Representation of The Legislatives in Terms of 'Comparatives Study' in Pikiran Rakyat Caricatures.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis karikatur mengenai anggota DPR (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat), khususnya dalam hal studi banding dalam harian umum Pikiran Rakyat. Saya mendapati bahwa dalam harian umum Pikiran Rakyat, anggota DPR direpresentasikan sebagai figur publik yang tidak melakukan tugas dan wewenang mereka karena lebih mementingkan kepentingan pribadi (studi banding) di atas kepentingan bersama.

Guna menganalisis karikatur tersebut, saya menggunakan teori Semiotika (tanda bahasa) yang dikemukakan oleh Ferdinand de Saussure. Ia menyatakan bahwa tulisan dan gambar dapat dianalisis sebagai signifier dan signified. Selain itu, dengan bantuan teori Gunther Kress and Theo Van Leeuwen saya menganalisis gambar atau tulisan berdasarkan posisi, ukuran, tatapan mata, ataupun pakaian. Kedua teori tersebut saling melengkapi dalam membantu saya menganalisis karikatur dari harian umum Pikiran Rakyat yang saya ambil.

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1 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR) or the House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies with Regional Representative Council. The House of Representatives is placed under Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat (MPR) or People's Consultative Assembly. They have five hundred and sixty members

originated from Democratic Party (Partai Demokrat) with 148 chairs, Party of the Functional Group (Partai Golongan Karya) with 106 chairs, Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) with 94 chairs, Prosperous Justice Party

(PKS) with 57 chairs, National Mandate Party (PAN) with 46 chairs, United Development Party (PPP) with 38 chairs, National Awakening Party (PKB) with

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Maranatha Christian University legislature made an application about new building complete with all facilities, which can require budget amounting to 1,6 trillion rupiah (http://www.newoes.com/gedung-baru-dpr-gambar-foto-dan-kronologi-rencana-pembangunan-gedung-dpr-ri). This will be such a waste of money for the nation. Second is about the comparative study which never work properly because people never see the effect or result from comparative studies.

(http://www.politikindonesia.com/index.php?k=pendapat&i=10877-Efektifitas%20Studi%20Banding%20DPR%20Atas%20Kualitas%20Legislasi). I notice such political issue concerning the legislatives in the form of caricatures. A caricature is a description of a person using a hyperbole picture of some characteristics and oversimplification of others. A caricature does not necessarily have to be a cartoon, it can be a painting, or a sculpture, or even a photograph. Most of the caricature pictures contain the satires of public figure or any kinds of issues in one country (http://www.learn-to-draw.com/caricature/). Caricature picture can be analyzed by means of semiotic theory because it represents an image form of language. I would like to analyze the pictures and words using semiotics. In semiotics, anything that „stands for‟ something else is a sign. Signs take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects (Chandler 2).

For my thesis, I focus on Saussure‟s theory regarding linguistic signs. Saussure correlates sign as two terms, signifier (significant) and a signified (signifie) (ibid.18). Saussure model is not a link between thing and a name, but between a concept (signified) and a sound pattern (signifier).

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Maranatha Christian University from Pikiran Rakyat newspaper. It is because Pikiran Rakyat is one of the newspapers that presents the caricatures of legislatives satirically. Specifically, I find that there are a number of caricatures which satire the members of the legislatives about comparative study in Indonesia. These kinds of caricatures usually appear on Monday edition of Pikiran Rakyat under the heading of the so-called “OPINI” page. I take it specifically in terms of comparative study. Based on Indonesia dictionary, “studi banding adalah suatu kajian ilmiah dengan mencari imbangan dari kasus yang sama atau serupa di lain tempat” (http://kpudemak.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/studi-banding-yes-pelesiran-no/) translated into comparative study is a scientific study to find a proportion of the same or similar cases in other places. The purpose of comparative study is to compare the condition of the object of study in other places with the conditions in our place for quality improvement, system improvement, repair laws and regulations, etc and the results in the form of information as a reference in the

formulation of the desired concept

(http://kpudemak.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/studi-banding-yes-pelesiran-no/). After I analyze those caricatures semiotically, I can know further about the truth reality of legislatives in our country, particularly concerning Saussure theory that can explain how sign can be explained by signifier and signified which can make us know the concept of sign itself.

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Maranatha Christian University Based on those reasons, I state that the significance of my thesis is to analyze how Pikiran Rakyat caricature satirize the legislatives about comparative study. Therefore, I formulate the title of my thesis “Representation of The

Legislatives In Terms of „Comparative Study‟ in Pikiran Rakyat Caricatures.”

1.2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problems that I am going to analyze in this thesis are formulated as follows:

1. What semiotic elements about the legislative caricatures are found in Pikiran Rakyat caricatures?

2. How are the legislatives in terms of comparative study represented by Pikiran Rakyat in the caricatures?

1.3. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purposes I choose to answer the statement of problem are:

1. To find out the semiotic elements that can be found in Pikiran Rakyat legislative caricatures.

2. To find how the legislatives in term of comparative study represented by Pikiran Rakyat in the caricatures.

1.4. METHODS OF RESEARCH

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Maranatha Christian University webesite to support my analysis. Finally, I draw some conclusions of what I have analysed.

1.5. ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

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27 CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

The legislatives‟ power is placed under MPR (Majelis Permusyawaratan

Rakyat) command in Indonesia. Those desire to join the legislative because it gives them strong power and high income salary in Indonesia. Being a legislature gives them the opportunity to be a public figure in front of people. Legislatives have a lot of tasks to do after they are officially inaugurated on October 1, 2009. One of the schedules of task is to conduct comparative study.

Comparative study is usually conducted to research about some information which can give a gain for our bill. Still, nowadays, comparative study becomes a hot issue to talk because people never see the result for our country. Through Pikiran Rakyat caricature, I have found some findings from two caricatures about comparative study which satirize comparative study of the legislative.

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Maranatha Christian University legislatives have three wings to complete three comparative studies schedule. The nominal currency is 100,000 rupiah note is the largest nominal currency in Indonesia, it shows how the legislative go overseas of Indonesia to escape from their work with a lot of money. Therefore, the caricature centers upon money. This aims at satirizing their extravagance and selfishness. The negative image is more clearly visible when the left side wings are written “public money”.

Secondly, I conclude that the members of legislative are represented negatively in the second data as being indifferent and selfish because they seem to always ignore what people need although they know what their obligation for their country. And yet, they choose the best way for their happiness. Based on second data, it can be seen that the five frames above the legislative are written in the big size. Big size in here represents how big the disaster, which causes a lot of victims in Indonesia. Below the five frames, there are the four people. The people on the right side are the legislative members. He is wearing a ray ban to blind himself from the victim.

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Maranatha Christian University clothes to make them more look fashionable. Yet, their fashion shows the differences between citizen and legislative member in this caricature.

The second similarity is on the position of the legislative. Based on Kress and Van Leeuwen theory, the center position refers to point of the image. The legislature is placed at the right side. It is because legislative is the spotlight in comparative study case. Both of them look at the right side without seeing the people, it shows that they never want to care about people after they have a high position in the House of Representatives. They only focus on their interest. Therefore, the position and the gaze in the caricature picture show the indifference and selfishness because legislative as a public figure in this caricature picture.

The third similarity is from the size and distance of the legislature picture and the people. The legislature picture is bigger than the people at the back. Both of them want to show how far the distance between them. The legislative is unreachable by people and people find it hard to communicate towards the legislative. Therefore, the size in the caricature picture always represents that the legislatives have power to make a distance. Therefore, eventhough being legislatives looks „big‟, it can not reach the people. They are too exclusive.

People can not talk easily to their leader because of the distance.

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Maranatha Christian University from people at the back. I am of the opinion that it shows what legislatives does when they go abroad with a lot of money.

Different from the second data, the biggest picture at the second data is the five frames above. I think the caricature want to show the irony satirically based on the legislatives do for our country. The five frames show all the disaster happened on October until November, but under the frames there are two people speaking, and one people peeking, and the biggest is legislature. The two people satirize the legislative with figures of speech because they know that legislature never care to them. They just care for their interest to enjoy their comparative study schedule than to help people who get disaster.

Thus, the two caricatures represent the legislative as being selfish, greedy, and indifferent to people. Being selfish is seen when they prefer to use public money to serve people. They choose the schedule of comparative study although they know that sometimes it does not need to be done. Being greedy is seen when they bring a lot of money for their interest although they have a high salary but they still use public money. Being indifferent means there is a big gap between the legislative and the people. .

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31 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Book

Chandler, D. Semiotics: The Basics. London: Routledge, 2004

Corbett, John. An Intercultural Approach to English Language Teaching. Philippines: Avil Publishing, Inc, 2007

Halliday, MAK. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold, 1985

Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge, 1996

Pease, Allan. Body Language. London: Sheldon Press, 1981 Website

Antaranews.com. 2010. Marzuki Alie. 24 January 2011

<http://img.antaranews.com/stockphotos/tokoh/20100818133934-marzuki-alie1.jpg>

Arnott, Luke. “The Visual Parts of a Comic Book Page”. Suite101. 2010. 27

November 2010 <http://www.suite101.com/content/the-visual-parts-of-a-comic-book-page-a129842>

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Maranatha Christian University JPNN.com. 2010. “DPR Pelesiran Dinilai melukai Hati Rakyat.” 22 January 2011

<http://www.jpnn.com/read/2010/10/29/75808/Saat-Empat-Bencana-Newoes.com. 2010. “Gedung Baru DPR | Gambar Foto Dan Kronologi Rencana Pembangunan Gedung DPR RI.” 21 January 2011

Pikiran Rakyat.com. 27 November 2010 <http://www.pikiran-rakyat.com/node/126812>

PolitikKompasiana.com. 2010. “Studi Banding Panja Pramuka DPR,

Pemborosan Terencanakah??” 21 January 2011.

<http://politik.kompasiana.com/2010/09/15/studi-banding-panja-pramuka-dpr-pemborosan-terencana/>

Potretartis.com. 2010. “Anggota DPR Sialan, Studi Banding malah Jalan-Jalan.” 22 January 2011 <http://potretartis.com/anggota-dpr-sialan-studi-banding-ke-london-malah-jalan-jalan.html>

Ratya, Mega Putra. “Studi Banding Anggota DPR Ke Luar Negeri Habiskan

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Maranatha Christian University <http://www.detiknews.com/read/2010/09/14/174915/1440587/10/studi-banding-anggota-dpr-ke-luar-negeri-habiskan-anggaran-rp-37-m>

Resty, Mutia. “Studi Banding DPR Disorot.” Tempointeraktif 15 September 2010.

22 January 2011

<http://www.tempointeraktif.com/hg/politik/2010/09/15/brk,20100915-278212,id.html>

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Tidak Pantas.” Cybermed 28 October 2010. 23 January 2011 <

Representation of The Legislatives in Terms of 'Comparatives Study' in Pikiran Rakyat Caricatures.

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

2

3

4

5

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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