Oleh: R. Wahjoe Poernomo Soeprapto Faculty of Law, University of Trunojoyo Madura, Indonesia.

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1 THE SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF THE WORD PERWAKILAN IN THE FOURTH PARAGRAPH OF THE PREAMBLE TO THE 1945 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA: ITS IMPLICATION TOWARD THE DIRECT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF INDONESIAN PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT Oleh: R. Wahjoe Poernomo Soeprapto Faculty of Law, University of Trunojoyo Madura, Indonesia. Abstract The idea to revert to the original script of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia is problematic, as somehow the constitution itself has undergone revision for four times. Using the preamble of the constitution, this article scrutinizes the two distinctive mechanism of the presidential election formulated in the body of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia both of that of the original script and that of the third amandment. This is to compare and then select which one of those agreeing with the state fundamental, as formulated by the Indonesian founding fathers. The research method used is a qualitative one, not based on legal approach, but merely on the linguistic approach, in particular, semantics (the study of meaning). The result found is that the body of the original script of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia shows conformity with the state fundamental, compared to that of the amandment. Keywords: the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the word perwakilan, state fundamental I. INTRODUCTION People s Consultative Assembly (MPR) has executed four-time-amendment on the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia (hereinafter shortened as UUD 1945) gradually, starting from the first amandment in 1999, second one in 2000, third in 2001 and the last was in 2002 consecutively. The four amendments wholly cover changes on state organ, both on its hierarchical structure and power, on addition of human rights-related rules, on changes of indirect into direct presidential election, as well as Presidential removal from office. Among those regulated in the UUD 1945 amandment, there is one interesting to scrutinize, that is the direct presidential election. The latter is stipulated in article 6A section (1) of the third amandment of UUD What is problematic here is that this regulation is different from that of the same paragraph of the UUD 1945 original script. Referring to the UUD 1945 amandment, MPR as the state organ that is given a power to alter the constitution is determined not to change the preamble to the UUD 1945 for some reasons, that is one of which is that Pancasila as the state fundamental norms is contained in the preamble. It exists in the fourth paragraph of the preamble to the UUD 1945, together with other formulations on state ideals of the republic of Indonesia. This must not be without reasons of why the state ideals altogether with the state fundamental were formulated in one paragraph. Implicitly, in the fourth paragraph of the preamble, there lies a rationale that the state ideals must lean on Pancasila. Within the five principles of the state fundamentals in the fourth paragraph of the Preamble to the UUD 1945 relevant to the mechanism of how President and Vice President are elected is lying 184

2 on the fourth Kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh hikmat kebijaksanaan dalam permusyawaratan/perwakilan. In line with this, there exists the word permusyawaratan/perwakilan which likely implies a meaning. Eventually, a question may arise whether this direct presidential election shows conformity with the preamble to the UUD 1945 or not. II. METHODS AND MATERIALS This is a qualitative research. According to Sugiyono, qualitative research method is one used to analyze an object (different from experiment method) where a researcher plays as the key instrument, and the data collection technique used is triangulation, the data analysis applied is inductive and the research result emphasizes on meanings than generalization (Sugiyono, 2007). In this article, the object is on meanings of that in the word perwakilan as formulated in the fourth paragraph of the preamble to the UUD Unlike the preamble which remains the same as one shown in the original script, the body of the UUD 1945 undergoes some amandments, and one related to the core problem is on the third. The difference lies on the way to elect the president and vice president. The original script stipulated that both President and Vice President is elected by MPR as formulated in article 6 section (2), the third amandment recommends the President and Vice President are elected directly by Indonesian people, as formulated in the body of UUD 1945 article 6A section (1). The data analysing is done inductively, that is by analyzing the word perwakilan under the work of semantics. First, the meaning of the word is undermined and then it is matched to the text to determine which of the two: the direct or the indirect election which fits best to the word perwakilan. The research materials used are the Preamble to the UUD 1945; the article 6 section (2) of that of the original script and the article 6A section (1) of the third amandment of the UUD III.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION THE MEANING OF THE WORD PERWAKILAN Palmer (1981:33) explains The word, moreover, is not a clearly defined linguistic unit. It is to some degree purely conventional, defined in terms of the spaces in the written text. In other words, he further states that the word has meanings and the meanings cannot be wholly arbitrary. In this way, semantics helps assist us to understand the nature of meanings and how words imply meanings. This also involves how meaning is revealed towards the word itself and the concepts contained in the word. In short, words, as Palmer (1981:17) empasizes, are names or labels for things. In this way, this label is closely connected to context. Riyadi also argues that the word (lexis) is closely bound to verbal social process (context-bound). In line with this, the word perwakilan stated in kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh hikmat kebijaksanaan dalam permusyawaratan/perwakilan is context-bound. Based on law studies, this word implies legal basis and this then underlies laws stipulated afterwards. As this word is in Bahasa Indonesia, the analysis is appropriately done through bahasa studies. In the study of meaning, Aminuddin (2011) states that meaning can be obtained through some approaches: terminology, referential, ideational, and behavioral. The details are as follows: A. TERMINOLOGY APPROACH Meaning as a term is a relationship between the language and the world, aggreed among the language users (Aminuddin, 2011). In this research, the object of the research is the word perwakilan that has a base wakil, combined with prefix per- and suffix an. This eventually forms a noun in Bahasa studies. 185

3 According to: Meanwhile, the world perwakilan contains some meanings: Among those meanings, one which is relevant to the word discussed is point 5, that is seseorang atau kelompok yang mempunyai kemampuan atau kewajiban bicara dan bertindak atas nama (a person or a group of people whose authority is delivering aspiration on behalf of a name) 1. REFERENTIAL APPROACH The meaning in this approach is a label or an epithet referring to the material world proceeded in the human s mind. The observation and concluion made in relation to such meaning is subjective (Aminuddin,, 2011). Due to the material world perpetuated in my mind and may likely also be in our minds, the word perwakilan refers to the state organs we already have, such as MPR (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat), DPR (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat), DPD (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah), dan DPRD (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah) 2. IDEATIONAL APPROACH What is meant by this approach is that meaning is seen as someting set up randomly but a convention which is understood by its users. From this point of view, this word is a convention, where there is no particular reason why this word contains per+wakil+an. However, this word implies the world describes what that word means. The word perwakilan implies meanings (concepts) as follows: 186

4 Perwakilan : - one acted as representatives - its number is less than who are representated - act on behalf of the represented - can be a person or a group of people, can be personal or institutional Based on the constitutional political context, perwakilan signifies a state organ assigned as the representative of that the represented. In democracy, that huge number of people living in a state assign their representatives to act on behalf of those people. In this way, those state organs work on behalf of the people. This is clearly underpinned by the word kerakyatan (people as well as all matters related to people). In democracy, people s sovereignity holds the supreme power. As a consequence, these people have this soveregnity and the state organs are ones executing the sovereignity. This teaching is the anti-thesis of monarchy, where monarchy puts the absolute sovereignity at the monarch s hand. The monarch holds the supreme power, and therefore, monarch takes the supreme control over the people. Unlike monarchy, democracy offers authority division. In other words, authority works in isolation, therefore we see these isolated power covering the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary, of which concepts were proposed by Montesquieu, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes. In Indonesia, the people s sovereignity is manifested in the form of people s representatives in either the Legislature, the Executive, or the Judiciary, and one distinctive representative the Indonesia people have is MPR. Our founding fathers aggreed upon an idea that it is MPR who represents the democracy in Indonesia. MPR comes with the idea that this becomes the representative of the people s sovereignity, meaning people s mandate is assigned to this state organ. A. BEHAVIORAL APPROACH The meaning of behavioral approach is more to the meaning based on the repeated experience relying on the social and situational context (Aminuddin, 2011: 61-63). The meaning of perwakilan in the constitutional political context is definitely different from that of class action. The word perwakilan is not a new word for us. This is a word taught since we were in elementary school up to now, repeated on and on, in the context of learning Pancasila and civics. When perwakilan was discussed, at the same time we were taught of recognizing and knowing those state organs such as MPR, DPR, DPD, and DPRD functioning as people s representatives. We were taught on people s sovereignity (as theory, concept) while the organs acting as the executor (practice). At the same time, the idea of aspiration delivery through the organs, altogether with some similar examples on how the sovereignity works through those representatives were something implanted over and over again in our minds. As a result, this repeated activity and knowledge we had shape what perwakilan means in our minds. That perwakilan is something associated with the state organs, that with delivering aspiration both oral and written by the people directed to their representatives represented by the state organs, with demonstration, and such, is something there bearing in our minds. This is what we have in minds when thinking of perwakilan in relation to consitutional political context. This is what behavioral approach means. From those all four approaches, the word perwakilan signifies a meaning, one similar meaning as explicated above. THE DIRECT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION VERSUS THE INDIRECT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION The direct presidential election is regulated in article 6A section (1) of that UUD 1945 which says Presiden dan Wakil Presiden dipilih dalam satu pasangan secara langsung oleh rakyat. (President together with Vice President are both elected by the people (I may coin this as indirect election)). Accordingly, there are now five state organs elected directly by the people: President and his/her Vice President and the other four organs that were already undergoing 187

5 such direct election mechanism even before the third amandment of the UUD 1945, comprising MPR, DPR, DPD, and DPRD. The four last organs work as the Legislature, eventhough not all organs mentioned belong to it. This is because MPR, DPD, and DPRD are not the Legislature. However these four are all the people s representatives. While, President and his/her Vice President are the Executive. Related to the principle Kerakyatan...dalam permusyawaratan/perwakilan, the word perwakilan in the context of kerakyatan means the supreme power is possessed by the people (in terms of sovereignity). Therefore, the state organ perfectly matches to the context is none other than MPR. This is pinpointed by what is stipulated in the fourth paragraph of the preamble to UUD 1945 Kemudian daripada itu...yang terbentuk dalam suatu susunan Negara Republik Indonesia yang berkedaulatan rakyat.... (pursuant to which, in order to form a governent of the state of Indonesia that shall protect the whole people of Indonesia that the entire homeland of Indonesia and in order to advance general prosperity to develop the nation s intellectual life and to contribute to the implementation of a world order based on freedom, lasting peace and social justice, Indonesia s national independence shall be laid down in a constitution of the state of Indonesia, which is to be established as the state of the republic of Indonesia which sovereignity of the people). 1 Clearly it is defined that the Republic of Indonesia taking people s sovereignity as its power concept. In sum, the word perwakilan should be aptly associated to the people s sovereignity, that refers to MPR as the state organ acting as people s representative, holding the supreme power. This power includes securing people s sovereignity, and one of which is electing President and his/her Vice President. Analyzing the semantic aspect of the word perwakilan in relation to the direct presidential election engenders an idea to revert what lies in the original script of the body of UUD 1945, regulating that Presidents and his/her Vice President are elected by MPR. This is due to one reason that the word perwakilan in the context of returning the people s sovereignity should be aptly given to the one who holds the sovereignity, that is people s representative, none other than MPR. IV. CONCLUSION Reanalyzing the meanings of the word perwakilan based on the study of meaning as elaborated previously, and in regard to direct presidential election, there are some points to be noted as the following: The meaning of perwakilan as implied in the preamble of the fourth paragraph of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia refers to the state organ as people s representatives; In relation to the concept of people s sovereignity, there must be the supreme state organ as the manifestation of the soveregnity, that is People s consultative assembly (MPR); MPR as the supreme state organ has power to elect the Indonesian President (and Vice President); and therefore, The recently prevaling direct presidential election has no reliable legal base. V. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This article focuses on the linguistic aspect, in particular on the meaning analysis under the work of semantics. This is a new approach offered in the legal interpretation study, taking texts on law. Accordingly, I would like to show my gratitude to my wife, Riskia Setiarini, who shows her sincere help to assist me understand how semantics works on texts on law. I would also thank the Dean of Faculty of Law, Trunjoyo University of Madura for material and immaterial supports for this article accomplishment. REFERENCES Undang Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia tahun 1945 Naskah Asli Undang Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia tahun 1945 Perubahan Ketiga dan Keempat accessed on August 22, 2017.

6 Aminuddin, Semantik: Pengantar Studi tentang Makna, Sinar Baru Algensindo, Bandung, 2011 Palmer, F. R. Semantics: Second Edition Riyadi Santosa, Peran Leksis dalam Analisis Teks, Paper Presented on KLN X MLI in Denpasar at July 17-20, 2002 Sugiyono, Memahami Penelitian Kualitatif, Alfabeta, Bandung, 2007 Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia online edition accessed on August 22,

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