THE REPRESENTATION OF SOCIAL ACTORS IN THE 1945 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
A Research Paper
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Sarjana Sastra degree
Reza Ardian
0707994
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS EDUCATION
The Representation of Social Actors in the 1945
Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia:
A Critical Discourse Analysis
Oleh
Reza Ardian
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pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni
© Reza Ardian 2013
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Oktober 2013
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PAGE OF APPROVAL
THE REPRESENTATION OF SOCIAL ACTORS IN THE 1945 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
By: Reza Ardian
0707994
Approved by:
First Supervisor Second Supervisor
Drs. Sudarsono M.I., M.A. Ruswan Dallyono S.Sos., M.Pd. NIP. 196607051994031004 NIP. 197008032005011002
The Head of English Education Department Faculty of Language and Art Education
Indonesia University of Education
ABSTRACT
As the supreme source of law, the 1945 Constitution is the most important written discourse of the Republic of Indonesia. This study is conducted to reveal the ideological postures behind representations of the social actors in it, employing social actor network in van Leeuwen’s framework of discourse as recontextualization of social practice (1993). The analysis is separated into two stages, those are, the analysis of the preamble part and the analysis of the body part.
The result shows that the 1945 Constitution presents 29 social actors in total. In the preamble part, civilians and the executive agent are presented as the main actors. Civilians in this part are represented in total inclusion and specification, thus as the more dominant actor than the executive agent that is presented in partial exclusion and genericization. The preamble part therefore introduces some elements of socialism, as in socialism civilians are more dominant topic of discussions than the executive, and it constitutes as the most dominant ideological posture. In the body part, civilians, the executive, legislative and judicative agents are presented as the main actors. The executive, legislative and judicative agents tend to be represented in inclusion, activation, and functionalization. Consequently they are conceived as the most dominant actors among others. On the other hand, civilians are inclined in partial exclusion, assimilation, and classification, thus as the minor actor. This suggests that the text of the body part introduces some elements of democracy, as in democracy the state actors are more dominant topic of discussions than civil actors. In addition, the body part attempts to establish democracy as the most dominant ideological posture. As a result, interestingly, the body part tends to alter the ideology of socialism that is previously introduced in the preamble part, into the ideology of democracy. It indicates, to some extent, that the ideological posture in the text of preamble part is not in conformity with the ideological posture in the text of body part.
ABSTRAK
Sebagai sumber hukum tertinggi, Undang-undang Dasar 1945 merupakan diskursus tertulis yang paling penting di Republik Indonesia. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengungkap postur ideologi di balik representasi aktor sosial di dalamnya, menggunakan jaringan aktor sosial dalam kerangka diskursus van Leeuwen, yaitu rekontekstualisasi praktek sosial (1993). Analisis penelitian ini dibagi ke dalam dua tahap, yaitu analisis bagian pembukaan dan analisis bagian batang tubuh.
Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa UUD ‘45 memperlihatkan 29 aktor
sosial secara keseluruhan. Di bagian pembukaan, aktor sipil dan agen eksekutif digambarkan sebagai aktor utama. Pada bagian ini, aktor sipil digambarkan dalam inklusi total dan spesifikasi, sehingga menjadi aktor yang lebih dominan daripada agen eksekutif yang digambarkan dalam eksklusi parsial dan generikisasi. Dengan demikian, bagian pembukaan UUD ’45 mengandung beberapa elemen sosialisme, karena dalam sosialisme aktor sipil merupakan topik diskusi yang lebih dominan daripada aktor eksekutif, dan sosialisme ini menjadi postur ideologi yang paling dominan di bagian pembukaan. Di bagian batang tubuh, aktor sipil, agen eksekutif, legislatif, dan yudikatif cenderung digambarkan dalam inklusi, aktifasi, dan fungsionalisasi. Sebagai konsekuensinya, mereka dipahami sebagai aktor-aktor yang lebih dominan daripada aktor-aktor lain. Di sisi lain, aktor-aktor sipil cenderung digambarkan dalam eksklusi parsial, asimilasi, dan klasifikasi, sehingga menjadi aktor minor. Ini memberi kesan bahwa bagian batang tubuh mengandung beberapa elemen demokrasi, karena dalam demokrasi aktor negara menjadi topik diskusi yang lebih dominan daripada aktor sipil. Lebih jauh, bagian batang tubuh
UUD ‘45 berusaha membentuk demokrasi sebagai postur ideologi yang paling
dominan. Hasilnya, bagian batang tubuh cenderung merubah ideologi sosialisme yang sebelumnya dikenalkan di bagian pembukaan, menjadi ideologi demokrasi. Ini mengindikasikan, pada tahap tertentu, postur ideologi pada bagian pembukaan tidak sesuai dengan postur ideologi pada bagian batang tubuh.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.7Organization of the Paper 10
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 11
2.1 Discourse and Discourse Analysis 11
2.2 Critical Discourse Analysis 13
2.3 Van Leeuwen’s Framework: Discourse as Recontextualization of Social
Practice 15
2.4 Representing Social Actors: van Leeuwen’s Social Actor Network 17
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 39
3.1 Research Design 39
3.2 Data Collection 42
3.2.1 Issues on the Data 43
3.3 Data Analysis 45
CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 54
4.1 Findings 45
4.2.1 Social Actors and Their Linguistic Representations 84
4.2.2 Social Actors and Their Representation Trends in the Preamble
Part 85
4.2.3 Social Actors and Their Representation Trends in the Body Part 91
4.2.4 The Conformity of the Ideological Postures of Social Actor
Representations in the Preamble and the Body Parts 99
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 103
5.1 Conclusions 103
5.2 Suggestions 105
BIBLIOGRAPHY 107
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents an introductory section of the study. It covers the
background of the study, the research questions, the aims of the study, and the
limitation of the study, as well as the research methodology which includes data
collection and data analysis, clarification of key terms, and organization of the
paper.
1.1 Background
Reality is constructed by practices which are performed continuously in
social contexts. According to van Leeuwen (2008), these practices shape
discourse because information about discourse is based on doings (=practices),
rather than beings. As van Leeuwen (2009, cited in Wodak and Meyer, 2009:144)
argues, for instance, “knowledge about what „leadership‟ is, is ultimately based on
what leaders do”. However, a discourse will alter these practices, for instance by obscuring some aspects of practices that are less important. In addition, evidence
for the discourse comes from texts because manifestation of language which is an
irreducible part of reality, as Fairclough (2003) posits. Hence texts provide
evidence for the existence of reality.
In providing evidence of reality, a text exercises language to represent
some aspects of reality. Consequently, a text never displays reality in an intact
Wodak and Meyer, 2009) a text needs to be reconstructed to retrieve reality that a
text draws on.
Van Leeuwen (1993) provides a method for reconstructing discourse.
Building on the work of Foucault (1977), van Leeuwen uses discourse as social
cognition, as “socially constructed ways of knowing some aspect of reality”
(2009, cited in Wodak and Meyer, 2009:144). In this sense, discourse is used to
recapture social practices that form reality. In its process, discourse undergoes a
sort of transformation, or recontextualization in Bernstein‟s term (1981, 1986, cited in van Leeuwen, 2008). This is what van Leeuwen (eg. 2008) proposes as
discourse as recontextualization of social practice.
In his approach to discourse as recontextualization of social practice, van
Leeuwen (1993) introduces elements of social practice that are transformed when
represented in a discourse. These elements are contained in actual social practice.
Those are actions, actors, performance modes, presentation styles, times, spaces,
resources, and eligibility. However, these elements, for instance elements that are
less important as discussed above, are then selected (deleted or added) and
substituted when represented in a text.
Among those elements, actions and actors are the central discussion to the
approach, as van Leeuwen (2009) allows a question to be asked: what kinds of
actions are attributed to what kinds of actors. He then formulates the social actor
network (1993). The network presents possible representations of actors in a
activated, subjected, generalized, collocated, associated, using what
categorization, or using overdetermination. This formulation can be used to
analyze how actors are represented in a discourse.
In my study, the above-mentioned framework was drawn upon to
investigate the ideological posture beneath the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia.
This constitution is the central discourse in the Republic of Indonesia as a
constitutional state, specifically with regard to the authority discourse. As stated
in the 1945 Constitution itself, Chapter 1, Article 3, Indonesia is a constitutional
state. Consequently, the system of government is based on constitution
(Rechtsstaat), not on power (Machtsstaat). In this system, therefore, the 1945
Constitution is crucial as a rule that covers all practices in Indonesia. This means
all kinds of authority in the Republic of Indonesia are limited by the 1945
Constitution. Any practice that does not agree with it is unconstitutional and
therefore illegal before the law.
The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia was established on
August 18, 1945, or a day after the proclamation of independence, and until today
it has undergone four amendments: in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. It outlines the
regulations that are the source of all kinds of laws in the Republic of Indonesia.
My analysis using van Leeuwen‟s framework will reveal three things. First, it examines the social actors in the 1945 Constitution. Second, it investigates the
linguistic representation of social actors in the text. Finally, it reveals the
understanding of the ideology of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of
Indonesia.
Some studies have been conducted employing van Leeuwen‟s framework and focusing on the representation of the social actors. In his study entitled
“Discourse and Ideology: Democracy in the Election Manifestoes of New Labour 1997-2005”, Farrelly (2009) tried to analyze the way Labour Party construes democracy in the texts of general election manifestoes year 1997, 2001, and 2005.
He focused on the inclusion-exclusion category of van Leeuwen‟s Social Actor Network. The findings indicated that although the tendency seems to have become
less pronounced in New Labour election manifestoes over time, the state actors
tend to be included in the context of democracy more often than do other actors.
He found that the power relations of democracy are inverted and at the same time
the inversion is hidden under particular exclusions and inclusions of state and
other actors.
Another study focusing on the representation of social actors was
conducted in 2005 by Labarta and Dolón. The study entitled “The Discursive Construction of Identities: A Critical Analysis of the Representation of Social
Actors in Conflict” analyzed the representation of two different social groups in Spanish-newspapers corpus of a conflicting urban construction project. In their
corpus, Labarta and Dolón found that pro-project actors are basically included in
the text mostly through the plural “we” and through the name of the person or
naming of the institution they represent. Identity exclusion of the actors only takes
in such context de-emphasizes their responsibility, or in other words, not
accepting responsibility. On the contrary, anti-project actors basically tend to be
excluded in the text, and this exclusion is to ignore the negative social impact that
the project has on the neighborhood.
The two studies above both focus on the representation of social actors in
specific discourse. None of it attempts to reveal the ideological posture behind the
representation. The present study focuses on the representation of social actors in
specific discourse and attempts to reveal the ideological posture behind the
representation.
1.2 Research Questions
The current study attempts to answer these following questions:
1. Who are the social actors in the 1945 Constitution?
2. How are the social actors represented linguistically?
3. What are the ideological postures behind the representation?
1.3 Aims of the Study
The aims of the study are as follows.
1. Examine the social actors in the 1945 Constitution
2. Investigate how the social actors are represented
1.4 Limitation of the Study
The study focuses on analyzing the representation of social actors in the
discourse of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and the ways they
are represented in the text. In addition, the present study is concerned with the
ideological postures behind the ways the social actors are represented in the text.
The framework of the investigation of the study is van Leeuwen‟s theory (1993 and 2008) of discourse as recontextualization of social practice. The
analysis begins with the identification of social actors in the discourse of the 1945
Constitution. The analysis continues with the investigation of how the social
actors are represented. The data found, then, were used to reveal the ideological
posture behind the ways the social actors are represented.
1.5 Research Methodology
The general approach used in this research is primarily qualitative. As a
framework of analysis of the data and of discussion, the present study employs
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). As Paltridge (2006) states, “there is no single view of what critical discourse analysis actually is, so it is difficult to present a
complete, unified view on this”. However, most scholars, such as Fairclough (1989), van Dijk (2009), and van Leeweun (2009), agree that this is an
interdisciplinary approach to language and that it views language as social
practice, and that its ultimate goal is to uncover the ideologies behind the use of
language. Hence this method was used to uncover the ideologies behind the use of
meanings of language use in a discourse. One of many ways to do that is by
employing Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Grammar theory as the tool, as van Leeuwen (1993) did in formulating his framework.
The data collection and analysis are elaborated below:
1.5.1 Data Collection
The data of this current study were taken from the 1945 Constitution of the
Republic of Indonesia. This document was retrieved from the official Web site of
High Court of Indonesia: www.mahkamahkonstitusi.go.id on June 27, 2011. Until
today, The Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia has experienced four
amendments: in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. The text used as the data source of
the present study was the latest text that has undergone the fourth amendment.
1.5.2 Data Analysis
The Constitution text was analyzed using van Leeuwen‟s approach to
critical discourse analysis. The basis of van Leeuwen‟s framework is the view that
discourse is the recontextualization of social practice; that social structures are
constructed by actions that are evidenced linguistically and sociologically in texts.
In van Leeweun‟s terms, the approach to text analysis takes account of attribution and representation of social elements (action, performance mode, actor,
presentation style, time, space, resource, eligibility, deletion, substitution and
addition). However, van Leeuwen‟s approach involves more deeply with the
action and actor (or participant) as van Leeweun proposed two ultimate questions
what kinds of participants, and (2) what kinds of actions tend to be objectivated,
de-agentialized, and so on (van Leeweun, 2009, in Wodak and Meyer, 2009).
Van Leeuwen‟s approach to CDA begins with the identification of social actors of social actions in the text. It is then followed by the examination of the
ways they are represented linguistically based on the category of representation he
proposed, called Social Actor Network. Then it is enclosed by the interpretation of
the results of the previous steps. These results will contribute to the interpretation
of the given discourse in order to answer the research questions of the present
study.
1.6 Clarification of Terms
There are several terms that need clarification in this study. The terms are
as follows.
1. Social actors (van Leeuwen, 1993 and 2008)
Van Leeuwen uses the term „social actor‟ in sociological sense, not in
grammatical one. Consequently it refers to human beings engaging in or
involving with social interaction, not to entity standing as grammatical
participants which can be concrete or abstract, animate or inanimate, as
understood in Hallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar. Furthermore, in
van Leeuwen‟s framework, social actor has a broader sense where it is not only a person or group who does a particular action (agent), but also
person(s) or group(s) who benefit from an action, whether in positive or
negative sense (beneficiary).
2. Ideological posture
Ideology can be comprehended in two senses: first as theory and
second as view of life. As theory, ideology is defined as a set of ideas,
practices and consciousness. De Tracy introduced the term “ideology” in 1796 to signal an analytical science that perceives ideas. Althusser (1969,
cited in Gray, 2005) defines it as “a dynamic set of practices in which all
groups and classes participate.” Marx and Engels (in Rehmann, 2007) understand it as “inverted consciousness.”
As view of life, ideology is defined comparatively similarly by
linguistic scholars. Van Dijk uses ideology as “shared, fundamental and
axiomatic beliefs of specific social groups” (cited in Wodak and Meyer, 2009:65). Reisigl and Wodak see it as “an one-sided perspective or world view composed of related mental representations, convictions, opinions,
attitudes and evaluations, which is shared by members of a specific social
groups” (Wodak and Meyer, 2009:88). Meyer defines it as “coherent and relatively stable set of beliefs or values” (Wodak and Meyer, 2009:8).
In this study, ideology is used in the second sense. As a view of
life, ideology is a set of ideas, beliefs or values that constitute and
ideology and social life are inseparable; that practices and doings which
shape social life must contain ideology.
Posture in this study is comprehended as opinion, as a way in
which a government or other organization thinks about and/or deals with a
particular matter. Ideological posture in this study, then, refers to a belief
system that underlies the construction of the preamble and guides the text
of the 1945 Constitution.
1.7 Organization of the Paper
This paper is organized into five chapters; each is subdivided into sections
which elaborate issues under focus. Chapter 1 provides the introduction to the
present study in general; it deals with the background of the study, research
questions, research methodology, data collection and data analysis, clarification of
terms and organization of the paper. Chapter 2 introduces the theoretical
foundation that serves as the framework for investigating the data of the study.
Chapter 3 presents the procedure of the study that covers the research problem,
research design, data collection and data analysis. Chapter 4 provides analyses of
the data and the findings, and discusses it in a detailed comprehension. Chapter 5
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The chapter describes the research methodology which was applied in the
present study. It includes the research problem, the research design, data
collection, and data analysis.
3.1 Research Design
The approach of this current study is mixed methods. By using the mixed
methods approach, I combined quantitative and qualitative designs, involving the
collection, analysis, and integration of methods in a single or multiphase study
(Hesse-Biber, 2010). In this approach, quantitative data such as numbers or
percentages are combined with qualitative data such as description. In this current
study, the percentage, for instance, of social actors’ appearances in the corpus
acquired from descriptive statistics method, was combined with description and
critical interpretation acquired from exploration and investigation of language
data.
According to Greene, Caracelli and Graham (1989, cited in Hesse-Biber,
2010), there are five reasons why mixed methods approach needs to be used. The
first reason is triangulation, i.e. the use of more than one method to observe the
same dimension of a study. In this study, I used descriptive statistics of the
intended to obtain more comprehensive insights about the representation and
distribution of the use of transitivity by social actors in the text investigated. The
second reason is complementarity, which allows a researcher to achieve a fuller
understanding of the study and/or to clarify the result, as do in this study in which
the interpretation of data exploration qualitatively clarify what the percentage of
exclusion or inclusion of social actors mean. The next motive is development,
whereby results of one method, for instance the percentage of exclusion and
inclusion of social actors as the result of quantitative method, often help develop
results of the other method, for instance the interpretation of it. The fourth reason
is initiation; the study using mixed methods approach can initiate a new study
because the findings of the representation of social actors linguistically in the
1945 Constitution may raise questions or contradictions. The last is expansion; the
study using mixed methods approach might lead to a completely new research
topic that is to extend the breadth and range of the inquiry from this current study.
As the tool of analysis and investigation, the present study employed van
Leeuwen’s framework (1993 and 2008) of CDA. The central idea of this
framework is a conception of discourse as recontextualized social practice.
Recontextualization, or transformation, as van Leeuwen uses them
interchangeably, implies that some elements of social practice, such as civilians as
one of the social actors in the 1945 Constitution, may be substituted, deleted,
In van Leeuwen’s framework of CDA, the elements of social practice that
are transformed in a discourse, although not all are always represented, include
social actors and its eligibility conditions, actions/reactions, performance modes,
presentations styles, times, locations and its eligibility conditions, and resources
and its eligibility conditions. To investigate the possible ways of representing the
first element of social practice, i.e. social actor, in a discourse, then, van Leeuwen
(1993) formulates the social actor network.
In formulating this network, van Leeuwen (1993) builds on the work by
Halliday (1985) called the theory of transitivity. It is a grammatical system which
construes the world of experience, including participants or social actors of social
practice, into a manageable set of process types (Halliday, 2004:170). This
enables participants of social practice be classified into van Leeuwen’s network.
The investigation of exclusion-inclusion, activation-passivation,
genericization-specification, personalization-impersonalization, individualization-assimilation,
and other categories in van Leeuwen’s classification may contribute to the
interpretation of the representation of social actors in the 1945 Constitution.
The substitution of the civilians in the 1945 Constitution, for example,
means something different from the deletion of them. As well, the deletion of
them means something different from the rearrangement of them. In the end, all
investigation would give evidences to the real social practice depicted by
Indonesian State’s 1945 Constitution.
3.2 Data Collection
The data used in this current study were composed of a corpus of the 1945
Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. This document was retrieved from the
official Web site of Constitutional High Court of Indonesia:
www.mahkamahkonstitusi.go.id. The 1945 Constitution has undergone four
amendments; in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. The text used as the data of the
present study was the latest text that has undergone the fourth amendment.
The 1945 Constitution is the written basic law of the Republic of
Indonesia. According to the 1945 Constitution, Chapter 1, Article 3, Indonesia is a
constitutional state. Consequently, the system of the government is based on
constitution (Rechtsstaat), not on power (Machtsstaat). In this system, therefore,
the 1945 Constitution is crucial as a rule that covers all practices in the Republic
of Indonesia. This means all kinds of authority in the Republic of Indonesia are
regulated by the 1945 Constitution (Erwina, 2006).
The 1945 Constitution is also the only source of law in the
administration’s system of Indonesian state. It is the source for laws,
based on 1945 Constitution will be considered to be unconstitutional, and
therefore illegal before the law. For its crucial positions as the central discourse
and the only source for laws in Indonesia, I therefore selected the corpus of the
1945 Constitution to be investigated and analyzed in this present study.
The 1945 Constitution consists, after the fourth amendment, of Preamble,
Body, Transitional Provisions (Aturan Peralihan), and Additional Provisions
(Aturan Tambahan). The Preamble consists of four paragraphs; the Body consists
of 20 chapters, 37 articles, and 194 sub-articles; the Transitional Provisions
consist of 3 articles; and the Additional Provisions consist of 2 articles. In total,
the 1945 Constitution consists of 206 clauses or clause complexes. Since the
purpose is to investigate the social actors and its characterizations in the 1945
Constitution, and the ideological posture behind it, the study uses the whole text
which includes 206 clauses or clause complexes.
3.2.1 Issues on the Data
In relation to the data collection, it is important to note an issue that the
data is in Indonesian. This is an important concern because van Leeuwen’s
formula of social actor network, which the data were identified by, is in English. It
would be questioned, then, whether van Leeuwen’s formula could be applied for
data in other languages, such as in Indonesian. Answers for such a question can be
Van Leeuwen (2009:148) states, “…the study of the way discourses
transform social practices… derives to a large degree from the work of
Halliday…” The work of Halliday that van Leeuwen indicates on this statement
refers to the transitivity system. He continues, “…theory of transitivity made it
possible to interpret differently worded representations of the same reality as
different social constructions of that reality.” In other words, the theory of
transitivity enables the interpretation of texts which represent a reality as different
social constructions (van Leeuwen, 2008).
The transitivity system is the theory for language, all languages, and is not
specifically for only English. On one of his statements, Halliday suggests:
The minor process types appear to vary more across languages than the major ones. For example, in certain languages (English being one of them), existential clauses appear as a distinct type, but in other languages they may be very close to possessive and/or locative relational clauses (2004:171)
This implies that in formulating the theory of transitivity, Halliday makes it
applicable not only for English, and thus it applies for all languages. This makes
van Leeuwen’s social actor network applicable as well for all languages, including
for Indonesian.
In addition, two researchers from University of Valencia, Spain, Labarta
and Dolón, in 2005 conducted a study entitled “The Discursive Construction of
They based their analysis on a corpus of, amongst others, opinion articles
published in press, and it all was in Spanish.
The applicability of the theory of transitivity, which van Leeuwen’s social
actor network is built on, for all languages and the example study by Labarta and
Dolón, which used data not in English, suggest that van Leeuwen’s framework to
CDA, discourse as recontextualization of social practice, can be used as the tool of
analysis for a study that bases on data in Indonesian. Thus, they confirm the
validity of this current study.
Another issue that needs to be highlighted is the way this present study
communicates its findings to the readers. Since the data were in Indonesian,
presenting the textual evidence is a particular predicament in a paper written in
English. First of all, because this study is submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for Bachelor of Arts degree, the intended readers are, for now, those
who the first lingua franca is Indonesian. Hence in presenting the textual
evidence, I did not translate it to English but kept it in the original form, which is
in Indonesian. Perhaps such a way of communicating may be different when the
current paper is to publish in a journal format and to intend readers who speak not
only Indonesian but other languages.
3.3 Data Analysis
In analyzing the data, as the first step, the 1945 Constitution was rewritten
numbered. There are 206 clauses or clause complexes in the 1945 Constitution,
which includes four clause complexes in the preamble, 197 clauses and clause
complexes in the body, three clause complexes in the transitional provisions, and
two clause complexes in the additional provisions.
The next step was identifying the social actors and its characterizations, or
how they are represented linguistically in each clause or clause complex, using
van Leeuwen’s (1993) categorizations on social actor called social actor network.
This step was conducted in two stages. The first stage was identifying the social
actors and its characterizations in the preamble part. The identification revealed
the ideological posture behind the linguistic representation of social actors in the
preamble. The second stage was identifying the social actors and its
characterizations in the remaining parts: the body, transitional, and additional
provisions. The identification revealed the ideological posture behind the
linguistic representation in these parts.
The process was executed in such a way because the preamble is the
ultimate part of the 1945 Constitution. It cannot be amended because it includes
five principles of Indonesian ideology, i.e. Pancasila. In short, it is the most
important part of the Constitution. The remaining parts (body, transitional and
additional provisions) are based on this. That is why it is important to separate the
process of analyzing them; the part in which other parts are based on, and the
Finding
FIGURE 2. The procedure of identifying social actors
The ideological postures revealed in the preamble and in the remaining
parts were then compared to see whether the ideological postures in the body,
transitional and additional provisions are in conformity with the ideological
posture in the preamble. The ideological postures revealed in both parts, and the
conformity of it would be the findings of the current study. The illustration of this
procedure can be seen in Figure 2.
The process of identifying the social actors and its characterizations
employed van Leeuwen’s categorization of social actor network (1993). Table 3.1
displays the example of identification of social actors and its characterizations.
The labels used in the table correspond to van Leeuwen’s (1993) labeling. It
tabulates the social actors as well as the categories of van Leeuwen’s social actor
network. The table consists of ten columns, which the description of each of it is
explained in the following paragraphs.
The first column displays number. The second column introduces the
numbering of the clause complexes in the text under investigation (see Appendix
A). The third column of the table displays the actors of clause complexes from the
text. The fourth column records the activities in which the social actors involve, as
they have been referred to in the text. The next column, Column 5, labeled
“EXCL.”, records the type of exclusion of social actors that takes place; whether
they are suppression or reduction, and if the latter occurs, what kind of reduction
that take place (backgrounding or elision). The following abbreviations are used:
SUPPR. Suppresion BACKGR. Backgrounding ELIS. Elision
The sixth column (ROLE) records, for all cases in which social actors are
included, whether they are activated or passivated; if they are passivated, what
kind of passivation that is used in the representation (subjection or
beneficialization). The following abbreviations are used:
ACT. Activation SUBJ. Subjection BENEF. Beneficialization
The seventh column (GEN.) presents all instances of genericization
(GEN.). The next column (COLL.) records whether social actors are
individualized or assimilated, and in the latter case, what kind of assimilation that
takes place; aggregation or collectivization. In addition, this column records the
instances of indetermination and differentiation. The following abbreviations are
used:
AGGR. Aggregation
overdetermination; whether the representation utilizes inversion (anachronism or
deviation), symbolization, connotation, or distillation. The following
Below is the example of analysis.
The analyzed text (the Body part, Chapter III: Kekuasaan Pemerintahan
Negara):
Article 4
13.(Ayat 1) Presiden Republik Indonesia memegang kekuasaan pemerintahan
menurut Undang-Undang Dasar.
14.(Ayat 2) Dalam melakukan kewajibannya Presiden dibantu oleh satu orang
Wakil Presiden.
Article 5
15.(Ayat 1) Presiden berhak mengajukan rancangan undang-undang kepada
Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat.
16.(Ayat 2) Presiden menetapkan peraturan pemerintah untuk menjalankan
undang-undang sebagaimana mestinya.
The process of identifying the data would reveal the social actors in the
text under investigation, and how they are represented linguistically. The next step
was interpreting those already-processed data by using van Leeuwen’s framework
of CDA.
In his framework, van Leeuwen (1993) sees discourse as
recontextualization of social practice. Recontextualization is the process of
moving something from its original site of production to another site where it is
altered. In this context, social practice is moved to text. Thus, discourse is not
synonymous with text but evidence for the existence of social practice will have to
come from text. The representation of social practice in text provides the
experience of activities that enables the interpretation of text to be conceptualized
and analyzed. Hence, van Leeuwen’s framework of CDA identifies and interprets
text for the way it depicts social practice.
In identifying text, van Leeuwen’s framework employs Halliday’s theory
of transitivity. The theory of transitivity enables the analysis of texts which
represent social practice as different social constructions. In interpreting text, van
Leeuwen’s framework builds on Foucault’s view of discourse. In this view,
discourse is seen as social cognition, as socially constructed ways of knowing
social practice, and the process of knowing social practice is done by using text to
reconstruct it. How van Leeuwen’s framework of CDA and Halliday’s theory of
transitivity are applied in the analysis and interpretation is shown in the following
The whole process of data analysis would result in the revelation of the
ideological posture of the text under investigation. For example, identifying
Presiden Republik Indonesia memegang kekuasaan pemerintahan menurut Undang-Undang Dasar would reveal the social actor in the given clause, i.e Presiden Republik Indonesia. Presiden Republik Indonesia in this clause is
presented by activation category in van Leeuwen’s social actor network, being
represented as active and dynamic force in the activity of “memegang” since it is
coded as the actor in the material process in the transitivity system. Consequently,
by looking only at the given clause, the president in the Republic of Indonesia has
a great power and authority, and it does not agree with the democratic ideology in
which the power and authority are in people’s hand.
In the second example, Presiden is presented by elision, being elided in
the action “melakukan”. Dalam melakukan kewajibannya phrase has no direct
reference of actor, but it can be inferred from Presiden in the same clause
complex. In some cases, elision has significance, but it does not in this case. In the
current clause complex, elision is a predictable and natural pattern of construction
of a hypotactic clause complex; that is for the sake of effectiveness that the actor
of the given action does not need to be mentioned twice. For that reason, the
elision only plays a grammatical role and not a social role, thus has no
significance.
In the next example, again, Presiden is presented using activation
category. In this example, Presiden is given the active grammatical role of the
action implies that the actor to whom it is given is a powerful party in the
discourse because, according to van Leeuwen (1993) and Fairclough (1989),
material action needs certain power to do. The opposite to it, Dewan Perwakilan
Rakyat which manifests the civilians in a democratic state such as Indonesia is a
less powerful party because it is presented by beneficialization category, being the
beneficiary of the actions under focus. Furthermore, it is presented using
collectivization, while Presiden using individualization. According to van
Leeuwen (1993 and 2008), elite parties or people tend to be individualized, while
ordinary parties or people be collectivized. Hence, this clause complex alone
implicitly legitimizes that Presiden is a powerful party in Indonesia, while Dewan
Perwakilan Rakyat a less powerful one.
The last example affirms the findings of the previous clause complexes. In
here, too, Presiden is activated in every action attached to it; “menetapkan” and
“menjalankan”. Presiden is the active and dynamic force of the material action “menetapkan”, implying that it is the Presiden which determines and regulates the
government rules. As well, it is the active and dynamic force in the material action
“menjalankan undang-undang”. At the same time, it is not mentioned who does
write or arrange the undang-undang, and is not given more detailed information
about “sebagaimana mestinya”, in other words, the eligibility condition of it is
deleted. For this, one might question: how the president must enforce the laws?
These deletions of some social aspects of discourse imply that it is something that
is not further to be questioned and exercised.
The complete and more comprehensive findings will be discussed in the
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions
The present study is conducted to examine the social actors in the 1945
Constitution, investigate their linguistic representation, and reveal the ideological
postures behind the representations. The analysis finds that there are 29 social
actors in the 1945 Constitution. They include civilians and Indonesian State’s
administration in the preamble part, and include the executive agent, the legislative
agent, the judicative agent, the state, and civilians in the body part. In the preamble
part, civilians are linguistically represented in inclusion, activation and association,
while Indonesian State’s administration is in exclusion and activation. In the body
part, civilians are represented in exclusion, activation and assimilation, while the
executive is in inclusion, activation and individualization. The analysis also reveals
ideological postures that can be inferred from the representation of the social actors
are socialism, religion, and democracy.
The preamble part of the 1945 Constitution presents two social actors, the
people that are represented by civilians and the executive agent that is represented
by Indonesian State’s administration. The people that are represented in inclusion,
activation and association are more dominant than the executive that is represented
in partial exclusion and activation. The dominance of the people together with their
representations suggests that the people are considered as the main subject of
discussions. The ideology that considers the people as the ultimate subject of
elements of the ideological posture of socialism that constitutes as the most
dominant posture.
As the less dominant ideological postures, religion and democracy are as
well identified in the preamble part. The ideology of religion is realized by the
naming of God as the circumstance of the process of declaring independence, while
the ideology of democracy is realized by the mentioning of “kerakyatan”
(democracy) in the fourth paragraph as the manner of the process of achieving the
socialist aspirations.
Meanwhile, the body part presents 29 social actors. There are four actors
that are more dominant than others: the executive agent, the legislative agent, the
judicative agent, and civilians. Among the four most dominant actors, the executive
that is represented in inclusion, activation and individualization is the most
dominant and outstanding one. The legislative and the judicative are the next most
dominant actors in the text. Different to that in the preamble part, civilians that is
represented in inclusion, nontransactive activation, and indetermination is less
dominant than the executive. This suggests that the main subject of discussions is
not civilians anymore but is shifted to the executive, the legislative and the
judicative. The ideology that is fundamentally characterized by such principle is
democracy. Thus, it can be inferred that the body part of the 1945 Constitution
depicts the ideological posture of democracy as the most dominant ideology.
It also can be inferred that the body part depicts the ideological posture of
religion. This is realized by the specific chapter that regards religion, i.e. Chapter
XI, meaning that the 1945 Constitution makes special place for religion. This is also
realized by the guaranty from the state for religious freedom. Finally, the ideology
of religion is inferred from the acknowledgments of religious value in nation
Although the ideology of religion, which is previously established in the
preamble part, is consistently maintained in the body part, the ideological postures
depicted in the preamble part and in the body part in general are not in conformity.
The preamble part of the 1945 Constitution, which is the most influential discourse
because of containing Pancasila thus cannot be amended, shares some elements of
socialism as the most dominant ideology. However, this ideology tends to be altered
and shifted into democracy in the body part which until today has been amended for
four times since it was ordained and established in 1945.
5.2 Suggestions
One of the principles of critical discourse analysis is that CDA is a form of
social action that attempts to intervene and change socio-political practices. Thus,
analyzing the 1945 Constitution from linguistic perspective using van Leeuwen’s
Critical Discourse Analysis framework to reveal and uncover what is in it such as
ideologies is interesting and at the same time challenging task, since it is perhaps
the most important discourse of Indonesian country. The findings and interpretation
will enlighten and give the people linguistics-based knowledge about the text that
determines the practices and regulations in Indonesia country. However, to get to
that point, the study must be comprehensive. This current study only critically
analyzes the text using van Leeuwen’s social actor network, putting aside the social
action network and other discourse elements such as performance modes,
presentation styles, times, spaces, resources, and eligibility conditions. I suggest the
future study to analyze the 1945 Constitution using the representation of other
Analyzing the 1945 Constitution by examining two elements of discourse at
the same time such as actors and actions will contribute in a more thorough
interpretation and a better credibility. The study will be even more thorough and
credible if the all elements of discourse are analyzed.
I also suggest the future study to analyze the derivative discourses of the
1945 Constitution, such as laws (undang-undang) about specific issues, president’s
decrees (dekrit presiden/peraturan pemerintah), and minister’s official regulations
(peraturan menteri), to compare the findings in the 1945 Constitution and in the
derivative discourses. This is because, very possibly, the findings of the present
study may raise further questions about other discourses that precede and follow the
discourse of the 1945 Constitution. As well it is very possible that the findings of
the present study and the following studies emerge contradictions.
Such study then will initiate more new studies, and in turn will contribute to
a better comprehension of the consistency of the ideologies found in the 1945
Constitution as the highest source of laws and regulation in the Republic of
Indonesia. Such study as well will in turn contribute in enlightening and educating
the people, in mitigating and eliminating social wrongs, in improving the condition
of human being, and finally in the development of the nation.
Finally, I suggest the future study to analyze the 1945 Constitution using
discourse-historical approach. The historical orientation will allow the
reconstruction of how recontextualization functions as an important process
connecting texts and reality intertextually and interdiscursively over time. The
historical context and the understanding of the socio-political condition at the time
the 1945 Constitution was established and ordained, in turn, may contribute to the
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