Reactualizing the Ecomomic Spirit in Javanese Literature Based on
the Javanese Local Wisdom
Djoko Sulaksono and Budi Waluyo
Javanese Language Learning Program, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia
Keywords: Values of economic spirit, Javanese society, local wisdom, Javanese literature.
Abstract: To increase the economic necessity in the globalization era, everyone should have a high spirit of work to
comply with daily needs. In fact, an economic spirit in the general society especially Javanese people is still
low and must be increasing. This descriptive qualitative research aims to describe and explain about the
relationship between the Javanese literature and the economic spirit of Javanese people. The data from this
research are mainly concerned with the “Mintaraga Gantjaran” text written by Prijoehoetomo. The data were
collected by a note-taking technique using the “Mintaraga Gantjaran” text which is related to the topic of the
research. The data were analyzed using a content analysis technique in the form of a literature approach. To
test the data validity, this research used a triangulation technique. The research result shows that Javanese
literature, in this case the “Mintaraga Gantjaran” written by Prijoehoetomo, contains values of economic spirit
pertaining to the economic condition in this modern era. Re-actualizing the values of economic spirit in
Javanese literature not only increases the work ethic of Javanese society, but also improves a sense of
ownership toward Javanese literature that contains values of Javanese local wisdom.
1 INTRODUCTION
The economic condition of Indonesian society has
long been a main concern considerably. In fact,
almost 10% of the total population of Indonesia
remains below the poverty rate. In addition,
Indonesia's economic growth is relatively low, only
about 5.011% in 2017 (www.bps.go.id). This
condition, if left uncontrolled, is going to get worse.
Some unavoidable causes of this worsening economic
condition include geographical conditions, lack of
public facilities and infrastructure such as hospitals,
and places to organize economic activities amid the
weakening entrepreneurial spirit of society (Phung, et
al., 2016: 75).
To re-address this phenomenon of weakening
economic growth, some steps are necessarily taken to
support all parties. In terms of the government
concern, a regulation can foster economic activities,
so that the state trade is more likely to focus on and
side with the people (Greenfeld, 2006). However, this
condition is still far from expectations. The economic
policy in Indonesia seems unfavorable to people, for
example, the price of basic necessities is high, so that
Indonesian people find it difficult to meet their needs
of life. To supervise economic policies, the
government can take advantage of meeting people’s
and investors’ demand of the commodity. Within a
framework of existing economic regulations, the
government is in favor of the people who indirectly
trigger economic activities to support economic
transactions. Pro-people economic policies can also
suppress the game and monopoly of companies that
own high capital (Palazzo, 2016).
The weakening economic condition of Indonesian
people is not only caused by external factors
(regulations, economic climate, and big
shareholders), but also internal factors (the lack of
economic enthusiasm) to develop creative economy.
This results in a less developed economic condition
of Indonesian society. To solve this complicated
problem, the government can push people's economic
spirits to generate PNPM and KUR programs and
boost the entrepreneurship spirit of Indonesian
society, though, in reality these government-launched
programs are still less effective.
Another way to improve the economic spirit of
Indonesian society is to actualize the values and
economic spirit in Javanese literary works. Javanese
literature contains values that are very complex and
relevant to various problems existing in the
community, especially the Javanese community
(Rahmat, 2016: 75). Javanese literary works, as
Sulaksono, D. and Waluyo, B.
Reactualizing the Ecomomic Spirit in Javanese Literature Based on the Javanese Local Wisdom.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (ICEEE 2017), pages 199-202
ISBN: 978-989-758-308-7
Copyright © 2017 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
199
proposed by Susanto (2011), are relevant to modern
Javanese literary works of capitalism, while postwar
work of world II is more likely to reflect the
dominance of technology and network of global
capitalism. One of the Javanese literary works in
question is a novel.
A novel is a literary work in the form of a prose
that is longer than a short story. In a novel are
problems of complex figures based on the underlying
customs (Sulaksono, 2016: 17). Just like a literary
work, a novel has a structure. The structure in a novel
consists of elements of the builder who build the
novel, as well as elements of storytelling that
encapsulate the social conditions recorded in the
author's memory (Prabowo, 2013: 93). The structure
includes (1) theme, (2) plot/groove, (3)
characterization, (4) setting or setting, and (5) point
of view.
As a miniature of life stories, a novel contains
either values or messages for the readers to digest
(Rodgers, 2007: 480). The messages in a novel are
extremely varied and, of course, concern with social
issues (Anwar, 2009: 391). Not only does the author
infrequently convey messages related to economic
problems, but also related values of social life. In the
Prijohoetomo's Mintaraga Gantjaran novel, these
values are set to re-actualize economic spirits in
which the author of this novel is expected to foster the
spirit of economic activities for Indonesian citizens.
2 METHODS
As this is a descriptive qualitative research using an
interdisciplinary literary approach, its structural
analysis aims to analyze the in-depth structure and
content of literary works in detail. The object of
research is the Mintaraga Gantjaran novel written by
Prijohoetomo. Referring to the object of research, the
method of collecting data is note-taking. In addition,
it also added in-depth interview method with literary
experts and economic experts. The data are derived
from three ketoprak manuscripts using a content
analysis technique, along with data of reduction
stages, data presentation, and data verification
(Sutopo, 2002). To test the validity of data, a data
triangulation technique is used, namely a
triangulation of data sources and a triangulation of
theories.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The data analysis in this research is called a structural
approach. This literary analysis uses a structural
approach that attempts to analyze the elements in a
literary work, as well as its interrelated mechanism.
On the one hand, it deals with the relation of elements
with the totality of meaning (Ratna, 2012: 91). The
structural approach not only analyzes the intrinsic
elements of literary works, but also the extrinsic
elements of the work (Wellek & Warren, 2014: 24).
The intrinsic elements in literature are themes,
characterizations, plots, backgrounds, points of view,
language styles, titles, mandates, and interpersonal
relationships. The data analysis in this research
focuses on the analysis of values and economic spirits
found in the Prijohoetomo’s Mintara Gantjaran novel.
From the storyline points of view, this novel
contains the inspirational stories of a puppet. The
transformation of such puppet stories is intensively
found in the aspects of characterization and flow
(Nurgiyantoro, 2016). The storyline and
characterizations in the novel become a
transformation of the puppet story entitled Begawan
Ciptohening. It tells about the story of one of the
Pandavas, namely Arjuna who meditates to obtain
weapons of destruction that will be used in the
Western War, (Cohen, 2007).
Points of analysis in this novel are related to some
values of economic problems. First, it is a bold
economic value and, in this context, deals with a
steady heart and great confidence (Sulaksono, 2015:
118). The bold representation of values can be viewed
from the brave Arjuna’s karate, King Niwatakawaca
of the Ima-imantaka State. Although the king is
famous for his miraculous powers, he has no fear at
all.
The second value is the leadership. A leader must
be able to lead himself, or herself before leading
others. A good leader should always think about the
fate of people, peace, religion, and welfare of the
nation (Sutarjo, 2006). In this novel, the value of
leadership seen in the footage of King Darmawangsa
describes how Arjuna meditates to get weapons from
the Gods. This reflects the nature of King
Darmawangsa which reflects the nature of a leader
who must protect his people from external attack.
The third value is gotong royong (a mutual
cooperation value), a reflection of the social life that
must always help each other (Khristianto, 2016, 95).
In Prijohoetomo's Mintaraga Gantjaran novel, Arjuna
is willing to help the Khayangan Kingdom and the
mediator of Bathara Indra, who at that time, faced an
attack from enemies of the Ima-imantaka kingdom.
ICEEE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Economic Education and Entrepreneurship
200
Arjuna's willingness to provide assistance greatly
reflects a social protection of the community, which
is to uphold the attitude of mutual help and mutual
assistance to each other.
Some values found in this novel are associated
with the economic spirit among Javanese people
contextually. First, it represents courage of Javanese
people to start a business or economic activities to
improve their lives (Roy, 2003). When someone will
start a business, he or she must have strong
confidence that his or her business will succeed. If
someone is hesitant to start a business, then he or she
certainly will never start a business, so the economic
situation will no longer good.
Leadership is a value that connects with the ability
of management. An entrepreneur must have good
management skills (Greenfeld, 2006). Enterprises
without good management skills are nonsensical.
Management in this case not only deals with financial
management and business management, but also
concerns with human resource management
(Astaman, Wahyono, & Wardoyo, 2016).
Furthermore, it is important to re-actualize gotong-
royong values in the Javanese society. If someone
will start a business in the absence of a mediocre
capital, he or she can use a principle of mutual effort
by looking for business partners to cooperate with. By
doing so, the existing business partners can help run
business easily that both benefit financial or capital
practices, as well as the implementation of
businesses. Thus, if the three values in this novel can
be re-actualized and socialized in the success-
obsessed Javanese society, they can add to people’s
business and economic spirits. If the spirit of doing
business community is good, then surely their
economic life will improve.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A low economic activity of Indonesian people is one
of the triggered factors for the low interest and the
spirit of doing a business. However, it can be
mitigated if the government sets to generate economic
regulations that favor and benefit the people. In
addition, another way to spark the economic spirit of
Javanese society is by way of re-actualizing economic
values behind Javanese literary works. Mintaraga
Gantjaran is a Javanese literary work in the form of a
novel that contains several economic values, each of
which epitomizes the value of courage, leadership,
and gotong-royong (a mutual cooperation value).
These three values are highly relevant to the
economic activities of Javanese society. By
actualizing and socializing them fully, the spirit of the
public in running a business triggers the improvement
of an economic situation. In what follows, to
introduce Javanese literary works to the community,
it is necessary to foster the love and pride of the work
of Javanese literature that becomes an integral part of
local wisdom of Javanese culture.
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