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POLEMIC OF TWO MINISTERIAL REGULATIONS AND ITS IMPLICATION AMID COVID-19 CRISIS IN INDONESIA (CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS)
Ani Rakhmawati1 and Hanif Burhanudin2 Universitas Sebelas Maret Surakarta
ABSTRACT
The Indonesian government as the authorized holder of regulations enforces various policies to address the COVID- 19 pandemic. Among these policies, there were two regulations of the Minister of Transportation ‘Permenhub’ and the Minister of Health ‘Permenkes’ which caused polemics in the community. Addressing this issue, this paper aims to examine the problem that causes the two regulations to become controversial discussion among the people and how the online mass media highlights this polemic, as well as the implications arising from this polemic. The issue was examined through a critical discourse analysis approach. The analysis method of this study uses the content analysis model. The source of this research data is the text regulation of Permenkes and Permenhub, namely the aspect of forming language discourse, text and context contained in the text as well as some news texts taken from the online mass media. The analysis shows that the polemic that occurs between the Permenhub and Permenkes policies was one of the problems of developing text and context. Secondly, polemic was widely highlighted by the mass media crews and journalists, known that the mass media also featured the news as pro-cons. Mass media coverage was dominated by criticism of Permenhub. Implication of this situation was the negative sentiment towards the Minister of Transportation Mr. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. In broader contexts, the polemics caused the declining condition of Indonesian community belief to the government.
Keywords: Government Regulations, COVID-19, Polemics, Critical Discourse Analysis
INTRODUCTION
Coinciding with the transition from 2019 to 2020, the world was shaken by the outbreak of the COVID- 19 virus infection. Indonesia as a country affected by covid-19 tries very seriously in efforts to handle the pandemic. Many actions are undertaken with the intention of preventing the transmission of Coronavirus infection. The Indonesian government as the power holder on the regulations has imposed various policies that are controlling the community to be aware and caution in order to fight the corona, such as implementing large-scale social restriction, prohibition of travel home or homecoming, prohibition of holding an activity that is crowded like wedding celebrations and even worship in mosques or churches.
As a result these rules bring about Pro-Cons in the community.
In handling covid-19, there are two government regulations namely regulations by the Minister of Transportation (Permenhub) and regulation by the Minister of Health (Permenkes). The rules deemed to be opposite are regarding transportation control in order to prevent the spread of Coronavirus (COVID- 19). Permenhub Article 11 Item (d) reads in a certain case for the purpose of serving the interests of society and for personal benefit, motorcycles can transport passengers with provisions that must meet the health protocol. While regulation Permenkes number 9 year 2020 it reads that, freight expedition services, including means of two-wheel transport applications with restrictions only to transport goods and not for passengers. Both are felt counterintuitive and tend to have different gist although essentially Permenhub and Permenkes can be interpreted differently.
A rule issued by a certain high position in the government must have the power to uphold the regulated people. In other words, however, government policies will influence social change in a country.
When it rests on the view that 'common-sense' includes some competing aspects in the dissenting pull-out space, the hegemony can be interpreted as power over a society constructed from an alliance with other social forces that create unstable equilibrium (Jorgensen & Philips, 2002; Fairclough via Munfarida, 2014:16). Meanwhile, Fairclough (1992:92) pointed out that the hegemony actually meant not only as a domination, but also interpreted as an area or negotiating space about the significance of the various social, political, and cultural powers that participated in the hegemonic fight, which was the struggle to gain public acceptance.
To some extent, Government regulations have a hegemony to organize or regulate the people who are the citizens of their communities (Abadi, Nurhadi, & Basuki, 2016. With regards to the two rules that are between Permenkes and Permenhub, there are interesting conditions in the hegemonic arena with upsetting the confused community in between, especially on the rules of online motorcycle taxis are allowed or not to transport passengers. As if there is a gap in the text and the use of both regulations.
There are two possibilities of miscommunication between the two ministries or the miscommunication of
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citizens in understanding the two rules. From discourse point of view, basically miscommunication is a condition caused by the use of language that is detached from the context, that is, the language that is separated from the social practices that surround it (Hamdan, 2019:24)
The problem turned out to have been quite a highlight of the mass media, whether it is in printed or non-printing such as online news media. In the news of the issue of these two policies, the mass media generally highlighted two responsible ministers, namely coordinating Minister for the Indonesian Ministry of Security and Investment which is being seated by Mr Luhut Binsar Panjaitan and Minister of Health at that time, namely Mr Terawan Agus Putranto. Both are central to the issue of this policy.
After the regulation was enacted in April 2020 many national newspapers reported controversy over the two rules. At least based on Google search engine, on the date per 11-15 April, there are more than 100 news about the issue of Kemenkes and Kemenhub policy on the online Ojol (motorcycle taxi).
This argument is interesting to be examined particularly of what causes the two rules to be polemic? How does the online mass media highlight this polemic? What are the implications of this polemic? These problems will be analyzed based on the online data and exposure of mass media news. To examine those problem from a language usage standpoint, the researcher uses a critical discourse analysis approach.
METHOD
The main source of this research data is the text of Permenkes and Permenhub. The texts were taken from CNBC INDONESIA’s online mass media, the DETIK NEWS, REPUBLIKA, INEWS, and JPNN. The Data of this research are aspects of discourse, text and context contained in the texts of the Permenhub and Permenkes and the news in online mass media CNBC INDONESIA, the DETIK NEWS, REPUBLIKA, INEWS, and JPNN. Through content analysis is intended to keep the analysis objective and relevant.
This study will analyze the data and examine the problem using Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis approach. Fairclough (2013) views the use of spoken and written language as a social practice. The Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis framework can be pictured as follows:
Figure 1. Fairclough's Three Dimensional Framework (Fairclough, 2013)
In this critical discourse analysis model, Fairclough (2013) has the idea that every literary phenomenon consists of three dimensions. The three dimensions are text dimensions related to linguistic aspects. The second dimension is the practice of discourse related to the discourse process. The third dimension is sociocultural practices related to extra lingual context (Fairclough, 2013; Saraswati, 2017: 183). This critical discourse analysis is functioned because in understanding discourse (script / text) we cannot escape from the context (Fauzan, 2014). Through this Fairclough`s critical discourse analysis approach, it will be textually and contextually exposed to the polemic of Pemenhub and Permenkes. In short, the news text was analyzed using Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional analysis.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Dilemma of regulation between Permenkes and Permenhub
Before leading to the discussion, the original text of both Permenkes and Permenhub regulations that become the root source of the problem are displayed for then conducted a textual analysis as follows:
PERMENKES No. 9/ 2020 Letter (i), reads: "Freight expedition services, including application- based two-wheeled transportation facilities with restrictions only for transporting goods and not for passengers.".
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PERMENHUB No. 18 2020 Article 11 Letter (d), reads: "In certain cases for the purpose of serving the interests of the public and for personal benefit, motorcycles can transport passengers provided that they meet the following health protocols: 1) other activities permitted during Large-Scale Social Restrictions; 2) disinfect vehicles and equipment before and after completion of use; 3) use masks and gloves; and 4) not driving if you are experiencing above normal body temperature or illness;"
In both texts there appears to be significant differences. In Permenkes there is a main sentence that becomes the main emphasis, namely "application-based two-wheeled transportation with restrictions only for transporting goods and not for passengers". Based on the sentence clearly mentions "two- wheeled transportation-based application" of course, the word two-wheeled free application has an interpretation that leads to the mode of transportation Ojol (online ojek). However, in Permenkes No. 9 2020 Letter (i) it seems that transportation that is prohibited from transporting passengers is only "two- wheeled application-based" while other transportation such as buses, trains, aircraft are still given permission to transport passengers taking into account the distance between passengers. Of course, the decision to grant the permit is because mass transportation modes such as ships, planes, trains, buses, have a higher level of urgency and importance for the community than two-wheeled vehicles.
Furthermore, there is an affirmation "only for transporting goods and not for passengers", the sentence expressly without compromise leads to the conclusion that two-wheeled vehicles based on the application are prohibited from carrying passengers.
In the text Permenhub begins with the statement: "In certain cases for the purpose of serving the interests of the community and for personal benefit", the text implies that there is a basis of consideration or thought process for the interests of the community as well as the personal when drafting the text. Then continued with the explanatory sentence that "motorcycles can transport passengers" and unlike Permenkes who expressly and specifically pointed to the object " two-wheeled application-based" in Permenhub more leads to a broader and general word that is "motorcycle". Permenhub essentially allows
"motorcycles" to carry passengers but must meet the four prerequisite points as above. It appears that the rules of Permenhub are less specific, with the meaning of the sentence gives freedom, but on the other hand also binding by having to follow the four points requirements.
In turn, Permenkes has a strict, straightforward and specific pattern that "app-based two- wheelers" are prohibited from transporting passengers. But permenkes has an element of language that gives rise to paradoxical interpretation. If the prohibition is "two-wheeled application-based" then what about two-wheelers that are not application-based such as conventional motorcycle taxis, or private two- wheelers? Based on the textual aspect of the Permenkes, all that is prohibited is "two-wheeled application-based", so conventional or other two-wheeled motorcycle taxis are allowed to transport passengers. At some point, the permenkes rule seems to indicate inequality or injustice to the "two- wheeled application-based", in this case Ojol. In addition, there are also indications of policy gaps between "two-wheeled application-based" and other two-wheeled non-application-free. This is where the polarity between Permenkes and Permenhub arises which makes the dilemma of Ojol drivers (online motorcycle taxis) and their customers.
B. The Mass Media Spotlight on Polemics of Two Regulations
This kind of polemic is certainly a hot topic to be built as a news story in the mass media. Similarly, the form of pattern or model of news by the media crew against polemic Permenhub and Permenkes. To that end, five news texts have been analyzed that have been published by five well-known and nationally recognized online mass media. The news taken is a news story published on the same date, when the eradication of this polemic is on the rise, namely on April 12, 2020. Restrictions on the date to obtain equal news and no time gap between news from one to another. This is because over time the news topic will develop so that the time gap will lead to unfair news text comparisons.
The five news texts taken from the online news media will be compared, including news from CNBC INDONESIA, DETIK NEWS, REPUBLIKA, INEWS, JPNN. The analysis of the news media based on the framework of critical discourse analysis model Norman Fairclough, namely the text, the interpretation, and the explanation. Based on the analysis of five news taken from the five online mass media, it appears that out of the five news 3 of them showed news that criticized Permenhub and tends to Permenkes provisions in the implementation of COVID-19 control, hence Permenhub considered hampering the handling of COVID-19 and should be revoked or canceled so that polemics are immediately completed. While 2 of them preached the reason the Ministry of Transportation made such a regulation and showed that in fact Permenhub is not contrary to Permenkes and other PSBB regulations.
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Indeed Permenhub was made as such to accommodate other regions that have not implemented PSBB and will be effective until social assistance (Bansos) and direct cash assistance (BLT) can be distributed to all communities to remote areas.
In the news on this polemic issue, there are certainly pros-cons; some are pro on Permenhub, and some are pro Permenkes. This is at the level of production of news discourse, the news text is actually influenced by outside context of language, which in reality there is controversy and polarity between the two sides. Every media certainly has its own ideology. It would be too careless to look at the media that preaches pro Permenhub means sympathizer Mr. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, or vice versa if preaching pro Permenkes means aiming to bring down Mr. Luhut. This cannot be concluded arbitrarily. Of course there are times when a news story only conveys information and does not aim to build a specific purpose. But in this case, seen from the pattern of news, it is known that many news tend to be pro to Permenkes rather than tend to Permenhub.
C. Implications of the Polemic Discourse
Fairclough (1989:22) asserts that discourse is the embodiment of "social practice" that has implications for the dialectic between language and social conditions. Fauzan (2014) added that discourse is basically influenced by social conditions, but the social condition is basically also influenced by the discourse itself. This is also supported by Masitoh's research (2020: 71) which concludes that discourse can be influenced and at the same time affect society. Based on some of the opinions above, if drawn in the context of this polemic, of course viral discourses consumed by the public will have implications for the opinion or perception of the people to the figures who play a role in it.
With regard to Fairclough's thinking, it is undeniable that the viral and widespread polemic news has implications for public opinion to the central figure involved, namely Mr. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
On the contrary, Minister Terawan Agus Putranto was not directly affected negatively, but rather he received a negative response related to PSBB. After conducting big data research by Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), as reported by Detiknews (April 26, 2020) "Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan got 1,167 discussions about The License of Operation Ojol Kemenhub, discussions on the continued operation of intercity buses, got a positive discussion: 14% ; while getting negative talk: 86%".
On the contrary, The Minister of Health did not directly get a negative response from this polemic. However, he received "2,384 discussions about the Bureaucracy of PSBB Submissions, etc., 21% of which were positive discussions and 79% negative discussions". According to Didik Junaidi Rachbini, the big data research conducted by Indef is to source from people directly involved in government policies in handling the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia (Voaindonesia, April 29, 2020).
Another implication caused by this polemic in the national context is the decrease in public trust in the Jokowi government (RMOL, April 13, 2020). From this case, it can be said that indeed a discourse that goes viral and then consumed by the public, will potentially affect the thinking of the community itself.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
Based on the discussion, three conclusions can be drawn. First, that the polemic that occurs between Permenhub and Permenkes is one of the problems of text and context. In addition, there is also an interpretation of miscommunication in the regulatory production process. The power of law and power between the two rules makes society a dilemma. In addition, it also makes law enforcement officials confused about how to implement enforcement regulations. There is also the opinion that the two regulations overlap, and Permenhub should be removed because the main focus is covid-19 control, which is used as the basis of Permenkes. Permenhub and Permenkes have their respective functions to accommodate possible situations and conditions on a local basis. Second, the polemics are widely highlighted by the media crew, it is known that the media also displays news in the form of pros and cons.
The news is dominated by criticism of Permenhub No. 18 of 2020 which is considered contrary to Decree No. 9 of 2020 which is the basis for the implementation of PSBB. Third, the virality of this polemic in the mass media supported by the advancement of information technology so that the public absorbs information more quickly and the implications are the assessment and impression of the public on actors who play a role in the polemic of the two regulations. In particular, Mr Pandjaitan is the one who directly gets negative sentiment from the public because of this polemic. In the broader context, this polemic led to a decrease in public confidence in Jokowi's government. From this, it can be concluded that the discourse that goes viral and then consumed by the community, will potentially affect the thinking of the community itself.
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This research is still limited to discussing one phenomenon of conception only. Researchers suggested the next CDA research to conduct an in-depth analysis while paying attention to the extra lingual context that covers the existence of such discourse. Critical discourse analysis is a very potential approach to examine the issue of civility in all fields.
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CURRICULUM VITAE
Complete Name Institution Education Research Interests
Ani Rakhmawati Universitas Sebelas Maret
Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics –The University of New England Australia
Analisis Wacana, Linguistik Terapan, Pembelajaran Bahasa Hanif Burhanudin Universitas Sebelas Maret
S2 Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Daerah
Universitas Sebelas Maret
Analisis Wacana, Pembelajaran Bahasa Jawa
