Language reflects power: Experts<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The holders of power define everything in ways
\nthat place the less-powerful at a disadvantage, a scholar says.<\/p>\n
\"The powerful elite determines the reigning ideologies,\" said
\ncommunication expert Jalaluddin Rakhmat from Padjadjaran
\nUniversity in Bandung in the book titled Bahasa dan Kekuasaan
\n(Language and Power) which was discussed here yesterday by
\nprominent scholars.<\/p>\n
Jalaluddin said that once a government assumes power, one of
\nthe things it will do is set up a specific \"dictionary\" of words
\nto be used, and which will dominate political discourse.<\/p>\n
\"Through this dictionary, the members of political communities
\nhave to interpret the political reality,\" Jalaluddin said.<\/p>\n
He compared the use of language in the Old Order
\nadministration under late president Sukarno to the language used
\nby the current New Order administration of President Soeharto.<\/p>\n
\"When the Old Order was replaced by the New Order, the
\npowerful elite changed. The reigning ideologies changed as well.
\nIn political discourse, there was also a change in people's
\nvocabulary and a shift in the meaning of words,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that during the first administration, people's
\njargon was dominated by the idea of revolution. The current
\nadministration's political discourse, on the other hand, is
\nmarked with the jargon of economic development such as \"take off
\nera\", \"growth\", \"technology\" and \"modernization\".<\/p>\n
\"In the New Order, there's no antirevolution group. What we
\nhave, instead, is people who are antidevelopment...who may come
\nfrom either the left or right extreme,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Jalaluddin said that the new order's political discourse was
\nat one stage dominated by jargon which show the great influence
\nof the Armed Forces (ABRI). He mentioned the use of the acronym
\nfor ideology, politics, economic, social and cultures
\n(ipoleksosbud) as an example of political discourse influenced by
\nthe military.<\/p>\n
\"Does the recent decline in the use of words influenced by
\nABRI, and the increase of technological terms, reflect a shift in
\nthe powerful elite?\" he asked.<\/p>\n
Jalaluddin wrote a chapter titled Communication and Political
\nChanges in the book, which was published by Mizan and edited by
\nYudi Latif and Idi Subandy Ibrahim.<\/p>\n
The book's other prominent writers include sociologist Ariel
\nHeryanto, senior journalist Goenawan Mohamad, political scientist
\nMochtar Pabottingi, historian Taufik Abdullah, Virginia Matheson
\nHooker of Australian National University and Benedict Richard
\nO'Gorman Anderson, a professor of government and Asian studies at
\nCornell University in the United States.<\/p>\n
The book was discussed at the National Library yesterday by
\nMochtar Pabottingi, Moslem scholar Emha Ainun Nadjib and editor
\nof Kalam cultural magazine Nirwan Dewanto. Some 300 youths
\nattended the discussion.<\/p>\n
Mochtar spoke of need to \"put the (Indonesian) language back
\nin order so that when people speak, their words represent
\nresistance against despotism\".<\/p>\n
The senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
\nsaid going along with the words that the powerful elite define
\nfor the community \"only bolsters the power that people wish to
\nresist\". (swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/language-reflects-power-experts-1447893297",
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