902. Unfortunately, King Pandita died

on Tidung Island in 1898 far from his homeland

...

There are oral forms Text, speakers, and audience/listeners

Local Wisdom Values

Description of the Value of Local Wisdom as Development

The character of the People of Tidung Island

No. Value of Local Wisdom Behavior Description

1. Religious: Faith 1. Admire the greatness and power of God

Almighty through the knowledge he learns.

2. Carry out Islamic law seriously.

2. Knowledge:

Creative and innovative, critical

1. Creating learning situations that foster thinking

and acting creatively

2. Do not avoid problems

3. Divergent thinking in overcoming problems

4. Always asking and wanting to find out

3. Customs:

Enthusiastic, straightforward, tolerant,

plural, fond of sharing, egalitarian and

so on.

1. Able to express opinions openly, able to express

desires openly, and able to critique openly with

friends;

2. Respect fellow citizens regardless of ethnicity,

religion, race or class;

3. Able to cooperate with all elements regardless of

social status.





293

Discussion

1. Oral form

The oral folklore can be manifested in performances. There is a process of transmission

in time and space with speech and action. Statements can be interpreted as a form of

tradition that is still being carried out even though it is limited in space and time.

Furthermore, traditions are conveyed in the form of speech and actions. Oral tradition is

a tradition of conveying speech elements with various improvisations.

Oral tradition is the knowledge that expresses the activities of a community without

relying on letters. This limitation indicates that in conveying the oral tradition, the verbal

element for speakers and the listening element for the recipient are the keywords. The

speaker did not write down what was said and the recipient did not read what he received.

The orality of Panglima Hitam and Raja Tidung is the story of a storyteller of

Panglima Hitam and Raja Tidung. There is an interaction between the speaker and the

audience and there are stories that are told. People who listen to the stories as people who

receive the stories of Panglima Hitam and Raja Tidung from the story informants, namely

Mr. Abd Rasyad (62 years) and Moh Napsir (6o years), the stories were told to listeners

on Tuesday, July 12 (2019).

Mr. Abd Rasyad (62 years) started his story with a memory process. The process of

remembering is “the process of creating texts through actions that are remembered by

them - and thus repeated, adapted, applied and emphasized by them - is a tradition that

has various forms of knowledge and has been accepted as something that is considered

valid by the community.”

The speaker, Pak Abd Rasyad (62 years) recalled that the evidence of Panglima

Hitam’s existence was marked by the restored tomb of Panglima Hitam, which is located

on Tidung Kecil Island. The act of remembering is an essential action in the storytelling

process. The storyteller must not only obey the threads of the story but how the story

relates to the story it receives from the owner of the story. The storyteller does not forget

to convey the historical memory of the story to him now. It is said that no pirate dared to

enter this island because the courage and agility of Panglima Hitam and his followers

could ward off all threats with their skill in playing silat. The silat developed by Mr.

Masupi, a descendant of Wa Turup (52 years old) in the Tidung Island community. This

Mandar Silat is different from the type of Silat that the Betawi Tribe has.

Meanwhile, the story of Raja Tidung was retold by the guardian of the tomb of Raja

Tidung Moh Napsir (60 years). The researcher’s visit the Tomb of King Pandita

(Muhammad Kaca) or what is called Nek Kaca by local people on Tidung Besar Island

last week. From there, the naming of Tidung Island was revealed from Moh Napsir (60

years). However, previously the researcher was also given a short history book of King

Pandita written by the late Aji Muhammad Said, the late Panembahan Sulaiman, the late

Aji Kapitan, and the late Tama Talib (Hasan) in the book and told about a brief story

about King Pandita.

The oral form of the story-telling process of Raja Tidung was told by a tomb guard

named Moh Napsir Abdul Murad (60 years). According to the informant, “recently, only

three years. Previously, his grave was not well maintained, Malinau people found it and

then moved here, “said informant Napsir. King Pandita was known as a king who strongly

opposed the colonialists, namely the Dutch colonialists. King Pandita was then exiled to

Banjarmasin then Jepara then to Batavia and finally to Tidung Island in 1902.

Unfortunately, King Pandita died in Tidung Island in 1898, far from his homeland.

The story of the connection between King Pandita and the Tidung kingdom was

revealed in 2011. Tidung Island’s name was heard in the middle of the Malinau

community, descendants of the Tidung tribe from East Kalimantan. They are curious





294

when they find out that there is an island called Tidung in the Thousand Islands. After

conducting in-depth research and several visits to Tidung Island by representatives of the

Malinau community, descendants of the Tidung tribe of Kalimantan. Finally, this

fascinating story was revealed. Evidence includes discovering the location of the tomb of

King Pandita, the king of the Tidung Tribe of Borneo who was captured by the Dutch in

the late 19th century and only discovered its existence after more than a century.

The description of the oral story of Raja Tidung, as told by the storyteller Napsir (60

years) is shown by the informant’s efforts to remember the story to be told, the informant

while catching his breath and begins to tell the story of why the name of this island is

named Tidung Island. The attempt to relate the story to the events that occurred with the

discovery of the tomb with the name of the island is an attempt by the storyteller to convey

his speech to the listener, his attempt is as a form of verbalization to the narrator that the

story is not exactly the same between one story and another, there are many versions.

Another orality in the storytelling is illustrated by relating the story to the caretaker

of the tomb of King Pitung, that he is the fourth descendant of the king without the crown.

In general, in oral stories, the speakers generally associate the story with themselves. It is

the heir that is conveyed by the storyteller that no one can tell the story of a story without

having anything to do with the character being told. Likewise, what is shown by this story

which has been written in the book The Brief History of King Pandita.

A printed book that shows the story told by the descendants of Raja Pandita or Raja

Tidung, namely the late Aji Muhammad Said, the late Panembahan Sulaiman, the late Aji

Kapitan, and the late Tama Talib (Hasan). The naming shows the oral character besides

the oral aspect which remembers the story to be conveyed, not memorizing or reading it

but telling stories by remembering the story formula, as stated by Lord (2000) that

formula is “a group of words which is regularly employed under the same metrical

conditions to express a given essential idea “(a group of words that are regularly used in

the same dimensional condition to express an essential or principal idea).

Moreover, it is presented in a show, as the Formulas appear many times in a story,

which may be words, phrases, clauses, or arrays. To produce this repetition, the narrator

takes two ways: remembering the loop and creating through analogy with the repetition

of existing words, phrases, clauses, and arrays. In general, the concept of the formula

expressed by Lord is more of a case in which stories have been transformed into stories

that are dubbed, such as the story of si pitung in the Betawi community, initially a story

from mouth to mouth is then transformed.

The description of the formula contained in the story is in accordance with what was

conveyed by Attas (The et al. 1986)). The key interpreter as a speaker who tells the story

of Raja Tidung, the thing that is repeated, “According to the story I heard from my parents

that when Raja Tidung first arrived in the island, he immediately named this island as

Pulo tidung”, so said Napsir (60 years). Chili occasionally adjusts his breath. The memory

of the storyteller in the spoken story is not in the form of lines in songs but rather in the

form of story memories related to the story lineage, history, religion, and how the story

is packaged with the process of remembering the common threads of the story.

The oral process in speech is also related to the audience. (Nurgiyantoro 2016) In this

case the audience or listeners directly listen to the story, do not read, do not watch but pay

close attention to what the storyteller has said. In this case, the audience also records what

is heard, and records what the narrator says. The oral process undertaken by the listener

is a form (Duija 2005) of primary and secondary oralism. A recording aid or video

recording is a secondary form of listening to obtain documented primary oral speech

processes.





295

Orality in the stories of Panglima Hitam and Raja Tidung cannot be separated from

the attitudes and culture of the people of Tidung Island. Generally, the people of Tidung

Island usually do not receive guests on Friday. Their time is decided to prepare for Friday

prayers at the mosque for men, while women will not leave the house because they are

busy providing all the family needs.

2. The Value of Local Wisdom

Character development in the Tidung Island community through the value of local

wisdom shows that there are local wisdom values that need to be explained in relation to

the character development of the island community. Hence, it is necessary to show them

in a table (Asriati 2012).

a. Religious

The Value of Local Wisdom as a Character Developer for the People of Tidung

Island who have beliefs, religious attitudes, such as admiring the greatness and power

of God Almighty through the knowledge they learn. This picture can be shown in

folklore how Panglima Hitam has martial arts as a provision to protect himself.

Martial arts as useful knowledge, not only for oneself but also for protecting others

from harm. The knowledge that is useful as a form of gratitude and love for the

Creator that useful knowledge is a provision for the last day as a sign of gratitude for

the greatness and power of God Almighty, Panglima Hitam as follows:

“It was told that Panglima Hitam was the head of the war fleet of the Mataram

Islamic Kingdom which was highly respected because he had extraordinary

martial arts skills ... the greatness and power of Panglima Hitam’s knowledge

did not make him surrender and want to cooperate with the Dutch, so during the

war, the army of the Islamic kingdom of Mataram lost to the Dutch, the troops

divorced and Panglima Hitam with his wooden boat arrived at an uninhabited

island with his men ... And on that small island Panglima Hitam taught martial

arts in order to protect them from pirate attacks that came from time to time ...

The concept of useful knowledge, especially when Panglima Hitam teaches

martial arts to his followers and descendants on Tidung Island, is a form of obtaining

useful knowledge. For the people of Tidung Island, it is in accordance with the

teachings of the Islamic religion that useful knowledge includes charity. Three

practices whose rewards will not be broken even after death, namely: almsgiving,

children who always pray for their parents, and useful knowledge. The three virtues

are understood as a form of religious practice, especially how every job, or

knowledge is learned and practiced adequately as part of a charity.

According to Syahruddin (60 years), as a family officer on Tidung Island,

Tidung Island people are very religious; almost all the natives of Tidung Island are

Muslims. This is proven by the fact that on Tidung Island there are no buildings of

worship except for mosques. The people of Tidung Island also understand the virtue

of useful knowledge; according to him, “Their children are sent to junior and senior

high schools, mostly sent to lodges outside Tidung Island. This is following their

understanding that knowledge is essential, especially religious knowledge, “he told

us at that time.

b. Egalitarian

An attitude that is able to treat all citizens equally, both natives and immigrants and

is able to work together with all elements of society regardless of social status, is a

form of local wisdom which is also reflected in the folklore of Panglima Hitam, a

form of selflessness is depicted from the story of Panglima Hitam.





296

It was told by Haji Dja’far Arsy that the character of Panglima Hitam was

undeniably a great figure who was respected in his day, had a big name that was

respected, and was a figure who had many followers, therefore he was given the

nickname Panglima. …

An open or egalitarian character, according to Penataan, Di, and Hukum (2017)

that the public is willing to accept anyone who comes to Tidung Island must be

welcomed with open arms. These egalitarian messages and values can be shown in

society that the values are in line with the local community’s characteristics (local

wisdom) and do not “imitate” values with the characteristics and personalities of

other nations. Character is a personality value that is extracted from one’s own

culture. Of course, local culture or local wisdom is shaping character or personality.

A strong character is certainly built from the high value of a community’s local

wisdom.

It is inevitable if the people of Tidung Island are raised by the strong character

of their predecessors who have instilled such strong local wisdom as well. The shape

of the character of the Tidung Island community must be instilled in the souls of the

younger generation that their ancestors had instilled local wisdom or guidance that

had existed since the beginning when the existence of Tidung Island emerged through

the folklore of Panglima Hitam and Raja Tidung.

c. Creative and Innovative

Creative and innovative as the ability to create learning situations that foster thinking

and acting creatively, according to Izzati (2016), that a creative attitude towards the

environment should be done so that local wisdom values overshadow creative

thinking about the environment. This description is contained in the story conveyed

by informant Syahruddin (60 years), that how is told in the story of Raja Tidung and

Panglima Hitam, a character who can harmonize life on the island. Even though they

are isolated from the condition of the empty island they live in, it does not make the

characters in the story lazy to accept their destiny. This can be proven that the

inhabitants of Tidung Island can survive until their children and grandchildren now.

Regardless of how the people of Tidung Island manage the existing land and

water as proof that the people of Tidung Island have a high attitude and creativity in

overcoming a limited environment. According to Nafisah, (2016) that local wisdom

to manage nature and the environment must be used as a character in order to produce

a harmonious and balanced nature, of course, requires hard work of the local

community so that they can compete with areas outside them. Life is a struggle, this

expression fits perfectly with what was stated by the informant of the story

Syahruddin (60 years old), that they have always been taught to always be diligent

in maintaining the balance of nature, both land and water, especially the

empowerment of the sea that lies wide in front of them.

CONCLUSION

Based on the results of the research and discussion that has been described above, it can

be concluded that: the development of the character of the island community on Tidung Island,

especially through folklore as an oral tradition, has a form of oral wisdom and local wisdom

values. The oral form of the story text as an oral text means that the text is not read out but is

spoken by the informant. There are several versions of the story. There is no standard story yet,

the storyteller still tells it with various additions that are remembered by the speaker. The

listener does not read the story but hears from several informant sources. Local wisdom as a

character-building can be seen as an attitude of religiosity, egalitarianism, and creativity and

innovation.





297

BIBLIOGRAPHY Asriati, Nuraini. 2012. “Mengembangkan Karakter Peserta Didik Berbasis Kearifan Lokal Melalui

Pembelajaran Di Sekolah.” Jurnal Pedidikan Sosiologi dan Humaniora.

Duija, I Nengah. 2005. “Tradisi Lisan, Naskah, Dan Sejarah Sebuah Catatan Politik Kebudayaan.”

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia 7(2): 115. http://wacana.ui.ac.id/

index.php/wjhi/article/view/296.

Izzati, Afina. 2016. “Nilai-Nilai Konstruk Harmoni : Perspektif Tokoh Wayang Semar.” Fikrah: Jurnal

Ilmu Aqidah dan Studi Keagamaan 4(2): 261–75.

Nafisah, Durrotun. 2016. “Peran Pendidikan Muatan Lokal terhadap Pembangunan Karakter Bangsa.”

Citizenship Jurnal Pancasila dan Kewarganegaraan.

Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. 2016. “Transformasi Cerita Wayang Dalam Novel Amba Dan Pulang.” Litera

15(2): 201–16. http://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/litera/article/view/11823.

Penataan, Dalam, Ruang Di, and Kementerian Hukum. 2017. “Kedudukan Kearifan Lokal Dan Peranan

Masyarakat Dalam Penataan Ruang Di Daerah (.” 6: 159–77.

Register, Dagh, and Encyclopedie Van Nederlandsch Indie. 2017. “Seni Pertunjukan Cerita Si Pitung :

Pertarungan Identitas dan Representasi Budaya Betawi Siti Gomo Attas Universitas Negeri Jakarta

Abstrak Tulisan Ini Bertujuan Untuk Menjelaskankan Bagaimana Cerita Si Pitung Diperebutkan

Oleh Berbagai Kekuatan Sosial Di.” 08(1).

The, Promoting et al. 1986. “Siti Gomo Attas : Mengusung Pembelajaran Sastra Lisan….”

Yuwana Sudikan, Setya. 2020. Kearifan Budaya local. Jawa Timur: Tankali.





298





299

UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL VALUES IN ORAL TRADITION LEGEND

OF KULAWI ETHNIC

AS THE NATION CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT VISION

Tamrin



Nursyamsi



ABSTRACT

The awareness of oral traditions’ importance as a source of knowledge began to be felt when

modern sources of knowledge obtained from written sources often did not provide answers to

the local uniqueness faced. In the oral tradition, there were cultural values that could be used as

guidelines for the national character formation and development. Likewise, in the legends or

folk tales in the oral tradition of the Kulawi Ethnic in Central Sulawesi Province, there were

many cultural values that could be used as a vehicle for building the nation’s character. The

research purpose was to understand the cultural values contained in the legends/folklore of the

Kulawi oral tradition as a guide for the nation’s character development. The data collection

method used was the method of literature study, survey and interview and the method of data

analysis was descriptive-analytic. The analysis results show that the cultural values contained

in the legends / folklore of Ethnic Kulawi contain a crystallization of cultural values, namely

heroic values, compliance values, beauty values, cultural values, compassionate values, work

ethic values, attitudes, behavior, ethics and moral ethics that could play a role in building the

nation’s character.

Keywords: Kulawi ethnic, legend, cultural values, oral literature

INTRODUCTION

The richness of a language in an area had a direct effect on the growth of literature in that

area. It was said so because literary media was a language. There was no literature without

language. The language was considered as a medium for conveying intentions, ideas, ideas and

thoughts in literature. Thus, it could be emphasized that the richer and more diverse the

languages a region had, the richer and more diverse the literary treasures the region had.

Likewise, the language and literature in Central Sulawesi, which had diversity and

richness of culture, especially language, could not be doubted the diversity and richness of

literature this region had (Central Sulawesi). All languages in Central Sulawesi had derivative

forms in the form of literature which was still alive and developing and was still being used by

their speakers. However, the literature that grew and developed in Central Sulawesi was all oral.

This was because all native languages in Central Sulawesi did not recognize script (manuscript).

Language activities and literary activities were mostly carried out orally. Aksara began to be

known by several ethnic groups in the Central Sulawesi region since the relationship between kingdoms in Central Sulawesi and kingdoms in the southern part of Sulawesi, such as the

kingdoms of Gowa, Luwu, and Bone. At that time the Bugis-Makassarese who came from the

three kingdoms began to introduce the use of the Bugis-Makassar script, the lontarak script.

The use of the lontarak script could be proven in historical relics, in the form of royal

genealogies, tombstones as seen in the former royal relics of Tatanga, Banawa, Dolo, and Sigi,

as well as letters of agreement of kings (Prasurvey Project, 1986/1987: 18). The use of the

Bugis-Makassar script in literature had yet to be found.





300

Even so, the wealth of oral literature possessed by various ethnic groups in Central

Sulawesi must be maintained and preserved. Development efforts need to be made by exploring

the values of local wisdom contained therein and the results of this development need to be

disseminated to the wider community, especially the younger generation, so that they know,

realize, and understand the values that had been upheld by their ancestors. The existence of

intellectual property inheritance from the ancestors must be preserved because this cultural

heritage was a symbol of the identity of a community which was a very important source in the

formation of ethnic character and the entrance to understanding the community that owns the

traditions concerned.

Cultural values in the oral tradition of the Kulawi ethnic group were worthy of being used

as guidelines for character education for the nation. In simple terms, it could be said that value

was something that concerns good and bad, while norms were something that concerns right

and wrong. In line with this, Theodore (in Sabarani, 2012: 179) stated that value was something

abstract, used as guidelines and general principles in acting and behaving. The attachment of a

person or group to values and norms was relatively strong and even emotional. Therefore, values

and norms could be seen as guidelines to guide emotional intelligence, action, and at the same

time as the goal of human life. Values were associated with culture, citing the opinion of

Koentjaraningrat (1990: 85). Cultural values consisted of conceptions that live in the minds of

most members of society regarding things they consider noble.

As a tradition, noble values and local wisdom that were shared from generation to

generation by a certain group of people, in culture could be interpreted as a collective identity

or national identity. The culture had a central and fundamental role and function as the main

foundation in the life order of the nation and state. Therefore, a nation would be great if cultural

values had taken root in the joints of people’s lives.

Indonesia as an archipelagic country was a nation that had the richness and diversity of

the archipelago culture which was a special attraction in the eyes of the world. This should be

used as capital to raise the image of the nation in the eyes of the world as well as fundamental

values that function to cement unity. Noble values as a country, the Indonesian people had

distinctive and cultured noble values in society, such as mutual cooperation, help, friendly,

polite, tolerant, and caring for others. These noble values were eventually used as a reference

for shaping the state ideology, namely Pancasila which was generally built on noble values that

had taken root and were cultured in society long before Indonesia became a unitary state.

Since the post-reformation era, culture in Indonesia continued to experience many serious

challenges, especially the younger generation who had begun to lack an understanding of local

culture. Many of them did not have a special interest in the local culture. Many of the younger

generations had forgotten and didn’t even know the legends, local tales, and traditional games.

Not many of them know the glory of the archipelago kingdom in the past such as the greatness

of the Srivijaya Kingdom in building its maritime power and the Majapahit Kingdom which

succeeded in uniting the archipelago. The character crisis began to fade discourse on

archipelago culture among the people due to the foreign cultures influences, both from the West

and Asia.

Technological developments that erased space and time also had a big impact. There were

indications of a character and identity crisis as well as integrity among the young generation

today. This was quite worrying for the morale of the nation. If cultural values were lost and

were not actualized, our society, especially the younger generation, would lose the ethical and

fundamental foundations in the life of the nation and state which would potentially lead to the

fragmentation of national unity, and a culture of corruption, drugs and acts of terrorism.

Therefore, cultural discourse, especially related to noble values, must continue to be voiced to

ward off negative external influences, one of which could be done by preserving, advancing and

developing the cultural values of the archipelago, and internalizing them in society, especially





301

the younger generation. Efforts were needed from various parties to do this, the government

through Law Number 5 of 2017 concerning the Advancement of Culture had shown efforts to

advance a variety of local cultures whose processes were carried out through the protection,

development, utilization and fostering of Indonesia’s national culture. Not only that, the

government through the Ministry of Education and Culture would budget an endowment fund

of around 5 trillion from the State Budget for the promotion of culture in 2020 and the following

years.

The roles of kings, sultans, and traditional leaders related to the advancement of culture,

the role of kings of sultans, and traditional leaders from all over the archipelago in protecting

local culture must also be supported by the government and society. Kings, sultans, and

traditional leaders throughout Indonesia not only preserve and preserve historical heritage or

heritage but were also active in building the character of the nation by spreading the noble values

passed down from their ancestors in their respective territories. In addition to maintaining

cultural assets such as ancient manuscripts, heirlooms, historical buildings, and other works of

art, kings, sultans and traditional leaders were expected to be able to apply local wisdom values

adapted to the current context and must be able to organize and adapt. the times, but still holding

the steering wheel of traditional and cultural values.

Referring to this, we could emulate the countries of South Korea and Japan, which,

although they had become modern and economically advanced countries, these countries were

still able to maintain their culture as their identity without worrying about being dominated by

foreign cultures. Therefore, in the current contemporary context, innovation towards cultural

advancement needed to be done to affirm the nation’s identity in the eyes of the world as a

nation-state that had diversity and cultural wealth. In addition, developing national character

could be done by collaborating noble values that had became the hallmarks of the nation’s

personality, such as being friendly and courteous, working together, compassionate, tolerant,

and caring for others, and like to help with the character of modern society that had nature of

hard work, diligent, creative and innovative.

In relation to this, the wealth of oral literature, especially the legends that exist in the

Kulawi ethnic community, needs to be preserved and used as an identity and could also be used

as a vehicle to ward off negative external influences from foreign cultures that were contrary to

the values of the nation’s ancestors.

The Kulawi ethnic group was an ethnic group that lived in Kulawi District, Sigi Regency,

Central Sulawesi. Mahsun, et al. (2008: 79-80) stated that the land of origin (homeland) of this

Kulawi language was in Kulawi District, Sigi Regency, Central Sulawesi. This language had

three dialects, namely Moma, Tado, and Tado Pontolobete. Kulawi language was also

mistranscription so that language and literary activities were carried out orally. It was this factor

that caused the Kulawi ethnic group to had a rich and varied repertoire of oral literature. The

treasures of oral literature were in the form of folk prose, folk poetry or poetry, and traditional

songs that grown and developed in the Kulawi ethnic community. However, in the discussion

the researcher limited it to only examining the issue of cultural values in the oral tradition in the

form of legends as a vehicle for national character development.

This needs to be done considering the importance of the oral tradition as a source of

knowledge when modern sources of knowledge obtained from written sources often did not

provide answers to the local uniqueness they face. This happens because so far universities had

only relied on literature that glorifies scientific studies in written standard forms, while

references that come from oral traditions tend to be ignored (Pudentia, 2013: 3). The statement

by the expert and chairman of the Oral Traditions Association (ATL), inspires the writer to raise

cultural values in the oral tradition of the Kulawi ethnic group as a vehicle for building the

nation’s character.





302

Based on this background, the problem to be answered in this paper was what were the

forms and values of the Kulawi ethnic culture in the oral tradition, especially the Kulawi ethnic

legends? The research objective in this paper was to describe the forms and values of the Kulawi

ethnic culture in the oral tradition, especially the Kulawi ethnic legends.

LITERATURE STUDY

National character education was an education to shape one’s personality through

character education, the results of which could be seen in one’s real actions, namely good,

honest, responsible behavior, respect for the rights of others, hard work, and so on (Juanda,

2011: 3). National character education was not new in the educational tradition in Indonesia.

Seen from history, the great works of the epic Mahabharata (Bagawan Ordinary) and the epic

Ramayana (Bagawan Walmiki) were born as a form of education that emphasizes moral and

ethical principles. In the pre-independence era, several educators were born, such as Ki Hajar

Dewantara, R.A. Kartini, and Moh. Natsir had instilled the spirit of character education as a

shaping personality and national identity according to the context and situation at that time.

Furthermore, Koentjaraningrat, Robert Sibarani (2012: 178—179) states that cultural

values and norms were conceptions that exist in most communities’ minds about what culture

they perceive as good and bad. Cultural values and norms were not personal conceptions but

conceptions of community members; there was a shared community system to determine values

and norms in a tradition. The character was a mental or moral quality, moral strength, name or

reputation. Character is a “characteristic” possessed by an object or individual. These

characteristics were original and rooted in the individual’s personality and were the engine of

driving how a person acts, behaves, speaks and respond to something (Majid, 2010: 11; Juanda,

2011: 3).

The legend was people’s prose which had characteristics similar to myths which were

considered true, but not considered sacred. Unlike the case with myths, legends were celebrated

by humans even though they sometimes had extraordinary properties and were often assisted

by magical creatures. The event happened in the real world and it wasn’t too long ago. Legend

had the following characteristics: (1) it was considered an event that actually happened; (2)

being secular (worldly), occurring at a recent time and taking place in the real world as we know

it today; (3) collective history, which means history that had experienced many distortions

because it was often very different from the original story; (4) was migratory, that is, it could

move around so that it was widely known in various regions; and (5) cyclical in nature, namely

a group of stories that revolve around a certain character or event, such as the “Panji” story in

Java.

Legend (folklore) as a part of oral folklore that contains ideal life values and was still

relevant to the values of today’s life. Folklore contains a lot of noble thoughts, valuable soul

experiences, a mirror of good characters, such as feelings of compassion, a soul that was patient

in facing life’s trials, perseverance and tenacity, suggestions to work hard and others. It was in

this folklore that human fantasies gain absolute freedom because there were things that don’t

make sense, which was impossible to find in everyday life. To understand the culture of the

people who were the owners / supporters of the stories, this phenomenon was not then assessed

whether the stories told were real or not, but it must be seen how the myths work in society.

The inheritance of values and conceptions through well-established stories had become a

hereditary culture in the people of the archipelago. The story did not only reflect the socio-

cultural values of the community in the past but also delivers these values to today’s society.

This was because stories in one generation were inherited from previous community stories

(Nurgiantoro, 2005: 117). By understanding and retelling old stories to children, the process of

inheriting the noble values contained in them would remain alive and foster a love for their own

culture in each generation.





303

METHOD The primary data of this research was in the form of oral literary texts that develop in

Kulawi society, while the secondary data was in the form of other information related to the

results of the Kulawi oral literature study, reviews or discussions of Kulawi oral literature,

information from mass media reports that review or report on the existence of the Kulawi oral

tradition. and Kulawi community statistics. To obtain secondary data, the library research

method was used, while the survey method was used to obtain data on social and cultural

conditions. The interview method was used when collecting oral literature data. Recording and

recording techniques were used to obtain data. The data obtained through these two techniques

were then transcribed and transliterated using identification and classification techniques.

This research was qualitative and descriptive in nature, namely presenting the findings and

discussion in the form of an explanation. Therefore, in analyzing data, the method used was the

descriptive-analytic method. This method was applied by describing the data were then directly

analyzed based on the description results. This was in line with the opinion of Nazir (1988: 65)

that the analytical descriptive method aims to make a systematic, factual and accurate

description, description or description of the facts, characteristics, and relationships between

the phenomena being investigated.

DISCUSSION

Cultural Values in The Legend of Kulawi Ethnic Oral Tradition

as A Management of National Characters

Each ethnic group on this earth had a different source of character building for the

younger generation of their nation’s successors. In building the character of the Indonesian

nation, the values of local wisdom were an important source that must be owned by the nation’s

future younger generations. Seeing the importance of the values of local wisdom, in this paper,

the boundaries of traditional cultural values can be understood as local ideas and knowledge

that were wise, full of wisdom, good value, and virtuous that were owned and implemented by

the community (Sibarani, 2012: 112). Likewise, the cultural values contained in the legend of

the Kulawi community in Sigi Regency, Central Sulawesi. There were quite a lot of legends

living and still developing today in Kulawi society. Two of the legends that were still

developing in society that had been successfully documented and used as study material in this

paper, namely (1) Tutura Ngata Mataue ‘The Origin of Mataue Village’ and (2) Torona

Tonagahi Nogolo Ndaya Vatu ‘Beautiful Girl Changed Become a stone’.

1. Tutura Ngata Mataue ( The Origins of Mataue Village)

In the past, some Kulawi people lived in Bola Pimpi. Bola Pimpi was located at the foot

of the mountain, near the Oo and Watuwali rivers. In Bola Pimpi, there were three heads

of families. From these three family heads, the Mataue people come from. Here’s the

story.

Once upon a time, there was a hunter named Tudalili who came from Sigi. He hunts

pigs, anoa, deer and other animals. On his way, he arrived at the headwaters of the Oo

River. He walked down the river. Not far away, he saw a girl washing clothes in the Oo

River. In his heart, Tudalili asked, “Where the hell was that charming girl? Her face was

beautiful, her skin was white, and her height was lanky.” Tudalili was curious to approach

the girl.

Next, Tudalili hid and waited for the girl to come home from washing clothes in the

river. When the girl came home, Tudalili quietly knelt her. Not long after the girl entered

the house, she heard someone knocking on her door. The girl went out with her father and

mother. When the door opened, they were surprised to see a man standing at the door,

holding a spear and machete tied to his waist. Because they were cultured people, they

still invite them to enter the house and serve them a cup of coffee.





304

Tudalili was enjoying a cup of coffee served by the beautiful girl. While enjoying a

cup of coffee the girl’s father asked Tudalili, “If we may know, who was this brother and

what was the purpose of coming to our village?” The question was answered by Tudalili,

“I am a hunter from Sigi. I came to this village to ask about the beautiful girl I was

following from the Oo River which was in this house. The girl’s father replied, “That was

my son, his name was Raimbulawa, sorry, please ask what did you mean by following

our child?” with your child’s beauty, I love your son, Bapak, and I like him.

After chatting for a long time between Tudalili and the girl’s parents, finally,

Raimbulawa was summoned by the beautiful girl who was Tudalili’s idol to meet

Tudalili. Stay with the Tudalili family Raimbulawa and love each other. Furthermore,

both parents and the customary council agreed to take care of their marriage so as not to

violate adat. Since Tudalili had no property that could be used as a marriage dowry, he

appointed Sungai Oo as his dowry for Raimbulawa.

Furthermore, Tudalili and Raimbulawa agreed to get married. After marriage, they

had children and grandchildren. With the birth of Tudalili and Raimbulawa, the

population of Bola Pimpi increased, then they moved to a lower place and gave the place

the name Mataue until now, which means it came from the marriage dowry of Tudalili to

Raimbulawa.

“Tutura Ngata Mataue” was one of the stories that could be categorized as a local

legend, namely a legend related to the name of the place or the background of the

occurrence of mountains, hills, lakes, and so on. The story was about the origin of Mataue

Village in Kulawi District, Sigi Regency.

The story was told by storytellers with the intention that residents or people around

the village knew the origins of Mataue Village. The story was aimed at both children and

adults. The story of the origin of Mataue did not only belong to the Mataue community,

but also to the Kulawi community in general. The story developed by word of mouth,

from time to time, according to the times. Apart from being a means of entertainment, in

the story, there were several human behaviors as cultural values that could be used as life

guidelines, namely cultural values in courage, sincerity, kindness, and compassion.

Some Kulawi people believe that the story of “The Origin of Kampung Mataue”

actually happened so that it became a legend that developed in the Kulawi ethnic group

in Kulawi District, Sigi Regency. As legendary as it is, the story fosters a myth in the

Kulawi community, namely the Tudalili tomb on the banks of the Oo River.

The traditional cultural values that could be quoted from the Tudalili legend could be

used as a vehicle for national character education as follows.

a. Heroic Cultural Values

The life value contained in the story was the cultural value of heroism, which was

about the courage of a young man from Sigi named Tudalili. Tudalili always hunted

and wandered alone. While on the hunt, he saw a beautiful girl named Raimbulawa.

He was captivated and fascinated by the girl’s beauty. Tudalili was a brave young

man, without further ado he proposed to the girl and immediately expressed his heart

through the girl’s parents. His brave character was reflected in the translation of the

following quote.

“When the door opened, what a surprise they saw a man standing at the door,

holding a spear and machete tied to his waist. Because they were cultured people,

they still invite them to enter the house and serve them a cup of coffee. Tudalili

was enjoying a cup of coffee served by the beautiful girl. While enjoying a cup

of coffee the girl’s father asked Tudalili, “If we may know, who was this brother

and what was the purpose of coming to our village?” The question was answered

by Tudalili, “I am a hunter from Sigi. I came to this village to ask about the





305

beautiful girl I was following from the Oo River which was in this house. The

girl’s father replied, “That was my son, his name was Raimbulawa, sorry, please

ask what did you mean by following our son?” with your child’s beauty, I love

your son, Bapak, and I like him. “

b. Compliance Culture Value

The value of obedience or obedience to parents was also contained in the story. In

addition, there was also a value regarding equal rights and positions between men

and women. The marriage did not need to look at position or wealth because

happiness would be achieved in marriage if it was based on love, not wealth.

Abundant wealth and high dignity did not guarantee a happy marriage. So, whoever

they are, made or rich, ethnic or not, national and non-national had the right to unite

their love in the form of marriage. The same was true for Tudalili and Raimbulawa

in the legend. Tudalili did not have any dowry to propose to Raimbulawa except

courage and sincerity in love, because their marriages were based on the courage and

sincerity of each. Hence, their marriage was happy. From this marriage, the people

in Ue Village believe that the people living in that area were the descendants of

Tudalili and Raimbulawa. The value of courage was recorded in the following quote.

After that, Raimbbulawa called to meet Tudalili. Tudalili lives with them and

they love each other. Finally, the parents and the customary council took care of their

marriage so that it did not violate adat. Since Tudalili did not have any property that

could be used as a marriage dowry, he only appointed Sungai Oo as his dowry for

Raimbulawa. After marriage, they had children and grandchildren. Until finally the

population of Bola Pimpi grew, then they moved to a lower place and named the

place Mataue until now. This means that the name Mataue comes from the marriage

dowry of Tudalili and Raimbulawa.

c. Cultural Value Beauty (Attristic)

Apart from the value of heroism, the cultural value of obedience, there was also a

beauty value that was contained in Mataue’s story. Raimbulawa was a beautiful girl

with smooth white skin, while Tudalili was a young man who had hunting skills. The

following was a translation of the story that reflects the value of beauty in Mataue’s

story.

“Once upon a time there was a hunter named Tudalili who came from the Sigi

area. He hunts pigs, anoa, deer and other animals. On his way to hunting, he

arrived at the headwaters of the Oo River. He walked down the river. Not far

away, he saw a girl washing clothes in the river. “Where’s that girl? Her face

was beautiful and her kuliot was white, “muttered Tudalili while watching the

girl closely.”

d. Cultural Values

Cultural values (cultural) were also reflected in the story “Tutura Ngata Mataue”. this

was evident at the marriage of Tudalili and Raimbulawa. Their marriage was

preceded by a procession of proposals which was then legalized by the customary

council, even though Tudalili did not have a marriage dowry that was handed over to

the prospective bride. This reflects that the marriage customs in the Kulawi

community were not always burdensome for the community. Based on this, the

Kulawi people in terms of marriage were not burdened with high dowries and loose

assets. In the marriage bond, the most important thing was love and mutual respect.

The presence or absence of material possessions was not a barrier to getting married.

The following was a translation of a story that reflects the cultural values of Kulawi

culture.





306

“After talking for a long time between Tudalili and the girl’s parents,

finally, Raimbulawa was called by the beautiful girl who was

Tudalili’s idol to meet Tudalili. Stay with the Tudalili family

Raimbulawa and love each other. Furthermore, both parents and the

customary council agreed to take care of their marriage so as not to

violate adat. Since Tudalili did not have any property that could be

used as a marriage dowry, he appointed Sungai Oo as his dowry for

Raimbulawa. “

2. Torona Tonagahi Nogoli Naja Watu (Beautiful Girl Turns to Stone)

It was said that long ago in a village in Kulawi District, his place in Kampung Nere, lived

a family, a mother and three children. This family lives very poorly. This mother had

three children, one daughter who was still a girl and two sons who were still single. The

mother was a widow whose husband had long since died from an illness. To support her

family, the mother opened a plantation with her three children. From day to day they work

tirelessly so that one day the land was ready to be planted with plants that they could eat.

Before they planted the land, the girl asked permission from her mother and siblings

to go get the kalamio tree fruit (a type of mangosteen tree) whose water was red like

blood. This tree was only found in the forest. The fruit of the kalamio tree was sweet and

delicious. This fruit was very popular and became the favorite fruit of its time. The girl

came carrying kalamio fruit which was stored in her skirt pocket. The moment came, his

two brothers said that tomorrow would be the best day to plant their newly cleared land.

While they were planting the seeds, they saw blood droplets on the girl’s skirt. From

there it arose in their minds a sense of suspicion saying that their sister was pregnant, then

miscarried because there was a bloodstain on the girl’s skirt. Then asked the brother to

his sister, “You did not deny if I ask you something, you just miscarried now, tell me who

had impregnated you”.The younger brother then replied, “Sorry brother, what you said

was not true. My sister had never felt what it was said to be pregnant let alone a

miscarriage. The splash of blood that you saw on the skirt earlier was a splash of fruit

when you took the kalamio fruit. The girl’s confession was not believed by her two

brothers at all. They still insisted that their sister had a miscarriage recently. Then his two

brothers said to the girl, “It was better for our sister to kill it than to smear charcoal in our

faces.

Furthermore, the girl was unable to defend herself against the accusations directed

against her. Finally, the girl decided to take an oath. The girl vowed, “If it was true that I

am pregnant if my brother cuts me off, I would be nothing. However, if I am not pregnant,

when I am cut I would turn to stone. “

That was the girl’s oath to her brother. After a while, the two brothers did what their

younger sibling said. After talking and deliberating about his younger sibling’s oath, his

two brothers carried out and carried out according to his younger brother’s oath. It turned

out that a miracle happened, the oath from their sister came true. It happened, when one

of the girl’s older siblings swung a machete for the second time at the girl’s body, the

girl’s figure turned into a stone. The stone looks like a girl who was lying on her stomach

and her back had the marks of a machete from her sister and on top of the stone, there

was a splash of blood around the girl’s back or skirt. After investigating, it turned out that

the bloodstain was a stain that came from the fruit of the kalamio tree (the water was red).

The fruit was stored in the girl’s skirt when she took the kalamio tree fruit. Until now the

stone had been given the name Watu Tau which means “man who turns into stone”.

The story “Torona Tonagahi Nogoli N Jadi Watu” (The Girl Who Turns Into Stone)

was a legend that tells of the occurrence of a place, rock and mountain in the Kulawi area,

namely in Watu Tau.





307

Based on the observations of the story, there were several values found among them,

love. The value of affection describes the emotional outburst of something that involves

atmosphere, attitude, and hope. Compassion describes the height of one’s mind. The love

shown by the mother character for her three children was hard work for the survival of

her children.

The efforts that a mother makes towards her child represent the sacrifice of a mother

for the happiness of her children. The mother struggles to make a living to make her

children happy.

The cultural value and message conveyed in the legend of “Torona Tonagahi Nogoli

Ndaya Watu” were that in acting it was better to think rationally, namely to act based on

reasons, facts, and clear evidence without being influenced by uncontrollable emotions

or feelings. By thinking rationally, we could weigh the pros and cons of a decision. A

rational attitude towards a problem would spawn a positive response in taking an action.

Conversely, acting without thinking rationally would lead to disaster and regret in the

future. That was what was experienced by the two youngest brothers in the story “Torona

Tonagahi Nogoli Naja Watu”. For no apparent reason, the two younger siblings accused

the youngest of having had a miscarriage just because they saw a red stain on the

youngest’s skirt, even though the red stain was a stain from the kalamio tree fruit.

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Conclusion

Based on the results of the analysis of the Kulawi Ethnic Legend, it could be concluded

that the legend of Tutura Ngata Mataue (The Origin of Kampung Mataue) and Torona Tonagahi

Nogoli Naja Watu (Beautiful Girl Turned into Stone) were prerequisites with moral messages

and cultural values. These values can be used as guidelines for the formation and development

of national character. Cultural values contained in the legend of Tutura Ngata Mataue (The

Origin of Kampung Mataue) were heroic values, obedience values, beauty values, cultural

values. Furthermore, the cultural values contained in the legend / story of Torona Tonagahi

Nogoli Ndaya Watu (Beautiful Girl Turns into Stone) were the value of love, work ethic values,

attitudes, behavior, ethics, and moral ethics that could play a role in building the nation’s

character. Furthermore, in relation to efforts to build a national personality with character, the

cultural values in the Kulawin ethnic legend could create a national personality that was critical

of spatial construction that was often biased and unfair.

Suggestion

Inventory and documentation of the oral traditions of the Kulawi Ethnic legends must be

done as soon as possible in order to maintain the cultural assets of the Kulawi Ethnic. In

realizing this hope, there were several developments and coaching efforts that must be taken,

namely the development of the Kulawi Ethnic oral tradition needs to be carried out

programmatically to re-express positive cultural values through research. The fostering of

cultural values cultural values contained in the oral tradition should be based on the

environment. To realize this, the following things could be taken; namely the local conversion

subject must be oriented to the local cultural environment. The regional language and literature

taught should be the language and literature that grows and develops in the area.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Juanda, Asep. 2011. “Nilai-Nilai Positif Peribahasa Sunda dalam Pendidikan Karakter Bangsa” (dalam

Seminar Nasional Bahasa dan Sastra Membangun Karakter Bangsa, Nining Nur Alaini dkk.,

penyunting). Mataram: Kantor Bahasa Provinsi NTB.

Koentjaraningrat. 1990. Kebudayaan, Mentalitet, dan Pembangunan. Jakarta: Gramedia.

Mahsun, dkk. 2008. Bahasa dan Peta Bahasa di Indonesia. Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan Nasional





308

Majid, Abdul & Dian Andayani. 2010. Pendidikan Karakter dalam Perspektif Islam. Bandung: InsanCita

Utama.

Nazir. 1988. Metode Penelitian. Jakarta: Ghalia

Nitayadnya, I Wayan dan Tamrin. 2015. Pemetaan Motif, Versi, dan Varian Cerita Rakyat Tolitoli,

Kaili, dan Kulawi. Makassar: De Lamacca

Nitayadnya, I Wayan dkk. 2014. Tradisi Lisan Kulawi dari Sulawesi Tengah, Bentuk, Makna dan

Fungsi. Makassar: De Lamacca

Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. 2005. Sastra Anak: Pengantar Pemahaman Dunia Anak. Yogyakarta: Gadjah

Mada University Press.

Pudentia MPSS. 2013. “Pendidikan Kajian TradisiLisan di Indonesia” (dalam Mengurai Tradisi Lisan

Merajut Pendidikan Karakter, Nyn. Karminidkk., penyunting). Denpasar: Cakra Press.

Sabarani, Robert. 2012. Kearifan Lokal: Hakikat, Peran, dan Metode Tradisi Lisan. Jakarta: ATL.

TRProyek Penelitian dan Pencatatan Kebudayaan Daerah Sulawesi Tengah. 1968. Kebudayaan Daerah

Sulawesi Tengah. Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.





309

SOCIAL INTERACTION IN BABAD KOPI PARAHYANGAN

Thera Widyastuti

Departmentof Literature, Universitas Indonesia


ABSTRACT

This research discusses the novel Babad Kopi Parahyangan by Evi Sri Rezeki published in

2020. This novel tells the story of the main character Karim, a Minang man who migrated to

Java and struggled to realize his dream of becoming a merchant. In this novel, there is social

interaction between the characters. The problem in this research is how the social interaction of

the main character in the novel Babad Kopi Parahyangan. While the research objective is to

know the social interactions of the main character in this novel. The research method used is

descriptive analysis with literature study. Meanwhile, the theory used was setting, social

interaction, and sociology of literature. The result of this research is that there was dissociative

social interaction (disagreement, contravention, and dispute) between Karim, Ote and Satria.

This happened because Karim had the ability to exceed Ote and Satria.

Keywords: dissociative, social interaction, sociology of literature

INTRODUCTION

A literary work is the author’s imagination. In fact, the author lives in a certain time and

space. According to Jabrohim (2001: 167), that in its most tangible form, space and time is a

society or social condition, where various value institutions interact. Therefore, literary works

are not autonomous but are related to the situation and environmental conditions in which they

are created. Meanwhile, Sumardjo & Saini (1997: 3-4) argued that literature is an expression of

the human person in the form of experiences, thoughts, feelings, ideas, enthusiasm, beliefs in a

form of concrete images that evoke fascination with language tools. Meanwhile, Sugihastuti

(2007: 81-82), literary works are the media used by authors to convey their ideas and

experiences.

As a medium, the role of literary works is to connect the thoughts of the authors conveyed

to the readers. In addition, literary works can also reflect the author’s views on various problems

observed in their environment. Social reality that is presented through the text to the reader is a

description of various social phenomena that have occurred in society and is presented again

by the author in different forms and ways.

In society, a man has experienced a social process that allows him to gain an

understanding of the dynamic aspects of society. The general form of social process is social

interaction which is the main condition for social activity. Social interactions are dynamic

socio-cultural relationships that involve relationships between individuals, between groups of

people, and between individuals and groups of people. The forms of social interaction are

divided into two parts, namely, associative and dissociative. Associative is divided into three

parts, namely, cooperation, accommodation, and assimilation. While dissociative is divided into

three parts, namely competition, contravention, and conflict or dispute (Soekanto, 2004: 61-

62).

The novel is one form of literary work is. The novel is works of fiction that reveal aspects

of humanity, which are more profound and are presented more clearly (Semi, 1993: 32). The

novel has built t through intrinsic and extrinsic elements.

In this research, a novel entitled Babad Kopi Parahyangan by Evi Sri Rezeki published

in 2020 will be discussed. This novel tells about the life of coffee workers in coffee plantations

in the Parahyangan area, West Java.





310

Based on the background, the problem of this research is how the social interactions of

the main character in the novel Babad Kopi Parahyangan. While the research objective is to

know the social interactions of the main character in the novel.

This research is qualitative using the descriptive analysis method. The research used the

novel Babad Kopi Parahyangan by Evi Sri Rezeki as the main source and other supporting

sources. Qualitative research is research that displays an assessment procedure that produces

descriptive data in the form of written words. In this case, the researcher interprets and explains

the data obtained by the researcher from various forms of literature study conducted to obtain

relevant data.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The theoretical framework used for this research is the setting, social interaction, and

sociology of literature. The setting is the place and the environment that colors the event. This

includes the location, the atmosphere of the location, the local socio-culture, and even the

character’s mood (Atmazaki, 1990). An approach to literature that considers social aspects is

called the sociology of literature by using text analysis to determine its structure which is then

used to understand more deeply social phenomena outside literature (Damono, 2002: 3).

Meanwhile, social interactionism is dynamic social relationships that involve the relationship

between individuals, between groups of people, and between individuals and groups of people

(Soekanto, 2004: 61).

LITERATURE REVIEW

From the searches that have been carried out, several previous studies are considered

relevant to the topics discussed in this research. 1) Social Interaction in the Novel Suraya by

Nafi`ah Al Ma’rab. 2019. Ela Nur Ari. The findings in her research were that social interaction

was the form of subordination (subordinate under individuals, subordination under groups, and

subordination under general principles), conflict, exchange, and sexual relations. The types of

interactions that were drawn are interpersonal social interactions, individual social interaction

with groups, and group social interactions with individuals. 2) Social Interaction between

Characters in the Padusi Novel by Ka’bati. 2018. Nurul Mutia Ulva. The finding in her research

was that social interactions in the novel are related to the culture of the community.


Novel Babad Kopi Parahyangan tells the life of workers on coffee plantations during the

Dutch colonial era in the Dutch East Indies. In this novel, it features Karim as the main

character. Karim is described as a Minang man who has migrated to Java.

Karim comes from a low-income family. Apak or father in Minang language is a palawija

merchant, and Amak or mother is a housewife. His father always engaged Kareem when trading

palawija. They sell in markets as well as ports. When Apak and Karim went to Padang to trade,

they went to Muara Port. Karim met many people at the port who came from outside of Padang.

Through the tales of sailors, people from nearby villages who left their stomachs in

Muara port got to know the world. Most of them come from around Batang Arau,

the city of Padang, Gunung Padang, and Darek - the inland highlands. Likewise,

Karim, the young man from Darek knew the world. (p. 6)

Muara Port is the oldest port in the city of Padang, which has been operated since the 17th

century, following the arrival of the Dutch to the city of Padang. Muara Port is the gateway to

the entry and exit of West Sumatra produce, and also to the Mentawai islands.





311

Karim did not obtain higher education because his parents were poor. Although He had

only low education, but he had the talent to cleanse things quickly. Since childhood, when he

learned something, in a short time he was able at doing it.

Since childhood, Karim was different. He was lucky because he had talent to

cleanse things quickly. When his friends had to struggle to practice Silat, Karim

memorizes it and can practically see it at once. (p. 15)

Karim’s friends saw how Karim learned quickly and mastered Silat moves in no time.

They knew that Karim is a smart boy. Karim’s intelligence was also seen when he was able to

trade better than his Apak. He was able to get more profit than his Apak. Therefore, Apak did

not hesitate to leave Karim to trade alone at Muara Port, and he returned to Darek.

Karim was able to quickly surpass Apak’s income. Apak did not hesitate, tolet

Karim trade off alone. Apak returned to Darek to help Amak cultivate the rice fields.

(p. 15)

Minang people are known to have a culture of merantau. Since a long time ago, their

ancestors had traveled far to another island. The term merantau (Mochtar Naim, 1984) contains

six elements: (1) leaving their hometown, (2) on their own accord, (3) for a long period of time

or not, (4) for the purpose of making a living, studying or seeking experience, (5) usually with

the intention of returning home, and (6) institutions social culture.

Karim wanted merantau. He wanted to go to the Parahyangan, an area on the island of

Java after he heard stories about that area from people who had migrated there. Karim heard

that in Parahyangan there were many coffee plantations, and selling coffee beans was very

expensive. Therefore, he was interested in going to Parahyangan. He wanted to go there to earn

a lot of money so he could live better, and no poverty.

“Where is the Parahyangan, Big brother? How do I get myself to harvest black

pearls? Can I become rich?” Karim asked repeatedly. (p. 13)

Karim told his parents about his wish to go to Parahyangan. He tried to explain to them

that he wanted to make money to live a better life.

“Look, Mak, the sailor told me that the Parahyangan was black pearl nest. What’s

wrong with that —” Karim fell silent as Amak’s eye was stabbed. “Amak, I don’t

want to be kawa leaves, I want to be black pearls!” said Karim. (p. 18)

Amak provided Karim with a hundred dollars, three pieces of the best clothes they

had, and his first shawl as a baby. Karim refused Amak’s money; instead he gave

up all his efforts so far. (p. 18)

Karim’s acquaintance with a sailor made a difference to him. He asked many question

about coffee that sailor. Karim’s decision to go by steamboat to Java with the sailor gave him

new knowledge of a world that he had never seen so far.

Kareem took a deep breath. He cuddled a small bag of coffee. This time he

contemplated his own dream. He just wants to be a famous trading dealer. (p. 60)





312

Social Interaction

Humans are individual beings and social creatures. As a social being, they are related to

their environment and place of residence. Humans act socially by utilizing nature and the

environment to enhance and improve their welfare. To unify the roles of individual and social

beings, humans need social interaction.

The basic elements in social interaction consist of a) social contact, which are reciprocity

or inter-stimulation and response between individuals and groups. Contact is basically an action

of an individual or group and has meaning for the perpetrator, which is then captured by other

individuals or groups. Social contact can be positive or negative. Positive social contact leads

to cooperation, whereas negative one leads to a conflict or even does not produce social

interaction at all. Social contact can take three forms, namely: 1) Between individuals; 2)

Between individuals and a group of people or vice versa, and 3) Between a human group and

another human group; b) communication, appears after contact takes place. Communication

arises when an individual provides an interpretation of the behavior of others. With this

interpretation, then that person manifests behavior, where the behavior is a reaction to the

feelings that the other person wants to convey. Communication is the beginning of a

relationship, whether a cooperative relationship or any relationship in human life. On the other

hand, communication also sometimes results in a conflict or conflict. This is due to

misunderstandings when communicating with each other. (Taneko, 1982: 110-111). Social

contacts are also primary and secondary. Primary contact can occur when there is direct and

face-to-face contact. Meanwhile, secondary contact occurs when an intermediary is needed.

This research discusses dissociative social interaction. According to Soekanto (2004), the

forms of social interaction can produce social processes that associative and dissociative factors

influenced from within and outside itself. Dissociative social interaction is an oppositional

interaction. It can be in the form of competition, contravention or contradiction or conflict.

Dissociative social interaction occurred between Karim, Ote, and Satria. In social

interaction, it has the following characteristics: a) involves more than one person, b) there is

communication between actors by means of social contact, c) clearly defined goals and

objectives, and d) there is a time dimension (past, present and future).

a. Competition

Competition is a social process when two or more parties compete with each other and

do something to achieve certain goals. Competition can be interpreted as a social process,

in which competing individuals or groups seek to profit through the areas of life which at

some point are at the center of public attention (both individuals and human groups).

Competition occurs when several parties want something that is limited in number

or to become the center of public attention. Interactions carried out by individuals or

groups are characterized by competition to achieve certain goals. Every individual or

group has a desire to have a higher position than others.

In the novel Babad Kopi Parahyangan, there is a competition between Karim and

Ote. The two of them worked on the steamboat occupied by the sailor. Ote is a young

man from Nias Island. Ote felt that Karim’s presence on board would make him an

opponent.

“Wake up!” someone shouted right in the face. He squinted trying to adapt to

the surrounding light. From behind the window, the sea was still dark. “Wake

up, banio soyo! Shall I throw you overboard?” shouted the man who turned

out to be Ote. Beside him were three men with the same dark skin.

“What’s your problem, Bang?” Karim asked.

“You’re a new kid, don’t try to find the face of the captain!”

“We’re brothers, Bang.”





313

“Do not try to trick you. You know who the master is!” with a move of his head,

Ote gestured to his three friends. They approached Kareem who was cornered

on the wall of his room. (p. 24-25)

Kombuk! He thought I didn’t know that they were only the ship’s crew! Karim

refrained from stabbing Ote’s armpit until he stretched like a worm. So that

the spitting lips moan. (p. 25)

The competition between Karim and Ote was personal. This happens because both of

them compete for a certain position in a group or organization. Karim and Ote want to show to

the captain to become his confidant.

b. Contravention

The next form of social interaction is a contravention. This is a social process that is

between the competition of the conflict or strife characterized by symptoms of uncertainty

about oneself or plan and hidden feelings of dislike, hatred or doubts about one’s

personality (Soekanto, 2004: 95).

In this novel, there is a controversy between Karim, Ote and Satria. The

contravention occurred because Ote did not Karim. This happened because Ote knew that

Karim was accepted to work on the steamboat because he knew the captain well. The

captain was the sailor that Karim met at the Muara Port.

“What’s your problem, Big brother?” Asked Karim.

“You’re a new kid, don’t try to get close with the captain!”

“We’re brothers, Big brother.”

“Do not try to trick me. I know who the captain is!” (p. 25)

Ote saw the captain treat Karim better than him. The contravention occurred because

Ote and his friends saw the closeness between Karim and the captain. Ote and his friends

had been working on the steamboat longer than Karim, but they did not get special

treatment from the captain. This situation caused resentment, and it’s make Ote to want

to beat Karim. Ote did not want anyone to compete with him. Therefore, Ote asked his

fellow from Nias island who worked on the steamboat to beat Karim.

Hearing that, Karim smiled contemptuously. Ote looked surprised. Ih! Ote spat

on Karim’s leg, his three friends burst out laughing. Karim began to lose his

temper, taking his stance. Ote growled. He said, “Feeling your swordsman,

huh?” (p. 25)

The next contravention occurred between Karim and Satria. It happened because

Satria saw the Patih Raden Arya Kusumah Jaya, liked Karim who was smart than himself.

Satria is a coffee plantation foreman where Karim works as a laborer.

Raden Arya Kusumah Jaya wagged his hand to send away Mandor Satria. With

any residue of pride, foreman Satria hurriedly left. How could a laborer like

Karim be more valuable than himself as a foreman? Karim and Raden Arya

Kusumah Jaya will receive reply in kind. (p. 279)

Karim discussed with Raden Arya Kusumah Jaya about the condition of the

plantation and also the laborers. Karim’s opinions and ideas made Raden Arya Kusumah

Jaya realize that Karim was a serious and hard working person. It was different with

Satria. Raden Arya Kusumah Jaya thought differently about Satria. He did not like him.





314

c. Conflict

Personal and groups realize that their differences in a characteristic example bodily,

emotional, cultural elements, patterns of behavior and with the other party. These traits

can sharpen existing differences in a conflict. Controversy or dispute hereinafter referred

to as contradictions only because it is a social process in which individuals or groups

strive to meet their objectives by opposing opponents who are accompanied by threats or

violence.

Karim clashed with Satria, a coffee plantation foreman. They fought because Satria

realized that Karim could replace his position as plantation foreman. Satria saw that Patih

Raden Arya Kusumah Jaya liked Karim. Karim knew about this, and he did not want

Satria to act as he pleased and hurt anybody.

“Are you looking for me?” ask Karim in an opposing tone. No need to be sweet

to poisonous snakes. Foreman Satria spat. One hand grabbed a whip from the

rattan.

“Are you a warrior? Do you want to fight with me?”

Karim’s grew a cynical smile. His legs are ready in a stance. Do not want to

lose, Foreman Satria get ready. Their eyes met with flashes of anger. Karim

saw that Mandor Satria’s were about to jump from their sockets. The lust for

killing is suffocating the chest. (p. 227)

There are two kinds of conflict in society: individual conflicts and group conflict.

Individual conflicts are carried out individually based on a personal problem, generally

on family problems. Meanwhile, group conflicts are quite large in scope, triggered by

some issues (religion, culture, or race). The conflict has been occurred between Karim

and Satria was an individual conflict.

Satria gave the whip to the head of the police coffee plantation. He ordered

him to whip Karim The policeman slammed a whip into Karim’s stomach,

grabbing one leg by one and knocking him to the ground. Karim got up with

difficulty trying to untangle the whip, while Satria pointed his knees to his gut

insistently. Blood gushed from Karim’s throat. He felt that nerves were losing

control. His breath one by one. Her chest seemed to burst. His ears were

ringing, voices seemed to fade away, and the world was swirling with sad

colors. (p. 319)

The social interactions in the novel Babad Kopi Parahyangan occur between Karim,

Ote, and Satria. The three of them interact because of the problems that occur between

them. The way humans interact in society can determine human behavior. Individual

action patterns and reactions in response to others can be seen when humans interact.

Competition, controversy and conflict occur because Karim has abilities that other people

do not, especially Ote and Satria. Karim was able to face everything. He used his abilities

and intelligence to deal with Ote and Satria.

In no time, Karim has succeeded in becoming a trading dealer in Parahiyangan area,

although it has not been a big success. However, he was able to fulfill his dream of

becoming a person known as a merchant who cares for the poor. He was known as a

philanthropist among poor people.





315

CONCLUSION

Karim as the main character who comes from Minang in the novel Babad Kopi

Parahyangan. He went goes to West Java to work at a coffee plantation. Karim met people who

did not like him. There were social interactions that occur between Karim and the people around

him, it was caused by incidents that injure him. Dissociative social interactions (competition,

contravention, and conflict) experienced by Karim, Ote, and Satria. Karim faces Ote and Satria

using his intelligence without causing new problems. After that, Karim has succeeded in

becoming a trader and respected by people. Also, he was known as a trading dealer who cares

for the poor.

REFERENCES

Atmazaki. 1990. Ilmu Sastra: Teoridan Terapannya. Padang: Angkasa Raya.

Damono, SapardiDjoko. 2002. Pedoman Penelitian Sastra. Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan Nasional.

Endraswara, Suwardi. 2003. Metodologi Penelitian Sastra: Epistemologi, Model, Teori, dan Aplikasi.

Jakarta: CAPS (Center for Academic Publishing Service).

Faruk. 1994. Pengantar Sosiologi Sastra: Dari Strukturalisme Genetik sampai Post-Modernisme.

Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Jabrohim (ed). 2001. Metodologi Penelitian Sastra. Yogjakarta: PT. Hanindita Graha Widya.

Naim, Mochtar. 1984. Merantau Pola Migrasi Minagkabau. Yogjakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.

Nurgiyantoro, Burhan, 2015. Teori Pengkajian Fiksi.Yogjakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.

Ratna, Nyoman Kutha. 2010. Penelitian Sastra: Teori, Metode, dan Teknik. Yogyakarta: Pustaka

Pelajar.

Rezeki, Evi Sri. 2020. Babad Kopi Parahyangan. Serpong: MarjinKiri.

Semi, Atar. 2003. Metode Penelitian Sastra. Bandung: Penerbit Angkasa.

Soekanto, Soerjono. 2004. Sosiologi: SuatuPengantar.Jakarta: Rajawali Press.

Sugihastuti. 2007. TeoriApresiasiSastra. Yogyakarta: PustakaPelajar.

Sumardjo, Jakob & Saini. 1997. Apresiasi Kesusasteraan. Jakarta: PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Taneko, Soleman B. 1982. Strukturdan Proses Sosial: Suatu Pengantar Sosiologi Pembangunan. Jakarta:

Rajawali.





316





317

MODERN ASIAN LITERATURE AND ITS ROLE

IN EDUCATION ACROSS ASIA AND BEYOND

Ali Mustofa

English Language and Literature Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts,

Universitas Negeri Surabaya


ABSTRACT

Modern Asian literature is all works of literature produced in Asia and those which talk about

Asia and beyond. When discussing Asian literature, it will also signify the works of literature

that have been written by Asian writers and also by other writers from other countries which of

course, about Asia. Today’s trend for Asian literary studies has shifted from a postcolonialism

perspective to cultural studies since the latter has developed very fast in the rapid changing of

cultural, regional, and multinational diversities. The issues in Asian literature have also touched

the grounds of transnational and multidimensional problems which give more room toward

different interpretations of nations and identity. Those issues will also bring up the ideas of the

role of Asian literature in education across Asia and beyond since they contribute directly and

indirectly to the development of the educational curriculum in Asia and other neighboring

countries. The paper will briefly share some insights into the nature of Asian literature and its

position in the English language studies curriculum in Asia and beyond. It also discusses some

issues related to the role of Asian literature in Asian education which specifically addresses the

issues of nation-building through the understanding of “the self” and “the other” in a

postcolonial perspective, and at the same time rediscovers the very nature of “Asia’s sense” as

well as “Asian eyes” in the scope of language and cultural studies.

Keywords: Asia, Asian Literature, Transnational, Multiculturalism, Diversity, Identity

INTRODUCTION

Discussing Asian literature, it will certainly also refer to literature written by writers from

Asia and also writers from various other regions which of course, is about Asia. Asian literature

refers to the dimensions of space and time, where the literature revolves around the region—

Asia and beyond. Of course, this Asian literature was written and produced with a specific

purpose. Asian literature covers various genres and vehicles, from narrative literary works,

poetry, drama, performance art, films, songs, video clips, literary criticism, film criticism, art

criticism, and so on. However, if we look in more detail, Asian literature includes all literary

and artistic works in parts of the Asian region.

Then, what is meant by Asian literature? Asian literature is all literary works produced in

Asia and which speak about Asia and its environment. The Asian region of course includes East

Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and Southeast Asia. Literally speaking about Asian literature, it

will certainly also refer to literature written by writers from Asia and also writers from various

other regions, which of course is about Asia. Asian literature refers to the dimensions of space

and time, where the literature revolves around Asia and beyond.

Asian literature refers to the literature that was written over a period of thousands

of years, in a variety of countries in Asia. Asian literature encompasses East Asian

literature that includes Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literature; Central Asian

literature comprising of Bengali, Indian, Pakistani and Tamil literature; West Asian

Literature that covers Arabic literature, Persian literature and Turkish literature and

southeast Asian Literature that is comprised of the literature of the Philippines…

Asian literature can be divided into a host of different labels, categorized according





318

to religion, zone, region, ethnic group, a literary genre, historical perspective, or the

language of origin [questia.com/library/literature/literature-of-specific-countries/

other-asian-literature/asian-literature#].

Many well-known universities in the world have opened Asian studies study programs.

It also includes various disciplines and knowledge about Asia, which includes language,

literature, customs, traditional arts, and the way of life of its people. This working paper briefly

describes some of the understandings of the nature of Asian literature and its position in the

language and literature learning curriculum which specifically describes the problems of

understanding nationalism through the explanation from a postcolonial perspective, and at the

same time regarding findings, back to the essence of “Asian meaning” and also “Asian point of

view” in the scope of linguistic and cultural studies.

ASIAN LITERATURE IN THE CIRCLE OF GLOBAL CHAIN

AND MULTICULTURALISM:

FROM CULTURAL IDENTITY TO NATION-IDENTITY

The current trend for Asian literary studies shows a tendency to change direction from a

post-colonial perspective to the area of cultural studies because this term shows such rapid

development and touches on culture, territory, and diversity of identities. Various problems in

Asian literature have also intersected with problems between nations in Asia. The

multidimensionality recorded in these literary works also provides a broader space for the

interpretation of national and identity issues.

Phillip F. William, in his introduction to Asian Literary Voices: From Marginal to

Mainstream, “Introduction: Asian Literary Voices” pp. 9-12, explicitly stated that Asian

literature …

“… suggest that the marginalization of Asian literary and artistic voices will

continue to shrink in the twenty-first century, and perhaps even become a footnote

in history eventually. The contributors to this volume have each done their part to

articulate and uncover the literary and artistic dynamism that northeast and south

Asia have embodied over the past several centuries and up to the present day.

Phillip F. Williams’ words imply and at the same time predict that Asian literature and

artistic voices from Asia will continue to be marginalized until the end of this century, and are

likely to be made into insignificant footnotes if they are not immediately written down and

presented to the world public. Williams’ statement at the same time confirms the opinion that

Asian literature cannot yet be juxtaposed with first-class world literature such as Shakespeare,

Goethe, Kafka, and Twain. However, it does not rule out that the revival of Asian literature will

strengthen the argument that Asian literature can be juxtaposed with the first world literature

and is even far greater.

In a review about an interesting book which is edited by Tony Day and Maya H.T. Liem,

Cultures at war; The Cold War and cultural expressions in Southeast Asia about the cultures in

Southeast Asia, Melani Budianta (2011: 224-226) discusses the “cold war” that occurred

unconsciously by the people of Southeast Asia. The “cold war” here can also have a

signification of the suspicion and cultural sentiment carried out by people between countries in

the Asian region. This sentiment may originate from cultural incomprehension and insensitivity

to crises experienced by countries that are considered not to be more advanced. Budianta wrote:





319

“… the ideological division and internal split caused by the Cold War are still

deeply entrenched within people’s subjectivities. One way to de-Cold War or to

attempt at reconciliation is to “compare or relate historical experiences throughout

third world Asia” (p. 125). It is only through “regional reconciliation” that Asian

nation-states can “break out” of the deeply rooted sentiments within each national

structure.

The role of reconciliation and ideological unification which is segregated in the Southeast

Asia region makes the countries in this region ideologically and historically separated.

Therefore, a history-based unification effort is needed that can erode deep sentiments between

peoples in Southeast Asia. This is none other than due to the Cold War’s impact in the past

which caused ideological tensions to last until now. Concerning Tony Day and Maya HT. Liem

in the book has opened the eyes of literary and cultural scholars in the Southeast Asian region

that the disharmony in people’s lives in this region was caused by personal sentiments between

individuals in the region which was triggered by the cold war in the past and also the differences

in colonialism memories which were experienced and felt by the state - countries in the

Southeast Asia region. For example, Indonesia and Singapore are former colonies. However,

the two countries experienced different colonialization processes. These differences result in

different psychological effects as well as different life experiences. Historiographically, the

state of colonialism in the past has led to differences in the literary and cultural representations

of countries in Asia. This occurs in all countries in the Southeast Asia region, for example,

Malaysia and Indonesia. For example, people in both countries, Malaysia and Indonesia, also

hate each other through social media or what is commonly referred to as hashtag wars. This is

evidence of these sentiments and suspicions.

In an article entitled “Hubungan Konsep Negara Bangsa dengan Susastra Lisan Asia

Tenggara”/”The Relationship between the Concept of a Nation-State and Southeast Asian Oral

Literature” in a book entitled Adakah Bangsa dalam Sastra? (2003: 31-44), Ayu Sutarto writes

that the difficult problems faced by Southeast Asian nations are due to internal problems within

their own countries. What was conveyed by Sutarto was in line with Budianta’s thoughts

sometime later (2011: 224-226), that although in many ways ASEAN member countries have

a similar history, cultural similarities, and manifestations in diversity and dynamism, they still

cannot be united. Because their nationality is different. Historiographically, the nations of

Southeast Asia finally have to face each country’s sentiments in the region. At the same time,

they face internal problems that are complicated and difficult to overcome.

Nationalism is a strong bond, namely the notion that individual loyalty must be submitted

to the nation-state, as a close bond to its bloodshed. The desire to unite, equality of fate will

give birth to a sense of nationality which results in the emergence of self-confidence, a feeling

that is indispensable to defend oneself in the struggle for a better condition. Two factors cause

the emergence of nationalism, namely, internal and external factors. A first factor is a

dissatisfaction with the invaders who cause popular resistance in the form of rebellion or war.

While the second factor is the feeling of being awakened which is considered a symbol of

confidence in one’s abilities (Susanto, 2016: 144-155). Thus it can also be said that to have a

strong nationalism, the citizens of a nation must have specific ties to explain their identity

together as a nation. Ideology, for example, is the binding of these ties. With ideology, one

individual and another in a country will feel they have something to hold and fight for together

(Susanto, 2016: 144-155; Adha et al., 2019: 16-28).

According to King and Wilder’s (2012) review, the formation of national identities for

countries in the Southeast Asian region, especially Indonesia, begins with a process of ethnic

unification or reconciliation. Ethnicity in the view of King and Wilder is not only prioritized to

the perpetuation of the biological self but also in the membership of the field of interaction and





320

shared communication based on shared values and behavior. This process occurs in different

patterns on the pillars of Southeast Asia. According to Anderson (2008: 8), the process of

unification begins with the feeling of being together as a nation. This image of togetherness

then embodies the spirit of nationalism. Nationalism is one element in nation-building. In the

process of national development, all members of the nation’s community are formed so that

they have a national perspective and have a specific pattern of behavior that reflects both culture

and ideology (Susanto, 2016: 144-155).

The concept of a nation that has been owned by society to date is a continuation of the

concept of a nation according to the nationalism of the nation’s founder. The founders of the

nation formulated the vision of Indonesian nationalism during the period of the national

movement and the struggle for independence as a thought orientation for the struggle to realize

Indonesian independence from the shackles of Dutch colonialism by establishing a unitary state,

both the unity of the homeland, the nation, as well as its language and culture. Therefore, the

characteristics and spirit of nationalism during the movement period were an anti-colonial

character, and the spirit to build the unity and integrity of the colonies’ peoples from their

plurality to become national unity.

A fact that needs to be considered in the arena of Asian life as a whole is that Asian

citizens are multicultural. The large and varied diversity within the Asian region causes

countries in Asia to become increasingly open to differences and diversity. This special value

is in living in Asia, especially for citizens who have migrated to the Asian region. Why is that?

Because they are accustomed to differences, people in the Asian region tend not to question

ethnicity and race. This is evident from the political and cultural life in Asia which tends to

show similarities since ancient times. Much evidence has shown that there are similarities in

history and past experiences. Hilmar Farid, General Director of Ministery of Education and

Culture of Indonesia (2017) has acknowledged this bond (https://news.okezone.com/read/

2017/08/08/65/1752087/mantap-negara-di-asia-memiliki-keterikatan-kuat-lewat-sastra-ini-

buktinya).

This fact, according to Hilmar Farid, needs to be used as a strong reason for the

unification and understanding of ideology in the Asian region. He gives an example that the

same history in the past has given birth to literature with the same breadth and the same style.

One of the shreds of evidence is the characteristics of mystery and ghost stories in the region

of Asian countries, especially Southeast Asia. According to Hilmar Farid, this could be derived

from historical roots and experiences of the same contemplation in the past or borrowing the

Levi-Strauss’ term. The ancestors of the Southeast Asian nations had a similar unconscious

which was manifested in the representation of similar cultural symbols.

With similarities in cultural materials, more productive collaborations in education and

culture are likely to erode sentiment in the Asian region. So far, economic and technological

progress has become a deep gulf for countries in the Asian region. East Asia and Southeast

Asia, for example, have vast differences in information technology and industry. The East Asian

region which was built and developed earlier because it has been shaped by the experience of

colonialization and a history of civilization that is more established than the West Asia and

Southeast Asia region, as a simple example, can be evidence and a model in technological and

industrial development. Japan, Korea, and China can be the leading models in industrial and

technological development. Meanwhile, West Asia and Southeast Asia can become models for

cultural development. All of them can complement each other and unite in a framework of

cooperation and unified communication. From here, the “cold war” will gradually be eroded

(Susanto, 2016: 144-155; Adha et al., 2019: 16-28)

Southeast Asia has implemented a visa-free area for all Southeast Asian citizens to visit

each other and thus there is an open mingling of culture and transnationalism. From here, access

is increasingly open to communicate and collaborate. It is not impossible that the mixing of two





321

nations in the form of marriage between nations also occurs or what is commonly called

hybridization. Sari K. Ishii (2016: 1-23) in the opening of the book Marriage Migration:

Emerging Minorities at the Frontiers of Nation-State has argued that marriage between nations

in Asia will further strengthen geographic strength and also emphasize the involvement of the

diaspora in the formation of identity. Transnational marriage will give birth to individuals with

a strong cultural hybridization. This will also expand the communication wings between

individuals and between countries to get to know each other in a broader regional area.

Although not without problems, for example, divorce and recognition of custody of children

from marriage and citizenship claims (Ishii, 2016: 1-23), diaspora marriages in the Asian region

have opened access to cooperation and to get to know each other’s cultures.

In connection with the preceding issues, Anggradinata (2020: 25-33) suggests cross-

cultural studies of Asian countries, particularly in the Southeast Asian region. This is because

countries in the Southeast Asian region have the same history and fate during the colonial

occupation. The colonial pattern has changed the development and way of thinking of people

in this area. However, this should not be a gap and jealousy because different experiences will

enrich the way of life and culture. The cross-cultural study mentioned by Anggradinata is in

line with what Hilmar Farid has initiated to continue and deepen to achieve harmony and

harmonization in terms of culture and regional identity. From this point of departure, the

diversity and dynamics in coexistence can be realized together.

POSTCOLONIAL PERSPECTIVE IN EDUCATION AND CHARACTER BUILDING

Asian literature is expected to contribute significantly to education and culture, both

directly and indirectly in the Asian region and its surroundings. One way that can be taken is

research on educational curricula in Asia and also neighboring countries. The use of literature

from the Asian region in English should be promoted as a reference for curriculum as well as

teaching. In the discussion and reading of Asian literature, Floris (2005) suggests, “Students

should be exposed to local cultural content so that they can enhance their local and regional

cultural identities and value systems while learning the language”. Floris’ idea implicates the

truth for literary works from Asia are no less interesting than literary works from English-

speaking countries such as England, America, Canada, and Australia. Besides, according to

Floris, students can learn about their cultural characteristics. Meanwhile, in English

departments, to have a concrete example for this idea, English is only used as the medium of

instruction in communicating and delivering messages.

Jansen (2012) made a detailed comparison of postcolonial based teaching and literary

learning in general. He found that postcolonial-based literary learning had different impacts on

students’ responses. With a background as a white teacher, Jansen hoped for something more

from his studies with his students, who mostly came from the indigenous population. While he

came from a country where the majority of its citizens were white. This brought a different

perception from students who hoped that he brought more knowledge about literary works from

western countries. It turned out that he used literature from local India, and this had caused

different responses from his students. According to him, as a literature teacher, he did not dare

to involve himself too far within the pedagogical reach of post-colonialism. This could have a

bad impact on students’ responses because he came from a colonial country, while his students

were from a former colony. He did not want to place himself as a colonial subject among

colonial objects. Herein lies Jansen’s ambivalence as a teacher. However, it is also realized that

he did not want to put himself as a subject that could cause psychological problems for his

students.

Jansen (2012) provided an example of Stephen Slemon’s (1992-1993) writing “Teaching

at the End of Empire.” In the paper, Slemon argues that in postcolonial learning it is possible

to reconcile two opposing critical approaches. It contains questions about the subject’s voice,





322

then juxtaposed with an anthropological approach to recognizing local voices and knowledge.

Slemon concludes that postcolonial pedagogy should question, “… the subject by or for whom

the postcolonial text claims to speak — that is, the colonized — and the subject to whom the

text is addressed within the circuit of postcolonial pedagogy: that is, the student subject within

the discipline of organized literary studies “. Although Slemon does not discuss the position of

the subject in colonialism in detail, the effect of using structured language has explained for

himself that the colonial subject will be more dominant over the colonial object. This is a

distortion in the real postcolonial pedagogical realm. The role of binary opposition was so

dominant in the placement of colonial subjects and objects.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak had thought of this way long ago. In her writings “The

Making of Americans, the Teaching of English, and the Future of Culture Studies” (1990),

Spivak suggests incorporating “otherness” elements into literary and linguistic teaching. To the

extreme, Spivak suggests including literary works that discuss oppressed women, homosexuals,

different races or skin colors, immigrants, and also include writers from countries other than

the west. Spivak welcomes the current trend in language and literature learning which

increasingly leads to a way of looking at oneself inwardly, and she calls it a “transnational study

of culture,” which is accompanied by various other compatible disciplines. This is because

Spivak personally predicts a new form of discipline which will become a new literary canon

study that strengthens the opposition labeled “Third World Literature (in translation)” which

she calls “new orientalism.”

With respect to a learning model like this, there will be a dialogue between western and

eastern learning that complement each other and can be a means of controlling each other in its

development. With his deconstructive point of view, Spivak sees that the provision of “out of

the box” learning materials will automatically validate a value whether it is westernized or

originates from local traditional values. By paying attention to the voices of “others”, according

to Spivak, it will further open the horizons of diverse and democratic national thinking. In this

way, the domination of western culture towards the east will shift (Jansen, 2012). The first

world-oriented curriculum and literary learning materials may be a form of white domination

that automatically injects western values with various images that keep young generations in

the Asian region from remaining distant and foreign in recognizing their cultural roots.

Asian literary works can be used as an alternative source of literary learning and to unify

perceptions of the fate of the same Asian nation. This is because Asian people have lived side

by side in the Asian region for a long time and they lived in harmony without disturbing each

other. A joint project could be undertaken, for example, by carrying out a comparative literary

analysis project between regions in Asia. This is beneficial for the members of Asian countries

because by this project there will be a symbiosis of mutualism between researchers from various

regions in Asia. This is also an effort to find the grassroots of cultural uniformity that stem from

the same experiences in the past.

As a concrete example, the study of how the existence of the epic Mahabharata in India

and Indonesia needs conducting. The two storytelling models of the classic tale are indeed

sourced from the same experiences and contemplations in the past. However, due to changes in

the location and context of the story, the story of Mahabharata has a different narrative when it

was narrated by Indian writers, and similarly, there was a shift in the narrative when a writer

from Indonesia rolled out the epic. A joint study comparing works of this kind is an interesting

project and it will inevitably produce both intersections and differences in the regional context

in which these stories are composed and narrated. Again, this project is an attempt to find a

common cultural identity rooted in the experiences of the same unconsciousness in the past.

Differences will indeed occur and will always exist in every nationalism narrative in its

struggles and the movement of life. However, this does not mean that this difference becomes

a wide gap for Asian nations to be able to sit side by side to promote unity in dynamic diversity





323

to achieve the dreamed regional peace. Therefore, it is high time for national education in Asian

regions to determine its color and style in formulating the curriculum and history of the nation.

Asian literature is born from the deep contemplation of a writer armed with rich experiences in

color and identity as Asian citizens. Therefore, in the literature curriculum, cooperation in the

education sector in determining the curriculum needs to be aligned with Asian-based regional

standard references. This is because many Asian literary works have also been translated into

foreign languages. Besides, studying Asian literary works, especially those in English, will also

enrich students’ knowledge of the diversity of English because they are written and have an

Asian cultural background that is different from native English speakers. Thus, students can

learn about variations in English (Floris, 2005).

In line with Floris’ thoughts, Anggradinata (2020) makes a comparison of literary works

in one Southeast Asian family. It is a beneficial study when viewed from a historical perspective

as well as the collective experience of people in the Southeast Asian region. Experience as a

colonized country also teaches people in the Southeast Asian region to be able to strengthen

and support each other for mutual progress, especially through postcolonial-based education

[postcolonial pedagogy] as previously mentioned by Jansen (2012). Therefore, there is no more

reason not to use Asian literary works in language and literature learning in the school and

college curriculum. By using literary works from the Asian region, the strengthening of Asian

character and culture is increasingly visible and entrenched. Students will naturally understand

the culture where they come from and hence they more and more love their own ancestral

culture. Through education based on Asian literary works, it is also hoped that character

strengthening will be obviously achieved because identity is increasingly being formed

(Anggradinata, 2020; Dewi, 2019; Floris, 2005; Sutarto, 2003).

CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE ON MODERN ASIAN LITERATURE

It has been mentioned earlier that the current trend for Asian literary studies shows a

tendency to change direction from a post-colonial perspective to the area of cultural studies

because this term shows such rapid development and touches on culture, territory, and diversity

of identities. Various problems in Asian literature have also intersected with problems between

nations and multidimensionality. This also provides a wider space for the interpretation of

national and identity issues.

It has been also mentioned previously that the position of Asian literature and its position

in the language and literature learning curriculum, in particular, offers multidimensional

problems that can be understood as study material in classrooms to strengthen a sense of

nationality. This can be done through the introduction of “selfishness” and “manliness” from a

postcolonial perspective as mentioned by Spivak (1990), and at the same time concerning

rediscovering the essence of “Asian meaning” as well as “Asian point of view” within the scope

of studies in language and culture.

From the above discussions, it can be clearly explained that in understanding Asian

literature in general, we should not be trapped by the hegemony of sentimentality. This

sentimentality is a form of the establishment of colonial objects that tend to be hegemonic. Asia

is a complex civilization that is much more established and developed in terms of humanism

earlier than in western countries. Therefore, the inferiority and feelings of marginalization as

nations in the Asian region should be eliminated. To lead to a new civilization that is more

developed and established in the Asian region, its cultural representation must naturally become

the soul and support of its citizens. The cultural representation referred to here is their literary

works. By exploring the richness of Asian literature that has the nobility of culture and values

as well as the diversity of life patterns of its people, arts, language, literature and cultural

education must start from Asian literature. The teaching of language and literature, then, can

depart from the richness and peculiarities of Asian literature themselves. This is in line with





324

Richard Rorty’s ideas in his book Linguistic Turn (1992). Because in language, according to

Rorty, there is a social-individual struggle. A subject is constructed by language. By prioritizing

language and communication discourse-space, the meeting between individual, social, and

historical problems can be resolved. This is in line with Slemon’s thoughts in one of the

previous sections in the present study.

Because humans are linguistic, social beings, then humans have been constructed by the

language they use. Therefore, to become a successful subject, humans need to cultivate how to

communicate with the medium of language and make it a subject capable of speaking, voicing

aspirations, and knowledge. Cultural studies or the humanities, therefore, must set their feet

firmly on the roots of language and culture. Literature is a cultural product that uses language

as a medium. Thus, literature can shape and construct humans to become better and more

human.

CONCLUDING REMARK

This paper attempts to recall the critical role of literature in its role as a unifier and

activator of culture. It begins with the premise that literature is a representation and projection

of people’s lives in general. For this reason, it needs to be emphasized again as an effort to place

literature as a source of learning in the life of the nation and state. It is necessary to have the

strength to return to the rich and virtuous cultural treasures to become a great nation.

Asian literature has been around for a long time and is rich in the dynamics of life and

humanity. However, the position of Asian literary works is no less interesting than western

literature in learning arts and culture. More in-depth research and studies need conducting on

the role and function of Asian literary works so that their manifestation can be realized in

language and literature learning in schools and universities. This can be realized through

cooperation across fields and nations in the Asian region to explore the riches of each culture

and civilization. Asian literary works are equally rich and interesting when juxtaposed with

literary works from the first world. Therefore, its translation into international languages will

strengthen its position as part of world literature. Therefore, the curriculum of cultural,

language, and literature study programs needs to incorporate the richness of Asian literature

into the curriculum, with the hope that Asians will learn their cultural values that come from

artistic experiences and contemplation of the previous generations, uphold traditions, and

ancestral heritage. This is one of the steps to strengthen the position of Asian literary works so

that they are not considered unimportant and will only continue to be used as footnotes for

research and in-depth study of language and culture.

REFERENCES Adha, Muhammad Mona, Hidayah, Yayuk. 2020. Jepang, Identitas Bangsa dan Agama: Manifestasi

Nilai Tradisi Lokal dalam Kehidupan Masyarakat Global, in Jurnal Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan:

Volume 10, No. 1, May 2020, pp. 16-28

Anggradinata, Langgeng Prima. 2020. Perspektif Lintas Budaya dalam Studi Sastra Bandingan di Asia

Tenggara (Studi Kasus Penelitian Sastra di Asia Tenggara), in Jurnal Salaka Volume 2 Nomor 2

Tahun 2020 Hlm. 25—33.

Black, Devon. 2018. “Reconstructing the Canon”, in Harvard Political Review,

harvardpolitics.com/culture/thecanon/

Budianta, Melani. 2009. “Resensi Buku: Maiden voyages; Eastern Indonesian women on the move.”

Leiden: KITLV Press, 2007, xv + 211 hlm., ISBN 978-90-6718-280-5 by Catharina Purwani

Williams, in Jurnal Wacana, Vol. 11 No. 1 (April 2009): pp. 173—196

Budianta, Melani. 2011. Book Reviews on Tony Day and Maya H.T. Liem (eds), Cultures at war; The

Cold War and cultural expressions in Southeast Asia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press,

2010, in Wacana, Vol. 13 No. 1 (April 2011), pp. 224-226

Chor-Shing Li, David. 2009. English in Southeast Asia: Varieties, Literacies and Literatures, in English

World-Wide, January 2009, 30(1):103-108, Book Review on David Prescott, ed. 2007. English in





325

Southeast Asia: Varieties, Literacies and Literatures. Newcastle/UK: Cambridge Scholars

Publishing, John Benjamins Publishing Company

Dewi, Novita. 2019. “Sungai, Sawah, dan Sengketa: Tinjauan Ecofeminism Karya Sastra Berlatar Asia

Tenggara (River, Rice Field, and Conflict: An Ecofeminist Reading of Fictions Set in Southeast

Asia), in K A N D A I, Volume 15, No. 2, November 2019, pp: 277-290

Floris, Flora Debora. 2005. “Using English Literature written by Asian authors in EFL/ESL Classrooms

in Asia”, in Kata, VOLUME 7, NUMBER 1, JUNE 2005: 43-53

Gonzales, N.V.M. 1963. “Asian Literature: Some Figures in the Landscape”, a paper read during the

Asia Week seminar on Literature in Asia, December 3, 1963,

https//:www.asj.upd.edu.phmediaboxarchiveASJ-02-01-1964Gonzalez.pdf

Ishii, Sari K. 2016. “Introduction: Marriage Migrants as Multi-marginalized Transnational Diaspora” in

Marriage Migration in Asia: Emerging Minorities at The Frontiers of Nation-States, editor: Sari

K. Ishii, Singapore: Kyoto-CSEAS Series on Asian Studies 16, pp: 1-23

Janssen, Joanne Nystrom. 2012. “An Unexpected Sound”: Recognizing Diverse Voices in Postcolonial

Literary Interpretation”, IAFOR Journal of Literature and Librarianship - Volume 1 - Issue 1 -

Spring 2012, pp. 31-49

Lau, Lisa (2002) Women’s voices: the presentation of women in the contemporary fiction of south Asian

women, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online:

http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2021/

Okezone. 2017. Mantap! Negara di Asia Memiliki Keterikatan Kuat Lewat Sastra, Ini Buktinya.

Selasa 08 Agustus 2017, https://news.okezone.com/read/2017/08/08/65/1752087/mantap-negara-

di-asia-memiliki-keterikatan-kuat-lewat-sastra-ini-buktinya

questia: trusted online research. Asian Literature. questia.com/library/literature/literature-of-specific-

countries/other-asian-literature/asian-literature#

Republika. 2014. ASEAN Literary: Memperkenalkan Sastra Asia Tenggara ke Pentas Dunia, Sunday,

23 March 2014, https://republika.co.id/berita/n2w1ki/asean-literary-memperkenalkan-sastra-asia-

tenggara-ke-pentas-dunia

Rorty, Richard. 1992. Linguistic Turn. Ruthledge and Kegan Paul: The University of Chicago

Press

Southeast Asian Literature. The Lincoln Library of Essential Information, pp. 192-195,

https://www.niu.edu/clas/cseas/_pdf/lesson-plans/sea-literature-olson.pdf

Susanto, Heri. 2016. Kolonialisme dan Identitas Kebangsaan Negara-Negara Asia Tenggara, in Jurnal

Sejarah dan Budaya, Tahun X, No. 2, December 2016, pp. 144-155

Sutarto, Ayu. 2003. “Hubungan Konsep Negara Bangsa dengan Susastra Lisan Asia Tenggara”, dalam

Adakah Bangsa dalam Sastra? Editor: Abdul Rozak Zaidan & Dendy Sugono. Jakarta: Progress in

Cooperation with Pusat Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, pp. 31-44

Williams, Phillip. F. 2010. “Introduction: Asian Literary Voices”, in Asian Literary Voices: From

Marginal to Mainstream, edited by Phillip F. Williams, ICAS Publication Series, Amsterdam

University Press, pp. 9-12





326





327

DECONSTRUCTION OF HEGEMONY IN LITERATURE LEARNING

IN 4.0 INDUSTRY ERA

FATMAH AR. UMAR

Department of Indonesian Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Cultures,

Universitas Negeri Gorontalo


Abstract

Deconstruction in the system of literature education is a common practice. In fact, its

implementation has been running since the pre-regional autonomy policy (1947) up to the

present era of the 4.0 industry. Despite that, the outputs of the program are relatively far from

being effective in its implementation. This blames the presence of a chaotic practice of

hegemony within the education system mentioned. The present paper aims to explain the

concept, forms, and hierarchy of hegemony and deconstruction in literature learning. Moreover,

it also intends to elaborate on the aspects of hegemony and deconstruction in literature learning.

Based on the hermeneutic literature review and empirical study, the author found that: firstly,

the hegemony in literature learning comprises intervention, pressure, robbery, harassment,

deprivation, restriction, and silencing of freedom of thought. The hegemonic practice is

imposed top-down by superior to the superordinates, or by teachers to the students; in some

cases, it is imposed bottom-up. Moreover, deconstruction is seen as the renovation of an

element, form, or system that is considered irrelevant in a given situation. Secondly, the

hegemony and deconstruction in literature learning take the forms of 1) physical and

psychological, 2) positive and negative, 3) direct and indirect, and 4) open and closed. Thirdly,

the aspects under the subject of hegemony and deconstruction in literature learning consist of

curriculum, learning material, and educators’ professionalism. Finally, the hierarchy of

hegemony and deconstruction in literature learning is depicted as follows: the president >

Ministry of Education and Culture > Provincial Office of Education and Culture > Regional

Office of Education and Culture at Municipality/Regency level > curriculum developers >

school principals > teachers > student (or vice versa). Further, it is concluded that: 1) hegemony

and deconstruction in literature learning is acceptable (and in some cases, necessary) if they do

not exceed the established norms; 2) the forms of hegemony and deconstruction in literature

learning can only be implemented within the full consideration of physical/psychological

situation of the objects of hegemony; 3) the aspects as an object of hegemony and

deconstruction in literature learning encompass all components involved within literature

education; and 4) the hierarchy of hegemony and deconstruction in literature learning comes in

different patterns (horizontal, vertical, star-shaped pattern, wheel-shaped pattern, and inverted

pyramid).

Keywords: Deconstruction, hegemony, literature learning, 4.0 Industry era

INTRODUCTION

The present paper draws on the heuristic and hermeneutic interpretation postulated by

Suroso and Santoso (2009: 70-85) to rationalize the matters related to its objectives. They point

out that:

Heuristic reading is based on the convention of mimetic language and develops a set of

heterogeneous, scattered, or non-grammatical. The interpretation is based on the

linguistic meaning of the passage that is straightforward or denotative. In the meantime,

hermeneutic reading begins from the determination of a whole unit of meaning from the

structural units formed by different elements of language. In other words, the





328

interpretation is done back and forth, beginning from the start to the end part (and vice

versa) to acquire an intact meaning.

The concept of hermeneutic is defined as the study of understanding, exegesis, and

interpretation of a text (see Palmer, 2005: 8, Sumaryono, 2009: 23) Therefore, this study

presents the author’s result of the understanding of the text related to the paper’s objectives

through heuristic and hermeneutic reading/interpretation.

CONCEPT OF HEGEMONY AND DECONSTRUCTION

Concept of Hegemony

Hegemony, as asserted by Ratna (2005: 180), derives from the Greek word hegenistai

that means ‘leading, leadership, or highest authority’. In addition, from the lexicographic

viewpoint, it is interpreted as ‘leadership’. The use of hegemony in daily life is related to

‘domination’. With the incorporation of elements of leadership and acceptance of the

hegemonized groups, thus hegemony is seen as more complex than ideology.

Lexicographically, ideology is originated from the Greek phrase idea and logia/logos. In

contemporary theories, ideology is used within various academic subjects with a different

definition. In hegemony theory, it also plays a crucial role. Ideology in its essence is a thought,

desire/hope, or belief system that in ideal manner influences the behavior of an individual (or a

community) in carrying out their daily activities.

Gramsci (in Baker, 2006: 62) points out that “Hegemony is the process of creation,

confirmation, and reproduction of authoritative meaning and practice”. Moreover, he states that

“hegemony is the continuous process of formation and overthrow of an unstable balance ...

within the interest clash between the fundamentals and the subordinates ..., the balance of

interest of the dominant group is present only within certain limitation”. In achieving

hegemonic success, there are two warring sides. These sides, according to Gramsci (in Baker,

2006: 64), are having positional war and maneuver war Positional war is the hegemonic

dominance in the civil realm, while maneuver war is the aggression on a state’s power. The

success of maneuver war is dependent on the achievement of hegemony through positional war.

On top of that, Joll (in Darma, 2009: 105) explains that the hegemony of a political class

indicates that the class has succeeded in persuading other social classes to accept the dominant

class’s cultural, political, and moral values. Therefore, hegemony is more related to the effort

of achieving political power by inter-class consensus rather than by force. A ruler’s success in

hegemonizing other groups does not need coercive force. Such a scenario is common within

the present era of the 4.0 Industry, particularly within the realm of literature education.

Drawing on the previous conception of hegemony, the study points out several points of

highlight: 1) hegemony is closely related to ideology and dichotomy; 2) hegemony is viewed

as the strategy of a ruler/leader in persuading the targeted individuals/groups to smoothen one’s

plans, be it positive, or negative; 3) hegemony can be interpreted as the exertion of power,

pressure, intervention, deprivation, and molestation to an individual or group’s rights and duties

to act, move, speak, think, create, and innovate; 4) hegemony also takes the form of

physical/psychological (discourse) abuse; 5) hegemony is also practiced by verbal or written

language; and 6) hegemony is practiced from upper class to lower class, or within the intra-

class relationship.

From the previous elaboration of the concept of hegemony, the study applies Ratna’s

concept of hegemony based on several points of consideration: 1) the paper focuses on

analyzing the hegemony (taking the form of leadership) in literature education; 2) Ratna’s

concept of hegemony also correlates with ideology and dichotomy, which, as this paper

contends, are two inseparable elements of hegemony. Therefore, in the following elaboration,

the paper applies the terms above in an integrated manner. On top of that, it highlights that the

term “leadership” in the following discussion is oriented to leadership in education and





329

teaching. Leadership in education, as asserted by Suharsaputra (2016: 111), is interpreted as the

ability to persuade an individual directly or indirectly to support the process of maturation as

based on the set objectives.

The present work views that Suharsaputra’s concept is identical to the previous concept

of hegemony-leadership. Both emphasize the effort by a dominating side (or at least those who

feel in control of others) to persuade/hegemonize a particular individual or group.

Concept of Deconstruction

A common perception of deconstruction would assume that it is related to an act of

disassembling or renovating something to a better condition or better use. The concept of

deconstruction, as asserted by Norris (2006: 5), is interpreted as “An act of a subject to

deconstruct an object that is composed of several particular elements”. As an action,

deconstruction involves several methods of disassembling a particular object that needs an

upgrade. The perspective indicates that the constructing subject will involve related elements

to deconstruct and reconstruct the object.

The act of deconstruction, viewed from Norris’ perspective (2206: 6), has begun since

the 1950s to 1970s, indicated with the massive shift from modernism to postmodernism, and

from structuralism to poststructuralism. At that time, the modernism school of thought was

deemed necessary for deconstruction due to its negative aspects, as concluded by Hegel (in

Norris, 2000: 6), that involve universal ideas of “progressive emancipation, ratio, and freedom”.

In addition to that, Hegel argued that as a subject, an individual has to decide by oneself the

basis of principles, values, and criteria in one’s life. Modern human beings do not need such

principles of value, freedom, and legitimation of truth except ones that originate from oneself

and are intended for oneself. The principles are also often referred to as common sense. As the

subject of the discourse, human beings always seek to move forward and uphold the ideal truth,

while at the same time, the ideal truth itself is within the “becoming” phase. The process of

moving towards the ideal truth is referred to by Derrida (in Norris, 2006: 8) as a “progressive

movement”.

FORMS OF HEGEMONY AND DECONSTRUCTION

In literature education, the present work identifies several forms of hegemony: 1) physical

and psychological/discourse, 2) positive and negative, 3) direct and indirect, 4) open and closed,

and 5) positive and negative. Individuals living in a modern era always seek the most

progressive development in all aspects. Such attitudes can lead to mistreatments of others, such

as repression or exploitation. On the other hand, the rise of modernity also gives birth to the

advancement efforts of human beings, particularly in the aspects of progress, rationality, and

freedom. The progress leads to the welfare state, while rationality results in science and

technology, and freedom nurtures democracy. On the other hand, such a modern outlook

triggers other negative attitudes, such as exploitation, scientism, and imperialism imposed on

science, politic, and culture (Norris, 2006: 8). The present work also adds fideism as another

negative attitude that might occur as a result of modernity.

The hegemonic discourse, as stated by Darma (2009: 103), is not always destructive-

negative in nature; the practice of hegemony can be exerted for the interest of the many. In other

words, the meanings produced within the construction of discourse does not always serve the

benefits of the dominating side. Each group focuses to delegate oneself as the owner of authority

to interpret, define, and incorporate the meanings. The construction of meaning within a

discourse, however, has illustrated a concerning issue: it is heavily influenced by groups that

have the authority to construct the meanings. That said, the production of meaning is highly

concentrated; one’s subjectivity plays a major role within the process.





330

Regarding the hegemony-discourse correlation, Ratna (2005: 187) points out that

“hegemony is not merely manifested into a physical form/power, but it also comes into

existence in the form of discourse power”. On top of that, the contemporary view of hegemony

considers discourse as a dominant aspect by the reason that all physical forms can be manifested

into the discourse as ‘what is told’. The hegemony that is exerted through discourse is

considered more effective since it can be controlled from a distance without the need for direct

intervention. In a more recent discussion, the discourse hegemony manifests into the object of

deconstruction by theories of postmodernism; by this, minority group issues are raised.

As highlighted above, the practice of hegemony has caught the serious concern of the

elements within teaching and education institutions, particularly, the curriculum. The

deconstruction process of the education curriculum in Indonesia continues to this day without

any indication of its finalization. Inconsistency in the establishment of Ministerial Regulations

has affected the implementation of the 2013 Curriculum. In recent years, when a Ministerial

Regulation is not fully implemented, a new contradicting regulation is already in place. This

burdens the teachers as the key agents of the learning process. Such an inconsistent

implementation renders the teachers incapable of re-adjusting and puts them into the object of

blame within the realm of education.

The continuous deconstruction process of the curriculum is somewhat inevitable. This is

based on Suwandi’s (2019: 59) argument, i.e.: (1) the shift of philosophy on human being and

education, particularly regarding the needs of students in the learning process, (2) the rapid

advancements of science and technology that requires innovations in delivery of learning

material, (3) changes of conditions within the community, involving social, political, economic,

and environmental aspects in both local and global scope.

ASPECTS AS OBJECT OF HEGEMONY AND DECONSTRUCTION

IN LITERATURE EDUCATION

The hegemonized and deconstructed aspects of literature education are all elements

related to the education system and its components. In this paper, the authors limit only three

aspects: (1) curriculum and education system, (2) literature learning material, and (3) educators’

professionalism.

Curriculum and Education System

Glatthorn (in Forum Mangunjaya, 2013: 63), divides the curriculum into six types: (1)

ideal curriculum, (2) written curriculum, (3) supported curriculum, (4) curriculum that is taught

in class, (5) the curriculum that was tested, and (6) the curriculum that was absorbed. This paper

highlights points (1) and (6). If these two aspects are properly integrated by considering the

practical condition, the paper argues that curriculum/education in Indonesia will be of higher

quality. The ideal curriculum in point (1) is a curriculum aspired (based on the vision, missions

and objectives of national education). From such objectives, the education program in Indonesia

aspires to achieve a characterized set of education. If such sets of education character are

practiced by curriculum developers, educators, and students, misconducts and hegemony will

certainly be non-existent. In other words, the rape, coercion, intimidation, intervention, and

robbery imposed on the educators and the students in terms of freedom of action, speech,

creation, thought, and innovation can be prevented. This is aimed to boost the quality of

literature education based on the ideal curriculum.

In practice, the position of the teacher in implementing the curriculum is only as a teacher-

proof operator. Civility, creativity, ingenuity, and personal meaning are central issues that have

not been widely appreciated in implementing learning in schools. The active learning method

(or CBSA) seems to be not more than a mere formality. The method that aims to increase the

activeness of students in terms of physicality, mentality, intellectuality, and emotionality in

achieving learning outcomes (as the integration of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor





331

aspects) is not fully integrated into schools. In this case, curriculum developers are unable or

reluctant to translate and actualize these concepts (see Forum Mangunjaya, 2013: 68). Such

factors might be the consideration for the new Ministry of Education is proposing the “Merdeka

Belajar” (or independent learning) program that focuses on the full participation of the teachers

and students.

The “Merdeka Belajar” program seems to have been incorporated in the previous

curriculum, but it has not been ideally actualized. The deconstruction of the 2013 Curriculum,

however, seems unable to achieve a finalized curriculum. In this regard, the President of

Indonesia demands that the state’s education system adopts the existing education system in

developed countries, such as Finland, Australia, Germany, and South Korea (Djarot, 2020: 1).

It seems that the President’s request has partly been actualized.

The hegemony and deconstruction of the curriculum in Indonesia have been going on

since before the colonial period until the reformation period. During that time, each leader has

a different vision, mission, and goals that have an impact on the direction of the curriculum.

The curriculum that applies in Indonesia, as stated by Widyastono (2014: 54) is divided into

two periods: before regional autonomy (1947 Curriculum, 1964 Curriculum, 1968

Curriculum, 1973 Curriculum (the Development School Pioneer Project), 1975 Curriculum,

1984 Curriculum, 1994 Curriculum, and 1999 Curriculum (Enhanced version of 1994

Curriculum), and after regional autonomy (2004 curriculum (or Competence Based

Curriculum), 2006 curriculum (Education Unit Curriculum), and 2013 curriculum. The 2013

curriculum has experienced hegemony and deconstruction to date.

In a broad sense, the education systems being referred to are further compared to Indonesia’s

education system.

Finnish Education System

The education system in Finland is elaborated below.

Firstly, every student has the same right to education. Besides, there are no comparisons

or competitions between schools, so that the students can enroll in any school as they are all the

same.

Secondly, there is no assessment in Finland’s schools. As previously described, all

students are guided to have equal rights during the lesson. Each of them has at least two

teachers; one is the classroom teacher, and the other one is the assistant teacher.

Thirdly, the learning process in this country embraces the principle of “receive

understanding and state their view following their age and maturity”. They are entitled to

education without discrimination/hegemony.

Fourthly, Finland’s schools comprise six main subjects as the orientation due to the

curriculum that does not require the students to learn all of these subjects. Instead, it

encourages them to start gaining their ability to examine and understand natural phenomena

around them.

Fifthly, the curriculum emphasizes the process of examining, understanding, together

with experiencing. In this case, Finnish students both in rural and urban schools do not only

learn about academic insights, yet interacting with them with well-equipped facilities.

Sixthly, the learning process in Finland is not only conducted in the classroom. The

students are persuaded to explore their knowledge and skills outside the classroom when

teaching materials discuss the environment. Simply put, they do not only learn about theories,

yet exploring nature to acquire knowledge and experience.

Seventhly, there is a parental engagement in Finland, in which parents have the rights

and responsibilities to take part in their children’s education. Therefore, they circumstantially

cooperate with the school to enable school parties to recognize children’s abilities since the

early stage, making their needs fulfilled based on the parents’ information. In addition, the

parents also have the right to evaluate the curriculum and provide feedback for the children’s





332

growth and development. Parents do not merely enroll the children in school but also hold

them accountable for monitoring their progress by giving suggestions and ideas in terms of

curriculum improvement.

As many as 22 innovations to be modeled from Finland (Anjani, n.d.) are as follows: (1)

children under seven years old are not allowed to go to elementary school; this also applies to

Indonesia since 1968. (2) teachers have another method to assess the students instead of exams

and homework. (3) in contrast to Indonesia’s system, Finnish children’s ability is not measured

by their first six years of education. (4) there is only one compulsory test in this country that

will be taken at age 16. (5) all children study in the same class. (6) thirty percent of the Finnish

children receive a 9-year school scholarship. (7) sixty-six percent of the students go to

university. (8) no gap between the smartest and less able students. (9) science class is maximally

taken by 16 students so that they can practice and conduct research. (10) ninety-three percent

of Finns graduate from university. (11) forty-three percent of high school students in this

country prefer vocational school. (12) elementary school students have a 75-minute recess a

day. (13) teachers only spend four hours in class, as well as undergoing 2-hour professional

development education per week. (14) the number of teachers and students are equal. (15)

tuition fee is fully funded by the government; in Indonesia, however, the budget for the Ministry

of Education is cut. (16) every teacher must hold a master’s degree and is fully subsidized; on

the other hand, not all of Indonesia’s teachers have a bachelor’s degree and need to go through

a self-funded college education. (17) ten percent of teachers being selected are the best graduate

from ten reputable universities. (18) in 2010, 6,600 people competed for 660 participants of

elementary teacher training; nevertheless, elementary teachers are not considered a prestigious

profession in Indonesia. (19) the average starting salary of Finnish teachers in 2008 was USD

29,000; in contrast, Indonesian teachers’ salary does not even reach the minimum wage. (20)

Finnish teachers are all having a decent salary; meanwhile, in Indonesia, some teachers only

receive Rp300,000/month. (21) in Finland, teachers are as prestigious as doctors and lawyers;

yet, teachers in Indonesia are frequently disregarded. (22) according to international standards

in 2001, Finnish children were interested in science, reading, and math.

Australian Education System

Several education systems in Australia that need to be imitated by Indonesia’s system, as

stated by orionbetelgeuze, 2013, include (1) every child born and raised in Australia must

go to school; otherwise, their parents will get sanctioned. (2) the school year is started at

the beginning of the year (January or February) and ended at the end of the year

(November or December); this system had once been implemented in Indonesia from

1968 to the 1980s, making it possible for the government to re-apply the system (given

the circumstance of online learning due to the pandemic). (3) Australian education levels

are the same as Indonesia’s, starting from kindergarten, primary school, junior high

school, senior high school, and year 12 certificate that contains the senior-year students’

grade of each subject that is very useful for enrolling in university without testing. (4)

there are public and private schools in Australia, in which the private one is divided into

regular school and religion-based school (Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam).

Indonesia’s Curriculum

The central government organizes Indonesia’s curriculum along with curriculum experts.

Since the government has full responsibility for the curriculum, the school community is only

obedient ‘consumers’. Then how can we define the success of this curriculum? Is it only by the

national exam?

https://konsultanpendidikan.com/author/denebolla/





333

Such an adoption generates the removal of English subject in elementary schools and the

enactment of an integrative thematic approach by integrating the subjects of Pancasila and

Civics Education, Islamic Religion, Indonesian Language, Mathematics, Art and Culture, and

Physical Education (Online. 2015. https://www. kompasiana.com/masykurideas/

5519ae6ea33311111ab6598e/kurikulum-2013-indonesia-vs-kurikulum-finlandia, accessed on

19 June 2020).

The answer to the question mentioned above is Indonesian students’ experience, whether

or not they are satisfied with the system.

Adopting the curriculum from developed countries is reasonable as it is appropriately

applied and right on target. The adoption should also take into account the facilities,

infrastructure, and well-experienced teachers with professional knowledge as in those

countries. It is because education in Indonesia is yet to be equally provided. For instance, a rural

and urban educational condition that is different in terms of facilities, teacher competencies,

and environment, making the learning system also dissimilar.

Educational facilities in Indonesia, such as the language lab, science lab, and the like, are

relatively far behind the developed countries, e.g., Finland. The absence of adequate facilities

makes it challenging to explore students’ potentials, not to mention in outskirt schools whose

education support is minimal. For this reason, they need to be considered and prepared for the

new curriculum.

Teachers play an active role in implementing the curriculum. Community outreach

regarding Curriculum 2013 is of great importance for teachers to get used to applying this

curriculum. On top of that, Curriculum 2013 requires teachers to be more independent and

active in creating teaching materials. They are also expected to guide, teach, and explain to the

students about learning activities.

The participation of third parties, including parents, should also be regarded meticulously.

Parents have to involve in their children’s education so that they can figure out the children’s

needs. In this case, school members connect the parents and teachers to show the children’s

potentials optimally. Parents know their children’s ability better than the teachers so that they

should communicate with each other in the evaluation stage; this can also serve as input for

teachers and the government in the context of curriculum evaluation. In every curriculum

development, it seems that the literature subject, particularly Indonesian literature, is relatively

hegemonized. Today, the literature subject is integrated with the Indonesian Language subject,

although both subjects are taught separately. Specifically, the literature subject in elementary,

junior high, senior high school level, Islamic school equivalence, and even universities is

elaborated below.

Curriculum deconstruction still takes place up to the present moment that is characterized

by the announcement of the program Merdeka Belajar or Freedom to Learn by the Minister of

Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. One of the policies in this program is that

school programs, teachers, and students themselves have the freedom to be innovative, to learn

independently and creatively. (Online): (https://gtk.kemendikbud.go.id/ read-news/mengenal

konsepmerdekabelajardangurupenggerak. Accessed on 11 June 2000). Further, the Minister

gives the rights to university students to take courses outside the study program and change the

definition of semester credit units (Online). https://www. kemdikbud.go.id/ main/blog/2020/

01/mendikbud-luncurkan-empat-kebijakan-merdeka-belajar-kampus-merdeka.Accessed on,

11 June 2020.

TODAY’S LITERATURE EDUCATION

Literature education in elementary, junior high, and senior high schools seem to be

hegemonized to date, as it is still integrated with Indonesian Language learning. On the

contrary, literature in universities stands alone, especially in the study program of Indonesian

https://gtk.kemendikbud.go.id/%20read-news/mengenal





334

Language and Literature Education and Department of Literature. Although this subject has

been integrated with the Indonesian Language in schools, it is highly expected that the learning

process is able to improve the creativity of the students. Creativity, as opined by Endraswara

(in Abidin, 2012:219), can be improved by “literary pilgrimage, literary tourism, literary camp,

and literary workshop so that students can thoroughly comprehend, feel, and create literary

works”. Moreover, literature learning should be actualized in (at least) three forms, as follows:

(1) literary appreciation, (2) literary creation, and (3) literary expression. All of which are

carried out in character building-based learning.

Endraswara’s point is acceptable since it is relevant to the vision and mission of national

education. Through literature education, it is expected that the vision and mission can be

realized, and the subject can also instill positive cultural values to the students to be practiced

daily. Regrettably, literature learning seems to be hegemonized until today.

There are pros and cons in this matter. The pros include the idea that language and

literature are inextricably linked because literature without language is meaningless. In the same

tune, Abidin (2012:208) believes that “literature refers to imaginative factual works that are

pleasant and useful, composed by the author by using a language as the main tool”.

Accordingly, literature is based on factual data of people’s lives, making it very advantageous.

For example, a poet will create poetry entitled Senja Hari di Pantai Losari (lit. translation: The

mid-evening at Losari Beach) by using beautiful and alluring diction that suits the ambiance of

Losary Beach in the mid-evening. The author cannot create it if s/he has never been there or

listened to other people’s stories about the beach. Literature is always built by four main

components, namely the author, language as the main tool, content, and element as the structure.

On the other hand, those against the idea of integrating literature with language state that

literature with its substance, goal, vision, and mission that is to develop the children’s characters

takes time, ability, and skill in teaching it. In addition, the author has the freedom to alter or

ignore language rules (poetic license). However, literature education in schools and universities

is relatively hegemonized. Hegemony in literature education comes from the viewpoints of the

community (academic community, parents, and the general public), the materials, the strategies

(approaches/models/methods/techniques), the media, and the assessments. On that ground,

literature education in the fourth industrial era needs to be deconstructed towards forward-

looking freedom from various aspects involved in it, including intelligent and professional

authors, readers, and critics (not the artificial ones), as argued by Saidi (2006:xxviii-xxx).

Hegemony and Deconstruction of Literature Learning Materials Several literature learning materials still apply the outdated teaching materials and

strategies that were applied before the implementation of the 2013 curriculum. The materials

revolved around understanding literature’s concept, history/development of literature, its types,

as well as differences between prose and poetry. This leads to the cramming of irrelevant

literary theories into the students’ lives and ideology. For example, literature with themes from

agriculture for students with farmers’ background, the fishery for students with fishermen’s

background, and industry for students with workers/laborers’ background.

The form of the hegemony which includes ideology, seems to be highly relevant if it was

to be connected with the context of learning and literature. In terms of learning literature,

ideology requires consideration regarding the learning content from the varying aspect, scope,

and understanding of systematization through the learning activities in school/class. According

to Satato and Fananie (2000:48), the various aspects refer to (1) cognitive ideology essence, (2)

the shaping internal components, (3) connection to the discourse of daily life, and (4)

connection to the social practice.

Of these four components, the second component seems to require special attention from

teachers. This component turned out to be very influential upon the students’ ideology. Satato

and Fanine (2000:4) stated that the scope of the second component includes the environment,





335

daily activities, information, and messages that are obtained in everyday communication, as

well as social activities. If so, the four scopes mentioned by Satato and Fananie earlier is

essentially integrated into the second component. For example, the dominant ideology of

children hailing from the agricultural environment tend to have concerns regarding agricultures:

i.e., farming, plantations, hoe, crowbar, vegetables, maize, rice, and tubers. Meanwhile,

children who live in fisheries/fisherman’s neighborhood tend to have concerns related to the

sea, beach, boats, oars, nets, and fish. Likewise are children with educators’ background, which

will have penchants for school supplies such as bags, books, pencils, uniforms, and shoes, as

well as studying. Hence, material selection requires conditioning.

This phenomenon indicates that school teachers would follow the curriculum and syllabus

any previously formulated contents and recorded. A concrete example is the literature learning

materials, which are grounded on the text-based 2013 curriculum. The teachers referred to it

without any reconsideration because it was text-based and was already listed in the curriculum,

syllabus, and textbooks. Unbeknownst to them, the text contents are unsuitable with the

students’ conditions as stated previously. Despite the fact that the 2013 curriculum guidelines

already stated that the students might engage in the process of deciding and developing learning

materials.

In response to the criticism, the literature learning materials of the 2013 curriculum have

been designed in such a manner in which everything is text-based. The problem lies in the

teacher’s varying understanding of these texts. As a result, observational learning that was

supposed to be on the field was conducted inside a class instead. Meanwhile, the observation

object employed existing text on the students’ handbook. On the contrary, the concept of texts

is deep in meaning based on the distinctive perspectives of experts. Texts viewed from the

perspective of Barker (2006:11) not only refers to written words but also pointed to all practices

that have meanings such as sound, clothes, and activities. This perspective is similar to

Ricoeur’s (2006:21), in which text is not just a verbal language, be it oral and written, because

an action can also be regarded as a text. Action refers to the text, which is the embodiment of

oral speech, a semiotic concept that can be formed into the text. When a speech became a text,

the system of reference changes and became the reader’s property. In light of this idea, text and

its link to the author, the physical environment, social culture, relation to the other texts, as well

as the context of a dialog between the readers and the text should be understood.

In comparison to van Dijk (1986 and 2004); Brown and Yule (1996); Titscher et al,

(2009:54-55); Halliday and Hasan (1992:13); and Pradotokusumo (2005:34), Mahsun

(2014:18-19), stated that texts for literature learning material in school are as follows: (1)

narrative literature/retellings comprised of retellings, anecdote, examplum, and storytelling that

was contained inside short stories, novels, tales, myths/legends, the story of adventurers,

fantasy, fables, history, and biography/autobiography. (2) Non-narrative literature/retellings

comprised of pantun, poetry, ode, and couplets.

The material deconstruction is already sufficient. The problem lies with the instructions

of the teachers which did not meet the students’ necessities; this is due to the provided texts

from the syllabus and textbooks requires teachers’ thoroughness to see if the form, content,

theme, and message was feasible enough to be instructed to the students.

According to Elfindri, et al (2012:165), there are 10 steps that must be followed by the

teachers and lecturers in selecting and developing teaching materials, namely (1) choosing the

field with most demand, (2 identifying reading materials on the said field, (3) understanding

the means of instructing said materials, (4) selecting learning topics, (5) defining sub-learnings,

(6) integrating the learning objectives achievement with methods, (7) choosing the main

learning domain, (8) using tools, (9) making a list of tasks, and (10) choosing the assessment

form (Umi Salamah, 2020, Online: youtube.com/watch?v=NZ8Mp18. The development of

Interactive Literature Teaching Materials).





336

Educators’ Professionalism

The professionalism of teachers and lecturers is not a subject of hesitation because before

being appointed as a teacher/lecturer, an individual has gone through various educational levels

(from primary education to higher education) and workshops that have led one to become a

teacher/lecturer. In particular, the university has equipped the teacher candidate with various

knowledge and skills related to education and learning activities. Currently, graduates of

education undergraduate programs have to participate in SM3T program or teaching in remote

areas in Indonesia. The candidate would also need to participate in the “Pra-jabatan” program,

Teacher/Lecturer Certification program, several trainings, workshops, apprenticeships,

competency tests, as well as other programs.

As a result, an educator (teacher/lecturer) must have (1) pedagogical competence, (2)

personality competence, (3) social competence, and (4) professional competence (see Danim

and Khairil, 2012: 32-36; Tinaredja, et al, 2016: 73-82; Usman, 2006: 19; and Danim, 2010:

22-26). In addition, educators also carry out and participate in (1) education and training

activities, (2) apprenticeship programs, (3) school partnerships, (4) distance learning, (5) tiered

training and courses, (6) short courses, (7) internal training by schools, and (8) further

education. The educators also participate in discussions on educational issues, seminars,

workshops, research, and development of books/learning materials, learning media, and

technology work/artwork.

In this regard, there are two controversial problems. Firstly, it is unclear in what aspects

the professionalism of teachers and lecturers are doubted. Secondly, the operationalization of

Law no. 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers and Lecturers lacks certainty about the direction and

format. Efforts to improve the professionalization of teachers and lecturers are still trapped in

strategic activities in the form of certification, certification allowances, and competency tests.

In this case, the professionalism of teachers is measured by having to teach 24 hours/week;

otherwise, the certification is not paid.

Further, according to Regulation No. 37 of 2009, a lecturer will be given a certification

allowance if they carry out the three pillars of higher education with a workload of at least

equivalent to 12 (twelve) credits and a maximum of 16 (sixteen) credits in each semester in

accordance with their academic qualifications with the provisions. Meanwhile, in the

Regulation Minister of Education and Culture No. 92/2014 concerning Technical Guidelines

for Evaluating Lecturer Functional Credit Points, the Expert Assistant must carry out elements

of education > 55%, research >25%, Community Service <10%, and Supporting elements

<10%. On top of that, lectors must carry out education elements >45%, research >35%,

community service <10%, and supporting elements <10%, while Principal Lector must carry

out elements of education >40%, research >40%, community Service <10%, and supporting

elements <10%. In the meantime, a professor must carry out elements of education >35%,

research >45%, community service <10%, and supporting elements <10%.

Educators are still hegemonized by various rules which are considered no longer relevant

and inefficient. The parties involved in hegemony and deconstruction have different opinions

on the teachers’ practice of innovation in learning. Teachers’ innovation receives appreciations

and support, but some blamed, suppressed, and intervened on the pretext that what the teacher

was doing was not according to the rules, not according to the regulation, and other excuses.

This indicates that the concept of “freedom of learning” or freedom in learning, which has

always been echoed and proclaimed by the Minister of Education and Culture, does not relate

to the practical situation.

The hegemony imposed on the teachers and lecturers has been going on for a long time

and still continues. The author’s first personal experience of hegemony was when the author

participated in an ASD program in partner schools in the 1998/1999 academic year. At that

time, the writer took the turn to teach at a high school in Gorontalo Regency Prior to teaching,





337

the writer has prepared a lesson plan as required. However, in preparing the lesson plan, the

writer constructs the order of the material by oneself, because of the irrelevance of levels or

sequence of material in the existing curriculum and syllabus. For instance, in the first meeting,

the material taught was poetry with its components, but at the second meeting, the material was

linguistics. Meanwhile, the third meeting discussed literature. Therefore, the writer took the

initiative to not teaching in accordance with the order of the material in the curriculum and

syllabus but based on its parallel level.

During the learning process, the supervisor visited and matched the learning contents with

what was stated in the curriculum and syllabus, which turned out to be not in accordance. The

supervisor glared at the writer with a grumpy and arrogant attitude and immediately asked.

“Why is the material being taught not in accordance with the order in the curriculum and

syllabus?”. The writer answered loudly “I teach based on the continuity of thinking,

understanding, and skills that must be possessed by students”.

The author’s second experience of hegemony was the school principal’s hegemony

imposed on the educators. In 1987, the author was invited by a friend as the head of a junior

high school in Gorontalo City. At that time, the author was asked to teach the subject of

Pendidikan Sejarah Perjuangan Bangsa, or National Struggle Education. In a weekly flag

ceremony, the principal as the ceremony’s inspector exerted one’s hegemony to the teachers in

front of their students. One of the remarks was “Ladies and gentlemen; soon we will face the

final exam of class III. For this reason, I ask that the subject scores for the class must be at least

9, and I demand teachers who are often late not to be late again”.

At that time, the author was shocked and questioned “Why is something like this delivered

in front of the educated. How low is the dignity and prestige of a teacher in the eyes of the

principal?”. At that time, the author immediately submitted a resignation letter to the school.

Surprisingly, the principal apologized and begged the author not to stop teaching at the school.

The principal said that these words were not for the author because the author has been timely

punctual and creative in teaching. Those words were for the other teachers who were often

absent. Despite the answer, the attitude and method used by the principal have robbed the

dignity of educators in front of their students.

From the dialogue, it was revealed why the principal had uttered such words. Three

reasons are identified, (1) the teachers were often absent in class, (2) the teachers were not

serious in teaching, (3) there was a regulation at that time that if the students’ final exam score

were unable to meet the standard, the school would be closed.

Such a phenomenon indicates that the hegemony influences the principal’s action from

the superiors in the form of discourse/ psychological and physical hegemony. The

psychological hegemony is exerted in the form of rules; and if schools are completely closed

because they do not meet standards, this is a form of physical hegemony that has physical

consequences. Moreover, the principal’s attitude implicates that (1) the principal’s

power/hegemony is dominant towards the teacher, (2) the students will not take the learning

process seriously because of the high score guarantee, and (3) the educators will lose motivation

to apply creative and innovative in the learning process.

The third experience was when the author was originally appointed as a civil servant

(1988). At that time, the author taught “Sanggar Sastra” or Literature Studio course. From the

name, the course indicates that students have to practice literature performances, including

drama and poetry readings. The author also taught the “Introduction to Culture” course (since

the 2000s); in 2019 the name of this course was changed to “Cultural Insights”. Previously, this

course was a faculty-specific course; with the change of name, this course has become the

character of the university-based on the university’s vision and missions.





338

One of the materials taught in this course is Multicultural Education. This material

discusses various cultural characteristics of various regions in Indonesia as well as cultural

differences from various countries. For this reason, the material is irrelevant if only learned in

the classroom in the form of theory. This material is more useful if shared with the public

through an outdoor cultural concert that displays cultural aspects (language, art, traditions,

clothing, or food). Thus, students are expected to understand that each culture of each region

and country is essentially the same. The difference only lies in the manner, name, form, and

designation. Thus, it is expected that this course can be an alternative to reduce conflict between

people to prevent any misconduct.

However, this activity received a lopsided response from a senior lecturer in the same

study program: “We are a Language and Literature Education study program. Thus, we teach

students to become teachers, not experts in literature or culture. These words made the writer

contemplate “How could this senior lecturer have this view?” The name of this course is

Literary Studio, not Literary Theory. Thus, the result is practice or concert. Students would be

unable to recognize and understand the similarities and differences in each region’s culture or

between countries if they only learn theory in class. The author argues that this practice of

hegemony is based on scientism and fideism as a modernity feature.

Scientism is radical empiricism thought that is not based on scientific studies and accurate

data, resulting in a closed system of thinking and sentimental attitude towards supernatural

things. Scientism only sees the external actions of humans and interprets humans as only a part

of a physical process (acquired online: http://staff.uny.ac.id/sites/default/files/Filsej%20-

%20Filsafat%20Eksistentialisme.pdf). In the meantime, fideism is a mental attitude, as well as

an idea or ideology, whose opinion and belief about truth cannot be shaken under any pretext

or by anyone.

The hegemonic attitude above has actually been described by Saidi (2006: xxix), who

questioned why there were no writers from campus, especially from the Faculty of Letters. This

is because there is no literary program to begin with. There is only a program of literary

criticism and research that produces seasoned intellectual-artificial literary critics. The expected

output of an expert literary critic cannot be realized, since scholars of literature only apply to

certain theories developed by previous experts and lack the innovation to theorize their own

ideas.

Therefore, the attitude needs to be deconstructed into an emancipatory and progressive

attitude. Emancipatory is interpreted as the critical nature and attitude that always seek progress.

Habermas (in Wibowo, 2013: 23) states that emancipation is the freedom and courage to

challenge any claims without fear of anything because basically, each participant has the

opportunity to speak and make different decisions. In other words, we must be critical of a

paradigm that seems triumphant or powerful. The glory and power of the structuralism-

positivistic paradigm by Habermas (in Wibowo, 2013: 23) is considered a dark period for

university intellectuals, especially because the theory is only considered as a fixation or a deep

feeling of reality. College intellectuals who are still shackled by the structuralist-positivistic

paradigm are referred by Habermas (in Wibowo, 2013: 24) with the term ‘mandarist’, namely

brands that use their expertise only to serve the status quo, or the term Foucault (in Wibowo,

2013: 24) referred to as people who are loyal to a regime of power.

Therefore, a deconstruction of literature learning is considered necessary. It is time for

literature education to be returned to its essence, i.e., to condition students to reach their

personality (Sayuti in Satato and Fanani, 2000: 60). Further, it is stated that “education as a

cultural process to achieve personality development also presupposes the existence of a mission

and vision as a subversive-force which functions to change and renew conditions as well as to

enlighten and liberate the people involved in it”. Sayuti further points out that “Education that

liberates means placing the students involved in it ... both in internal and external aspects.”





339

Students are expected to have an awareness of their own personality. They are expected to be

able to overcome the boundaries that constrain them. This means that students can stand alone

with their own ideas, without always depending on the strengths of others.

To lead to an era of education liberation, Sayuti (in Satato and Fanani (Eds, 2000: 61).

express it in the following fragment of poem:

Kita mesti berhenti membeli rumus-rumus asing.

Diktat-diktat hanya boleh memberi metode,

tetapi kita sendiri mesti merumuskan keadaan.

Kita mesti keluar ke jalan raya,

keluar ke desa-desa,

mencatat sendiri semua gejala,

dan menghayati persoalan yang nyata.

This fragment of poetry has a profound meaning. The message interpreted in the poem is

that the dependence on other people should be balanced with one’s own strength. In addition,

it is time to deconstruct the materials and methods/strategies of literature education towards an

independent and responsible encouragement of creativity

HIERARCHY OF HEGEMONY AND DECONSTRUCTION

IN LITERATURE EDUCATION

Based on the previous hegemony concept, the paper contends that the hegemonizing

elements in literature education are the direct superior, hierarchically starting from the Minister

of Education and Culture > Provincial Office > Regency/Municipal Office > Supervisor >

School Principal > Teachers > Students. The hierarchy is presented in the following figure:

Author’s elaboration of Suharsaputra (2016: 111)

From the chart above, it can be seen that hegemony and deconstruction can occur, either

horizontally, vertically, directly, indirectly, and in an inverted pyramid. In addition, those who

feel hegemonized are mostly teachers and students. Regardless of the students’ success or

failure in learning, the teacher is the target of anger from various parties, both from direct and

Educational

Management Indirect

Leadership

Provincial Office

of Education

Municipal/

Regency Office

of Education

Formal Education

Nonformal

Education

Formal Education

Primary Education

Secondary

Education

Higher Education

Indirect

Leadership

Indirect

Leadership

School

Principal

Teacher/

lecturer

Students

Supervisor

Direct

Leadership





340

indirect superiors. Nonetheless, if the students acquire success in learning, the parents are the

subject of appreciation, not the teacher.

This phenomenon is contrary to the vision, mission, and objectives of education that are

touted in every curriculum change. In every curriculum change, character education is always

emphasized (honest, fair, responsible, transparent, moral, ethical, and mutual respect).

Therefore, it indicates that the vision, mission, and objectives are still mere slogans and not

implemented.

Regarding the hegemony imposed towards the teachers in the 4.0 Industry era, the

teachers do not only receive hegemony from their direct supervisors but also students and even

parents of students (inverted pyramid). The form of hegemony experienced by the teacher is

not only limited to psychological form or discourse, but also in physical form. Several reports

on the news or social media have illustrated different forms of physical abuse to the teachers.

Students and parents scold, beat, and even murder the teacher, not to mention that the hegemony

that occurs between fellow students (brawl, murder, rape, robbery, etc.). This phenomenon

illustrates that the current 4.0 Industry era is brutal and alarming. The implementation of the

vision, mission and objectives of education fails to resolve such problems.

The current era was described by Hardiman (2007: 110) as the ‘crazy’ era. An individual

who lives in the present modern era upholds the attitude of freedom, as well as westernization,

secularization, de-territorialization, and rhetorialization. Such attitudes lead to uncontrolled and

chaotic behavior. The author wonders if the phenomenon will persist within the “Merdeka

Belajar” program aspired by the current Minister. Teachers seem to have no value in the

students’ eyes, the parents, or in the superiors. All the teachers’ conduct is deemed wrong

regardless of the context.

CONCLUSION

The study concludes that: 1) hegemony and deconstruction in literature learning are

acceptable (and in some cases, necessary) if they do not exceed the established norms; 2) the

forms of hegemony and deconstruction in literature learning can only be implemented within

the full consideration of physical/psychological situation of the objects of hegemony; 3) the

aspects as the object of hegemony and deconstruction in literature learning encompass all

components involved within literature education; and 4) the hierarchy of hegemony and

deconstruction in literature learning comes in different patterns (horizontal, vertical, star-

shaped pattern, wheel-shaped pattern, and inverted pyramid).

RECOMMENDATIONS

The paper proposes several recommendations: (1) educators require to understand the

nature of hegemony and deconstruction in literature education (teachers/lecturers); (2)

educators need to be responsive to the exertion of hegemony and deconstruction forms in

literature education; (3) the deconstruction process of the components of literature education

requires the full involvement of all parties, including students and parents; (4) the

deconstruction process of hegemony in literature education must place the teachers at the most

critical position. Educators should be the primary agents of change in deconstructing the

hegemony in literature education.

REFERENCES Abidin, Yunus. 2012. Pembelajaran Bahasa Berbasis Pendidikan Karakter. Bandung: PT Refika

Aditama

Anonim. (Tt). Eksistensialisme. (Online): http://staff.uny.ac.id/sites/default/files/Filsej%20-%20

Filsafat%20 Eksistensialisme.pdf. Diakses pada tanggal 9 Juni 2020.





341

Anonim. 2013. Kurikulum 2013 Indonesia VS Kurikulum Finlandia, https://www.kompasiana.com/

masykur_ideas/5519ae6ea33311111ab6598e/kurikulum-2013-indonesia-vs-kurikulum-finlandia,

19-6-2020

Barker, Chris. 2006. Cultural Studies eori & Praktik. Yogyakarta: Kreasi Wacana

Belav, Yosef. 2018. Kritik Epistemologi; Empirisisme dan Saintisme. (Online).

https://www.qureta.com/post/kritik-epistemologi-empirisisme-dan-saintisme. Diakses pada

tanggal 9 Juni 2020

Brown, Gillian dan Yule, George. 1993. Analisis Wacana. Terjemahan oleh I. Sutikno. 1996. Jakarta:

PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Danim, Sudarwan. 2010. Profesionalisasi dan Etika Profesi Guru (Cetakan Kesatu). Nadung: Alfabeta

Darma, Budi. Bahasa dan Budaya. 2007. Bahasa, sastra, dan Budi Darma: Kumpulan Tulisan Menandai

70 Tahun Prof Budi Darma, Ph.D. Surabaya: JP Books

Darma, Yoce Aliah. 2009. Analisis Wacana Kritis. Bandung: Yrama Widya

Elfindri, Lilik Hendrajaya, Muhammad Basri Wello, Hendmaidi, Elfa Eriyani, Ristawa Indra. 2012.

Pendidikan Karaktr: Kerangka Metode dan Aplikasi untuk Pendidik dan Profesional. Jakarta:

Baduose Media

Fahrudin, Imam. 2019. Arti kata eksploitasi, pengertian serta contohnya. (Online):

https://www.caraprofesor.com/pengertian-dan-arti-kata-eksploitasi/. Diakses pada tanggal 9 Juni

2020.

Halliday, M.A.K dan Hasan Ruqaiya. 1985. Bahasa, Konteks, dan Teks: Aspek-aspek Bahasa dalam

Pandangan Semiotik Sosial. Diterjehkan oleh Asrudin Barori Tou. 1992. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada

University Press

Hardiman, F. Budi. 2007. Melampaui Positvisme dan Modrnitas: Diskursus Filosofis tentang Metode

Ilmiah dan Problem Modernitas.Yogyakarta: Kasinus

Idi, Abdullah. 2007. Pengembangan Kurikulum: Teori & Praktik. Cetakan ke II. Jogjakarta: Ar-Ruzz

Media

Mahsun. 2014. Teks dalam Pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia Kurikulum 2013. Jakarta: PT RajaGrafindo

Persada

Mendikbud. 2020a. Luncurkan Empat Kebijakan Merdeka Belajar: KampusMerdeka.

Online).https://www.kemdikbud.go.id/main/blog/2020/01/mendikbud-luncurkan-empat-

kebijakan-merdeka-belajar-kampus-merdeka. Diakses, 11 Juni 2020

Mendikbud. 2020b. Mengenal Konsep Merdeka Belajar dan Guru Penggerak. (Online),

https://gtk.kemdikbud.go.id/read-news/mengenal-konsep-merdeka-belajar-dan-guru-penggerak.

Diakses 11 Juni 2020

Mulyasa, E. 2007. Menjadi Guru Profesional: Menciptakan Pembelaaran Kreatif dan Menyenangkan.

Bandung: PT Remajarosdakarya

Mulyasa, H.E. 2013. Pengembangan dan Implementasi Kurikulum 2013: Perubahan dan

Pengembangan Kurikulum 2013 Merupakan Persoalan Penting dan Gentng. Cetaan Ketiga.

Bandung: PT Remaja Rosdakarya

Norris, Cristopher. Tt. Membongkar Teori Dekonstruksi Jacques Derrida. Diterjemahkan oleh Inyiak

Ridwan Muzir. 2006. Cetakan Kedua. Jogjakarta: Ar-ruzz Media

orionbetelgeuze 2013. Sistem Pendidikan Di Australia (Online). https://konsultanpendidikan.

com/2013/01/09/sistem-pendidikan-di-australia/. Diakses, 19 Juni 2020

Palmer, Richard E. 1969. Hermeneutika: Teori Baru Mengenai Interpretasi. Diterjemahkan oleh Mansur

Hary & Damanhuri Muhammed. 2005 (Cetakan ke II). Yogyakarta: Pustaka Peelajar

Pradotokusumo, Sarjono Partini. 2005. Pengkajian Sastra. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Ratna, Nyoman Kutha. 2005. Sastra dan Cultural Studies: Representasi Fiksi dan Fakta. Yogyakarta:

Pustaka Pelajar

Ricoeur, Paul. 1981. Heremenutika Ilmu sosial. Terjemahan oleh Muhamad Syukri. 2006. Yogyakarta:

Kreasi Wacana

Saidi, Acep Iwan. 2006. Matinya Dunia Sastra: Biografi Pemikiran & Tatapan Terberai Karya sastra

Indonesia. Yogyakarta: Pilar Media

Satato, Soediro dan Fananie Zainuddin. 2000. Sastra: Ideologi, Politik, dan Kekuasaan. Surakarta:

Muhammadiyah University Press





342

Sukmadinata, Nana Syaodih. 2010. Pengembangan Kurikulum: Teori da Praktek. Cetakan keduabelas.

Bandung: PT Remajarosdakarya

Suharsaputra, Uhar. 2016. Kepemimpinan Inovasi Pendidikan: Mengembangkan Spirit

Interpreneurship Menunju Learning School. Bandung: PT Refika Aditama

Sumaryono, E. 2009. Hermenutik: Sebuah Metode Filsafat. Yogyakarta: Kasinus

Suroso dan Santoso Puji. 2009. Estetika Sastra, Sastrawan, dan Negara (Cetakan Pertama).

Yogyakarta: Paraton Publishing

Suwandi, Sarwidji. 2019. Pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia Era Industri 4.0. Bandung: PT Remaja

Rosdakarya

Taniredja, Tukiran, H. Pujo Sumedi, dan Muhammad Abduh. 2016. Guru yang Profesional. Bandung:

Alfabeta,

Titscher, Stefan dan Michael Mayer, Ruth Wodak, serta Eva Vetter. 2000. Metode Analisis Teks &

Wacana. Diterjemahkan oleh Abdul Syukur Ibrahim (Ed.). 2009. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar

Usman, Moh. Uzer. 2006. Menjadi Guru Profesinal (Cetakan keduapuluh). Bandung: PT

Remajarosdakarya

van Dijk, Teun Adrianus.1986. Text and Context: Explanation in the Semantics and Pragmatics of

Discourse. New York: Longman

van Dijk, Teun Adrainus. 2004. From Text Grammar to Critical Discourse Analysis A Brief Acadenic

Autobiography. Barcelona: Universitas Pompeu Fabra, (Online), (http://www.discoursees.org,

diakses 28 Juli 2009).

Wibowo, Waahyu. 2013. Menulis Artikel Ilmiah yang Komunikatif: Strategi Menembus Jurnal Akadeik

Bereputasi. Jakart: PT Bumi Aksara

Widyastono, Herry. 2014. Pengembangan Kurikulum di Era Otonomi Daeah: Dari Kurikulum 2004,

2006 ke Kurikulum 2013. Jakarta: PT Bumi Aksara

Wikipedia. (Tt). Fideisme. (Online). https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fideisme. Diakses pada tanggal 9 Juni

2020





343

CHARACTER EDUCATION

IN POST-WAR JAPANESE CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN THE 1960S PERIOD:

THE POLEMIC BETWEEN REALISM AND DIDACTICISM

Indah Fitriani

Lina Meilinawati

Amaliatun Saleha Universitas Padjadjaran


ABSTRACT

This research aims to find the elements of character education in post-war Japanese children’s

literature in the 1960s during the polemic between realism and didacticism. With the increasing

number of children’s literature written with the concept of realism, a question arises about how

didacticism is depicted in realism children’s literature? To be able to reveal this, the research

method used is a qualitative descriptive method in which interpretations and conclusions are

drawn and conveyed verbally. In addition, the theory used is narratology to determine the

narrative structure of the six short stories that are the object of research, with supporting theories

related to children’s literature, realism children’s literature, character education, didacticism

and morality. The results show that character education in post-war Japanese short stories in

the 1960s depicted in realist and fantasy nuances is still able to convey didactic values regarding

the concept of democracy, individualism and hard work. In addition, in the short stories of

Japanese children in the 1960s, there were also problems that were considered taboo, such as

problems with self and group identity, modernity, and changes in the family structure in Japan.

Keywords: character education, Japanese children’s literature, realism, didacticism, morals.

Keywords: Japanese children’s literature, realism, character education, didacticism,

morality

INTRODUCTION

Talking about character education, of course, many experts have talked about it. Character

education is often interpreted as education in values, morals, religion, and character. In other

words, character education is the process of humanizing humans by instilling good moral,

religious and character values in each individual. Many ways can be used as a medium to instill

character education for everyone, especially children, one of which is through the media of

literary works.

A teacher at an elementary school in Japan’s Tottori prefecture said that spelling (reading

books) is an expression of children’s cultural life and a place of creation for children themselves

(Shuto: 8). This of course also relates to the habits of parents who always tell their children.

Hunt (1996: 2) in her book reveals what Iona Opie said that the earliest encounters of children

with stories were in the words and songs of adults. The stories that were read to them became

part of their own memory. The book characters who appear in the story become their initial

drama as they anticipate their possible future. However, many people deny that they are

influenced by the reading of their childhood. Yet, these are probably the same people who

accept that childhood is an important phase in life and that children are vulnerable and should

be protected from manipulation.

The meaning of the word “manipulation” above is related to the various problems inherent

in the term “children’s literature” or what in Japanese is called “jidou bungaku”. The term

“jidou bungaku” does not only refer to children’s literature read by children, but refers to the

particularities of children’s literature read by children, but written, bought, sold, and evaluated

by adults. According to Torigoe Shin (in Choi, 2017), at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese





344

War in 1937, “children’s literature was renamed to minor folk literature (shōkokumin bungaku),

the concept of trends and standards of children’s literature under imperial rule aimed at to instill

nationalist, imperialist and militarist values. However, after Japan became a haisenkoku

(country that lost the war), children’s literature was changed to jidou bungaku which led to the

concepts of democracy and individualism. This condition is in accordance with what is

expressed by Kataoka (1979: 116) that the opinion of people about

“children are alive and active in literature” is not always true. The image of children in

literary works is not a reflection of children who lived then or now, but rather the ideal image

of children as thought by adults. Therefore, investigating children’s image changes in children’s

literary development does not mean knowing the actual changes in children. Rather, it asks how

adults of every age view each other, what they ask about their children, and what their status is.

In addition, to find out or approach children of every age and to some extent, can also go through

books that the reader (child) wants to read. From there, maybe we can find the real face of the

child that is different from the motto of the author. The point is that the image of children in

literature still talks about changes in adult consciousness and shows traces of adult “trial and

error” in children.

In that context, adults consciously construct a concept and a cultural environment that

targets children with the aim of developing children’s mentality. In childhood there is a culture

that is “more suitable”, and adults must develop a culture that is “better” in terms of material

and mental so that children grow in a “more desirable” direction (Shuto: 11). Thus, the position

of the writer (adult) in children’s literature should not be someone who indoctrinated children

with their experiences as a child, but someone who understands children’s culture in the current

context. However, it cannot be denied that children’s literary writing is inseparable from the

concept of what adults want to instill in children through literary works.

Furthermore, as Huthwaite explains about Zena Sutherland’s words in the book “Children

and Books” about children’s literature: “Realizing that children’s literature reflects and imparts

the values of the society in children has made more and more adults aware that children’s

literature is part of the mainstream of all literature, such as adult literature so that it deserves

respect both for what it is and for what it does “(Arbuthnot and Sutherland 1972 in Huthwaite,

1978). In addition, the importance of children’s literature as a reflection of society’s values is

also becoming increasingly recognized. Likewise, with Japanese children’s literature,

Huthwaite revealed that Japanese children’s literature for the period 1968-1972 was instilled in

Japanese values, known as “dotoku kyouiku” (moral education). But over time, the values

instilled in Japanese children’s literature also experienced a shift. According to Huthwaite, this

shift in value is a shift from blind loyalty and obedience to understanding rules and

responsibilities in a democratic society.

In this research, character education or values to be discussed in Japanese children’s

literary works is character education contained in several short stories from the 1960s, namely

Kiba o Nakusu to 『きばをなくすと』 (If You Lose the Fangs) (1960) by Tadashi Ozawa,

Chouchou Musubi 『ちょうちょむすび』 (Butterfly Knot) (1965) by Yoshitomo Imae, and

Obaasan no Hikouki 『おばあさんのひこうき』 (Grandma’s Plane) (1966) by Satoru Satou.

In addition, this research also touched on the short stories of Japanese children that appeared

before World War II, such as Aozora no Shita Harappa 『青空のした原っぱ』 (Field under

the Blue Sky) (1932) by Mimei Ogawa, Naita Aka Oni 『泣いたおに』 (Crying Red Demon)

(1933) by Hirosuke Hamada’s and Mahou 『魔法』 (Magic) (1935) by Shouji Tsubota. The

aim is to find out the didactic values reflected in that period so that they can be used as a

comparison in discussing children’s short stories of realism. The background to studying

children’s literature in the 1960s was the research conducted by Kataoka which showed that up

to the first half of the 20th century, Japanese children’s literature tended towards idealist





345

literature and pro-Japanese realism which depicted children with bright futures that grew out of

adversity. Meanwhile, children’s literature in the 1960s depicts the reality of losing a future that

should be shown to children, so that children are depicted as living without dreaming of the

future. From this picture of a child’s life without a future, what value in character education can

child readers take? Regarding this question, Nina Bawden, a children’s book writer, in her essay

raised two issues regarding realism (an accurate depiction of everyday life) and didacticism

(instruction for a specific purpose) (Grenby, 2008). Bawden insists that children’s books should

be judged on the pleasure they provide ‘for style and quality’, not on how well they serve

‘fractional and ideological interests’.

Against this background, the aim of this study is to find the concept of character education

implanted in Japanese children’s literary works in the 1960s in the midst of polemics of realism

and didacticism. On the “Japanese Children’s Literature” website (https://www.kodomo.go.jp/

jcl/section4/index.html), Japanese children’s literature was originally written on the idealistic

principle that children’s problems can always be solved by the power of children. But then the

trend toward realism deepened and returned to the premise that we don’t know whether children

will get over their problems or not. From this explanation, I assumed that the character

education that wanted to be implanted in both realism and idealistic children’s literature was

the same, namely “dotoku kyouiku” (moral education), but the concept of delivery was different.

RESEARCH METHOD

In this research, the method used is the qualitative descriptive method. The choice of this

method is due to the tendency of literary research to prioritize the presentation of the results in

the form of words rather than numbers. While the research technique used is a literature study

to find and collect data and theoretical studies related to the research theme.

As described above, in this study 6 short stories were analyzed which were divided into 2 periods, namely short stories published before World War II: Aozora no Shita Harappa

(1932), Mahou (1935), and Naita Aka Oni (1933) ) which is assumed to represent Japanese

children’s literature with idealism and short stories published after World War II: Kiba o

Nakusu to (1960), Chouchou Musubi (1965) by Yoshitomo Imae, and Obaasan no Hikouki

(1966)) which represent children’s literature of realism. Before entering into the discussion of

character education, the data object is first studied using the narratology approach of A.J.

Greimas to determine its narrative structure.

Algirdas Julien Griemas is the originator of the theory of narrative semiotics, which

continues the concept of Vladimir Propp. The concept put forward by Propp (1928) is a new

foundation from the forerunner of the Aristotelian school of thought, which claims that in order

to understand a character in a fictional text, one only needs to analyze its role in the action.

Then, Propp, in his innovative corpus study of Russian folk tales, analyzed a hundred Russian

fairy tales and arranged them into a sequence of 31 functions associated with seven areas of

action or character types: opponent; donor; helper; daughter and father (princess and her father);

dispatcher; hero; false hero. Greimas (1966) then generalized this approach with his model of

acting in which all narrative characters are regarded as expressions of the underlying narrative

grammar consisting of six actants who are sorted into pairs: the hero (subject) and his search

for the object; sender and receiver; opponents and helpers (Hunt, 2009: 20).

Bagan 1. The Actant Model of A.J Greimas (Greimas, 1972)





346

1. The arrow from the sender that points to the object means that from the sender there is a

desire to get the object.

2. The arrow from sender to the subject means that the sender sends a wish to the subject.

3. The arrow from the subject to the object indicates that there is a desire of the subject to

get the object based on the wishes of the sender.

4. The arrow from object to the receiver means that something the subject is looking for at

the sender’s wish is given to the receiver.

5. The arrow from helper to the subject means that the helper provides assistance to the

subject in carrying out the tasks assigned by the sender.

6. The arrow from the objector to the subject implies that the objector interferes, hinders

opposes and destroys the subject’s efforts.

According to Greimas in Martin through the journal Nandita Agita (2000: 20), an actant

is someone or something that completes or undergoes an act. Aktan can be a person,

anthropomorphic (personified actor), zoomorphic (in general, the term refers to something in

the form of an animal, but according to Greimas, the actor can be an animal form or something

else, especially a god or an existence that transcends humans), an object or an abstract existence.

One action can take on several roles.

By knowing the structure of the story/storyline, it is hoped that this can help in expressing

character education or ideology contained in children’s stories in the midst of the polemic

between idealism and realism. In order to express all that, the concept of children’s image in

children’s literature, realism, character education, didacticism and morality will also be

discussed. To arrive at the aim of this study, namely to find character education that is reflected

in Japanese children’s literature in the 1960s, we must first find out about how children’s images

are depicted in children’s literature. As Kataoka (1979) says, the picture of a child in children’s

literature does not describe a child who lives in the past or the present, but the image of the

ideal child that adults think of, and sometimes the image of an ideal human being. Therefore,

studying the transition of children’s images in children’s literary development does not mean

knowing the actual transition of children. Rather, it will look at how adults have viewed their

children in each era, what they asked for, and what their status was. We can also approach

children of every age to some extent through clothing, lifestyle, language, etc., or through the

main characters of books readers are happy to read. Thus, it can be said that what distinguishes

children’s literature from idealism, realism or fantasy is not the purpose of writing, but the

writer’s way of conveying useful values that can improve the morality of the reader.

Then, how does realism convey the writer’s message or idea in children’s literature?

According to Teru Yokotani (in Kataoka, 1979), what is called realism children’s literature is

a text that describes the process by which a child grows and develops, a process in which

children acquire reality including nature, society, and humans in the outside world. In other

words, it is a process of struggle in which internal reality changes as the awareness of the outside

world grows. In connection with this change, the concept of Japanese children’s literary

structure has changed since the 1960s. When society develops clearly and there is a bright future

in society itself, children’s literature easily illustrates the relationship between society and

children. However, when society is closed and it is impossible to dream of a bright future, no

matter how idealistic the realism in children’s literature is, if the society around children,

including adults, is dark and heavy, then children’s literary works depicting reality must change.

Adults can no longer promise their children a bright future. Children’s literature from the 1960s

to the 1970s did not depict children with bright futures, but children suffering alongside

humans. Children have become involved in the adult world in many ways. It can be said that

children’s literature speaks not only to children who are its readers but also to adults through

the appearance of children in the work.





347

Nina Bawden, in her essay, states that she regrets what shallow critics consider realism,

namely books designed primarily for adolescents who drag social problems to satisfy some

educational or social theory. For Nina Bawden, the most critical realism children need is the

emotional realism in which the book is set. Children’s books should be judged on the enjoyment

they provide for both style and quality, not how well they serve group ideology and interests.

Therefore, in his essay, Bawden raises two problems, namely, realism (an accurate depiction of

everyday life) and didacticism (instruction for a specific purpose). According to him, it is not a

problem if children’s literature tries to teach certain lessons in a context that readers will

recognize as their own. Or in other words, the author tries to combine didacticism and realism

(Grenby, 2008: 61).

Based on Bawden’s view above, it can be said that realism children’s literature writers

also have views or ideologies related to educational or moral values to improve the quality of

the reader’s character. As said by Sarland, the essence of every ideological consideration in the

concept of character education is the consideration of moral goals and didacticism (Hunt, 1996:

51). Speaking of morals, Bernard Gert said that he does not claim that everyone uses the exact

same system of morals or morality, but that he prefers to think of them as differences or

variations from one system. The essential feature of morality in all its variations is that the kinds

of behavior judge each person that morality prohibits, demands, hinder, encourages, and

permits. Or to put it another way, morality is an informal public system that applies to all

rational people, regulates behavior that affects others, and includes what is commonly known

as moral rules, ideals, and virtues and aims to reduce evil or harm as its goal. (Bernad Get,

2005: 14). This is of course in line with didacticism which is defined as an educational

philosophy. This characteristic seems to be often attached to children’s literature. According to

Juanita Feros Ruys (Ruys, 2008: 37-38), in the didactic literature of the medieval and early

modern period, the best and worst of human nature is found: the desire to teach and a real

concern for the moral and spiritual formation of the reader in one hand, while on the other:

intolerance, other fears and suspicions, racial and gender stereotypes, and the insistence that the

writer is correct and the reader must conform. A text can be considered didactic if it is created,

transmitted, or received as a text designed to teach, instruct, advise, build, instill morals, or

modify and regulate behavior (Ruys, 2008: 5).

Speaking of morals, Japanese national morality is a conception of people, goodness, and

the state developed in personalism. This personalism is also considered a form of philosophical

idealism that is centered on cultivating the moral personality of the individual. This shows that

national morality is not only a collection of statements about loyalty and patriotism but as a

kind of “dealism” (in the sense that it conceptualizes goodness in terms of the aspirations to be

pursued). This pursuit of moral ideals proves dangerous for a moral orientation that is contrary

to the nation’s morality because it approaches these ideals while simultaneously suppressing or

eradicating obstacles in the path of the mind. These barriers include anarchism, socialism,

individualism, and literary naturalism, which national morality scholars call “dangerous

thinking” (Reitan, 2009: 120-121). This is because for the Japanese philosophers of personalism

in the 1890s, a “person” is not only an individual but also social. Insofar as a person can

actualize their own unique potential and cultivate self-awareness of their sociality, then he is

considered to be aware of “goodness”. Self-kindness in this view, is the good of others. Then,

the state in personalist thinking is the space where “self-realization” occurs. This shows how

idealism is closely related to didacticism.





348


Story Structure of Aozora no Shita no Harrapa, Naita Aka Oni, Mahou, Kiba o Nakusu to,

Chouchou Musubi, and Obaasan no Hikouki Short stories

This section will discuss the structure of the short stories which are the object of research

using the acting schema model and the functional narrative scheme from narratology A.J.

Greimas. As explained in the Introduction, the polemic between realism and didacticism in

Japanese children’s literature certainly affects what message or value the author wants to

convey to readers, especially here children. For this reason, in order to find out the difference

in story structure, especially regarding the storyline of Japanese children’s literature that

contains elements of didacticism and realism, this model of acting schemes and functional

narrative schemes are used. By knowing the plot first, it is hoped that the concept of character

education contained in Japanese children’s literature with realism can be revealed. To be able

to find out the similarities and differences in the flow of the six short stories, the schematic

presentation of the six short stories is not made in diagrammatic form but table form as below.

Table 1. Actantial Model of Aozora no Shita no Harrapa, Naita Aka Oni, Mahou, Kiba o Nakusu to,

Chouchou Musubi, dan Obaasan no Hikouki Short Stories

No Title Short

Story Year Subject Object Sender Opponent Helper Recipient

1 Aozora no Shita no

Harrapa

(“Field

Under The Blue Sky”)

(1932)

1932 Shouchan (child

character)

Shouchan’s friendship

with

Hidekichi (a

used goods collector)

Oneesan (Shouchan

’s older

sister)

Oneesan, Tatsuo and

Tatsuo’s

mother

(person from a prominent

family)

Seinen (teenager)

and

Hidekichi

Oneesan admitted

Shouchan’s

friendship

with Hidekichi was

not wrong

2 Naita Aka

Oni

(“Crying

Red Demon”)

1933 Aka Oni

(Red

Demons)

The desire to

be friends

with humans

Aka Oni’s

good

qualities

since birth

Human

assumptions

about demons

who are generally evil

Ao Oni

(Blue

Demons)

Can be friends

with humans,

but can’t meet

again with Ao Oni

3 Mahou (Magic)

1935 Sanpei (child

character)

Believes in magic

Zenta’s character

(Sanpei’s

brother)

Zenta cannot prove to

Sanpei

The monk who wears

clothes of

the same

pattern and color

as the

butterfly’s

wings

Sanpei believes in the

lies of magic

performed by

Zenta

4 Kiba o

Nakusu to (If You

Lose

Fangs)

1960 Tora

Gorou (Tiger)

Finding the

missing fangs

Tora

Gorou’s mother

The difficulty

of finding

Niwatori

(chicken), Buta

(pig),

Hitsuji

(goat), and Kikori

(woodcutt

er)

Tora Gorou

finds fangs and is

recognized as

a tiger and

child by her mother again

the road eats

its helpers

5 Chouchou

Musubi

(Butterfly Knot)

1965 Pepone

(leopards)

The desire to

grow a

mustache

Pepone’s

parents

and the black

leopard

family

Pepone’s own

body

Pepone’s

parents

and Pepone

himself

Two long

mustaches

grow on the right and left

of his face

6 Obaasan

no Hikouki (Pesawat

Nenek)

1966 Obaasan

(Grandmother)

The decision

to live with Tatsuo’s

daughter

(grandson)

Tatsuo Skills and

hobbies in knitting

Obaasan

Butterfly

knitting oddities

and a

desire to

meet Tatsuo

Obaasan stops

knitting and lives with his

daughter and

grandson in

town





349

By looking at the schematic table of the actantial model, it can be seen that there are

differences in story structure between Japanese children’s short stories made before and after

World War II. First, the characters who are the subject of stories in pre-war Japanese short

stories represented by short stories Aozora no Shita no Harrapa, Naita Aka Oni, and Mahou are

human (children) and human-like (demons). In addition, the oni (demon) character depicted

also has similarities with humans who have a good side. The character of Aka Oni as a kind

person who wants to make friends with humans aims to be embedded in the thinking of Japanese

children that demons are not scary creatures and they live side by side with humans.

Whereas in the post-war Japanese short stories represented by short stories Kiba o Nakusu

to, Chouchou Musubi, and Obaasan no Hikouki using the subject of a character in the form of

a fable (animal), and only Obaasan no Hikouki short stories that use the subject of the character

is an old person. According to Nikolajeva (2016), when the text displays animals/toys/

machines, it is interpreted as representing children. Negotiations in human/animal or

human/machine hybrid bodies are ubiquitous in real life, but in fiction, they can be amplified;

and in children’s fiction, they can be used for didactic purposes, in a positive sense: to attract

the attention of a child reader. The purpose of a civilized animal presumably representing a

child is to leave the animal and become human.

Furthermore, through this actan scheme, it can also be seen that the conflict and the object

of achievement in the six Japanese children’s short stories above. The short stories Aozora no

Shita no Harappa, Naita Aka Oni and Mahou show the problems experienced by children

around friendship, fear of supernatural beings, and children’s forms of belief that are easily

fooled by people who are considered more mature. Even though these three short stories

describe a realist story, they still have an idealistic element. This is as said by Kataoka, that pre-

war children’s literature belongs to the idealist realism literature which still shows a bright

future. So it can be said that these three short stories are able to change the reality of the children

in the story towards an idealistic future.

Whereas in the short stories of Japanese children in the 1960s, namely the short stories of

Kiba o Nakusu to, Chouchou Musubi and Obaasan no Hikouki, the raised conflicts had started

to become complex due to the emergence of problems experienced by post-war Japanese

society. The realism element is evident, coupled with the social issues that are implicitly hidden

behind each text. The issue of self-recognition and the importance of group identity is very

pronounced in the short stories of Kiba o Nakusu to and Chouchou Musubi. The self-recognition

issue is wrapped in the form of a fantasy story shown by animal characters: Tarou Goro (a tiger)

who has lost his fangs and Pepone (a leopard) who has lost his mustache. Fangs and mustaches

can be considered symbols of group identity. The fangs are a sign that Tarou Goro belongs to

the tiger group, while the whiskers for Pepone are a sign that he belongs to the leopard group.

In addition, if it is related to what Nikolajeva (2016) said about animals that are interpreted as

representing children, fangs and mustaches are symbols of maturity.

The loss of fangs and mustache can be interpreted as an immature condition (still a child).

Understanding this realism-fantasy story is certainly not an easy matter for children. Similar to

the short story Obaasan no Hikouki, in this short story, there are issues that the writer wants to

convey, namely the issue of modernity and changes in family structure. Due to modernity, the

family form in Japan has also changed. When Japan started to rise from its economic downturn,

many young people decided to work in cities so that the nuclear family pattern in Japan changed

to a nuclear family pattern. Being away from children and unfamiliarity with city life is a

dilemma for parents whose children choose to live and earn income in big cities. However, this

big issue is sometimes hidden from the understanding of children who just think that this story

is a fantasy story about a grandmother who can make an airplane only from knitting. As

Nakagami said, Japanese children’s literature has a safety net in the form of cultural traditions





350

to limit ‘taboo’. Therefore, it is not easy for children to reveal what ideology the writer is

carrying in their reading books without the help of adults.

Character Education in Short Story Structure: Aozora no Shita no Harrapa, Naita Aka

Oni, Mahou, Kiba o Nakusu to, Chouchou Musubi, and Obaasan no Hikouki

Character education in the short story Aozora no Shita no Harappa, especially teaches

about not differentiating someone from their economic and social status. In this short story, the

realism of the children’s lives can be felt, when the narrator tells the work status of Shouchan’s

father (Shouji) and his friends as shown in the quotation below.

Hidekichi no ie wa, furudouguya de, otousan wa yahari, kuzuya desu. Shouji no

otousan wa zasshisha no kasha o shite imashita. Tatsuo no otousan wa, kaisha no

juuyaku de arimasu. Sannin no ie no seikatsu wa kou iu fuu ni chigatte imashita.

Soshite, ichiban yoku Tatsuo ga deki, Shouji wa chuu kurai de, Hidekichi wa

ichiban dekinakatta ga….

Hidekichi’s house was an antique shop, and his father was certainly a scavenger.

Shoji’s father is a magazine journalist. Tatsuo’s father is a company executive. This

is the difference in the home life of the three people. Then, Tatsuo was the most

affluent, Shoji was intermediate, and Hidekichi was the most disadvantaged ...

(Aozora no Shita no Harappa, 1986:54)

From the explanation above, it can be seen that Hidekichi is the most economically

disadvantaged person. Because of that, Hidekichi became the person most underestimated by

the Oneesan character and the Tatsuo family. Meanwhile, Tatsuo became a person who received

a lot of praise. However, actually Hidekichi is a person who deserves to be praised because he

is a devoted child and a hard worker helping his father’s work at the age of only 12 years. From

this, it can be drawn a lesson that good character education is not looking at people one eye,

because not necessarily people who look good are good in it, and vice versa.

Furthermore, from the short story Naita Aka Oni, character education that can be taken is

not to be afraid of unseen things, such as oni (demons). Because humans actually live side by

side with supernatural beings, so there is no need to be afraid. In addition, what can be learned

in this short story is not to always assume negative assumptions about someone whom we /

society consider bad, because, behind the badness, there is still good that we do not know about.

As depicted in the character of Aka Oni in the quote below.

“Watashi wa, oni ni umarete kita ga, oni domo no tame ni naru nara, dekiru dake

yoi koto bakari o shite mitai. Iya, sono ue ni, dekiru koto bakari nara, ningentachi

no nakama ni natte, nakayoku, kurai shite ikitai na.”

“I was born as a demon, but as much as possible I want to always do my best for

fellow demons. No, besides, if I could do it, I would like to be a human friend, and

do my best. “

(Naita Aka Oni, 1986:174)

As reflected in the quote, we as humans are expected to be of benefit not only to members

of one group but also to others outside our group. In addition, this short story teaches a

willingness to be willing to help fellow friends, as was done by Ao Oni to Aka Oni.





351

For character education contained in Mahou’s short stories, children are taught not to

always believe what other people say before they find out the truth. This is reflected in the

actions of the character Sanpei who tried to investigate the truth about his brother’s mahou

(magic).

Kore de Sanpei mo sukoshi fushigi ni natte kimashita. Hontou ni, kono ageha no

chou to, ima no bousan to, dokoka nita tokoro ga aru you desu. Soko de kite mimasu.

Because of that Sanpei also started to feel weird. True, as if there was something

similar between the butterfly and the monk. With that, I will try to ask.

(Mahou, 1986:115)

In the short story Kiba o Nakusu to, the concept of character education that is implanted

is about how we are taught to be people who can keep our mandate and not break promises. In

addition, it is also taught so that we don’t become greedy people. However, there is an issue

that is implicitly symbolized by Tora Gorou’s missing mustache, namely the issue of strength

and power. For tigers, whiskers are important things that can detect their prey so that if the

whiskers are gone, a harimasu will no longer have strength and power. It is the same with

humans, with the existence of power a person can do or get whatever he wants, and he can also

be recognized. This is as illustrated in the quote below.

“Anta, boku no migi no kiba ga doko ni aru ka, shiranai?”

“Aa, shitteru”

“Doko ni aru ka, oshiete kure”

“Demo, oshiete agetara, omae wa boku o, tabete shimau tsumori janai no kai?”

“Iya, boku wa, kiba o ippon nakushite shimatta kara, tabetakutemo, anta o

taberarein da. Saa, hayaku oshiete o kure yo”

“You, do you know where my right mustache is?”

“A, know”

“Where is it, tell me”

“But, if I tell you, won’t you eat me?”

“No, because if I lose my fangs, even if I want to eat, I can’t eat you. So, hurry up

and tell me. “

(Kiba o Nakusu to, 1987:78)

Furthermore, in the short story Chouchou Musubi, the character education that you want

to instill is about respect for parents. Pepone, who without arguing ate the mustache his father

brought him, shows that he is an obedient and devoted person. In addition, in this short story,

there is also character education regarding self-recognition. Whatever the shortcomings that

exist in us, we must still acknowledge and respect ourselves. In addition, this short story also

contains issues related to community stereotypes and gender issues. In this short story, Pepone

who is a leopard is not considered in the group because he does not have a mustache. Likewise,

in real society, a person will not be considered if he is different from others. Besides that, the

mustache is also a masculine symbol that a man must have. In Pepone, whether or not there is

a mustache, he still feels that he is a leopard. This is as illustrated in the quote below.





352

Hige nanka nakuttate, hyou wa hyou da mono! to omotte iru ni desu kara, heiki na

no desu.

Even though I don’t have a mustache, a tiger is still alive! Kara thought like that,

so I calmed down.

(Chouchou Musubi, 1987:13)

Finally, in Obaasan no Hikouki short story, we are reminded that family is the most

important thing above all else. Although Obaasan felt he could support himself with his knitting

skills. But after everything has been accomplished, the skills he possesses are meaningless

because there is something more than all of that, namely togetherness with family. In addition,

the moral message to be conveyed again is not to stop trying and working as long as we are

able to do so.

From the discussion of the six Japanese children’s short stories above, it can be said that

in the pre-war children’s short stories, the moral education of “dotoku kyoiku” is very visible

in the character of the characters. Character education is reflected in the three short stories,

namely about obedience, kindness to others, simplicity, courage, upholding justice, upholding

kinship, and being willing to sacrifice. It appears that the concept of ‘shokokumin bungaku’

(obedience to the emperor) was still thick in the pre-war children’s short stories of the 1930s.

Meanwhile, in the post-war children’s short stories of the 1960s, character education that is

reflected is attitudes that lead to the values of democracy and individualism, such as: placing

importance on group identity, being ambitious, respecting oneself, loving peace, persevering,

and working hard.

CONCLUSION

Based on the results of the discussion, character education that is reflected in realism short

stories in Japanese children’s literature in the 1960s shows the concept of individualism and

democracy. The concept of individualism appears in each character of the characters who are

depicted with an ambitious attitude, an attitude of escape to find their identity, and an attitude

of self-defense to survive on their own strength. Meanwhile, the democratic concept can be

seen from the character of the character who shows the attitude of freedom in choosing self-

identity. Like the description of children’s literary characters from the 1960s who are said to

have no bright future, the three children’s short stories from the 1960s studied also describe the

situation of losing the future seen from the figure of children who are morally lost due to their

actions being ignored by their parents. the figure of a child who lives with disabilities, and a

figure with an emptiness. Thus, it can be concluded that the didactic, moralistic nature of all

child fiction is a reflection of social and political situations. This means that morality and

didactic elements are not only found in children’s literature with idealistic concepts but also in

the concept of realism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Agati, Nandita. 2000. Jurnal. Struktur Naratif dalam Yodaka No Hoshi karya Miyazawa Kenji menurut

Teori Naratologi Greimas. Academia.edu

Choi, Hyoseak. 2017. Tesis: Losing the War, Winning the Pooh: Ishii Momoko and the Construction of

Contemporary Children’s Literature in Postwar Japan.

Gert, Benard. 2005. Morality: Its Natura and Justification. New York: Oxford University Press

Greimas, A.J. 1987. One Meaning Selected Writing in Semiotic Theory. Minneapolis: University of

Minnesota Press

Grenby, Matthew. 2008. Children’s Literature. Great Britain: Edinburgh University Press Ltd

Hunt, Peter. 1996. International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. London: Routledge.

Hunt, Peter. 2009. Handbook of Naratology. Germany: Walter de Gryuter





353

Jingu, Teruo. 2011. Nihon no Kodomo no Bunka – Kinou, Kyou, Sorekara - .Japan: Kokusai Kodomo

Toshokan Kouenkai Kiroku

Kataoka, Masaki. 1979. Gendai Riarizumu Jidou Bungaku no Jidouzou. Japan: The UOEH Association

of Health Sciences.

Motoko Fujishiro Huthwaite. 1978. Japanese Values: A Thematic Analysis of Contemporery Children’s

Literature (Japanese Journal o f Religious Studies)

Reitan, Richard M. 2009. Making a Moral Society: Ethics and The State in Meiji Japan. Japan

Ruys, Juanita Feros. (n.d). Introduction: Approaches to Didactic Literature —Meaning, Intent,

Audience, Social Effect

Shuto, Mikako. (n.d). “Jidou Bunka” “Kodomo Bunka” no Teigi o Megutte. Japan: Shira Ume Gakuen

Daigaku Kodomo Gakubujun Kyouju.

Suwondo, Tirto. 2011. Studi Sastra (Konsep Dasar Teori dan Penerapannya pada Karya Sastra.

Yogyakarta: Gama Media.

https://www.kodomo.go.jp/jcl/section4/index.html





354





355

LEARNING THROUGH GAME:

A WAY TO IMPROVE INDONESIAN LANGUAGE SKILLS

Lina Meilinawati Rahayu

Aquarini Priyatna

Baban Banita Faculty of Cultural Sciences



ABSTRACT

This study describes how game-based learning, using cards, can assist students in improving

their vocabulary skills. For this purpose, it applies two methods namely literature study and

field testing. Through a literature study, previous studies were mapped to match the position of

the current study. Meanwhile, field trials were carried out randomly at several high schools in

some cities around West Java Province, Indonesia. In this way thus, the research respondents

were high school students. They were given two tests, before and after applying the learning

method using KartuSa, especially those related to synonymous and anonymous words.

Statistically, the results of the study indicated that the scores obtained by the students exceeded

the baseline limit so that there is a significant correlation between verbal skills and students’

achievements. The higher the students’ verbal ability, the higher the learning ability attained,

and conversely, the lower the students’ verbal ability, the lower the learning achievement.

Keywords: Game Cards, Game-Based Learning (GBL), Learning Media, Vocabulary Skill,

Language Learning

INTRODUCTION

The benefits of learning while playing are to get rid of the seriousness hindered, relieve

stress in the learning environment, invite students to be fully involved in learning, improve the

learning process, build self-creativity, achieve goals in happiness, acquire the meaning of

learning through experience, and make students as subjects of learning. These are the rationale

that underlies this study. By referring to this rationale and the principles of games for learning,

the card games designed in this study are to some extent able to convey language knowledge

through vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms. Moreover, by applying these, the language

materials will be easy to learn and arouse participants’ interest in exploring more.

This study will explain whether game-based learning, using cards, can help students gain

knowledge about vocabulary improvement. Several game-based studies have shown that

participants demonstrated positive attitudes towards using games, especially educational cards

and felt that this approach contributes to their learning. Liu’s research (2013) shows that the

results of the pretest and post-test learning with card games significantly increase students’

scientific knowledge related to the learned subject. These results are consistent with the

previous studies regarding the use of digital games (Lin et al., 2013; Papastergiou, 2009; Siegler

& Ramani, 2008; Yien et al., 2011). In addition, the employment of card games to promote

game-based learning also intensifies learning motivation and learning effectiveness.

Reading discourse, whether reviewing news, literature, or other subjects, is the same as

reading a story. Therefore, the learning method used to understand discourse must be able to

reveal the interesting side of the discourse itself. Apart from applying an interesting technique,

mastery of the vocabulary is something that must be acquired. This is necessary so that today’s

readers, especially the millennial students, are familiar with the various discourses read. For

example, literary works, the works used in the study of literature usually have a long age gap

from today’s readers. This makes literature an ‘obsolete’ reading material that seems “too





356

serious”. Moreover, the introduction of literary figures and works tends to “intimidate” readers.

To get rid of this ‘scary perception’, a literary study can be started through things attracting the

attention of today’s readers, for example, through popular quotes matching the reader’s

interests.

The game design used in the present study refers to the five indexes proposed by Liu and

Lin (2009). Is the game information in line with the students’ understanding of a game and

whether it includes learning themes? Are the pictures available in the game connecting to the

learning theme and arousing students’ interest? Are the structures of the game simple and easy

to learn? Are the overall game contents interested, and including lots of pictures for the

presentation? Does the game provide instant feedback? By referring to these principles, it is

ensured that the card games designed in this study are able to convey information about

Indonesian literature that at the end will be easy and fun to learn as well as to arouse

participants’ interest in exploring the learned materials deeper.

The issues of selecting the right learning method seem to be experienced in almost all

disciplines. To some degree, this is indicated not by the flatness of the subject learned, but

mostly by the method employed. Following this, learning method problems are also common

problems faced. Chen et al. (2016), for instance, discussed the efforts to apply geology materials

in Role Play Games (RPG) for grade 10. The study emphasized the importance of understanding

the application of interesting game instruction patterns in learning. Such a method was

considered effective for increasing student interest in the subject being studied. Learning with

this method is called game-based learning (henceforward GBL). GBL is an increasingly popular

method. This can be seen from the studies investigating GBL in various subjects and different

types of games.

Besides Chen et al., there are also studies on the effectiveness of the GBL method in

learning at schools, such as Adani and Lutfi (2016), Allsop and Jessel (2015), Bahrami et al.

(2012), Bolstad (2018), Cózar-Gutiérrez and Sáez-López (2016), Hayat (2018), Kamnardsiri et

al. (2017), Lin et al. (2018), Liu and Chen (2013), Nurfauzi (2016), Putra et al. (2016), Rahman

and Tresnawati (2016), Vitianingsih (2016), and Yien et al. (2011). In general, these studies

demonstrated the same output that GBL is considered useful in enhancing student interest,

understanding, and grades in a series of learning processes. Based on the benefits obtained

through the GBL method, it can be concluded that the boundaries between playing and learning

are biased or even none, in the sense that they are difficult to separate. As explained by Chen

et al. through John’s (2016) survey, nearly half of the students examined (1,162 students)

separated learning and playing games. Therefore, learning traditionally becomes ineffective

since its appeal is less than playing games.

Hidayat (2018) compared traditional learning methods and GBL by identifying them as

pedagogy and andragogy. Pedagogy relates to learning to shape and develop students’ character

hence it is more suitable for children and teenagers. Hidayat argued that the concept of

andragogy learning is beneficial for those who have specific goals and interests. This needs to

be supported also by experiences close to them. Such a division of learning methods is similar

to categorizing education and game designs. Bolstad (2018) explains that the separation of the

two concepts makes learning and playing distantly. Students who enjoy playing games tend to

be “outsiders” compared to students who enjoy learning, and vice versa. In the andragogy

method, the boundaries of the two are no longer an issue as long as connected by the same

purpose.

So far, the GBL method is differently termed by researchers. Egger (2011) calls it serious

game-based, Putra et al. (2016) and Dwiyono (2017) define it as an educational game, while

Hidayat (2018) borrows the term academic games. In his writing, Egger (2011) does not overtly

mention that it is a serious game-base, but he states that playing games without a purpose is a

useless activity. From this, it can be inferred that the method of playing is learning must have





357

clear objectives. Hidayat (2018) also claims that the serious game term is equivalent to

academic games. This designation is used to distinguish it from entertaining games. Bressling

and Wankel cited in Hidayat (2018) suggest that the concept of academic games known since

1992. Therefore, the naming of terms, such as serious games and educational games, stems

from this concept. Broadly speaking, these terms are used to distinguish games for entertaining

and learning.

Additional games developed to assist the GBL method are very diverse. Liu and Chen

(2013), Bahrami et al. (2012), Kusuma and Irawati (2012), and Nurfauzi (2016) believe that

the implementation of GBL needs to balance the concept of fun with face-to-face interactions

among students. However, later, researchers emphasized the importance of using technology to

support GBL, for example, Chen et al. (2016), Kamnardsri et al. (2017), Lin et al. (2018), and

Bolstad (2018). Even so, the shift in the trend of GBL in the digital world cannot be generalized.

Learning through non-digital games is still very popular in Japan, for example, learning to use

Karuta. Novita (2019) and Angeline (2018) have reported that the popularity of Karuta as a

language and literature learning tool in Japan is increasing. In fact, its popularity has influenced

several GBL methods, in language learning (Taynton & Yamada, 2011; Hidayatullah, 2015;

Afifah, 2018) and history (Hasanah, 2015). The diversities of media supporting GBL

demonstrate the differences in backgrounds and research objectives. However, both of them

still show effective ways to improve student learning in schools.

The Karuta learning models have been discussed in several studies. They are explored

with a different focus of learning subjects, but with a similar goal that is to provide a better

understanding and more effective way. Karuta is a traditional Japanese card game. In Japan, it

has experienced a shift in the target. Angeline (2018) and Mila (2019) reveal that karuta, which

was initially only played by aristocrats, can now be played by various groups. Its function has

begun to transform from matching poetry to a medium for language learning to children. This

transformation may also inspire the development of a learning model through the use of it.

Taynton and Yamada (n.d) apply to learn patterns through Karuta to improve the English

proficiency of senior high school and university students in Japan. By applying the patterns of

“listening” and “reading” on the contents of cards, students are expected to be more fluent in

English in these two aspects. Most of the students agreed with the learning effectiveness,

although there were still some challenges in practicing free-topic speaking. Hidayatullah (2015)

also shows the effectiveness of using cards with the Karuta game pattern in learning kanji at

universities. By deploying this method, it appears that there is an increase in students’ scores in

reading kanji. The utilization of the remembering pair method of Karuta cards has proven to be

effective in learning due to its usefulness in increasing memorizing skills.

Two other studies that also discuss the application of learning patterns with Karuta are

the studies of Hasanah (2015) and Afifah (2018). Both studies demonstrate how students learn

through card games. However, the subject to emphasize is different. Hasanah examined this

method’s application in learning history, especially the Islamic kingdom in Indonesia, for fifth-

grade elementary school students. Whereas, Afifah (2018) uses the card game method for

learning Japanese in high school. Both studies show positive results in the application of these

learning methods. Therefore, in this context, Karuta is considered capable of increasing student

interest in learning and producing better grades. From the four studies done on Karuta, it can

be concluded, moreover, that Karuta has been proven to be effective in increasing students’

mastery of the material learned.

METHODS

The method applied in the present research was literature study and field testing. The

literature study was carried out on previous studies focusing on game-based learning and

Karuta. Through it, the previous studies were described in order to map the position of this





358

research. After the proposal was drafted, field data collection was performed to classify the

research objectives. The research targets were high school students in several cities in West

Java Province, Indonesia. School selection done randomly by considering the distance among

schools. Each school used as a research site was not close to each other so that it could yield

data more widely distributed. Each school prepared its students to follow tests. The test was

taken twice, namely before and after the application of the learning method using KartuSa. Prior

to the socialization of KartuSa, the students would be given a test of mastery of Indonesian

literature in the form of characters, works, and their important periods in literature. After the

test, the answer sheets were assessed by experts, and after that, the students would be given

socialization about KartuSa and would practice utilizing it for several meetings based on

material distribution. In the final stage of the field test, they would be given another test on

Indonesian literature material. From the two test results, before and after the application of the

KartuSa, it would be formulated the significances of the KartuSa for literature learning in

schools.

After gaining the field test results, the report on KartuSa would be reformulated based on

the real data in the field. Then, the draft report was presented at the research results seminar for

getting input. Suggestions received in the seminar would be fully considered as the topic and

materials for the final report. As for the outputs resulting from literature studies and field tests

on KartuSa would be written into an academic article published in national and international

journal, published in book form, and presented at national and international seminars. As a

long-term result, research on learning literature using KartuSa might continue to be applied in

schools. This KartuSa game could also be applied for a long time if it was developed based on

the needs and conditions of the era.


Attitudes towards Indonesian Language Lessons

Below shown the results of the analysis of students’ attitudes towards Indonesian lessons

before the application of game cards. Prior to the research, a preliminary survey was conducted

to determine their attitudes toward learning Indonesian. Questions were distributed through an

online questionnaire to 100 high school students. The following figure describes the results

obtained.

Figure 1. Students’ Attitudes/ Views on Indonesian Language Lessons

The initial survey indicated that, in general, the students considered the Indonesian

language lesson easy because it is a colloquial language known since childhood and learned

from school. However, according to their confession, it was not easy since the language learned

was different from the language used in everyday life.





359

When asked what difficult materials reside in Indonesian lessons, the common answer is

understanding text and literature.

Figure 2. shows that in general students have difficulty understanding texts and literature

The reasons given by the students were generally the same that the reading text was long

so it was boring to read. In addition, it is difficult to grasp the meaning or essence of the text.

Difficulties with literary material are commonly caused by a lack of interest in reading about

literature. According to some students’ confessions, this was also caused by the teacher who

did not teach and introduce more and deeper literary works. Even if introduced, only

mainstream works that have been known or popularized so far. Thus, the desire to explore

literature further becomes non-existent. The students’ reasons can be seen from the figure

below.

Figure 3. The Reasons Why The Students Do Not Like Literary Materials

When asked what type of learning techniques suitable for Indonesian language teaching

expected, their answers are serious but relaxed learning. Further, they clarified that it should be

felt like playing but fruitful. Their answers are shown in the figure below.

Figure 4. Learning Techniques Expected by The Students





360

From the results of the preliminary analysis, it was found that the students preferred GBL

for the reasons that, in general, it was not boring and tended as if they were not learning. This

is in line with several research findings describing the benefits of GBL. Some of the benefits of

learning while playing are removing the seriousness that hinders, relieving stress in the learning

environment, inviting students to be fully involved in learning, improving the learning process,

building self-creativity, achieving goals in happiness, achieving the meaning of learning

through experience, and focusing students as subjects of learning. Based on the results of the

initial survey above, the cards were made.

Enhancing Verbal Ability through Synonym-Antonym Card Games

Humans have various types of intelligence including numerical, musical, spatial,

emotional, verbal, and kinaesthetic intelligence. However, if compared, humans mostly rely on

verbal intelligence. A person is said to have language skills if he/she has mastered verbal

abilities or talents. This capacity can be seen through tests that accompany basic verbal aptitude

tests in a number of fields of study, including synonyms, antonyms, analogies, different words,

and verbal comprehension. The verbal test serves to measure a person’s ability in the word and

language fields. Vocabulary tests or tests of understanding the reading passages are the best

indicators to determine the linguistic talents of a student. Based on this study, using statistical

methods, if the scores obtained exceeded the significant limit, it can be inferred that there was

a significant relationship between verbal skills and student achievement. The higher the

students’ verbal skills, the higher the learning ability they obtained, and conversely, the lower

the students’ verbal skills, the lower their learning achievement.

In the initial stage, a game card containing synonyms and antonyms for the purposes

described above is made. Its manufacturing stage was based on the study of academic potential

tests which were usually carried out in psychological tests. In addition, it also adopted civil

servant test questions available on the market. From those sources, it was taken the words that

frequently asked. There were 575 synonyms and 250 antonyms collected from various collected

test question types. The consideration of the words selected was based on the representation of

the alphabet and the most frequently appeared words.

Cards are made like playing cards, for instance, rummy. Two sets of cards are made,

namely synonyms and antonyms. These cards consist of four sets of 13 cards each. Each card

contains a number and a marker symbol. On the card, a synonym is written as knowledge of the

same vocabulary pairs in Indonesian. This card can be played by 2-6 players, like playing

rummy. Each player can hold 4-6 cards. The remaining cards are referred to as the stock. The

players sit in a circle and put the stock in the middle, one card in the stack is opened. The player

who gets the first chance matches one card held with the card opened, whether it matches

numerically, symbolically, or both. The other players do the same, so on, until the cards run

out. If the player does not have a matching card, then he/she will take a card from the stock

until he/she gets the one match. The winner of this game is the first player who can discard his/

her cards entirely. By using the synonym KartuSa game, it aims to increase knowledge of

synonyms in Indonesian. Likewise, the antonym card is not much different from the method of

playing as alluded. Following is the design of synonym and antonym cards used in this study.





361

Figure 5. The Examples of An Antonym Card Design (Front and Back)

Figure 6. The Examples of A Synonym Card Design (Front and Back)

In designing cards, try to be as close as possible to the age and characteristics of the

students. The picture is chosen with a cartoon image to reduce the seriousness. Meanwhile,

pastel colors are elected to add a shady effect when playing.

As suggested by Liu and Lin (2009) that five indexes must be fulfilled, namely: (1) is the

game information in accordance with the description of the game from students, and is the game

a learning theme? This first index has been answered well in that the game designed is part of

Indonesian language learning aiming to increase verbal skills that will support other lessons.

(2) Are the pictures in the game related to the learning theme and at the same time arousing

students’ interest? As explained that the image selection is not taken seriously, proven by a

cartoon image used and this to some extent, is quite familiar with the world of children or

teenagers. (3) Is the structure of the game simple and easy to learn? Yes, this lesson game is

easy and simple to implement since it adapts a playing game familiar to everyone. As the

consequence, it is not difficult to follow, proven by almost all of the students who have already

known how to play and operate it. (4) Is the overall content of the game interesting and

embracing lots of pictures for the presentation? This question is the most relative to answer, but

the design is made more attractive and colourful than playing cards. If most playing cards are

generally without pictures, the present lesson game contains various pictures. For example, a

synonym card with a twin icon and an antonym card with a boy and girl icon. Likewise, symbols

such as kings, queens and others were reinterpreted. (5) Does the game provide instant

feedback? The results showed that, after playing, the students are able to remember the

vocabulary lessons played in the game and can answer the questions related to it perfectly.

Therefore, it yields a significant result for the learning of synonym and antonyms.

In addition, the research was conducted by asking the words used on the cards first. This

was done to find out the extent of their knowledge of these words. From this question and

answer, it can be concluded that there are still many students who did not know the synonym

or antonym. This indicated that their mastery of vocabulary was not very good. Then, they were

asked to play the game card. The game was fun because they didn’t feel that what they were





362

doing was learning. After finishing playing, they were asked again for the words previously

inquired. In general, they were able to answer quickly and correctly. Moreover, they could apply

the learned words in sentences.

The experiments in this study revealed that synonyms can facilitate word learning by

reducing cognitive demands in that the meanings of words are somewhat the same in

synonymous pairs. Thus, practitioners in the field of language teaching can group and teach

words with the same meaning for better understanding and fast learning. If the focus of attention

is shifted to the semantic learning phase, synonymous pairs will be more successful in providing

learning for students. Teaching synonyms and antonyms can affect the learner’s long-term

memory for words and consolidate the experience of learning words in foreign languages. This

study also states that applying words that have related meanings such as lexical collections,

synonyms, antonyms, and so on, will be beneficial since it allows students to see differences in

words, thus advancing better knowledge of new things.

Learning vocabulary is a key element in learning any language. Synonyms, homonyms,

and antonyms as the key to the language learning process develop a richer vocabulary. During

learning, students do not only enrich their vocabulary, but they also make synonym, homonym,

and antonym abilities help them understand how to connect words with semantic fields.

Moreover, the recognition and use of the synonymous, homonymous, and antonymous words

are considered to be one of the successful characteristics as well as indicating the level of

knowledge of the most proficient learner while learning a language.

Antonym plays an important role in several fields of study, such as linguistics,

psychology, literature or psycholinguistics, and language acquisition in children. In linguistic

studies, antonym suggests the ability to explain the meaning of words with an analogue or

bilingual dictionary; hence the contribution of antonym in the field of lexicography is very

significant. In the psychological field, antonym can be linked with word association studies in

detecting the human mind when functioning to oppose something. In literature, opposites are

analysed as characteristic of dramatic prose. In addition, the antonym is essential in the

language acquisition process. In this incident, the facts suggest that the antonym is stored from

an early age which tends to lead the concept of opposition by teaching the antonym pairs. It is

also important to underline the fact that antonym is part of everyday communication.

CONCLUSION

This study has demonstrated that using a card game technique can significantly improve

the students’ learning outcomes. In this study, the learning materials are in the form of

synonyms and antonyms, especially related to the aspects of students’ accuracy in determining

synonymous and anonymous words. Through the language game method, student activities

during learning have increased enormously. This study states that the increase is obtained based

on observations made during the learning process. Based on the results of observations, student

activity has increased from the pre-cycle when students find it difficult to use synonym and

antonym materials. By using the language game method, the students’ ability to determine

synonymous and antonymous words correctly and aptly rises after tested in the post-cycle.

Based on this study, the value obtained by the students exceeds the baseline limit, so that there

is a significant relationship between verbal ability and student learning achievement. The higher

the students’ verbal skills, the higher the learning ability they get, and conversely, the lower the

students’ verbal skills, the lower their learning achievement.





363

REFERENCE

Adani, Tarisa dan Achmad Lutfi. (2016). “Pengembangan Media Permainan Chem-Run pada Materi

Pokok Struktur Atom untuk SMA Kelas X”. UNESA Journal of Chemical Education, 5 (3), hlm.

358-367.

Afifah, Siti Nur. (2018). “Pengaruh Penggunaan Media Permainan Dokoni Karuta terhadap Penguasaan

Kosakata Bahasa Jepang Bab 6 Buku ‘Nihongo Kirakira’ Siswa Kelas X SMAN 1 Puri Mojokerto

Tahun Ajaran 2017/2018”. Hikari: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Jepang, Vol. 6 (1), hlm. 1-9. Diakses

dari https://jurnalmahasiswa.unesa.ac.id/index.php/kejepangan-unesa/article/view/25980.

Allsop, Yasemin dan John Jessel. (2015). “Teachers’ Experience and Reflections on Game-Based

Learning in the Primary Classroom: Views from England and Italy”. International Journal of

Game-Based Learning, 5 (1), hlm. 1-17.

Angeline, Violina. (2018). “Mengenal Karuta, Permainan Kartu Bergambar di Jepang untuk Mengenal

Aksara dan Sastra Klasik Negeri Sakura”. Grid (daring). Diakses dari

https://www.grid.id/read/04199085/mengenal-karuta-permainan-kartu-bergambar-di-jepang-

untuk-mengenal-aksara-dan-sastra-klasik-negeri-sakura?page=all

Bahrami, Farid, et. al. (2012). “A Comparison of The Effectiveness of Game-Based And Traditional

Teaching on Learning and Retention of First Grade Math Concepts”. European Journal of

Experimental Biology, 2 (6), hlm. 2099-2102.

Bolstad, Rachel. (2018). “Researching Game-Based Learning Practices in Aotearoa New Zealand”. Set:

Research Information for Teachers 2018, No. 3. Diakses dari https://doi.org/10.18296/set.0112.

Chen, Chia-Li Debra, et. al. (2016). “The Effects of Game-Based Learning and Anticipation of a Test

on the Learning Outcomes of 10th Grade Geology Students”. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics,

Science & Technology Education, 12 (5), hlm. 1379-1388. Doi: 10.12973/eurasia.2016.1519a.

Cózar-Gutiérrez, Ramón dan José Manuel Sáez-López. (2016). “Game-Based Learning and

Gamification in Initial Teacher Training in the Social Sciences: An Experiment with

MinecraftEdu”. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 13 (1), hlm.

1-11.

Dwiyono. (2017). “Pengembangan Game Edukasi sebagai Media Pembelajaran Interaktif pada

Kompetensi Dasar Mendeskripsikan Penggunaan Peralatan Tangan (Hand Tools) dan Peralatan

Bertenaga (Power Tools)”. Program Studi Pendidikan Teknik Mekatronika, 7 (4), hlm. 343-351.

Hasanah, Rizki Nur. (2015). “Pengembangan Media Karuta untuk Materi Kerajaan Islam di Indonesia

Kelas V di Gugus II Kecamatan Pengasih Kabupaten Kulon Progo”. Skripsi, Universitas Negeri

Yogyakarta. Diakses dari https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33534147.pdf.

Hidayat, Rahmat. (2018). “Game-Based Learning: Academic Games sebagai Metode Penunjang

Pembelajaran Kewirusahaan”. Buletin Psikologi, 26 (2), hlm. 71 – 85. Doi:

10.22146/buletinpsikologi.30988

Hidayatullah, Taufik. (2015). “Efektivitas Penggunaan Media Kartu Karuta dalam Pembelajaran Kanji

(Penelitian pada Mahasiswa Departemen Pendidikan Bahasa Jepang UPI Angkatan 2012). Skripsi,

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. Diakses dari http://repository.upi.edu/21166/2/S_JEP_

0807377_Abstract.pdf.

Kamnardsiri, Teerawat et. al. (2017). “The Effectiveness of the Game-Based Learning System for the

Improvement of American Sign Language using Kinect”. The Electronic Journal of e-Learning 15

(4), hlm. 283-296. Diakses dari www.ejel.org.

Kusuma, Ade Irma dan Santi Irawati (2012). “Pengembangan Media Pembelajaran melalui Permainan

“Hunting Treasure” pada Materi Himpunan untuk Siswa Kelas Bilingual VII-A di SMP Negeri 16

Malang”. Jurnal Online Pendidikan Matematika Universitas Negeri Malang.

Lin, Debbita Tan Ai, et. al. (2018). “Kahoot! It: Gamification in Higher Education”. Pertanika J. Soc.

Sci. & Hum., 26 (1), hlm. 565 – 582.

Liu, Eric Zhi Feng dan Po-Kuang Chen. (2013). “The Effect of Game-Based Learning on Students’

Learning Performance in Science Learning – A Case of ‘Conveyance Go’”. Procedia - Social and

Behavioral Sciences, 103, hlm. 1044 – 1051.

Novita, Mila (Ed.). (2019). “Permainan Tradisional Karuta di Pekan Budaya Jepang, Seperti Apa?”.

Tempo (daring). Diakses dari https://gaya.tempo.co/read/1173870/permainan-tradisional-karuta-

di-pekan-budaya-jepang-seperti-apa.

http://www.ejel.org/





364

Nurfauzi, Rena Rizki. (2016). “Penggunaan Media Permainan Kartu Bingo dalam Pembelajaran

Mufradat (Studi Eksperimen di Kelas VII MTs Hasyim Asy’ari Piyungan Bantul Yogyakarta)

Tahun Ajaran 2015/2016”. Skripsi. Universitas Islam Negeri Kalijaga, Yogyakarta.

Putra, Dian Wahyu, et. al. (2016). “Game Edukasi Berbasis Android sebagai Media Pembelajaran untuk

Anak Usia Dini”. JIMP - Jurnal Informatika Merdeka Pasuruan, 1 (1), hlm. 46-58.

Rahman, Ridwan Arif dan Dewi Tresnawati. (2016). “Pengembangan Game Edukasi Pengenalan Nama

Hewan dan Habitatnya dalam 3 Bahasa sebagai Media Pembelajaran Berbasis Multimedia”. Jurnal

Algoritma Sekolah Tinggi Teknologi Garut, 13 (1), hlm. 184-190.

Taynton, Keith & Masako Yamada. (2011). “Using a Japanese Card Game Karuta to Enhance Listening

and Speaking Skills in Japanese Learners of English”. Diakses dari

https://www.academia.edu/1117762/Using_a_Japanese_Card_Game_Karuta_to_Enhance_Listeni

ng_and_Speaking_Skills_in_Japanese_Learners_of_English

Vitianingsih, Anik Vega. (2016). “Game Edukasi sebagai Media Pembelajaran Pendidikan Anak Usia

Dini”. Jurnal Inform, 1 (1), hlm. 2502-3470.

Yien, Jui-Mei, et. al. (2011). “A Game-Based Learning Approach to Improving Students’ Learning

Achievements in a Nutrition Course”. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational

Technology, 10 (2), hlm. 1-10.





365

TEACHERS’ ABILITY TO CAPTURE THE CHARACTERS CONTENT

IN BASIC COMPETENCIES RELATED

TO LITERATURE APPRECIATION LEARNING MATERIALS

Lis Setiawati

Universitas Terbuka


ABSTRACT

Education is an effort to change the attitudes and behavior of a person or group of people into

a more mature personality or better. The definition will not mean anything without the real

effort of a teacher in the implementation of true learning. In fact, there are still many students

who cannot control their emotions, do not know what is good and what is bad. Indonesian

Language Subject is a subject that is able to create a positive character for students. Literary

works are the right media for these efforts. In Indonesian online dictionaries, literature is freely

interpreted as a literary work that contains a description of the life that is compiled by using

beautiful language (style of language). Based on the background of the problem of improving

the good character of students through the values contained in the literature, the research is

conducted with the aim of knowing how are the responses of Indonesian Subject teachers about

literary works as a medium for character education for students: (1) whether the teacher is able

to capture the character content contained in basic competencies,(2) how much the teacher is

aware of the character content in literary works, and (3) what kind of literary works that the

teacher chooses in instilling student character education. This research is a study that combines

qualitative and quantitative analyzed in a simple way. The research sample was Indonesian

Language Subject teachers who were completing their studies at the Open University

implementing a distance learning system. This research is beneficial for education in improving

students’ character through literary appreciation learning.

Keywords: professional teachers, curriculum, character education, literary works

PRELIMINARY

Education is an effort to change the attitudes and behavior of a person or group into adults

(being mature) or better than before. In the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 20 of

2003 concerning National Education System Article 1 paragraph 1 that; Education is a

conscious and planned effort to create an atmosphere of learning and learning process so that

students actively develop their potential to have spiritual strength, self-control, personality,

intelligence, noble character, and the skills needed by themselves, society, nation and country.

The clause (in bold) is very clear that there contained the process of character development

(positive) in students in learning (education).

The national education objectives stated in law number 20 of 2003 were not implemented

properly. This can be seen through many inappropriate events carried out by students such as

brawls between groups of students, his classmates or juniors, even until the killing of minors

(fewer than 17 years). Based on this fact, during his tenure as Minister of Education Muhamad

Nuh, promoting the application of character education in learning (curriculum). Until now the

promotion of character education has been going on for more than 10 years, but the bad

behaviors of some students still occur. This fact raises the question, “What is wrong with the

application of character education in schools?” Based on the background of the problem, this

research is conducted to find answers to the question.

Professional teachers should be able to carry out learning well so that the goal that was

set up can be achieved. Darmadi (2019) argues that professional teachers are all people who

have the authority and responsibility for the education of students, either individually or in





366

groups. It can be concluded that a teacher is said to be professional if he knows everything

related to teacher problems and teaching material and is able to apply his knowledge well in his

assignments. From this definition comes the suspicion that there are some problems in

implementing character education. These problems are related to teacher professionalism which

includes teacher mastery of competencies of the subject curriculum and teacher mastery of

subject matter. Mastery of subject matter includes an understanding of the whole material and

the ability to choose or determine the right material / in accordance with the learning objectives

contained in basic competencies of the subjects.

Based on the background of the problem the purpose of this study is to find out and

describe: (1) how the teacher’s ability to capture the character content contained in the basic

competencies of Indonesian subjects in the curriculum, (2) how high the teacher’s knowledge

about the existence of the character content in literary works, and (3) how the ability of teachers

to choose literary works containing character education to be instilled in students. This research

is expected to be useful for Indonesian language teachers especially in preparing the design of

learning implementation. With a good learning implementation plan, it is hoped that learning

objectives that lead to the (positive) character of students are achieved well. Good learning and

education outcomes are a nation’s generation of good quality and good character in accordance

with the objectives of national education in the education law. This research is expected to be

useful for teachers, especially professional Indonesian subject teachers who are able to

implement character education in the classroom. So that the national education goals listed in

the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education

System are well realized.

RESEARCH METHODS

This research is a small study because it was carried out in a short time (1 semester). This

time limitation relates to the existence of respondents who carry out learning through the

distance learning system (online tutorial). Lecturers never meet students, so the tutorial period

is the only chance for lecturers to communicate with students. Tutorials that are followed by

students/respondents are literature courses (poetry and fiction or prose).

Basically this research is a qualitative study but the data collected is analyzed

quantitatively. Thus, this type of research is quantitative-qualitative mixed research. The

research instrument was in the form of a list of questions related to:

1. The respondent’s mastery of the curriculum content of Indonesian subjects;

2. Teacher’s understanding of the character content contained in literary works; and

3. The ability of teachers to choose/determine the material of literary works that contain

character education and is appropriate for their students.

The following questions are data collection tools to determine the insights and abilities of

teachers in implementing character education through material or media in the form of literary

works.

No. Question

1 Did you make a lesson plan before teaching?

2 Do you understand the achievements stated in the curriculum?

3 Is there a connection between literary works and character education?

4 In what class and competency number does the character implicitly load?

5 What criteria do you use in choosing literary works that contain character education?

6 What is the attitude/response of students in studying literature?

These questions can be explained as follows.

1. The first question is a key question. If the respondents who work as teachers do not make

plans in teaching, we can be sure the learning process is not going well. If the





367

implementation of learning does not take place well, there is no hope of the process and

learning outcomes will be good. Therefore, this question does not need to be continued.

2. The second question is a reinforcement question. If in question 1 the respondent answers

yes (makes the lesson plan) then the answer to the second question is yes because to be

able to compile/make the lesson plan must refer to the curriculum that is determining the

competency to be developed into the lesson plan. From this question, it will be known

whether the respondent mastered competencies, both core competencies and basic

competencies in the subject curriculum.

3. The third question aims to find out whether the respondent understands the characters

contained in literary works. If the respondent does not know this, the respondent will

never be able to use literary works as material or instructional media that character-based.

4. The fourth question, cones on respondents’ knowledge/understanding of the content of

character education contained in the curriculum, in this case, the character content

contained in the core competencies and basic competencies of Indonesian Language

Subjects. If the respondent’s answer is incorrect then answers number 1 and 2 are

doubtful.

5. The fifth question, about the ability of respondents to choose literary works that will be

presented in class according to predetermined competencies. If this answer is incorrect

then answers 1, 2, 3, and 4 are doubtful.

6. The sixth question aims to find out whether students respond well or are motivated by the

learning presented by the teacher (respondent) that has been well prepared beforehand. If

students do not respond or are not motivated or do not like to follow the literature

appreciation learning presented by the teacher, it can be suspected that learning is not

interesting because it is not well prepared. This can be caused by the teacher not being

serious or not understanding what must be done.

The answers to these questions were given by 62 respondents from 73 respondents (11

respondents did not fill in the instruments), in the tutorial class for Poetry and Fiction (prose)

courses. The results of data analysis can be seen in the following description.

DISCUSSION

In online dictionaries, the word or term ‘teacher’ is defined as the person whose job (his

livelihood, profession) is teaching. The word profession defined as a field of work based on

expertise education (skills, vocational, etc.). Therefore, to work as a teacher, someone must be

educated or must have a teaching certificate. Thus, to become a professional one must have

expertise in their field. Whereas in Law Number 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers and Lecturers,

article 1 paragraph 1 states; “Teachers are professional educators with the main task of

educating, teaching, guiding, directing, training, assessing, and evaluating students in the

pathways of formal education, primary education and secondary education.”

A professional teacher carries a not light responsibility as explained by Suyanto and Jihad

(2013: 25); “Professional teachers have personal, social, intellectual, moral and spiritual

responsibilities. Personal responsibility is demonstrated through his ability to understand

himself. Social responsibility is manifested through the competence of teachers in

understanding themselves as an inseparable part of the social environment and having effective

interactive skills. Intellectual responsibility is manifested through mastery of a set of knowledge

and skills needed to support one’s duties. Spiritual and moral responsibility is manifested

through the teacher’s appearance as a religious creature whose behavior does not deviate from

religious and moral norms.

The fundamental thing for a professional teacher in learning is his understanding of the

subject curriculum. Various definitions put forward by experts about the curriculum. Ronald C.

Dool in Lismina (2017: 2) states: “The curriculum of a school as the formal and informal





368

content and the process by which learners gain knowledge and understanding, develop skills,

and alter attitudes, appreciation, and values under the auspices of that school “Still in Lismina,

Sudjana stated that:” Curriculum as a program and learning experience as well as expected

learning outcomes, which are formulated through systematically structured knowledge and

activities, are given to students under school responsibility to assist growth / Personal

development and social competence of students.

Talking about the meaning of curriculum, Zuhri (2016) wrote about the function of

curriculum, namely; for teachers, the curriculum serves as a guide for carrying out learning

activities. In more detail, Shobirin (2016: 22) writes the function of the curriculum: 1) as a

working guide in compiling and organizing learning experiences for students, 2) as a guide in

evaluating the development of students in absorbing a number of experiences given, 3) as a

guide in regulating educational and teaching activities.

For the sake of learning in schools, teachers should pay attention to the function of the

curriculum as stated in the Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia No. 19 of 2005

concerning National Education Standards article 1 number 16 that the curriculum is a set of

plans and arrangements regarding the objectives, content and learning materials and methods

used as guidelines for implementing learning activities to achieve certain educational goals.

This national education standard serves as a guide for teachers in preparing a lesson, in the form

of a Learning Implementation Plan.

Learning objectives are accommodated by learning outcomes or competencies,

Indonesian language subjects listed in the curriculum. Thus, teachers not only master the

subjects (subject matter) but also must understand the competencies (core and basic) that are

contained in the curriculum.

The curriculum objectives include four competencies, namely (1) spiritual attitude

competence, (2) social attitude, (3) knowledge, and (4) skills. This competence is achieved

through an intra-curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular learning process. The formulation

of the competence of spiritual attitudes, namely “Respecting and living up to the teachings of

the religion it adheres to”. The formulation of the competence for social attitudes, namely

“Showing honest behavior, discipline, responsibility, care (tolerance, mutual cooperation),

courtesy, and self-confidence in interacting effectively with the social and natural environment

within the range of associations and existence”. Both competencies are achieved through

indirect teaching, namely modeling, habituation, and school culture by paying attention to the

characteristics of subjects and the needs and conditions of students. Furthermore, an attachment

to the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture Number 37 of 2018 concerning Core

Competencies and Basic Competencies describes; “The growth and development of attitude

competence is carried out throughout the learning process and can be used as a consideration

for teachers in developing the character of students.”

The Indonesian language subject is one (compulsory) subject that is included in the

national education curriculum. Some of the basic competencies in the competency standards

for Indonesian Language Subjects related to literary material are as follows.

Knowledge Core Competencies Skills Core Competensies

3. Understand knowledge (factual, conceptual, and

procedural) based on his curiosity about science,

technology, art, culture related to visible

phenomena and events

4. Trying, processing, presenting in the realm

of the concrete (using, unraveling, arranging,

modifying, making) and the realm of the

abstract (writing, reading, counting, drawing,

composing) in accordance with what is learned

in school and other sources in the perspective/

theory the same one





369

Core Competencies Basic Competencies

Grade VII

3.13 Identify information (messages, rhymes, and

choice of words) from folk poetry (pantun, syair,

and local folk poetry forms) that are read and

listened to

4.13 Summing up the contents of folk poetry

(pantun, syair, and local folk poetry forms)

which are presented in written and oral form

3.15 Identify information about local

fables/legends that were read and listened to

4.15 Retelling the contents of the local

fable/legend that was read/listened to

3.16 Examine the structure and language of local

fables/legends that are read and listened to

4.16 Act out the contents of the local

fable/legend that is read and listened to

Grade VIII

3.18 Examining the elements of fiction and non-

fiction books that are read

4.18 Presenting responses to fiction and non-

fiction books that are read orally / in writing

Grade IX

3.12 Examining the structure, language, and

content of inspirational story texts

4.12 Expressing sympathy, empathy, caring,

and feelings in the form of inspirational

stories by paying attention to story structure

and linguistic aspects

Grade X

3.8 Comparing the values and language of

folklore and short stories

4.8 Developing folk tales (saga) into short

stories by paying attention to content and

values

Grade XI

3.19 Analyze the content and language of the

drama read or watched

4.19 Demonstrating a drama script by paying

attention to content and language

Grade XII

3.14 Identifying the values contained in an

enrichment book (nonfiction) and a drama book

(fiction)

4.14 Writing reflections on the values

contained in an enrichment book (non-fiction)

and a drama book (fiction)

The description of basic competencies above does not explicitly state character learning,

but a professional teacher is able to capture the character content contained in it. Based on these

competencies, the teacher will look for, select, and determine material which is also a medium

or a bridge in carrying out character learning. Apart from mastering the curriculum, respondents

(teacher) must also understand character education, both its definition and implementation.

Character Education through Literature

Characters are defined as psychological, moral, or ethical characteristics that differentiate

a person from others (online dictionary). Kamisa in Suprayitno and Wahyudi (2020) wrote that

characters are; psychiatric qualities, morals and character that can make a person look different

from others. Character means having character and personality. This means that a person can

be recognized as good or bad, because of the character he has. Thus, it can be concluded that

there are good characters (positive) and bad characters (negative). If it is related to the definition

of education, what is meant by character education is to form students to have good character

(morals, character, and personality). Whereas literature is a work of art that is the result of the

author’s inner struggle against life’s problems and contains high morals lessons, therefore it

can be functioned effectively to shape human character (Sujarwanto in Sujarwanto, Jabrohim, 2001: 508). This is in line with Teuuw’s thought in Sugiarti (2012) that literature is born not

only to be enjoyed and lived in but to shape and influence the reader. Literary work becomes a

means of conveying messages about the truth, about what is good and what is bad. Literary

work should provide positive benefits for readers. The value stored in literary works must be

explored so that it reaches the reader. Literary works that provide values as utile literary

functions provide benefits to the reader.





370

Alwasilah (2006) wrote that quality literary works meet four relatively universal criteria,

namely (1) truth, (2) honesty, (3) beauty, and (4) immortality. The four criteria are associated

with positive character values. This is in line with the following literary functions.

1. The reactive function is to provide pleasure or entertainment for the readers.

2. Function is active in providing a piece of knowledge or insight about the problems that

exist in life to the readers.

3. The aesthetic function is to provide beauty to the readers.

4. The function of morality is to provide the readers with moral knowledge between good

and bad.

5. The function of religion is to be able to present the value of religious teachings in it that

can be exemplified by readers. https://www.seputarpeng knowledge.co.id/2016)

The functions above clearly show the importance of literary work for students to learn

and be used by teachers in implementing basic competencies related to character education in

learning.

Research Result

1. Research data

The research data were obtained from 62 respondents as shown in the following table.

No. Question %

√ ×

1 Do you make lesson plans before teaching? 100 0

2 Do you understand the basic achievements/competencies listed in the

curriculum of the Indonesian subject? 100 0

3 Basic competencies with character in the Indonesian language

curriculum, in what class and in what number? 22,97 77,03

4 What criteria do you use in selecting literary works that contain

character education? 12,90 87,10

5 What is the attitude/response of students in learning literature? 100 0

6 Is there a connection between literary works and character education? 51,61 48,39

√ = good/understand/implemented/useful

× = do not know/not associated with the character

Or, in the diagram, as follows

Yes: good/understand/implemented/useful

No: do not know/not associated with the character





371

5. Description of the results of data analysis

The data of this research are about character-laden learning that involves learning

components, namely, curriculum, learning materials (literature), and learning strategies.

The analysis results show:

a. all (100% = 62) respondents stated: (1) made a lesson plan before teaching; (2)

understand the competencies stated in the Indonesian subject curriculum; (3) students

respond well or enjoy studying/appreciating literary works;

b. answers about where (what class and number) are competencies related to character

education in the Indonesian language curriculum? 22.97% = 15 respondents who

answered well/correctly, 77.03% = 47 respondents answered wrong/don’t know;

c. answers related to the selection of literary works as material as well as learning media

with character, 12.90% = 9 respondents answered correctly, 87.10% = 53

respondents did not answer correctly/wrong;

d. answers about whether there is a link between literary works and character education,

51.61% = 32 respondents answered correctly, 48, 39% = 30 respondents did not know

about character education content in literary works.

CLOSING

Conclusion

The core problem in this research is how teachers understand character education in

Indonesian language learning. The results of the data analysis above answer these questions.

1. Most of the respondents (77.03%) who work as teachers and carry out online learning not

yet understand or are unable to capture the character content contained in the basic

competencies of Indonesian subjects.

2. Most of the respondents (87.10%) who work as teachers and participate in online learning

have not understood or have not been able to capture the character content contained in

literary material (literary works).

3. While the components related to student responses to literary appreciation learning

showed 100% good. This means that students enjoy learning literary appreciation (literary

works)

Suggestion

Respondents still need to be given insight into character education, especially those

related to literary material (literary works). Giving insight can be in the form of upgrading or

training on tips for capturing character education/learning contained in:

1. Formulation of basic competencies.

2. Literary works that act as materials or bridges to instill positive characters in students,

and;

3. Respondents (teachers) have many literary works or contain character education.

As an example:

Grade VII

Basic competencies Teacher Abilities and Activities

4.13 Conclude the contents of folk poetry

(pantun, syair, and local folk poetry forms)

which are presented in written and oral

form.

1. Understand the basic competencies that students will

acquire competence “to conclude folk poetry”.

2. Instilling positive character education in students

through folk poetry.

3. Choosing folk poetry that contains character education

as learning material.

4. Presenting material (folk poetry) that has been selected

with the right method and media.

5. Conveying the character content (mandate) contained

in folk poetry.

6. Carry out an assessment of student learning outcomes





372

Examples of poetry to carry out the above basic competencies (4.13).

Kalau keladi sudah ditanam

Janganlah lagi meminta talas

Kalau budi sudah ditanam

Janganlah lagi meminta balas

Respondents captured the relationship between basic competencies and character

education.

1. Folk poetry/rhymes (basic competence)

2. Positive characters are found in the contents of the rhyme (lines 3 and 4).

Presentation/implementation

No. Activities Taxonomy

1. Introducing folk poetry/pantun through its characteristics (sampiran

and contents). Cognitive (C2)

2. Get to know rhyme through its intrinsic elements of folk poetry. Cognitive (C2)

3. Capturing the contents of folk poetry/pantun Cognitive C4)

4. Reading aloud of folk poetry. Psychomotor

5. Applying learning outcomes (character education) in everyday life. Affective

LITERATURE A.M., Sardiman. 2001. Interaksi dan Motivasi Belajar Mengajar. Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada.

Darmadi, hamid. 2019. Pengantar Pendidikan Era Globalisasi. Konsep Dasar, Teori, Strategi, dan

Implementasi dalam Pendidikan Globalisasi.

AnImage/www.anImage.org.

Lismina. 2017. Pengembangan Kurikulum. Ponorogo: Uwais Inspirasi Indonesia.

Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Nomor 37 Tahun 2018 tentang perubahan atas Peraturan

Menteri Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Nomor 24 Tahun 2016 tentang Kompetensi Inti dan

Kompetensi Dasar Pelajaran pada Kurikulum 2013 pada Pendidikan Dasar dan Pendidikan

Menengah.

Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia Nomor 13 Tahun 2015 Tentang Perubahan Kedua Atas

Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 19 Tahun 2005 Tentang Standar Nasional Pendidikan

Shobirin, Ma’as. 2016. Konsep dan Implementasi Kurikulum 2013 Di Sekolah Dasar. Yogyakarta:

Deepublish (grup penerbitan CV Budi Utama).

Suprayitno, Adi dan Wahyudi, Wahid. 2020. Pendidikan Di Era Milenial. Yogyakarta: Deepublish Grup

Penerbitan CV Budi Utama.

Suyanto dan Jihad, Asep. 2013. Menjadi Guru Profesional: Strategi Meningkatkan Kualifikasi dan

Kualitas Di Era Global. Jakarta: Erlangga

Sugiarti, 2012. “Membangun Karakter Peserta Didik Melalui Pembelajaran Sastra”. Makalah Seminar

Intenasional Bahasa,

Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 14 Tahun 2005 Tentang Guru dan Dosen

Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003 Tentang Sistem Pendidikan Nasional

Zuhri. 2016. Convergentive Design Kurikulum Pesantren (konsepsi dan Aplikasinya). Yogyakarta:

Deepublish (grup penerbitan CV Budi Utama).

https://www.silabus.web.id/pengertian-kurikulum/Diunduh: 2 Mei 2020

https://www.kompasiana.com/idrisapandi/57e90c60b77a61da1b008b11/sastra-dan-pendidikan-

karakter?page=allDiunduh: 4 Juli 2020

https://www.seputarpengetahuan.co.id/2016/06/pengertian-sastra-menurut-ahli-beserta-ciri-dan-

fungsi-sastra-lengkap.htmlDiunduh: 10 Agustus 2020





373

DEVELOPMENT OF MODEL TEACHING MATERIALS

FOR BUGIS-MAKASSAR REGIONAL LANGUAGES

BASED ON ANGNGARU LOCAL WISDOM

M. Marwiah

Indonesian Language and Literature Education, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training,

Muhammadiyah University of Makassar


Muhammad Akhir

Indonesian Language and Literature Education, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training,

Muhammadiyah University of Makassar


ABSTRACT

The phenomenon of the extinction of regional languages in Indonesia seems to have become a

problem that has attracted the attention of many scientists, especially linguists. Various efforts have

been made and are being made to save regional languages , which tend to lead to the extinction

process. The Bugis-Makassar language is also a part of the regional language in South Sulawesi.

However, the Bugis-Makassar regional language has begun to be forgotten by its speakers in the

family circle. Many of the Bugis-Makassar culture that is no longer known by the generations of

this nation, including the angngaru culture. Therefore, the “angngaru” culture really needs to be

introduced to children by making it one of the media in learning local languages in schools that are

considered less popular. The purpose of this study is to describe the feasibility and effectiveness of

the Makassar Bugis language speaking skills teaching material model based on the values of local

wisdom of the angngaru culture which are valid, efficient and effective. This research includes the

type of research and development (Research and Development) adapting the Borg and Gall model

consisting of ten steps research and information collection, planning); develop a preliminary form

of product); preliminary field testing); main product revision); main field testing, operational product

revision); dissemination and implementation). Data were analyzed using data analysis techniques

according to Huberman, namely three stages of data reduction, display/data coding, and conclusion.

Keywords: Development, local languages, local wisdom, teaching materials

PRELIMINARY

The Covid -19 pandemic impacts all sectors, including the education, economy, health and

even all sectors. The policy is taken by the government with the issuance of a circular letter from the

Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia No. 3 of 2020 concerning the

prevention of covid-19 in dealing with and preventing its spread so that learning is carried out online.

Currently, our nation is entering the new normal era, people are required to be able to live side by

side with Covid-19. The education sector, the economy and other sectors must continue to run

properly so that government learning policies can be carried out offline for the green zone but still

follow the three M health protocol. Likewise, with the obligations as a lecturer, namely teaching,

research, and running, two of which are the research. and community service. Lecturers are required

to be able to find problems that exist in society, especially those related to education for lecturers

who are involved in the fields of education and humanities. As with the Research Master Plan of the

Muhammadiyah University of Makassar in the field of economic and human development which

includes: raising various arts, cultures based on local wisdom in supporting the social humanities as

a strong nation in the fields of religion and technology





374

If we are dealing with cultural issues and local wisdom, we are faced with the industrial

millennial era 4.0. The digital and technology industries have a positive impact on the advancement

of education and other sectors, but the negative impact of information technology has penetrated all

corners of the country so that cultural culture from outside can shift the position of our nation’s

culture and traditions. Perhaps, it can cause people to forget the culture and local wisdom that was

once a reference for the values of the Indonesian nation’s character.

The community referred to here includes most of the Bugis-Makassar people in the millennial

era, when the young generation hardly knows their own local culture. The younger generation, in

this case, allows only to argue that culture is just a historical engraver in the past that is no longer

relevant to the current situation and conditions. Released by Terkini.id, there are three Bugis cultures

- Makassar that are almost extinct, namely, bissu, sinrili, and angngaru. In the millennial era, this

culture is rarely studied and displayed by the younger generation in South Sulawesi (Source: dani-

virgound.Blogspot.co.id). Those are some of the original cultures of the Bugis-Makassar tribe that

should be preserved and preserved in the present era because these cultures constitute the identity

and identity of the people of South Sulawesi as well as the invaluable heritage of our ancestors.

It is not the only culture that is threatened with extinction, but local languages are also

experiencing extinction. Local languages that exist in Indonesia as a cultural product should be

protected from the threat of extinction so that Syarif, E., Sumarmi, S., Fatchan, A., & Astina, I. K.

(2016) concluded that it is necessary to integrate Makassar culture in learning.

Observing this, it is necessary to strengthen and preserve regional language learning itself,

especially for universities managing LPTK, in the Indonesian Language Education Study Program.

The obligation of the Tridarma of Higher Education requires lecturers to always carry out innovative

and problem-based research in the community, including the problems faced by local language

learning which is only used as learning local content. It is necessary to rethink how to make regional

languages the main subject side by side with Indonesian and other foreign languages.

Language and culture cannot be separated. Culture has plural or more than one meaning so

that in social life there will be every ethnic or racial group that has different cultures from one

another. In addition, culture has an open nature. This means that in every culture that has taken root

in people’s lives it will slowly shift or in other words, it will disappear by itself and be replaced by

newer cultures that can be accepted by the community, including the Bugis Makassar regional

language, which of course includes many products of Makassar Bugis oral literature.

Several previous studies, among others, Mardikantoro, H. B. (2013) illustrated how language

cannot be separated from the speaking community’s culture, while the value of local wisdom in

culture can be judged as a reference in living life. Furthermore, Beddu, S., Akil, A., Osman, WW,

& Hamzah, B. (2014), concluded that the value of local wisdom becomes the foundation in the

formulation of policies for housing and settlement of the Makassar community. Mahmud, M. (2019)

Research who examines the utterances found in the Angngaru tradition, this speech is full of

meaning and value. In the days of the kingdom, this culture was very sacred among the aristocrats

(puang / datu / karaeng) because it became a tradition at every wedding ceremony and in welcoming

important guests of the Sukman kingdom, FF (2018), Ansar, M. (2018) People who are angngaru

at his time was a brave person, so people who could angngaru were very rare in every group of

people in South Sulawesi. Biological Research, R. (2014) Historical buildings as cultural heritage

can become tourist objects, continued, Prasetiyo (2015) concluded that culture is one of the

supporting aspects of learning because cultural aspects have a very important role in meeting

learning targets. The purpose of including cultural aspects in local language learning is to instill

cultural awareness in the Indonesian nation’s future generations so that cultural diversity can be

maintained and preserved. The cultural values that are understood, through the identification of the

local cultural wisdom of the Makassar people, are intended to preserve the Makassar local culture

which tends to become extinct (Ilham, B. U. (2013) and Beddu, et al. (2014). Angngaru is a culture

and oral-literary work that is full of moral messages. Therefore people who own this language and





375

culture must have concern and loyalty to their own cultural language. As the results of research by

Rafael, AMD, & Ate, CP (2020) show that Tetun is still very persistent even though the language

has migrated for 20 years from its original land, namely the land of East Timor because of four

things, namely (1) the loyalty factor to the mother tongue, ( 2) factors of pride in BT, (3) factors of

family environment, and (4) factors of migration and concentration of areas. Ibrahim, et al (2019)

concluded that the most dominant factor affecting the shift in Lowa language is the age factor.

Children and young people alike rarely use Lowa language, speakers of Lowa language are

generally older people. This indicates that the Lowa language condition is on the verge of extinction

(nearly extinct).

Some of the studies above are different in terms of research content. This research is research

on developing cultural-based local language teaching materials that include the Anggaru culture as

a learning medium. This research was carried out by the fact in the community that the Angngaru

culture is almost extinct; this is what encourages researchers to make this culture a medium for local

language learning in schools. Making culture a medium of learning will provide benefits for students

and the preservation of local culture and language itself. On this basis, the objectives of this study

are (1) to describe the feasibility of developing a model of teaching materials for the Bugis-Makassar

regional language based on the local wisdom values of the Angngaru culture, and (2) to describe the

improvement of the Bugis-Makassar regional language model based on the value of the local

wisdom angngaru culture.

The contribution of this research is as an effort to preserve local culture and language as

regional assets and the nation in general. This development research can guard against the threat of

language extinction from the Bugis - Makassar area. In addition, the culture-based learning model

can be used as a guide in learning local languages so that in the end it can become a reference in

implementing policies.

METHOD

This type of research includes the type of research and development (Research and

Development). Research and development by Borg and Gall (1983) stated that there are 10 steps of

implementation simplified by the 4-D strategy of the concept of Thiagarajan, Semmel and Semmel

(1974).

The research approach used is a qualitative descriptive research approach whose data consists

of the validation results of the learning content experts, media experts, and evaluation experts. While

the data sources are three experts, and students of SMP Negeri 3 MinasaTe’ne (limited test). The

data collection techniques in this research were observation, questionnaire, and test techniques.

While the data analysis technique uses data analysis techniques following the steps of Nurdin (2007)

as follows: (1) looking for the average validation results of all validators for each criterion with the

formula:

n

V

K

n

j

ij

i

1

with: iK avarage criteria i , ijV= score of the results of the assessment against

the criteria,

, to- i validator to- j , n the number of validators

(2) find the average of each aspect with the formula





376

n

K

A

n

j

ij

i

1

, with : iA avarage criteria to i , ijK average for aspects to i criteria

ke j , and n banyaknya kriteria dalam aspek ke i .

(3) find the total mean ( X ) with the formula:

n

A

X

n

i

i 1

, with : X total mean, iA average for aspects to i , n many aspects. with: average criteria criteria, = score of the results of the assessment against the criteria, and

(4) determine the validity category of each criterion or aspect or all aspects by matching the

mean criteria

( iK ) or aspect average ( iA ) or total mean ( X ) by using the following categories:

3,5 M ≤ 4 very valid, 2,5 M < 3,5 valid, 1,5 M < 2, quite valid, M 0,5 not valid.


Model Implementation and Effectiveness Test Results

Validation of the Implementation of Bugis-Makassar Regional Language Teaching Materials Based

on Angngaru Cultural Local Wisdom

Validation of learning implementation includes instructions for implementing learning,

elements of learning implementation, and the language used in the implementation of learning. The

results of the validation of learning implementation are shown in table 1 below.

Table 1 Validation of Teaching Materials Implementation

Observer 1 and 2 total learning implementation average

Learning Implementation Observer 1 and 2 Avar age Total

Instructions The observation sheet directions/directions are

clearly stated

4 3 3,50

3.50 The assessment criteria are clearly stated 3 3 3,00

Observation sheets are easy to implement 4 4 4,00

Learning

elements

Learning aspects (syntax, activities) are clearly

contained

4 3 3,50

3.12 This aspect of social interaction is clearly

contained

3 3 3,00

The principal aspects of the reaction are clearly

stated

3 3 3,00

The aspects of the learning support system are

clearly contained

3 3 3,00

Language The use of language is in accordance with the

correct local language rules

4 4 4,00

3.66 Use communicative language 4 3 3,5

Use words (terms) familiar to the observer 4 3 3,50

The validation of learning implementation consists of instructions for implementing learning,

learning elements, and using language. In accordance with these data, it appears that the learning

implementation component is declared very valid. This can be seen in every aspect which shows that

the instructions for implementing learning have a validation value of 3.50. This means that all

components of the instructional implementation of the learning have met the requirements, such as

the observation sheet instructions/directions stated clearly, the assessment criteria are clearly stated;

and the observation sheet is easy to implement.





377

Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Development of Teaching Materials for the Bugis-Makassar

Regional Language Based on Local Wisdom of Angngaru Culture

Data on the effectiveness of developing local language learning materials based on local

wisdom of Angngaru culture were obtained from the main test results. Data obtained through

evaluation by providing worksheets to each learner. Worksheets that have been prepared as material

for ten kinds of evaluation are invincible with the competencies and materials that have been

developed. Data on the effectiveness test of the development of regional language teaching materials

based on local wisdom of the Angngaru culture are shown in table 2 below.

Table 2. Student Acquisition Value per Worksheet

The mean score of student work according to these data was 81.26 from a standard

deviation of 3.56. The highest score was 86.20 and the lowest was 73.60. If student scores are

grouped into five categories, the results can be presented in table 3 below.

Table 3. Recapitulation of Student Work Results

Interval Score Category Effectiveness Learning hours (N) Percentage (%)

81 – 100 Very high effective 10 71,42

66 – 80 high 3 28,58

56 – 65 moderate

not effective

0 0

46 – 55 low 0 0

0 – 45 Very low 0 0

Total 13 100

Based on table 3, it is stated that of the 13 students who worked on the worksheets there

were 10 people (71.42%) who had scores in the very high category and as many as 4 people

(28.58%) were in the high category. It is stated that there are no students who get the scores

carried out by the worksheet in the medium, low, and very low categories.

Research Language

Implementation of Teaching Materials

The aspects of the learning elements are stated as valid with a validation value of 3.12.

This shows that aspects of learning such as aspects of learning (syntax, activities) are contained

No. Learning code Score each Worksheet Average

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0

1. 01 84 85 78 88 85 88 87 88 88 85 85.6

2 02 78 75 78 80 75 78 80 85 88 80 79.7

3 03 80 80 85 85 84 80 82 82 80 80 81.8

4 04 80 80 83 82 80 80 85 85 80 80 81.5

5 05 72 75 70 74 78 70 75 78 75 75 74.2

6 06 85 85 80 85 88 80 80 85 88 86 84.2

7 07 85 80 85 85 88 87 88 88 88 88 86.2

8 08 75 78 75 78 80 85 78 78 80 80 78.7

9 09 70 75 70 70 75 78 73 75 72 78 73.6

10 10 80 85 78 80 80 78 80 85 88 85 81.9

11 11 80 80 85 85 84 80 82 82 80 80 81.8

12 12 80 80 83 82 80 80 85 85 80 80 81.5

13 13 85 88 85 80 80 80 85 88 88 86 84.5

Avarage 81,26

Percentage of Completeness (%) 90%





378

clearly; social interactions are clearly contained; the principle of the reaction is clearly

contained; and the learning support system is clearly contained. Muhlich (2010: 133) describes

four foundations that must be met in the preparation of teaching materials, namely (1) scientific

foundation, (2) foundation of education and teacher training, (3) foundation of needs, and (4)

the basis of material readability and the language used. In Table 1, the aspects of language and

legibility are stated to be very valid with a validation value of 3.66. That is, the instructions for

the implementation of learning have used the language according to the rules of the Bugis-

Makassar regional language which is based on the values of local wisdom of Angaru culture.

Muhammad Akhir’s Dissertation Research (2017) which developed character-based Indonesian

language teaching materials, this study concluded that the application of this learning material

using the scientific approach can instill discipline and responsibility characteristics. Research

by Marwiah, Usman, and Tolla (2015) concluded that the cultivation of character values can be

through the suggestopedia method in learning poetry appreciation. It is reinforced by

Lestariningsih, N., & Suardiman, S. P. (2017) that the development of character thematic

teaching materials can foster a character of responsibility in students. The three previous

research results have relevance to this research when viewed from the same object of integrating

local wisdom. However, this research is more specific to the development of teaching materials

for learning to speak the Bugis-Makassar regional language using the cultural media

“anggngaru”. This is done in order to maintain and preserve the Bugis-Makassar language and

culture that cannot be separated from the two. This is supported by Yamaguchi, M. (2012) that

the Bugis Makassar regional language is beginning to be forgotten even by the speakers

themselves in the family environment. Rabiah (2012) concluded that the learning experience is

that 65% of students learn Makassar language in a family environment, 19% students in a social

environment, and 16% students in a school environment. This is a threat to the extinction of the

Makassar language, even though the percentage achieved reaches 65%, if there is a continuous

contraction, it is feared that Makassar language speakers will become extinct. The preparation

of this teaching material is an effort to make the nation’s generation as native speakers of the

Bugis Makassar language have a loyal attitude towards their own language and culture.

Based on this description, it can be concluded that the implementation of structured

learning has met the requirements and eligibility standards to be applied in local language

teaching based on local wisdom of the angngaru culture. This is stated by referring to the

validation value of each aspect in the valid to very valid category. In other words, this

development model can be used as material for local language learning in schools. This is

supported by a summary of the opinions of Mudlofir, A. (2012) and Furqon (2009), a good

teaching material must meet the following criteria: (1) the substance discussed must include the

body figure of competencies or sub-competencies that are relevant to the ability profile.

graduation, (2) the substance to be discussed must be correct, complete and actual, including

the concept of facts, procedures, terms and notations as well as arranged, (3) based on the

hierarchy/step of competency mastery and (4) the level of readability, both in terms of language

difficulties and substance must be in accordance with the level of learning ability.

Effectiveness of Teaching Materials

Classifying student scores to measure regional material effectiveness based on local

wisdom of Angngaru culture shows dominance in the effective category. All who are able to

score on the effective classification. In fact, no student will score on an ineffective

classification.

This shows that local language material based on local wisdom of Angngaru culture can

be adequately implemented by learners. Thus, the material for composing regional languages

based on local wisdom of the Angngaru culture which is declared appropriate and effective is

used.





379

The preparation of local language teaching materials based on local wisdom of the

Angngaru culture is declared effective. This can be seen based on the process and results of

using teaching materials for three meetings which ended with a test. In the learning process by

using local language teaching materials based on local wisdom of Angngaru culture, students’

activeness and enthusiasm appear in following the lesson. The activeness of these students has

a positive effect on the test results given at the end of the meeting where the average student is

able to get high scores to very high limits (effective). The same research has been carried out

by Agung Nugroho, Dian Ramadan Lazuardi, Sri Murti (2019) regarding the development of

LKS teaching materials for writing rhymes based on local wisdom of SMP VII Xaverius

Tugumulyo students who use the same R & D model, namely the Dick and Carey model,

concluding this model. effective and valid. Research on the development of teaching materials,

one of the main requirements that must be met, is to be attractive and in accordance with the

child’s ability limits. As stated by Audrey and Nichols in Hidayat, quoted by Miranda (2018),

the criteria for teaching materials are as follows (1) The content of the lesson should be valid

enough, meaning that the truth of the material is no longer doubted and can be understood to

achieve the goal, (2) the material is material. Farming teaching given must be quite meaningful

or useful, (3) it relates to the breadth and depth of the material, and (4) the material should be

interesting and the material should be within the limits of the child’s ability. The results of the

effects test in this study are shown in Table 3 and 3 above with the average score of student

work according to these data is 81.26 from a standard deviation of 3.56. The highest score was

86.20 and the lowest was 73.60. The description of student activities shows that there has been

a significant change from each meeting to the last meeting. In fact, at the last meeting, all

student activities showed an increasing change. All aspects experienced a change in value and

received a very satisfying or very high assessment from the observer.

In the activities of students who carry out other activities in the assignment, for example,

self-development in groups, opening programs, receiving Student Worksheets, asking for help

from teachers, receiving homework and so on, there are also significant changes. The high

activity of students so that it is less visible and sometimes it is not visible that students do other

activities outside of assignments, for example not paying attention to teacher explanations,

doing assignments of other subjects, or doing activities that are not related to teaching and

learning activities. The high level of student activity is in line with the acquisition of test results.

The data from the test results showed that the average student score reached 82.31 of the 13

students tested. The highest score was 86.20 and the lowest was 73.60. Of the 13 students who

worked on the learner worksheets, there were 10 people (71.42%) with scores in the very high

category and as many as 4 people (28.58%) were in the high category. It is stated that there are

no students who get the scores carried out by the LK in the medium, low, and very low

categories. This shows that the basic material of the Bugis-Makassar regional language based

on local wisdom of the Angngaru culture can be implemented properly by students. The results

of this study are relatively the same as the results of Hutama’s (2016) study, namely the

Development of Social Studies Teaching Materials Based on Cultural Values Using for

Elementary School Students, which states that this model has a validity level obtained from the

results of expert validation tests, the proportion of validity of linguists for student learning

modules is 97, 92% (very valid) and the teacher guide module is 96.43% (very valid). Research

by Puspitoningrum, E., & Rahmayantis, M. D. (2018) This study aims to produce Javanese

Undha Usuk teaching materials as a means of improving the character of students’ speaking

manners and to describe the effectiveness of the media as a form of learning Javanese local

content. This research has a theme in terms of the type and approach used, but different is the

object of research.





380

Changes made by students from the first meeting to the last meeting showed the suitability

of the material with the character of student learning. That is, the material is appropriate and

feasible to apply by looking at the conditions and learning situations that make students active,

creative, and fun and the value of learning completeness to its objectives. This teaching material

is developed based on learning objectives. There is a close relationship between objectives,

materials, and production tools in learning. Theoretically, teaching materials can take four

forms, namely facts, concepts, procedures, principles (Ismawati and Jaja, 2012: 239).

Handayaningrat (1994: 15) describes strength as a measure in a predetermined sense. Learning

is declared effective if the learning process is in accordance with the objectives and achieves

the expected learning outcomes. Effectiveness is a measure in the sense of achieving

predetermined goals (Handayaningrat, 1994: 15).

Referring to the above opinion, it can be denied that the model for developing teaching

materials for the Bugis-Makassar regional language is a large-scale trial using quantitative

research because it has criteria that must be met by a teaching material.

CONCLUSION

Based on the research results, it can be concluded as follows. The implementation of

learning proves that the average result for three meetings is declared to have been carried out

completely. This means that the teaching materials that have been compiled and developed are

suitable for use because the value of their implementation is in the range of values 3.0 <M <4.0

(fully implemented). The aspect in question is the aspect of the relationship between the

teaching materials and the Makassar Bugis local language learning process based on the local

wisdom of the Angngaru culture which has been fully implemented with an average of 3.45. In

the aspect of supporting teaching materials for achieving the goal, all of them were carried out

with a mean value of 3.20. The aspect of applying the Bugis Makassar regional language

teaching materials based on local wisdom of the Angngaru culture has been implemented

entirely with a mean value of 3.05. In the development of the context of learning that is relevant

to the Makassar Bugis culture, it is also fully implemented with a mean value of 3.25. The last

one is the aspect of training intensity in accordance with the achievement of the objectives

which were carried out entirely with an average of 3.25.

The effectiveness of the model for developing teaching materials for Bugis Makassar

speaking skills based on the wisdom of the Angngaru culture can be seen from the activity and

the results show an increasing graph on all indicators of learning activities. The changes

displayed by students from the first meeting to the last show the suitability of the material with

the learning characteristics of the learners. That is, the teaching material is suitable and feasible

to be applied by looking at the conditions and learning situations that make students active,

creative, and fun. The high level of student activity is in line with the acquisition of test results.

The test result data shows that the average score of students is high, reaching 82.31 of the 13

students tested. The highest score was 86.20 and the lowest was 73.60. Of the 13 students who

worked on student worksheets, there were 10 people (71.42%) who scored in the very high

category and as many as 4 people (28.58%) were in the high category.

REFERENCES Ansar, M. (2018). Tradisi Angngaru dalam Upacara Pernikahan Bija Karaeng (Studi Fenomenologi pada

Masyarakat Gantarang di Kecamatan Tinggimoncong Kabupaten Gowa) (Doctoral dissertation,

Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar).

Beddu, S., Akil, A., Osman, W. W., & Hamzah, B. (2014). Eksplorasi Kearifan Budaya Lokal sebagai

Landasan Perumusan Tatanan Perumahan dan Pemukiman Masyarakat Makassar. Jurnal Temu Ilmiah

IPLBI (2014). http://temuilmiah. iplbi. or. id/(accesed 20 Januari 2016).





381

Borg, W. R., & Gall, M. D. (1983). Educationnal Research.

Handayaningrat, S. (1994). Pengantar Ilmu Administras Manajemen.

Hayati, R. (2014). Pemanfaatan bangunan bersejarah sebagai wisata warisan budaya di Kota

Makassar. JUMPA, 1(1), 1-42.

https://makassar.terkini.id/terancam-punah-3-budaya-bugis-makassar-ini-harus-dilestarikan/

Hutama, F. S. (2016). Pengembangan Bahan Ajar IPS Berbasis Nilai Budaya Using untuk Siswa Sekolah

Dasar. JPI (Jurnal Pendidikan Indonesia), 5(2), 113-124.

Ibrahim, A. S. E. (2017). Pengaruh Model Problem Based Learning Terhadap Hasil Belajar Mata Pelajaran

Ekonomi Pada Siswa SMA Negeri 1 Palu. Katalogis, 5(4).

Ibrahim, I., Ruslan, R., Asnur, M. N. A., Sabata, Y. N., & Kahar, M. S. (2019). Faktor Sosial yang Berpengaruh

terhadap Pergeseran Bahasa Lowa. Kembara Journal of Scientific Language Literature and

Teaching, 5(2), 208-218.

Ilham, M. I. (2017). Hubungan Antara Identitas Siri’na Pacce’dan Kompetisi pada Mahasiswa Perantau Suku

Bugis-Makassar di Kota Semarang (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Negeri Semarang).

Ismawati, E., & Djaja, W. (2012). Perencanaan pengajaran bahasa: langkah menuju guru berkompeten dan

profesional. Penerbit Ombak.

Lestariningsih, N., & Suardiman, S. P. (2017). Pengembangan Bahan Ajar Tematik-Integratif Berbasis

Kearifan Lokal Untuk Meningkatkan Karakter Peduli Dan Tanggung Jawab. Jurnal Pendidikan

Karakter, 7(1).

Mahmud, M. (2019). the Use of Speech Acts in Angngaru of Makassar Society. RETORIKA: Jurnal Bahasa,

Sastra, Dan Pengajarannya, 12(2), 141.

Mardikantoro, H. B. (2013, December). Ungkapan Verbal yang Berfungsi Melestarikan Lingkungan pada

Masyarakat Samin. Makalah disajikan dalam Seminar Internasional Studi Bahasa dari Berbagai Perspektif

dalam Rangka Ulang Tahun ke-80 Prof. Dr. Soepomo Poedjosoedarmo UGM Yogyakarta.

Marwiah, U., & Tolla, A. Improving The Ability to Appreciate Poetry through Suggestopedia Method. Journal

of Language and Literature, 6(1), 2015.

Miranda, D. (2018). Pengembangan Buku Cerita Berbasis Pendidikan Karakter Untuk Meningkatkan

Kreativitas AUD. Jurnal Visi Ilmu Pendidikan, 10(1), 18-30.

Mudlofir, A. (2012). Aflikasi Pengembangan Kurikulum Tingakat Satuan Pendidikan Dan Bahan Ajar

Pendidikan Agama Islam.

Nugroho, A., Lazuardi, D. R., & Murti, S. (2019). Pengembangan Bahan Ajar LKS Menulis Pantun Berbasis

Kearifan Lokal Siswa Kelas VII SMP Xaverius Tugumulyo. KEMBARA Journal of Scientific Language

Literature and Teaching, 5(1), 1-12.

Nurdin, A. (2007). Manajemen Pendidikan.

Prasetiyo, A. E. (2015). Pengembangan bahan ajar BIPA bermuatan budaya Jawa bagi penutur asing tingkat

pemula (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Negeri Semarang).

Puspitoningrum, E., & Rahmayantis, M. D. (2018). Bahan Ajar Pacelathon Undha Usuk Basa Jawa Lokalitas

Kediri sebagai Penguatan Karakter Tata Krama Berbicara Siswa dalam Mata Pelajaran Muatan Lokal

Bahasa Daerah. KEMBARA Journal of Scientific Language Literature and Teaching, 4(1).

Rabiah, S. (2018). Revitalisasi Bahasa Daerah Makassar melalui Pengembangan Bahan Ajar Bahasa Makassar

sebagai Muatan Lokal.

Rafael, A. M. D., & Ate, C. P. (2020). Pemertahanan bahasa Tetun dalam guyub tutur masyarakat bekas

pengungsi Timor-Timur di Desa Manusak Kabupaten Kupang. KEMBARA: Jurnal Keilmuan Bahasa,

Sastra, dan Pengajarannya (e-Journal), 6(1), 27-38.

Sukman, F. F. (2018). Eksistensi Akkawaru, Upacara Adat Kepercayaan di Butta Toa Kabupaten

Bantaeng. Puitika, 14(1), 25-38.

Syarif, E., Sumarmi, S., Fatchan, A., & Astina, I. K. (2016). Integrasi Nilai Budaya Etnis Bugis Makassar dalam

Proses Pembelajaran sebagai Salah Satu Strategi Menghadapi Era Masyarakat Ekonomi ASEAN

(MEA). Jurnal Teori dan Praksis Pembelajaran IPS, 1(1), 13-21.

Thiagarajan, S. DS dan Semmel, MI (1974). Intructional Development for Training Teachers of Exceptional

Children.

Yamaguchi, M. (2011). Reduplication in Languages of South Sulawesi. Asian and African Language and

Linguistics, 6.





382





383

THE EXISTENCE OF THE INFORMATIONAL FUNCTION

OF THE MAKASSAR ORAL POETRY

IN BUILDING THE STUDENTS CHARACTER

Muhammad Ali

Universitas Muslim Maros

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study aims to describe the informational functions of Makassar oral poetry,

which are full of the local wisdom values of Makassar culture in instilling values in speaking,

acting, and behaving in the society, nation, and state. In this study, the researcher acts as a

binding instrument. The data analysis technique was carried out in three cycles: data collection,

data reduction, and drawing conclusions and verification. The main theoretical framework

employed was Van Dijk’s discourse analysis with hermeneutics’ grand theory as an analysis

tool. The analysis results showed that the informational function includes the educational,

human existence, Tawheed purification, self-regret, prudence, and customs subject matters.

This research will provide invaluable benefits for Indonesian and Regional Language and

Literature teachers in developing their learning materials in class, especially in learning the

appreciation of local cultural poetry in each region or country.

Keywords: informational function, Makassar oral poetry

INTRODUCTION

The informational function is one of the language functions that aims to express the

subject matter (Leech, 1981), or known as the function to convey messages to someone

(Kinneavy in Chaer, 2003; 33).

This function is considered very important in communication because it relates to human

life problems, especially the Makassar ethnic group. Leech emphasized that since language is

informational, conceptuality is very important because it is considered a central language

communication factor. Conceptual meaning is often called literal meaning, denotative meaning,

meaning that contains knowledge, meaning that contains logical things, meaning that is open,

or meaning that as it is. The meaning of a text is what the text shows. Understandably, there are

so many talking points in society, from the perspective of social status, gender, type of work,

place of residence, and community’s political activities. The research data shows that the

informational function consists of: the subject matter of education, human existence, the

purification of Tawheed, self-regret, prudence, and customs.

Indonesia is one of the countries with various ethnic groups bound by order of life in the

form of Bhineka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), which is based on Pancasila and the 1945

Constitution. The functions or values of life bound the cultural diversity of each ethnic group.

These functions order should be maintained and preserved as a characteristic of the nation for

our generations’ benefit in the future.

The rapid development of technology makes us seem to have come out of the order of

life that should be. As a religious and cultured nation, this nation or its successor generation

seems to have been torn apart by the new life order that crushes the norms of life that we profess.

Various upheavals such as fights between high school students or between university students,

fights between youths, and even fights between villages can be witnessed almost every day

through the mass media. Some people indeed say that part of our generation seems to have

returned to a primitive life that is no longer obedient to the excellent value system of life

instilled by our ancestors.





384

It is necessary to reconsider a great event recorded in the history of the Indonesian nation,

which can be said to be a glorious achievement of our predecessors, namely the Sumpah

Pemuda (Youth Pledge) 28, 1928, which we commemorate every year. This glorious event and

achievement was the beginning to unite the Indonesian nation to get out of colonialism’s

shackles towards independence. The birth of this Youth Pledge is, of course, inseparable from

the significant functions and values adopted by our nation, which prioritizes the functions and

values of diversity in the nation and state.

This function can be found in various cultural products that are still growing and

developing in the ethnic groups in Indonesia or other nations. Cultural products of this kind

should be preserved, maintained, and developed to rearrange values that have been considered

out of date due to the development of times that are incompatible with eastern customs and the

Indonesian nation’s customs.

These cultural products can be found in oral literary works, such as oral poetry and oral

prose or folk songs, from various ethnic groups in Indonesia. Indonesia is a great nation. One

of our nation’s great literary works is a literary work that is considered the longest in the world,

surpassing Mahabarata literary work from India, namely La Galigo. This literary work is a

collective cultural product of the Bugis-Makassar people.

This study formulates the informational function of oral poetry in Makassar, which aims

to provide information to humanity, especially native speakers or students of Makassar

ethnicity. This study examines the informational functions related to text structure by Van Dijk

as a framework for analysis and hermeneutics as a grand theory.

Literary works exist in almost all ethnic groups in the archipelago, although not as long

as La Galigo. In this literary work, we can find various great functions that are very effective

as teaching materials in schools ranging from elementary, junior high, high school, even to

higher education. We can also find these functions in folk songs such as the Kaili folk song

(Gazali 2009), the Bugis folk song (Akmal 2009), Kelong in the Hermeneutic perspective (Ali

2009), the Javanese folk song, and others.

METHOD

This study is a qualitative type that paradigmatically examines the informative function.

This type of study is employed based on several methodological principles of qualitative

research on the function of Makassar’s oral literature. Some of the factors that underlie it are

(1) the data and data sources are naturalistic, (2) the researcher acts as a critical instrument that

functions as an interpretive being who is hermeneutically considered capable, (3) the data

presentation or discussion is descriptive interpretive, (4) data analysis carried out in an

interactive-inductive manner, (5) informational functions constitute a significant concern.

Therefore, the interpretation or in-depth understanding of the nature of the function of Makassar

oral literature is based on the ethnic perspective of the Makassar people.

The data in this study are documented oral poetry in Makassar (words, lines, sentences).

The data were obtained from books containing oral poetry translated by previous researchers

and data from the researchers’ direct recordings of the pakelong (oral poetry singer) and notes

by the researcher. Data sourced from pakelong contains oral literature, including the creative

process, vision and mission, conception adopted by the pakelong, and the pakelong socio-

cultural, religion, and belief background and view of life.

Data validity is achieved through (1) examination through persistent reading and

intensive study of data sources to obtain an adequate understanding of meaning, (2) examination

through adequate references such as library materials and documents on Makassar culture and

literature, (3) examination through persevering observation of various symptoms related to

research problems and data, (4) examination through peer, experts, and cultural observers

examination who have knowledge and expertise in Makassar culture and literature.





385


This section will analyze the functions of Makassar oral poetry, through the classification

of the informational functions of Makassar oral poetry. This function is a global/general

meaning of a text that can be understood through the topic. These discourse themes are not only

related to content but also the sure sides of an event. From the finished writing point of view,

the theme is the main message conveyed by the author through his writing (Keraf, 1980: 107).

The following describes the types of Makassar oral poetry based on the informational function

conveyed.

Educational Subject Matter

One of the subject matter contained in Makassar oral poetry is education, both religious

and general education.

Regarding education, Makassar’s oral poetry states that a student’s obligation is not to be

lazy to achieve the desired goals. Getting up earlier is one factor that is considered to open up

a child’s horizons. This message contains a deep meaning in a further study, especially when

connected with the next sentence. A student must not stay asleep until the sun is high because

waking up late will become a habit that will impact his work in the future. A student must wake

up early, as in the following poem.

Ikatte pasikolayya

linta-lintakki ambangun

nalinta todong

tassungke nawawanta

We, all students

Get up quickly

hopefully soon

insights opened up too

If we examine the oral poetry more verbatim, we will find layers of meaning contained

in verse. Ikatte is a kind of honorific greeting to an elder or respected person. The word ikatte

in the poem teaches children to be polite to anyone, both in word and action or deed. The word

ikatte also implies that educated people will be valued more than uneducated people. It is

following the word of Allah in the Al-Mujadilah verse eleven “…. Allah will raise those who

have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees” (Surin, 1978:

1266).

The phrase lintak-lintakki ambangun, ‘get up quickly’ implies that people who wake up

early in the morning will automatically pray on time. Indirectly, it teaches students to get used

to getting up early so that matters in this world and the hereafter will be adequately resolved.

In the third line nalinta todong ‘hopefully soon’ and the fourth line tassungke nawawanta

‘insights opened up too’ implies that people who get up early and pray five prayers on time will

be rewarded have all their affairs in the world and the hereafter made easy by Allah.

Likewise, oral poetry contains the obligations of a student to carry out the teachings of

his teacher. It contains some information that has a deeper meaning. It can be seen in the

following oral poetry.

Assambayangko nuttambung

pakajai amalaknu

najujarreki kananna

anrong gurunnu





386

Increase your prayer

increase your deed

uphold

the teachings of your teacher

The phrase assambayangko nuttambung ‘increase your prayers’ implies that prayer is the

five daily prayers and various other forms of prayer to gain the pleasure of Allah. The five daily

prayers are the prayers that must be performed by Muslims as a sign of fear and gratitude to

Allah, who created them. Other prayers are sunna prayers to increase worship in order to get

the pleasure of Allah. Allah SWT makes His servants worship not for His interests, but His

servants themselves. Worship will produce wisdom, peace, and a calm heart. By worshiping,

we can communicate directly with Allah SWT, and worship that can lead to that communication

is prayer. In Surah Adz-Dzatriyaat verse 56, Allah says, “And I did not create the jinn and

mankind except to worship me” (AlQahthani et al., 1991: 94).

In the second line, pakajai amalaknu “increase your deeds,” implies that worship is not

just an obligatory prayer. Helping others, giving alms, and caring for orphans is also a form of

worship. It is following the word of Allah in Surah Al-Ma’un verses 4 - 7 “so woe to those who

pray, (but) who are heedless of their prayers, those who make a show (of their deeds), and

withhold (simple) assistance.” It is also found in Surah Al-Baqarah verse 177 “... and gives

wealth, despite love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask (for help),

and for freeing slaves” (AlQahthani et al., 1991: 116).

In the third line, nanujarreki kananna “uphold” implies that the teacher’s slightest advice

will be useful in life, both in worldly affairs and in the afterlife. Meanwhile, in the fourth line,

anrong gurunnu “teachings of your teacher” imply that teachers must be respected and

appreciated because they have useful knowledge for students. The teachers referred to in these

lyrics are those in the school environment or formal education and teachers in a general sense,

such as smart people (Kyai) or people who have high religious knowledge or are commonly

called tarekat.

In this oral poem, it is also implied that school is a place to educate a child’s intellectual

intelligence and emotional intelligence. This content appears in the following lyrics.

Sikola bajik adak School, (produce) good ethics

bangko bajik picuru the bench is an example

eroki bedeng he would, he said

nikunjungi allo-allo be visited every day

The first line sikolah baji adak “school, (produce) good ethics,” implies that school is a

place to build students’ ethics or manners. Bangku baijk picuru “the bench is an example”

implies that ethics education or the courtesy found at school is an excellent example to be

applied in everyday life. The third line eroki bedeng “he would, he said,” implies that whoever

wants to get the maximum educational outcome must be diligent in going to school. Meanwhile,

the fourth line nikunjungi allo-allo “be visited every day,” implies that someone diligent in

going to school is guaranteed to get an education that is useful in life in this world and the

hereafter.

In the following poetry, we can also educate children to be grateful for what God has

given.

Ikatte pasikollayya

punnamonokki sikola

teaki angngarruki

punna cekla nikaddokang (SKM 178-179)





387

We are school children

when you come home from school

do not cry

if the side dish is salt

The first line ikatte pasikolayya “we are school children,” implies that school children are

those who have good knowledge and ethics. Punna monokki sikolah “when you come home

from school” implies that he should not go anywhere until he gets home when a child comes

home from school. The third line, teaki angngarruki “do not cry,” implies that school children

must be patient and endure in facing problems. Meanwhile, the fourth line, punna cekla

nikaddokang “if the side dish is salt,” implies that school children should be grateful for all the

gifts of Allah even though they only eat salt.

Human Existence Subject Matter

For people who are aware of their existence in this world, Tawheed’s sentence will always

give a strong impression in their lives. A believer will always have essential peace always to

ensure that Allah’s help will come. Therefore, people must always put their trust and ask Him

for help. Human existence in the world is described in the following lyrics.

Battu riiaji antu

kajariannna nyawaku

ri ia tonji

lammaliang tallasakku

(Pantun-pantun Makassar atau PPMks 170)

From Him (Allah)

my life comes

and to Him too

I will return

The first line battu riapaji antu “from Him” is a kind of unquestioned question sentence

that asks about self-existence, which implies human origin in general by using the diction

nyawa, which means “life” as in the second line, which is kajarianna nyawaku “my life comes.”

The first and second lines do not stand alone because the second line is the answer to the first

line, which implies that humans in this world do not exist by themselves, but there is an

Almighty who created them Allah SWT. In the third line, riia tonji “and to Him too” implies

that every creature created by Allah will one day return to Him to account for all their actions

while living in this world. As a creature created by Allah SWT, humans must strengthen their

faith because they provide the fire of great strength in determination, courage, patience,

fortitude, and resignation. Therefore, a believer will be able to face tough and challenging tasks

in life. The fourth line lammaliang tallasakku “I will return,” implies that life in this world is

temporary. There is still a better life, namely the life in the hereafter. Therefore, people who

believe in Allah will not quickly feel discouraged and frustrated under any circumstances. They

believe that Allah’s power is limitless because He is the owner and ruler of this universe. Abul

A’la Mauludi said that a believer who believes in the sentence of Tawheed would have broad

insight because he believes that Allah’s rububiyah is the substance that created the heavens and

the earth, the ruler of the universe, the owner of the west and the east, and as a provider of

sustenance and control of humans (Alqathani Muhammad. 1991: 45).

Tawheed Sentence Purification Subject Matter

As we know, the creed consists of the initial creed of Lailaha Illallah, “there is no god

but Allah,” and the tsaani creed about the apostolate of Muhammad. These creeds are a barrier





388

between disbelief and faith, the gateway to a person’s entry from disbelief to faith. An infidel

who is willing to recite the two sentences of the creed can be said to have converted to Islam,

although later, he must know the logical consequences of that creed. The following oral poetry

contains the purification of the Tawheed sentence.

Sambayang-bayang dosanu

tumajarrekla imanna

ri naassenna

nasomba kasereanna (Pantun-Pantun Makassar 167)

His sins are thin

a person who is strong in faith

because he knows

to worship His oneness

Sambayang-bayang dosanu “his sins are thin” in the first line implies that a person who

fears Allah will always carry out His commands and stay away from all His prohibitions. They

will always try to avoid sinning in living their lives so that their sins are thin. In the second line

tumajarreka imanna “a person who is strong in faith,” implies that a person of strong faith is

not susceptible to temptations of a worldly nature. Moreover, they will fully believe and reject

all doubts. Faith in the sentence of Tawheed will not produce results if it is not accompanied by

belief. Faith cannot be based on mere presumptions. It is following the word of Allah in Surah

Al Hujuraat verse 15 “The believers are only the ones who have believed in Allah and His

Messenger and then doubt not but strive with their properties and their lives in the cause of

Allah.” People who are strong in faith accept the provisions and demands unanimously in the

Tawheed sentence both in their hearts and in their mouths. Besides, they are honest and reject

all lies, both physically and mentally, in the sense that their heart and words are in harmony.

In the third line, rinaassenna “because he knows” implies that a believer knows and

believes everything in this world belongs to Allah Almighty, and it is to Him that he will return.

Furthermore, in the fourth line, the nasomba kasereanna “to worship His oneness” implies that

it is Allah SWT that must be worshiped. Worship other than Him is idolatry.

A Muslim cannot worship other than Allah. Allah was neither childless nor begotten.

Muslims are those who make Allah the only God and offer their worship only to Him. They

pray, perform istighosah, make vows, slaughter animals, and other acts of worship intended

only for Allah. A Muslim must know for sure that only Allah has the right to be worshiped.

Everything other than Him, such as prophets, angels, saints, idols, trees, or jinn, have no right

to be worshiped. It is according to the word of Allah in surah Al-Israa, “And your Lord has

decreed that you not worship except Him.”

A similar subject matter appears in the following oral poetry

Punna kamma pangngassennu

pijappunu ri kalennu

antei kamma

ujukna pakkusiannu (Pantun-Pantun Makassar 171)

If that is your knowledge

The faith within you

What would it be

The form of your worship





389

Punna kamma panngassennu “If that is your knowledge” in the first line implies that

someone who knows always reads Allah’s creation as a sign of His power. He will always

humble himself before Allah SWT about the knowledge he has. The knowledge that he has will

further increase his confidence that everything belongs to Allah, who has been entrusted to him.

This content appears on the second line of pijappunu rikalennu, “the faith within you.” The

more knowledgeable a person is, the more humble himself and the more confident he will be in

Allah SWT’s greatness as the owner of knowledge. In the third line, anteikamma, “what would

it be” implies that a believer never doubts and never gets tired of worshiping Allah. Instead, he

will only get the coolness of the heart, which always covers his soul. Worshiping Allah SWT

is the most soothing communication for those who understand and practice it. Meanwhile, in

the last line, ujukna pakkusiannu, “the form of your worship,” implies that a believer always

draws closer to Allah SWT to get His pleasure. While still in the womb, everyone has promised

Allah SWT to obey all His commands and prohibitions. Making a promise is easy, but keeping

it is a golden step to earn a person’s trust of great value. Keeping promises to Allah SWT is not

difficult if it is done with sincerity. Even Allah SWT will further add to someone’s blessings in

the form of a feeling of calm, cold heart, and a comfortable fortune. However, Allah also often

tests a person’s faith with various problems that he thinks he cannot accept.

At this point, one’s devotion and worship to Allah SWT is tested as a form of fulfilling

one’s promise before being born into this world. Keeping promises to someone is a form of

carrying out a promise to Allah SWT. Keeping promises is very important. So vital that it gets

serious attention from Allah SWT. Therefore, we should not make promises if we are unable to

keep them.

When we make a promise, we are attracting massively the energy of others’ conscience,

which is called hope. The energy is brought home, and if it is not returned to its source, others’

balance will be disturbed. (Agustian, 2007: 59). It is following the word of Allah in Surah Al-

Fath verse 10 “Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you, (O Muhammad), they are actually

pledging allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is over their hands. So he who breaks his word

only breaks it to the detriment of himself. And he who fulfills that which he has promised Allah,

He will give him a great reward.”

Furthermore, the following oral poetry lyrics contain oneness and fear of Allah

Almighty because of the belief that there is nothing to be worshiped except Allah SWT as the

Creator of nature and its contents.

i maniakna

mallaka ritaklengukna

naku jarreki

sifat kasekreanna (Pantun-pantun Makassar 172)

I worship because He exists

I am afraid of the occult

I believe in

His oneness

Kusomba ri maniakna “I worship because He exists” implies that we must worship Allah

Almighty and believe that Allah exists. Even though Allah cannot be seen, His existence can

be believed through His creation. Allah created man and all his necessities of life. In the second

line, mallaka ritaklengukna, “I am afraid of the occult,” implies that Allah witnesses everything

we do that must be accounted for on the Day of Judgment.





390

All parts of our body, such as hands, ears, and eyes, will be witnesses on Judgment Day

and will speak before Allah Almighty about the deeds that have been done while living in this

world. The third line, naku jarrek “I believe in,” and the fourth line sifak kasekreanna “His

oneness,” implies that everything we do is only because of Allah SWT: fear of His torment and

hope for His forgiveness. Belief in His oneness means fully surrendering oneself to Allah SWT.

Besides that, it means that there is nothing worthy of worship but Allah. We must reject other

gods and establish the only God, namely Allah Almighty, as the Creator of nature and its

contents.

Furthermore, Allah’s statement is the only Creator of nature and its contents, and the

prophet Muhammad is His messenger appears in the following oral poetry.

Pannasai syahadaknu

sekreji Allah Taala

nabi Muhammad

suro tumatappakna (SKM 171)

If you want to know

Allah is one

Prophet Muhammad

His confidant

The first line, pannasai syahadatnu “if you want to know,” and the second line, sekreji

Allah Taala “Allah is one” in the kelong, implies that there is nothing worthy of worship except

Allah SWT. We must reject other Gods and make the only choice, namely Allah SWT. The

meaning of the third line of the Nabi Muhammad “Nabi Muhammad” suro tumatappakna “His

confidant” implies that we must completely follow Muhammad’s sunnah by following

everything he does and staying away from everything He forbids.

Self-regret Subject Matter

In life, humans are never free from various problems. Everyone must have a principle of

life before facing reality. It is following the word of Allah in the Koran surah Al-Alaq “Recite

in the name of your Lord who created.” As a human being, it is what must be held tightly before

reading the signs of life that all truth belongs to Allah. Allah SWT has honored critical thinking.

Humans can read many lessons in living this life. It can be in the form of events, personal

experiences, and others’ experiences that can serve as role models, warnings, and conclusions.

The following kelong contains the importance of being careful to avoid self-regret.

Sassak lalanga tungguna

tena memang nariolo

ri boko tonji

mappaloanang tungguna

Regret is sure to come

Never at the beginning

later

tantalizing, troubling (PPMks 182)

Sassak lalanga tunguna “regret is sure to come” implies that regret will come sooner or

later. Humans must always be careful in acting and behaving while living in this world because

it is full of tantalizing temptations. The temptations that humans face come from Satan,





391

character, lust, and the world. Regret will come. Therefore, humans should always resist

temptations or whispers that will bring misery to this world and the hereafter.

The second line of tena memang nariolo, “never at the beginning,” implies that the regret

never comes at the beginning but comes later. Therefore man must be careful because there is

no need for remorse. It will only cause heartache, eventually leading to idolatry if it is not based

on true devotion. The third line, riboko tonji “later,” and the fourth line mappaloanang

tungguna “tantalizing, troubling” imply that remorse will present disturbing temptations of

Satan, which will lead to disbelief. Consequently, everything that is haram will become halal,

and Allah’s compassion as vast as the universe will be forgotten.

Furthermore, the following oral poetry suggests making the best of youth.

Tutuko rimaloloa

ingakko tangnga toaya

mateko sallang

nunusassalak kalennu

Be careful when you are young

realized in middle age

when you die

you will regret it (PPMks 181)

The phrase tutuko rimaloloa “be careful when you are young” implies that youth is a

period that must be filled with meaningful life goals. Therefore, life activities should begin with

a goal. A teenager must have a clear vision, the right formula, and accurate analysis and

calculation of how close he is to Allah to get His pleasure.

Ingakko tangga toaya “Realized in the middle age” implies that youth will not be

repeated. Therefore, we should make the best use of it while we have time. A specific life

purpose in youth will guide a person in carrying out meaningful activities in middle age. Being

aware of it in middle age will lead to beneficial activities to no regrets in old age. The third line

mateko sallang, “when you die,” implies that not a single human being or God’s creature will

be eternal in this world. All creatures will return to Him to account for all their actions while

living in this world. Humans should do good deeds as much as possible before facing the

Creator because when they die, no one will be able to return to this world to repent. The fourth

line, nanusassalak kalennu “you will regret it,” implies that later regret is useless. Therefore,

use the best time while living in this world.

Prudence Subject Matter

The nature of being careful in living life plays an important role. Prudence will bring

someone to achieve success. It is being careful means making the aspect of benefits the primary

consideration before doing something. A heart and mind that are always in line will avoid

actions that can harm oneself and others. Be careful in speaking is a small example of avoiding

slanderous acts. The following oral poetry tells the story of being careful of Satan’s temptations

and careful in speaking.

1. The prudence of Satan’s Temptations in the Face of Death

When a person faces death, Allah shows him all the things he has done, whether evil

deeds or good deeds. It was like a film showing back the things he had done. The language

used in kelong is very philosophical. The language needs to be studied and interpreted to

get the message conveyed. The results of the researcher’s interview with one of the

tarekat followers said that this kelong has a profound meaning because it involves a

fundamental problem. Oral poetry is as follows.





392

Bayang-bayang rijeknek

tontonganna ri carammeng

lio-liona

tallasak tenang matea

Shadow in the water

window on glass

its goal point

life will not die (PPMks 174)

The first line, bayang-bayang rijeknek “shadows in the water,” implies that when a

person faces death, Allah plays or shows all the actions he has done. The phrase

tontongang ri carammeng “window on glass” implies that when a person is shown all the

actions he has committed, he will be afraid of the reprisals if he has more bad deeds than

good deeds. The phrase lio-liona, “its goal point,” implies that when witnessing all the

actions he has done, he will face various temptations from the devil, which come and go.

It seemed that people who had died for a long time came to pick him up and invite him

to come with him. At that time, one must be careful because of the possibility that the one

who came to pick him up was a demon. If he followed him, then he would go astray along

with the demon. Meanwhile, the phrase tallasak tenang matea “life will not die,” implies

that a person who carries out Allah’s orders and keeps away from all His prohibitions

during his life will not be affected by the devil’s call, which will mislead. He will survive

and will not go with the demon before the angel picks him up.

2. The Prudence in Speaking

Speaking or having conversations with other people plays an essential role in maintaining

good relationships. The language used must be clear and polite and use contours to clarify

the meaning to be conveyed. Sometimes we experience obstacles or misunderstandings

in carrying out conversations with other people because of wrong language reasoning.

Misunderstanding is the inequality between what is said and what someone means. The

following kelong implies a message to be careful in speaking or communicating with

other people.

Tutu laloko rikana

ingakko ripanggaukang

kodi gauknu

kodi todong balasakna

Be careful in speaking

remember your deeds

evil deeds

evil deeds too in return

The phrase tutulaloko ri kana “be careful in speaking” implies that we should use

polite language, not speak inappropriate words, and not offend when communicating with

others. The second line, ingakko ri panggaukang, “remember your deeds,” implies that

words and actions must go hand in hand.

The third line, kodi gauknu “evil deeds,” implies that everyone should behave well

and respect others because evil deeds will be rewarded with evil deeds as well. The last

line, kodi todong balasakna “evil deeds too in return,” implies that good deeds will be

rewarded with good deeds as well. On the other hand, evil deeds will be rewarded with





393

evil deeds as well. The following is another oral poetry which has almost the same

meaning as the previous one.

Tutuko malepa-lepa

mabbiseang rate bonto

tallangko sallang

nanasakkokko limbukbuk

Be careful in boating

boating on land

if you drown

you will be covered in dust

The message contained in this oral poetry is the same as in the previous one.

Everyone should be careful in speaking and acting. Word and deed must go hand in hand.

Good deeds will be rewarded with good deeds, while evil deeds will be rewarded with

evil deeds as well.

Customs Subject Matter

Customs are the most crucial thing for the Makassar people. Upholding the values of the

sirri na pacce in the family and society is an obligation. The concept of sirri na pacce has been

inherent in the soul of the Makassar people. It has the highest value in the Makassar people’s

social life because it covers the values of other social life. People who are not attached to the

value of sirri na pacce in their lives will get the title rapang-rapang or rupa tau, which means

they only resemble humans. Therefore, they are usually called olo-olo, which means animal or

non-human. The traditional concept of sirri na pacce appears in the following kelong.

Ikatte ri turatea

adaka kipammempoi

karampuanta

kipare tope kalimbu (PPM 180)

For us, the upper class

we sat upon the custom

hospitality

we made it a blanket

The first and second lines Ikatte ri turatea “for us the upper class” adaka kipammempoi

“we sat upon the custom” imply that for the Makassar people, customs have a very high position

in society. It means that the culture of sirri na pacce covers all aspects of the Makassar people’s

life in acting and behaving. Therefore, sirri na pacce is considered to cover other elements of

custom. The third and fourth lines karampuanta “hospitality” kipare tope kalimbu “we made it

a blanket” imply that whenever and wherever Makassar people are, the concept of sirri is

preserved in their souls like clothes covering their genitals.

The following is oral poetry, directly explaining the concept of sirri na pacce as a custom

that must be upheld by the Makassar people.

Siri pacce rikatte

kontu ballak ia benteng

ia pattongkok

ia todong jari rinring





394

Siri pacce for us

Like in a house, it is the pole

it is the roof

it is also the wall

The oral poetry implies that the sirri na pacce culture is like a house where the Makassar

people live their joys and sorrows in life. Every activity in life must be based on the sirri na

pacce culture because it has high noble values that govern all the systems of individual and

social life for the Makassar people.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

Conclusion

The oral poetry fragments previously described are a small part of the many other oral

poetry found by the researcher. The informational functions refer to Van Dijk’s Critical

Discourse as a framework for analysis using the hermeneutic approach as an interpretive tool.

The wealth of cultural products that we have is an inexhaustible source of teaching

materials for us to use.

Suggestion

The cultural products have great and appropriate functions to be used as teaching

materials in schools ranging from kindergartens, elementary schools, secondary schools to

higher education. Therefore, we should maintain and develop these cultural products to build

the nation’s future generations’ character.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Agustian Ary Ginanjar. 2007. ESQ for Teens 2. Jakarta: PT Arga Publishing

Abdullah, Hamid. 1985. Manusia Bugis Makassar: Jakarta: Inti Dayu Press.

AlQahthani Muhammad. 1991. Memurnikan Lailaha Illallah. Jakarta: Gema Insani Press

Chaer, Abdul. 2003. Psikolinguistik Kajian Teoretik. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

Frondizi, Risteri.2001. Pengantar Filsafat Nilai. Diterjemahkan Cut Ananta Wijaua 1963, Yokyakarta;

Pustaka Pelajar.

Gadamer, Hans Georg. 2004. Kebenaran dan Metode. Pengantar Filsafat Hermeneutika. Diterjemahkan

oleh Ahmad Sahidah. 1975. Yokyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Hakim, Chaeruddin. 2006. Kitab Kelong Makassar. Gowa: Glora Pustaka Indonesia.

Halim, Amran. ed. Politik Bahasa Nasional, Jilid 2. Jakarta: PN Balai Pustaka

Keraf, Gorys. 2007. Diksi dan Gaya Bahasa. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Leech, Geoffrey. 1981. Semantics the Stuy of Meaning. Second Edition. Middlesex, England: Penguin

Books Ltd.

Mulyana, Rohmat. 2004. Pendidikan Nilai, Bandung: CV Alfabeta.

Nappu, Sahabuddin dan Nasruddin. 1995. Puisi-Pisi Makassar. Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan

Pengembangan Bahasa Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.

Pudentia. 1998. Metodologi Kajian Tradisi Lisan. Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonsia.

Rahman, Nurhayati. 2006. Cinta Laut dan Kekuasaan, dalam Epos La Galigo. Makassar: La Galigo

Press.

Rahman, Nurhayati. 2012. Suara-Suara dalam Lokalitas.Makassar’: La Galigo Press.

Surin, Bachtiar. 1978. Terjemah dan Tafsir Alquran. Bandung: Fa. Sumatra.

Pusat Studi La Galigo Divisi Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora Pusata Kegiatan Penelitian Universitas

Hasanuddin bekerjasama dengan Pemerintah Kabupaten Barru. 2003. La Galigo, Menelusuri Jejak

Warisan Sastra Dunia.





395

LEARNING LITERATURE BY UTILIZING MEDIA SONG LYRICS

Ratu Badriyah

FKIP Open University


ABSTRACT

Along with the rapid pace of globalization, various orders of life have also changed. One of

these changes is the human character. Overcoming this very worrying change requires efforts

in various fields and living arrangements. It is possible to make changes in the field of

education. Among the fields with the most significant potential for maintaining good character

is through educational institutions. In addition, the scope of the education sector is vast;

reaching all levels of school and also has easy access at every level of education. One of them

is entrusted with literature learning. Literary learning used as an alternative here is literary

learning through poetry taken from song lyrics/song lyrics. With the choice of poetry from the

song lyrics, it is hoped that it will increase students’ interest in literature, which in recent years

has wished to decline.

Keywords: learning, character, literature, and song lyrics

The rapid pace of globalization and the emergence of information technology have caused

the world to change. Humans are preoccupied with the various effects of change. One of the

visible impacts is a change in lifestyle and human perspective. There are those who respond

positively; some are negative. The positive thing is that the changes that occur will change the

good character of Indonesian people, especially the younger generation of students. In general,

this circle is very restless thinking about efforts to maintain good character in various ways.

Some struggle through writing specifically discussing these negative impacts, some are

carrying out discussions and seminars to make the public aware of the dangers of character

change, some are establishing educational institutions that focus on character curricula.

Examples like this are more numerous in almost all areas of the capital, especially in big cities.

In general, this group has the same goal: to form a positive character or maintain a positive

character that is feared to disappear along with the popularity of devices around the world.

It cannot be denied that education is one of the institutions that currently have the most

influence on this change in character. Almost all education observers try hard to find the best

solution to maintain the positive character of students. The author is also a part that is moved

to help find solutions through work that I have been working on. As an educator, who is

entrusted with teaching literature courses at an educational institution, the writer offers an

alternative solution through learning poetry literary appreciation using song lyrics. This method

is considered useful in building the positive character of students because literary learning will

attract students to recognize the positive characters contained in examples of stories about the

lives of the characters. There are so many positive characters in literature that can be absorbed

if the delivery of the characters of the story characters/story actors is easy for students to

understand.

A positive attitude means good behaviour in accordance with the values and norms of life

that apply in society. This positive attitude contains various positive attitudes/potentials in a

person/student which will be reflected in their behaviour, both showing their inner/internal

personality as well as those related to those around them/externally. Both vertical and

horizontal.





396

Positive values that are close to oneself include discipline, like to work hard, resilient,

and honesty.

Positive values related to people outside oneself: loyal friends, kinship, willingness to

sacrifice, always completing responsibilities well, helping, daring to defend the truth, and

having a high tolerance for others.

Positive values related to the material: frugal, like to save and live simply.

Positive values related to divinity: being obedient to God, always making His requests,

and leaving everything He forbids. (school-press.com/2009).

In line with those mentioned above, Ismail (Kompas.com) detailed positive values,

namely faith, honesty, order, self-control, sacrifice, democracy, thirst for knowledge, wisdom

for humans and life, honed in aesthetic sensitivity, cultivated empathy, morals, prepare for the

future. With these positive values, it is hoped that a positive character will be built as well. It

cannot be denied that literature has always played a role in maintaining and developing positive

characters because literary appreciation aims to familiarize us with life”, Zaidan (2007).

Familiarizing us with life means bringing us closer to various realities (realities) that occur in

life. Familiarity with the reality of life itself, because we exist in the reality of life. Such

familiarity that occurs or forms itself is often overlooked. This makes humans often not aware

of where they are, whether we are in the right corridor or are in the wrong place. Things like

this should always be a concern for adults, especially those who work as teachers. Teachers

have an obligation not only to themselves but also to their students.

Teaching literary appreciation is one of the many media that can be used to instil positive

values in students. According to Saini (1986: 25), literature seeks to explain, explain,

understand, open new perspectives, and give meaning to the realities of life so that people can

better understand and behave appropriately towards the realities of life. According to

Endraswara (2005: 53), Teaching literature involves psychological education as well as

humanity. Through literary teaching, in fact, we have been brought to the level of educated

humans, namely humans who are capable of thinking about life, clever in understanding the

secrets of life, living life wisely, and sharpening new experiences. Through literary teaching,

students will be able to understand themselves individually and in groups to become whole

humans, mentally good, and humanists.

On the basis of some of these opinions, the writer believes that through the appreciation

of literature students can sharpen feelings, reasoning, imagination, sensitivity to society,

culture, and the environment. Because literature through the characters that appear with various

characters in it will certainly include the character traits of the characters in it so that positive

values are embedded in the students’ minds. These positive values will equip students to face

the realities of life today. Baedhowi (kompas.com,)

Indeed, to reach this goal requires students’ appreciative ability. This ability will be

formed if the learning has gone through the following steps:

Soul involvement. A way of a teacher inviting students to become people who have

feelings of empathy and sympathy for literary works so that students will be able to internalize

figures, events, and characters according to their personal experiences.

True appreciation of literary works is by entering literary copyright and involving

students intently and to be able to enjoy it with the depth of their soul and imagination.

The implementation of experiences in literary works with real life, so that a literary work

becomes meaningful and contextual (Endraswara, 25: 78-79)

These explanations imply that the teaching of literary appreciation is a teaching that has

a profound meaning, not teaching that aims only for students to know literature and literary

works. Through the literary works they learn, students must be able to draw the messages

contained in the work and apply them in everyday life.





397

The biggest problem is to accept the fact that learning literature is currently less attractive

to students. We have often heard this through complaints from various parties, especially

teachers and literature observers. Many factors can be traced to the cause. The cause from the

student’s point of view, the first and foremost factor is a lack of interest in reading so that no

matter how much literature is available, it will certainly be in vain and will never arrive in front

of the students, especially if you expect students to understand it. In the past, literary spaces

such as literary centres were still mushrooming, so that inadequate literary learning services

would be patched up or strengthened by/through these studios as a means of gathering creative

young people. Now, where do we look for the remaining studios? In the past, oral literature was

almost the obligation of every parent, which was continuously conveyed through bedtime

stories and was a part of cultivating the family’s character in addition to its implementation.

Nevertheless, for now, where do we find such a thing?

If from the side of internal and external factors (reading interest and a place of

appreciation/studio) can no longer be expected to accompany students, how can students be

encouraged or drawn into the area of literature? Then what if the problem is added to the

teacher’s factor. For example, some teachers do not like literature so that such teachers cannot

be demanded that they teach literature better. In terms of learning activities that are not quite

right, for example in choosing methods, challenging materials or in choosing inappropriate

learning media. Because good learning certainly applies to learn methods and media that can

challenge students. Especially those who can enter the emotional area of students so that they

can involve themselves in literature. If the teacher does not own these two things, it will be

possible to predict the level of student appreciation, and what kind of positive value will be

obtained.

Efforts to introduce literary learning through song lyrics/song lyrics are alternative

learning that will be exemplified especially in dealing with students who are not very interested

in literature. The selection of poetry literature learning material through song lyrics are written

based on the writer’s experience as a teacher and the statements of several teachers where

students are more interested in songs than literature. This is in accordance with the character of

junior and senior high school students whose psychological development is at puberty.

In adolescence, he is looking for self-identity so he often feels uneasy. And the form of

expression tool for teenagers, in general, is a song which in this case is emphasized on the lyrics

of the song which touches and can represent their expression. Second, the lack of student

interest in literature needs to find a substitute that can be adapted so that it makes students

happier and does not feel forced to study literature. By learning the lyrics of songs, it is possible

to be more fun and closer to the age stage of the students so that learning is not a burden for

them but a fun game. Because song lyrics are a medium that brings distance between song

lovers, learning takes place as a game. Learning will excite students, not like learning that has

been imagined so far, namely learning that describes the relationship between the teacher who

teaches the class with great authority in dealing with students who feel depressed because there

is the fear of the teacher. In this case, Muliono in Kristanti (2012) states that song lyrics have

the same meaning as poetry which contains an outpouring of personal feelings, and the meaning

of both is the composition of a song. Based on the understanding of the first song lyrics, the

writer juxtaposes the lyrics of the songs/lyrics with poetry. Meanwhile, as we all know, poetry

has a higher density and concentration than prose Prodopo (2002: 11). Poetry is one of the

literary genres that have elements in the form of emotions, imagination, thoughts, ideas, tone,

rhythm, sensory impressions, word structure, figurative words, density, and author’s feelings,

all of which are revealed using the Prodopo language media (2002: 7). Poetry is a literary work

that is compressed and shortened and given a rhythm with a unified sound and a choice of

classy/imaginative words. Words are really chosen to have pronunciation power. The words

used are rhythmic and have connotative meanings or figurative styles, Waluyo, (2005: 1).





398

According to Suyatno (2009: 78), poetry is the totality of language aesthetics that contains

possibilities that cannot be expressed by ordinary language. In poetry, the world is a separate

reality that cannot be entered except with the various aesthetic devices that are required.

Application of Learning

To provide poetry learning through song lyrics, it is carried out through the following

stages:

First, the teacher introduces some song lyrics. Look for song lyrics with general themes.

Look for those whose words/sentences have a very strong and concise meaning (meet literary

requirements). The song lyrics were chosen must be in accordance with the stage of the

student’s psychological development. If possible, use rhymes that are familiar to most students.

The following is an alternative example of learning by illustrating the learning

atmosphere played by the students themselves in the learning class.

Teacher : “Good morning children!”

Student : “Good morning sir”, said the student as he hurried to discipline himself.

After placing some utensils on the table, the teacher took the completed attendance list,

researched it, then looked at the students and said, “So today there are two people who are

absent, namely Santi and Adi, both because of illness. Hopefully, they will get well soon and I

hope that those of you who are learning today will keep your health.

Student : “Amen, sir!”

Teacher : “Today we study literature. We will learn to appreciate poetry to find or know the

values contained in poetry. Through the values contained in the poem, you can learn

to understand the meaning contained in it. So who among you likes poetry?

Ali : I don’t like poetry Sir, the language is not clear!

Fatma : Yes Sir, the language is difficult to understand! “

Literature : “The language makes you dizzy sir, because it is not directly on the target, it is too

far-fetched!”

Students : Yes, it is difficult Sir!

Teacher : Udin, you’ve been silent since earlier, what do you think?

Udin : “I like hearing poetry readings, I think poetry is very beautiful, and reading and

understanding its meaning will make life more beautiful!”

Teacher : Amazing, who agrees with Udin’s statement?

Sinta : “I also like to read it occasionally, if what I understand is really nice to read, but I

often find poetry that the meaning of it doesn’t understand!”

Teacher : Does anyone agree with Sinta’s statement?

Sumi : Yes Sir, I also often get confused when asked to find the meaning of poetry in

Indonesian language assignments.

Teacher : Fine, children, what Udin said are true, poetry is indeed made with a series of words

that are meaningful and have a tone. That is why poetry will make its readers

discover beauty. The beauty behind a series of words that are arranged and contain

a certain language style so that the words written seem alive because they are full

of meaning.

Teacher : “Look at the poetry that you brought! (While advancing to the blackboard, hang an

old calendar that contains writing on the plain page, right in the middle of the

blackboard then read it out.

When Hands and Feet Say

By Taufik Ismail

There will come the day the mouth is locked

No more words

There will come a time when there will be no

voice

Ketika Tangan dan Kaki Berkata

Oleh Taufik Ismail

Akan datang hari mulut dikunci

Kata tak ada lagi

Akan tiba masa tak ada suara





399

From our mouths

Said our hand

About what it does

Said our feet

Wherever he goes

We don’t know when the day is

The responsibility arrived

Rabbana

Our hands

Our feet

Our mouths

The eyes of our heart

Get straight

I’ll fix it

On the path of light

Perfect

Please give us a gift

Your lowly servant.

Dari mulut kita

Berkata tangan kita

Tentang apa yang dilakukannya

Berkata kaki kita

Ke mana saja dia melangkahnya

Tidak tahu kita bila harinya

Tanggung jawab tiba

Rabbana

Tangan kami

Kaki kami

Mulut kami

Mata hati kami

Luruskanlah

Kukuhkanlah

Di jalan cahaya

Sempurna

Mohon karunia kepada kami

Hamba-Mu yang hina.

Teacher : Who knows the poetry that you read earlier?

Some students : “That’s Krisye Sir’s song, not poetry!”

Teacher : “So you guys are familiar with the song?”

Some students: “Yes!”

Ali : “It’s a song sir, not poetry!”

Teacher : “Who can explain to Ali what you wrote and read earlier? Poetry or not?”

Udin : (Pointing at hand)

Teacher : Please Udin!

Udin : In my opinion, what was read earlier was a poem, Sir, because it was written in

a line down, the words were short, and had a lot of meaning. And as far as I

know, Taufik Ismail wrote the lyrics of the song. If what I have ever known,

Taufik Ismail is a 66th generation poet. And I felt a strong vibration in my

heart. it felt like goosebumps, I was amazed; anyway it’s hard for me to

describe my feelings earlier when I heard you read it earlier. The meaning

touched my heart so much that I became even more afraid of the events of

God’s judgment in the future.

Teacher : Very good, one hundred for Udin! You already understand poetry; may you

know where you can learn from?

Udin : When I was in junior high school, I learned about poetry, and I joined the

Sanggar Sastra (literary activity group), one of the extracurricular activities in

my school.

Teacher : Let us all applaud the explanation of Udin, our literary expert!

Students : Clapping loudly, while clapping their hands and some clenching their fingers

up while shouting live Udin! “

Teacher : Yes, no, already applause, now we continue our study.

“All right, you brought the following recording of the poetry reading, listen carefully, and

don’t make a sound. The teacher turned on the cell phone and turned up the volume to let the

students listen to the Krisye song about the poem. 5 minutes later the teacher pays attention to

the students. Most of the students fell silent. Several others were humming to sing the song then

the teacher asked.





400

Teacher : Who can comment on that song?

Lila : It is true what Udin said, Sir. My body trembled remembering the responsibility

for my future actions

Teacher : Who felt the power of that song? (several students raised their hands)

Teacher : Try to exterminate you explain which part of the word causes you to vibrate

too?

Exterminate : Said our hand, about what he did,

Said our feet wherever he stepped.

Teacher : Well we still have 15 minutes left; everyone should write it down on a piece of

paper each of the following questions:

1. Explain at least five sentences about what the poem is about?

2. What is the message of the poem?

3. Explain which words do you think are very meaningful? Why?

4. What do the words in the following stanza mean?

There will come the day the mouth is locked

No more words

There will come a time when there will be no voice

From our mouths...

“So children, please do it, in the next 15 minutes, and before the lesson ends

you have to collect it, and you will select several students to read the results in

front of the class.

After students have finished working on assignments and listened to several students read

them in front of the class, the teacher provides confirmation of the concept of poetry and the

values contained in poetry. At the end of the lesson, the teacher asked again,

Teacher : ‘Do you still hate poetry?’

Student : Answering in unison, no sir! ‘

Teacher : “You mean you don’t like it?”

Student : “It means, we now really like poetry, especially poetry that is taken from song

lyrics. It turned out that I just realized that the lyrics of songs are also poetry,

it is fitting that we often get involved in our inner mood so my emotions

fluctuate.

Teacher : Yes, why do you like the lyrics of the song, because it creates an inner mood

Didu : No wonder, Siska often sings melancholy songs, apparently she’s heartbroken!

“

Teacher : Yes, starting today, if you hear the lyrics of a song or poetry, you try to read it

slowly, then look for the value contained in it, is it beautiful isn’t it? “

Student : Yes sir, Long live Sir, teacher of literature! “(students shout at their teacher

while laughing).

From this illustration, it will be able to attract students’ interest back to literature as

learning about life, and involve the emotional side of students so that they can sympathize and

empathize with the situation of the characters presented through literature. In the end, the

teacher leads students to make movements, efforts, and various modes so that creating more

positive characters at least retaining the potential positive characters may be useful.





401

DEVELOPING MODERN SITI ZUBAIDAH DRAMA SCRIPT LEARNING

MATERIAL WRITING FOR EFL STUDENTS

Rita Inderawati

Universitas Sriwijaya


Nurhayati

Universitas Sriwijaya


ABSTRACT

Local culture in some countries is used only for local needs. The local culture is the potential

to be the learning material in the EFL classroom for both preserving among the students towards

their local culture and internationalizing it. This current study is the development of teaching

materials, in the form of learning material for drama scriptwriting in the EFL classroom. The

objectives of this research were to describe the students’ and teachers’ need toward the material

of drama scriptwriting, to elaborate the arranged material of writing drama which is in line with

students’ need, to put forward the result of validation toward the material of writing the drama

script, to elaborate potential effects of the material toward the students. This development

research used modification toward the development models of Jolly & Bolitho and Dick, Carey,

and Carey. The subjects in this study were 22 students and two lecturers in Literature in ELT

class. The techniques for collecting the data of this research used documents, questionnaires,

interviews, and tests. The feasibility of developed drama script writing materials could be

identified from the results of validation by four experts on the four components of teaching

materials, the feasibility of component contents/material, language components, and display

design components. Based on the results of the expert review, the developed material was

categorized as good for use. The result of the paired samples t-test also shown the value of Sig.

(2-tailed) 0.000 < α (0:05), so it could be concluded that the material of drama script writing

gave potential effect to the students’ score especially in writing the drama script.

Keywords: local culture, Siti Zubaidah, modern drama scriptwriting, EFL students

INTRODUCTION

In the world of education, teaching materials are important parts of supporting the

continuity of the teaching and learning process. The implementation of teaching and learning

activities becomes smoother by the existence of teaching materials. Lecturers can carry out their

duties optimally and make it easier for students to receive knowledge. Selection and availability

of quality teaching materials are important in helping lecturers and students in educational

activities. Teaching materials are all learning devices or learning materials arranged

systematically for the purposes of a learning process. The selection and availability of quality

teaching materials are very important in helping lecturers and students in learning activities.

Based on the survey results, there are several types of teaching materials used by teachers. The

categories are as follows, (1) workbooks, and (2) teacher guide (Miligan, Tikly, Williams,

Vianney, & Uworwabayeho, 2016). They concluded that textbooks can be used as learning

support materials for all learners effectively.

Teaching materials commonly used by teachers such as textbooks and worksheets are

usually obtained conventionally. To provide these teaching materials requires a large amount

of money. In addition, teaching materials in the form of books tend to be passive or explain

one-way subject matter without adequate understanding so that lecturers are required to be

maximum in explaining the material. Meanwhile, worksheets usually only provide a little





402

material and provide more assignments or exercises. Based on this, the selection of teaching

materials that are commonly used is less effective in improving the teaching and learning

process. The quality of learning becomes low when educators are only fixated on available

teaching materials without any creativity to develop teaching materials innovatively as

proposed by Prastowo (2015: 18-19). The current teaching and learning process tends not to

run optimally due to the noncontextual and monotonous teaching materials used. Therefore, it

is a need to have appropriate teaching materials for students.

Based on an interview with one lecturer from a private university in Palembang, it was

known that in general students experienced limitations in writing drama scripts. In addition, the

teaching materials used by the lecturer were only material compiled from the internet. The

material they got was very limited, lacks detailed techniques for understanding and writing

drama scripts, and there were very few exercises that assign students to write. Lecturers need

other teaching materials to support existing teaching materials, such as modules or other

learning material that can really provide deeper understanding and can also practice writing,

especially in writing drama scripts.

Writing is one of the expressive and productive language skills. Through writing, the

writer expresses ideas, ideas, and opinions to the reader about something he thinks, worries

about, or feels in writing. Conversely, writing is a form of expression of the soul. Happiness,

sadness, concern, and turmoil are translated into writing (Parker, 2018). Besides, writing itself

as a form of creativity, so writing interesting also needs to be presented creatively. Writing

takes practice and a process to improve writing skills. According to Abdurrahman (2012:178)

writing is not only copying but also expressing thoughts and feelings into writing symbols. In

this connection, by learning to write drama texts, students will have the ability to express ideas,

opinions, thoughts, and feelings so that students’ thinking, imagination, and creativity can

develop.

Writing drama texts is an activity to express ideas and ideas in the form of a story by

expressing the ideas through a dialogue between characters. Through drama texts, it is able to

create characters, stories and figures based on story ideas of their own experiences and other

observed things. According to Achmad (2015:17), drama scripts are written based on what the

writer has seen, experienced, read, and told to others. Meanwhile, writing a drama script is not

just composing a story, but also formulating thoughts and compiling premises. The dialogues

in his drama are discussions of meanings resulting from spiritual experience and a process o

contemplation.

There are several reasons for the importance of a particular learning media in writing

drama scripts for English Foreign Language (EFL) students. First, students still find it difficult

to learn to write a drama script because the learning material is something that is considered

quite complex, such as having to determine the elements intrinsic elements first of which

determine the theme, mandate, plot, character and characterization, setting or setting, and

dialogue. So, as learning support materials, it is needed as a special guide in learning to write

the drama script. Second, students need teaching materials in the form of modules for learning

material for writing drama scripts because the material in the available textbooks is incomplete

in discussing the structure, rules and how to write drama scripts. The structure of the content

does not complete the elements that exist in drama, the rules for writing a proper drama script

and the use of effective language. Then there is no material about assessment and evaluation of

drama scripts written by students. Third, campuses have not provided a special book that

discusses writing drama texts for student guidance, so it requires the materials in the form of

learning material so that they can be used at that level. This learning material is expected to be

more appropriate in learning to write drama texts for students





403

Relevant studies have been conducted previously by researchers. First, Yuanyuan (2019)

found that drama course had helped promote both students’ language competency and drama

acting capacity. Meanwhile, Pourgharib (2019) indicated that English literature is a rich source

that can effectively be used in language teaching programs through plays. This technique is

incredibly effective in learning because learners become involved in the process of learning in

a highly interactive environment. It allows learners to produce and receive language by

employing a variety of skills. Based on the description above, an effort to develop teaching

materials in the form of a drama script writing learning material for English language teaching

is needed to improve students’ abilities in writing drama scripts. The efforts to develop teaching

materials were carried out in a series of research and development research in order to obtain a

drama scriptwriting module according to the needs of students and teachers in schools.

Therefore, the objectives of this research were to describe the students’ and teachers’ need

toward the material of drama scriptwriting, to elaborate the arranged material of writing drama

which is in line with students’ need, to put forward the result of validation toward the material

of writing the drama script, to elaborate potential effects of the material toward the students.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

This development research used a modification of the development models of Jolly &

Bolitho and Dick, Carey, and Carey. The subjects in this study were 22 students and a teacher

in Literature in ELT class. The techniques for collecting the data of this research used

documents, questionnaires, interviews, and tests. The feasibility of developed drama script

writing materials could be identified from the validation results by four experts on the four

components of teaching materials, the feasibility of component contents/material, language

components, and display design components. Basically, the purpose of this research is to test

or produce products that are useful, effective and appropriate for the learning process.

Therefore, a needs analysis research was used that aims to know the needs of students and test

the effectiveness of the product, the current product function and benefit the community (its

users).

The teaching materials development procedures used in this study were adapted from the

Jolly and Bolitho model (in Tomlison, 1998: 96-115) and the Dick, Carey and Carey model

(2005: 6-8). The reasons for the researchers choosing the Jolly and Bolitho development model

include (1) this model is a model specifically used to develop language teaching materials; (2)

the product developed in this study is a product that is used on a small scale and is intended for

a thesis; (3) the steps used in this model are more straightforward, there are not many stages in

the testing. The steps for developing teaching materials that researchers adapt from the Jolly

and Bolitho model (in Tomlison, 1998) and the Dick, Carey and Carey (2005: 6-8) model are

as follows.

1. Identification of needs

Researchers identified needs using questionnaires from the lecturer. In addition,

researchers also analyzed teaching materials that already exist and are used on campus.

Identification of this need to do with difficulties faced by students and teachers in learning

to write drama scripts, obstacles faced by students and teachers when using existing

teaching materials and used in schools, and student and teacher expectations of the

modules to be developed.

2. Exploration of material needs

At this stage, the researchers conducted a material needs analysis related to drama script

writing skills.

3. Contextual realization

At this stage, the researchers analyzed the objectives and characteristics of the material,

analyzes learning resources, and analyzed learning characteristics. Researchers also





404

collect examples, design a coherent thought order, use language that is easy to understand,

and involve students’ learning experiences with the aim of learning so that the learning

material developed is more contextual.

4. Pedagogic realization

At this stage, the researchers selected and set a strategy for organizing the learning

content, determined the strategy for delivering the learning content, established learning

management strategies, and determined learning assessments that are equipped with

exercises and assignments, both structured and independent assignments. This is intended

to get feedback on students’ mastery.

5. Production of teaching materials

At this stage, the researcher developed effective teaching materials and produce them in

the form of learning material for students.

After developing the learning material, the next step was to find out whether it has

been developed has achieved the desired goals. For this reason, it is necessary to validate

by three experts. The experts provided comments and input on the quality of the

developed learning material. So it can be seen whether the developed learning material

has actually achieved the desired goals and revision is necessary so that students and

teachers can use it optimally.

6. Revision of teaching materials

After being validated by a team of experts, at this stage, the researchers revised the

learning material that has been developed based on comments, suggestions, or input given

by the expert team.

7. The use of teaching materials by students

After being revised, the product being developed is field-tested (field trial). This trial

phase was carried out on a group of students to see the potential effects of the learning

material that the researcher had developed. In addition, the researchers asked the students

for comments, whether the learning material was in accordance with their expectations

and was effective in improving the ability to write drama scripts. The trial was conducted

by applying the pre-experimental design type one-group pretest-posttest design.

Furthermore, the data collection techniques used in this study were documents,

questionnaires, interviews, and performance tests for writing drama scripts. Meanwhile, the

data analysis techniques used in this study were described. Data obtained from student and

teacher questionnaires were analyzed or described. Meanwhile, the data obtained from the

expert questionnaire analyzed/described and a percentage. Furthermore, data in the form of

student learning outcomes in the field test were analyzed through the t-test using SPSS 22.


Identification of the needs of students is carried out to find data about the needs of

students on the importance of teaching materials and the expected content of teaching materials.

In addition, researchers also analyzed teaching materials that already exist and are used in

campuses. Identification of this need to do with difficulties faced by students in learning to

write drama scripts, constraints faced by students when using existing teaching materials and

used in schools, as well as student expectations of the learning material to be developed. The

followings are the results of identifying the needs of students.





405





406





407

Furthermore, identification of the lecturers who were the subject of this research. The

identified aspects were as follows. (1) How to teach writing a drama script in class, (2) Teaching

materials what is used, is it in accordance with the needs of students, (3) Expectations desired

for the developed learning material, and (4) Constraints faced by the teacher when teaching the

material for writing drama scripts. After identifying the results of the lecturers’ needs for

teaching materials to write drama scripts. It is known that the results of the answers from the

questionnaire. The answers to the two lecturers’ questionnaire indicated that they have taught

the material for drama performance and tried to explain the drama scriptwriting in detail.

However, they still needed a book or other complete and learning material for drama

scriptwriting including some examples of drama script in it. They also agreed that local culture

must be used as learning material for drama script for the students in preserving and

internationalizing it as it is performed in English and uploaded in Youtube Chanel.

From the interview, it was found that the lecturers have certain expectations, regarding

teaching materials, especially about writing drama scripts. Teaching materials that can help

students write drama scripts better (Miligan, Tikly, Williams, Vianney, & Uworwabayeho;

2016). Teaching materials that have a complete presentation of material about drama, both from

the way of writing, the steps of writing a drama script, developing ideas, and evaluating student

work. This is due to the limitations of students in conveying ideas when they want to write.

They also want teaching materials that emphasize aspects of writing skills of students

individually, with the performance of writing drama scripts. The other most important thing is

the obstacles faced by the lecturers in teaching drama script writing. The main difficulty is

helping students find their drama script story ideas. In addition, it helps students who have

difficulty expressing ideas or words in the form of dialogue. The lecturers also find it difficult

to guide students in starting story ideas and ending the drama script stories that students wrote.

The results of the learning material improvements after being validated by experts on the

Modern Siti Zubaidah Drama Script Writing for EFL Students. Assessments, suggestions and

comments were obtained as a basis for making improvements to learning material so that it is

better and can be used for students, especially English students. Hence, the learning material

has characteristics: it is interesting and easy to understand.

Based on the data on the value of writing a drama script before and after using the learning

material, it can be seen that the students’ scores have increased after using it. This can be seen

from the average value (mean). The average score before using it was 60.45 while the average

score after using it was 81.44. The difference in value is 20.99.

To meet the need for practical and easy to understand teaching materials, the teaching

material is equipped with complete material and in accordance with the learning objectives.

Then, in the teaching material, it is also equipped with steps to write a drama script, examples,

competency tests, assessment rubrics, reflections, along with answer keys.

The results of the analysis of the needs of lecturers and students were relatively the same,

namely requiring teaching materials that were easy to understand. That way made it easier for

the lecturers and the students to carry out writing drama scripts in the classroom. The teaching

materials that the lecturers wanted were practical, fun, flexible and equipped with contextual

examples teaching materials so that they can help students in writing, especially writing drama

scripts. In addition, the lecturers also want the teaching materials developed to overcome the

lack of learning hours for writing activities. Meanwhile, prototypes of developed teaching

materials have been developed based on the needs of lecturers and students. Furthermore, the

t-test calculation results determine a positive effect on student learning outcomes after using

the learning material Modern Siti Zubaidah Drama Script Writing for EFL Students.





408

CONCLUSION

Based on the identification of needs, both the students and the lecturers need teaching

materials that suit their needs to make it easier for them to learn to write drama scripts. They

need special teaching materials to write drama scripts that are easy to understand, fun, and

complete. Teaching materials that are flexible, practical, equipped with clear instructions,

contain complete material descriptions and are provided with examples or exercises that are

easy to understand. From the field test results, Modern Siti Zubaidah Drama Script Writing for

EFL Students has a potential effect on developing students’ drama script writing skills.

Indicators of improving students’ abilities in writing drama scripts were identified from the

average value (mean) with the gain of 20.99. Thus, there is a significant increase after using the

developed learning material.

REFERENCES Abdurrahman, M. (2012). Anak Berkesulitan Belajar. Teori, Diagnosis, dan Remediasinya. Jakarta:

Rineka Cipta.

Achmad, S. W. (2015). Menjadi Penulis Handal Karya Ilmiah, Artikel, Resensi, Naskah Drama, Puisi,

Cerpen, dan Novel. Yogyakarta: Araska.

Dick, Carey dan Carey. (1978). The Systematic Design of Instruction. USA: Foresman and Company.

Jolly, D. & Bolitho, R. (1998). A Framework for Material Writing. Dalam Brian Tomlison (Ed.).

Materials Development in Language Teaching (hlm. 90—115). Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Miligan, L.O., Tikly, L., Williams, T., Vianney, J.M., & Uworwabayeho, A. (2016). Textbook

availability and use in Rwandan basic education: A mixed-methods study. International Journal of

Educational Development. 55 (1). P.1-7

Parker, S. L. (2018). Writing as a Way of Staying Human in a Time that Isn’t. New York (NY): Vernon

Press.

Pourgharib, B. (2017). The challenges of scenario-based teaching using drama script. Iranian Journal

of English for Academic Purposes. 8 (1), 67-76

Prastowo, A. (2015). Panduan Kreatif Membuat Bahan Ajar Inovatif. Yogyakarta: Diva Pers.

Wallace, A. E. (2019). Composing comes alive: Dramatic presentations in the writing classroom.

Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.31719/pjaw.v3i2.41

Yuanyuan, C., (2019). Enhancing EFL students’ English competency through drama: A case study in a

primary school in China. English Language Teaching, 12 (7), 68-74