The Use of Pronouns and Coherence in Papuan Ethnic: Critical

Discourse Analysis in the Reporting of Kedaulatan Rakyat Newspaper

Maulana Andinata Dalimunthe

, Budi Irawanto

and Budiawan

Media and Cultural Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Papuan, Critical Discourse Analysis, Pronouns, Coherence

Abstract: Media has a crucial role in representing and constructing groups that have been stigmatized, as well as

different treatment, as experienced by ethnic Papuan groups. The identity of Papua’s ethnic in Yogyakarta is

very interesting to study, because Yogyakarta is one of the cities in Indonesia that is most visited by Papuans

for various purposes. this paper is aimed to examine how the use of pronouns and coherence in papuan ethnic

by using Van Dijk method of Critical Discourse Analysis. The corpus of this research is the Kedaulatan

Rakyat daily newspaper. This newspaper is the oldest newspaper in Indonesia after Indonesia's independence,

and it has the highest circulation in Yogyakarta. When construct the Papuan, KR Not only use the pronoun,

But also the coherence. Through the use of pronouns KR legitimize the message that they convey, because

pronouns are elements that can be manipulative forms of language. Another that, KR also used coherence as

a form of affirmation of the existence of Papua which was so "chaotic"

1 INTRODUCTION

One of the oldest local print media and still has a high

circulation is Kedaulatan Rakyat (KR) daily

newspaper. Standing and developing in Yogyakarta,

this newspaper is still the belle of the public to obtain

information. In addition, KR also spreads in various

regions in Indonesia, such as West Java, East Java,

Kalimantan, and Sumatera. This also makes KR one

of the newspapers with a large circulation, which is

up to 99,831 copies every day, and D.I Yogyakarta is

the province with the largest circulation, which is

87,377 copies (Khair, 2017).

When compared with circulation of other local

newspapers in Yogyakarta, KR still in the top

position. Harian Jogja daily newspaper, which was

established in 2008, has a circulation of 45,000 copies

(Supadiyanto, 2014), while Tribun Jogja daily

newspaper has 65,000 copies every day with news

content that has a lifestyle concept (Khair, 2017).

This amount is proof that KR is the most widely

consumed local newspaper by Yogyakarta residents,

compared to other local newspapers, such as Harian

Jogja and Tribun Jogja. This data also shows that the

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5813-9214

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3423-1603

print media is still a major concern for the people of

Yogyakarta to obtaining information about

everything in Indonesia, especially in Yogyakarta.

Having high level of circulation, and has long

stood as the oldest local media in Yogyakarta, how

does KR represent the contemporary phenomena that

take place in Yogyakarta? (Sanjaya (2016) through

his research stated that local media tend to have

certain sides in a case, and the local people that they

serve are not the parties that they always defend. In

the issue of hotel construction in Yogyakarta, for

example, KR daily newspaper tends to favor

hospitality investors. This can be seen through the

structure of the text that they display. In a political

context, KR also tends to side and support one of the

candidate in the regional head election. It can be seen

through the tendency of KR news which leads public

opinion to choose number 2 (Ida-Munir) during the

election in the Bantul Regency head election in 2015

(Khulasoh, 2016). KR news that tend to defend

certain parties can also be seen through the findings

of Andreas (2016), he revealed that KR tends to

defend the KOPASSUS (Komando Pasukan Khusus)

action and does not agree with KOMNAS HAM (The

282

Dalimunthe, M., Irawanto, B. and Budiawan, .

The Use of Pronouns and Coherence in Papuan Ethnic: Critical Discourse Analysis in the Reporting of Kedaulatan Rakyat Newspaper.

DOI: 10.5220/0011566200003460

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Social and Political Development (ICOSOP 2022) - Human Security and Agile Government, pages 282-286

ISBN: 978-989-758-618-7; ISSN: 2975-8300

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

National Commission on Human Rights) Indonesia,

related to the case of assault in the Cebongan

penitentiary on March 23, 2013.

Study that uses KR as the unit analysis has been

carried out by several previous researchers, but those

that use the issue of ethnicity, especially Papua as its

material object, have never been carried out.

Therefore, through this research, will be seen how KR

constructs the issues that related to the Papuan?,

especially through the use of syntax level (pronouns

and coherence)

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Research related to the construction of media on the

discourse of ethnic Papuan groups has been

conducted by Nindias Nur Khalika (2017) and

Andriyani (2016). Both of these studies have the same

goal, namely how newspapers construct Papuan

ethnic groups. The difference lies on if Khalika

(2017) focuses on journalistic photographs in

Kompas newspaper, Andriyani (2016) sees the

construction of dialogue between Jakarta

(Government) and Papua in online media, through the

whole news report, including text and photos.

There are some interesting things to see in the

research of Khalika (2017) and Andriyani (2016).

First, From the research findings of Khalika (2017)

that on the analysis of photos, and tends to ignore the

text as a whole that constructed by the media, because

Khalika only makes the photo as primary data

analyzed and the text that blends into the photo as

secondary data and just limited to the photo headlines

and captions. This seems to be problematic because

as expressed by Van Dijk (1993), that detailed

analysis of media reporting related to ethnic affairs

must also focus on the various microstructure of news

reports. At this level, we must examine the meaning

of words and sentences, like relationship between

sentences (propositions), and the formulation of

meanings and rhetoric. Second, Khalika's finding

ignores aspects of the media

(journalists/photographers) as agents that produce

photos and texts. If you want to see how the discourse

that construct by the media, it should also refer to the

entire discourse production process, like social

context.

Third, Andriyani's (2016) finding not only

focused on photos in analyzing media construction on

issues that related to ethnic Papuans, but also uses

texts as the unit of analysis, such as titles, word usage,

and news sources. Andriyani's research only looked

the position of the Selangkah Online magazine in

preaching the Papua-Jakarta dialogue. It can be seen

through the conclusion of this research which states

the Selangkah online magazine has tried to be neutral

in reporting the Papua-Jakarta dialogue, by carrying

out a "counter-attack" on national media reports about

Papua. From this finding, it is clear that Andriyani has

not seen how the text of the news is interpreted and

understood about racist practices, discrimination, and

stereotypes. This is because the purpose of this

research is to look more at the position of the media

in reporting the issue of the Papua- Jakarta dialogue.

From the description of these studies, I am not

found studies that specifically examine the use of

pronoun and coherence against ethnic Papuans has

been construct. This research will be examined using

the Van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

approach. In analyzing the problems in this study, the

approach that will be used is constructionist. This

approach is used to see what meaning that behind in

constructing of ethnic Papuan identity in KR. Hall

explained that there are three approaches to

representation (2013: 10-11). First, a reflective

approach, which sees the meaning of human objects,

ideas, or events that exist in the real world. Second,

the intentional approach, which sees that the meaning

of an object comes from the writer or the maker.

Third, the constructionist approach. This approach is

used to represent certain concepts in society. Readers

as the audience can determine their meaning based on

their culture and media representation system, which

is used to communicate with culture.

3 METHODS

This type of research is interpretive qualitative. This

study was to identify, describe, understand, and

interpret the data obtained, in this case the media text

(Schatzman, in Creswell, 2010). The corpus of this

research was the news texts of the KR which discuss

ethnic Papuan issues This study uses the method of

Teun A van Dijk's (2015) Critical Discourse Analysis

(CDA) method, to see how KR constructs ethnic

Papuans in every public reporting. This method also

helps to see how far KR gives Papuans the space to

represent themselves. CDA is a research method that

specifically abuses of social power and inequality that

practiced, reproduced, legitimized, or opposed by

texts that speak in social and political contexts (Dijk

2015: 466).

was carried out through (1) Documenting reports

relating to ethnic Papuan groups in the KR. (2)

Classifying news about Papua in several sections. (3)

Conducting interviews to see social cognition and

The Use of Pronouns and Coherence in Papuan Ethnic: Critical Discourse Analysis in the Reporting of Kedaulatan Rakyat Newspaper

283

social attitudes about Papuan discourse (4)

Collaborating on data that has been obtained to be

identified and analyzed based on research tools and

observation units. (5) Making conclusions about the

data that has been analyzed.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSION

Active/passive sentences, pronouns, and coherence

are syntactic structures in analyzing media discourse.

Syntax is a linguistic system that discusses words in

relation to other words that unite as an utterance or

language (Webber & Prasad, 2009: 173). In syntax, it

can be seen how the pattern of using words becomes

a complete sentence or text. The use of words in

compiling a text into a news report can be seen

through the conditional coherence in the news on

August 4, 2016. There are at least three conditional

coherences that can be seen. First, headlines that

clearly display conditional coherence through the

sentence "despite many problems".

In this article, KR uses the title “Meski Banyak

Permasalahan, Otonomi Khusus Pendorong

Pembangunan Papua”. The use of the phrase “Meski

Banyak Permasalahan,” is a sentence that explains

that development or special autonomy in Papua has

encountered many problems. This sentence becomes

an explanation or explanation of the proposition of

the next sentence, namely “Otonomi Khusus

Pendorong Pembangunan Papua”. Negative

explanatory coherence can also be seen in this article

through the following quote: “Lukas also asked

Papuan students to respect and uphold the culture the

people of Yogyakarta. Because they live in Yogya,

Papuan students in Yogya should respect the local

culture.”

The quote above shows the repetition of the

sentence, which actually means Luke's hope that

Papuan students will respect and appreciate the

culture and culture that exists in Yogyakarta.

However, the use of the word "should be" becomes

an affirmation and a link to the repetition of the

previous sentence. In this position KR should simply

display one of the two sentences/quotations above,

which actually have the same intent and purpose. If

KR only includes the first sentence or the second

sentence in this article, it will not reduce the meaning

of the existing sentence, because the reader still

understands the meaning of this sentence. This

pattern indirectly shows that mutual respect and

respect for students from Papua in Indonesia are not

maximized. Yogyakarta, so it is necessary to

emphasize that students from Papua have more

respect and appreciation for the existing culture. On

the other hand, there is positive conditional coherence

in this article, namely when KR provides space for

Papuans (Lukas Enembe) to express their aspirations:

"Building Papua is not an easy matter, it is because

of the geographical structure and culture of the

community which consists of more than 250 tribes

with various customs"

The quote above is conditional coherence with the

use of the clause “it is because of the geographical

structure and culture of the community consisting of

more than 250 tribes with various customs” which

explains why development in Papua is more difficult.

To combine the conditional sentences, KR uses the

word "because". Positive conditional coherence can

also be seen through KR's news on September 14,

2018 through the following quote: "This has also

been conveyed to the group who took to the streets

yesterday to cool the atmosphere," he said. He added

that during yesterday's action, no public facilities

were damaged.”

in the quote above, the word "he added" is a

conditional link that explains that in the action to take

to the streets no one has committed anarchic actions,

such as the destruction of public facilities. The quote

above can be seen as an attempt to deconstruct the

practice of marking (Hall, 1997) which has often been

attached to groups (ethnic Papuans) who tend to be

known to be violent and prone to anarchic acts.

However, what is interesting is the KR's attempt to

"eliminate" or borrow Louis Althusser's term (In,

Walton: 2008) "absence". In this article, the word

“Papua” is not even found, even though those

involved and the object of reporting on this incident

are ethnic Papuans. It seems that the deconstruction

efforts carried out by KR through the conditional

coherence above are meaningless because there is no

use of the word Papua.

KR's efforts to "eliminate" the Papuan ethnic

group can also be seen through the use of the terms

"students from outside Java" and "both parties". This

term seems to further emphasize KR's position in the

semantic context to deconstruct stereotypes that exist

in Papuan ethnic groups. On the one hand, there is an

attempt to explain that the action of the Papuan group

went down and the oration to the street went

peacefully without any anarchic actions, such as the

destruction of public facilities. But on the other hand,

this is increasingly problematic because it is not

explicitly supported by KR through the use of words

or terms that can support the intent and purpose of the

news.

Conditional coherence can also be seen through

KR's reporting when reporting on the case of student

persecution in the Papuan dormitory in 2016. In the

article July 16, 2016, KR inserted a sentence of

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conditional coherence that emphasized that people

from Papua in the city of Yogyakarta should also

respect and respect the existing local community.

around them. Because local people also do the same

thing to people from Papua through an inscription

“Kitorang Jogja Loves Papua”, which was brought by

the Special Secretary of DIY during a peaceful protest

in front of the Vredeburg fort, Yogyakarta.

The inscription "Kitorang Jogja loves Papua"

using red and white roses means that the people of

Yogyakarta always welcome the arrival of their

brothers from Papua. To that extent, it is to respect the

rights and obligations of other members of the

community. The conditional coherence in the quote

above can be seen through the word “so far”. This

word is a link between sentences which is also a

prerequisite for the previous sentence (Yogya

residents always welcome the arrival of brothers from

Papua). In the incident of the persecution of Papuan

students, KR seems to have constructed ethnic

Papuans as a group that must be proactive in creating

a conducive atmosphere. KR's emphasis on Papuan

ethnic groups to play an active role in creating a

conducive atmosphere in Yogyakarta can also be seen

through the news on 20 July 2016: "All parties,

including Papuans living in Yogyakarta, must be

proactive and create a conducive atmosphere."

The use of the phrase “including Papuans” is a

conditional coherence that emphasizes Papuans to be

proactive in creating a conducive atmosphere. Even

the use of the sentence becomes an artifactual form

that directly shows a message to the Papuan people in

particular. In addition, the use of coherence in

constructing reports related to ethnic Papuans is also

widely found in the news about the death of Theys

Eluay. When reporting on Theys eluay's death, KR

used coherence as a form of affirmation of the

existence of Papua which was so "chaotic" because of

Theys' death. The coherence included in their news

articles is conditional coherence which contains two

sentences, where the clause (second sentence) is an

affirmation of the previous sentence: “Several

buildings were damaged and burned, including the

Ratna Hotel, BRI offices and shops. In addition, the

community is still destroying a number of buildings

around Abepura, as well as closing roads.”

If we look at the sentence structure above, we can

see the construction of KR in framing the situation in

Papua which is so tense because of anarchic actions.

The use of the word "other than that" becomes a

liaison to insert a sentence of affirmation or the tense

situation. If KR really wants to present factual

information regarding the tense situation, or anarchic

actions that have occurred in Papua, it is sufficient to

present only the first sentence, without reaffirming

through the second sentence. Conditional coherence

as a form of construction of a tense existence in Papua

can also be seen through the following quote from the

KR article dated 18 November 2001:“Theys

supporters are angry after learning their leader is

dead. Apart from that, angry mobs also blocked and

hurled stones at the highway in Abepura sub-

district.”

The word “other than that” is again used by KR to

construct and emphasize the massive anarchist

actions carried out by the Papuan people. These

actions are even stronger when seen through the

following article excerpts:"Papua's struggle based on

politeness, courtesy, peace and love has become a

door that gets the sympathy of the people and the

government so that there is no violence, but the

struggle stopped until Sunday, because he was found

meningeal in Koya".

The quote from the article above can be seen as a

trigger for Papuan people's frustration over the events

of Theys' death. At the beginning of the sentence

Theys is described as a Papuan son who is very

humanist and loves peace, but this is actually

rewarded by his death. If KR wants to reduce the

tense situation as they appear in several articles when

reporting on the case of Theys' death, KR only needs

to present the first sentence, without including the

second sentence which is connected using the word

“but”. Readers must have known that Theys had died,

and their death became the main news story for KR,

and was placed on the front page. Therefore, the use

of this second sentence is actually very risky in

triggering anarchic actions of the Papuan people.

KR also uses pronouns to legitimize the message

they convey. Pronouns are elements that can be

manipulative forms of language. When expressing the

attitude or position of a person/media in a discourse,

the media can use the pronouns "I" or "we". The use

of the pronoun "I" or "we" refers to the attitude of the

media or journalists in a clear/specific manner. The

use of the pronoun "we" makes this attitude a

representation of a shared attitude in an imaginative

community (Smith, 1992: 250). The use of these

pronouns can be seen through the following article

excerpts: "We want to be really serious, because this

concerns Papua, but we don't want to assume, we

want to be professional. Whoever does this, we will

take action. this is the debt of law enforcement.”

Several times the word “we” is used in the quote

above, which represents an effort to foster solidarity

and embrace the readers, as well as to muffle the

voices of the opposition. In this position the use of the

pronoun "we" also becomes legitimacy for the state

(police). The use of pronouns can also be seen

through the case of the persecution of the Papuan

kamasan dormitories: “We chose roses because roses

are synonymous with expressions of love. Why is red

and white, we hope that in the future Papuans will

remain under the red and white banner”

The Use of Pronouns and Coherence in Papuan Ethnic: Critical Discourse Analysis in the Reporting of Kedaulatan Rakyat Newspaper

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The use of the word "we" has various meanings.

It could mean "we" as a DIY Special Secretariat

community, it could also mean the people of

Yogyakarta in general. The use of the word "we" can

have very diverse meanings for readers. Meanwhile,

the use of pronouns as a representation of the attitude

of Bersama can be seen through an article quoted on

November 15, 2001: "We want to be really serious,

because this concerns Papua, but we don't want to

assume, we want to be professional. Whoever does it,

we will take action. this is the debt of law

enforcement.”

Several times the word “we” is used in the quote

above, which represents an effort to foster solidarity

and embrace the readers, as well as to muffle the

voices of the opposition. In this position the use of the

pronoun "we" also becomes legitimacy for the state

(police).

5 CONCLUSIONS

KR constructs the Papuan ethnic group using

pronouns and coherence. From this aspect, KR

deconstruct stereotypes that exist in Papuan ethnic

groups. On the one hand, there is an attempt to explain

that the action of the Papuan group went down and

the oration to the street went peacefully without any

anarchic actions, such as the destruction of public

facilities. But on the other hand, this is increasingly

problematic because it is not explicitly supported by

KR through the use of words or terms that can support

the intent and purpose of the news. KR also present

factual information regarding the tense situation, or

anarchic actions that have been occurred in Papua, it

is sufficient to present only the first sentence, without

reaffirming through the second sentence. From the

use of pronoun and coherence, KR legitimize the

message that they convey, because pronouns are

elements that can be manipulative forms of language.

Another that, KR also used coherence as a form of

affirmation of the existence of Papua which was so

"chaotic"

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