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3. Findings and Discussion 3.1 Indonesian Political Language in Co-
operative Principle Study Allan 1998 quoting Sperber explains
that Communication is successful not when hearers recognize the linguistic meaning of
the utterance, but when they infer the speaker’s “meaning” from it. This statement
brings us to assume that a speaker and a hearer in verbal interaction expect to cooperate each
other; the speaker expects to be understood and to give effects to the hearer. The effects
may be in form of verbal responds critics, suggestions, supports, etc andor non-verbal
responds smile, a nod, etc appropriately.
To govern the interaction, Grice pro- poses cooperative principle. This principle,
in turn, consists of four conversational max- ims: quantity, quality, relevance, and manner.
3.1.1 Maxim of Quantity
The maxim of Quantity concerns with the amount of information for the current purposes
of the interaction. Grice 1975 in Leech, 1984: 8 defines this maxim as follows:
Quantity: Give the right amount of infor- mation: i.e.
1 Make your contribution as informative
as is required. 2 Do not make your contribution more in-
formative than is required. In political language, the regulations bind
politicians not to give too much or too little information. The appropriate amount of the
information will help political constituents to make up their decisions.
1
“Tanggal 7 Juni nanti, fraksi MPR akan menyampaikan pemandangan
umum di BP MPR. Sedangkan sub- stansi materinya berkaitan erat
dengan alasan DPR mengusulkan MPR segera menggelar SI, meliputi
pandangan akhir fraksi-fraksi DPR sejak dikeluarkan Memorandum I
hingga usulan SI.” Rambe Kaharul Zaman, Republika 2 Juni 2001
‘The fraction of general assembly MPR will extend their general overview to BP
MPR in June 7
th
,relating to the reasons of the house of representative`s DPR
proposal for holding SI. This will also convey the last general point of view of
the DPR fractions on the memorandum I and their proposal for holding SI’.
The utterance 1 stated by the chief of PAH II BP MPR might fulfill the information
required by those who wanted to know the agenda of BP MPR. The utterance was infor-
mative because it met the principle of 5W 1H namely: the agent who was MPR factions,
the agenda what and the reason why were a parliament convening to discuss the proposal
of DPR factions concerning Memorandum I and SI, the date when was on June 7
th
, the place where was at BP MPR office, and the
technique how was presentation of the com- mon point of view of MPR factions.
3.1.2 Maxim of Quality
The maxim of quality requires high stan- dard of morality and honesty because it gov-
erns politicians to give only true information. In his quotation, Leech says that this maxim
has the following rules:
Quality: Try to make your contribution one is true: i.e.
1 Do not say what you believe to be false 2 Do not say that for which you lack ad-
equate evidence Honesty is mandate and lie is the viola-
tion of this maxim. The regulations express someone’s generosity and responsibility not to
plunge someone with false news. In the politi- cal field, this maxim guarantees the constitu-
ents to share true information. This maxim may create political conditions in which the con-
stituents are not only fully informed, but they
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may also accept the political policy with no hesitation and suspicious.
2 “Saya ingin menegaskan, tidak ada
satupun orang di Indonesia, tidak satu lembaga pun di dunia, tidak ada
angkatan apapun di dunia ini untuk menetapkan dasar pemilu, kecuali
atas dasar keputusan MPR.”
‘I want to emphasize that there is no one, no institution, no forces in this world that
has right to decide the reasons of hold- ing general election except the decision
of MPR’
This utterance was stated because the president proposed to hold general election.
Illocutionary, the utterance 2 conveyed at least three messages: It denied the president’s
proposal to hold general election, it warned the president to draw the proposal and it con-
firmed that MPR would not take this proposal. From the quality perspective, the utterance 2
fulfilled its regulations because general elec- tion in Indonesian is conducted only under
MPR decision.
Violation of this maxim may cause social unrest. The following example is the example:
3 “Saya sudah berusaha untuk menga-
jak kompromi. Tapi kalau memang tidak dapat diterima, ya tinggal tung-
gu saja. Besok tanggal 20 pada pukul enam, saya akan menetapkan negara
dalam keadaan bahaya.” Abdurrah- man Wahid, Republika 20 Juli 2001
‘I have offered political compromise. However, if they disregard it, just wait
for my next movement. Tomorrow at 06.00 a.m on 20
th
July, I will declare that this country is that the states of danger’
President’s statement 3 uttered on July 19
th
2001 was generally interpreted that the President planned to issue a decree to disperse
MPR. He thought that MPR’s plan to hold SI was unconstitutional. The illocution force of this
utterance had raised social unrest but the proposition of the utterance was not true, the
president did not issue the decree the date.
3.1.3 Maxim of Relevance
