Media representation of indonesia in the sydney morning herald from 2004 to 2009 2

49 2.2.2 Representations of Indonesia in Australian News ..... 88 3.2 The Proposed Analytical Framework for Foreign Media News Representation ..... 4.3 The Representations of the Indones

STATEMENT

This thesis represents my own work and due acknowledgment is given whenever information is derived from other sources No part of this thesis has been or is being concurrently submitted for any other qualification at any university

Aylanda Hidayati Dwi-Nugroho

DEDICATION

This Thesis is Dedicated

to MAMA (Mdm Soebiati), SAMUEL and WINONA

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, I thank the Lord God who reveals Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ

He has planned many good things when He sends me to continue my study: the perfect timing when I am ready, the word-class university within a convenient

proximity to my home country, the best supervisor any student should have, the highs and lows of the learning journey, and the wonderful people I meet along the way

He does not just send me and my family away He is taking care of us day by day with His guidance and blessings Through Rev Stephen Tong, Ev Maria Mazo and Rev Hendra Wijaya at Reformed Evangelical Church Singapore, He has given us wider perspectives and serious challenges for how Christians should follow Jesus Christ in this modern era Our learning journey has also become a spiritual journey Second, I thank Petra Christian University and the officials who have provided

administrative and financial supports which contribute significantly to the success of

my study My appreciations go to Mr Paul Nugraha, MSc., M.Ed, and Mr Jones Syaranamual, MSc., the former Rector and Vice Rector, and Prof Dr Ir Rolly Intan and Dr Hanny Tumbelaka, the present Rector and Vice Rector I am also indebted to

Dr Ribut Basuki and Mr Dwi Setiawan, MA-ELT., the Dean of the Faculty of Letters and the Head of English Department for their supports I am also deeply thankful to

Ms Lanny at the administration office for her assistance in administrative and

financial matters

Third, I am grateful for the scholarships granted by several institutions Special

appreciation goes to Departemen Pendidikan Tinggi (Dikti) of the Republic of

Indonesia, for its scholarship for the first three years of my study My gratitude also goes to National University of Singapore for the Research Scholarship, which

supports the fourth year of my study Finally, I am also thankful for the financial supports provided by Petra Christian University for the last semester of my study Fourth, my deepest gratitute and highest appreciation go to my supervisor, Prof Michelle Maria Lazar How blessed I am to have her as my supervisor She reads my scripts attentively, although they often frustrate her due to many unclear ideas and incorrect grammar Her questions, comments and feedback have challenged me to reach higher and wider grounds Her knowledge and expertise in critical discourse analysis, media discourse and media analysis have sharpened the direction of my learning journey so that I am on the right track In addition to academic supports, she

has also helped me in administrative and financial matters Once when I struggled with the financial needs for the fourth year of my study, her recommendation has helped me receive NUS Research Scholarship She is my role model of a good

supervisor, researcher and teacher that any student should have I am forever indebted

to her for all she has done for me

Fifth, I also thank my thesis committee members, Dr Peter Tan, A/P Kay O’Halloran and especially Dr Peter Wignell, for their useful guidance, mind-opening questions and constructive feedback My special appreciation is also presented to Prof Kate Darian-Smith, the director of The Australia Center at the University of Melbourne, who allowed me to collect data there, Dr Katherine McGregor, from the University of

Melbourne, and Mr Tom Allard, the Herald correspondent in Jakarta

Sixth, my deepest gratitude also goes to Dr Guillermina L Robertson, who has spent much time, care and attention to read my drafts She has read them with so much love and care that my final drafts are now more smoothly to read than my earlier drafts Even a million thanks will never be enough to describe my gratitude to her I will also remember her words that some students are like lost sheep and we as teacher should just lead them to the green pastures and the still waters like the Lord does I am forever grateful to her

In addition to my gratitudes for institutional and academic-related supports, I am also deeply thankful to my family First, I am forever grateful to my mother, Mama

Soebiati Despite her early doubts and physical limitation, she is determined to stand

by me until I finish my overseas study She helps me take care of my daughter,

Winona, while I am in campus She also makes herself busy with healthy and

spiritual activities while we are at school and leave her alone at home all day She is always positive and never complains She understands me and my situations very well and gives me supports in any way she can Every evening she prepares dinner enthusiastically and her cooking has kept us all healthy and connected May God bless her with health, happiness and happy memories to cherish in many years to come

The next persons to thank are my husband, Samuel, and my daughter, Winona

Samuel has supported me since the first time I told him about the assignment He is willing to spend much time by himself in Indonesia while my daughter and I are studying in Singapore When the Lord God then grants his wish to also study at NUS,

it has become a spiritual journey of walking faithfully with Him Thanks and

appreciations also go to my daughter, Winona, who is brave enough to move school

where an unfamiliar language is spoken I salute her because she easily adapts to the new situation She studies independently while I am in campus, and can even excel in school

My big thanks and appreciations are also for my extended families who have also supported us spiritually and financially Special thanks go to my husband’s closest relatives: Mr Daniel Hadipoernomo and Mdm Christine Subroto, Mr Hanafi Gunadi and Mdm Yosefinawati Gunadi, and Mr Na Kiem Hwie and Mdm Visaryanti

Suleiman Big thanks are also sent to my brothers and sisters-in-law, Mr Taufik Hamzah Dwi Nugroho and Mdm Lely Setyani, Mr Bundiarjo Dwi Nugroho and Mdm Anna Susanti, and Mr Gunawan Dwi Nugroho and Mdm Linawati Appreciations also go to Yanno and Yoshi

Significant to the whole journey are my landlords and landladies who have given special rental price of their apartments We will always remember them fondly: Mr Windfield Zheng, Ms Wynne Lim, Ms Lim Ree Ping, and also Keith and Gwen Last but not least is my new friends at NUS I thank my friend and classmate, Zhang Yiqiong, for going together overcoming all hurdles She is an inspiration for me to just continue working My appreciation also goes to my senior, Liu Yu, whose

research experience has motivated me to go on Thanks also to my roommates in the PhD Writing Room, especially Cheryl, Farzana, Cao Yuan Yin, and Gao Shuang, for sharing research experiences and supporting one another

Singapore, April 2013

Aylanda

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement i

Dedication ii

Acknowledgements iii

Table Of Contents vi

Summary x

List Of Tables xii

List Of Figures xiii

CHAPTER 1 – Introduction and Theoretical Perspectives 1 1.1 Introduction to Thesis 1

1.1.1 Motivation for the Study 1

1.1.2 Research Questions 9

1.1.3 Purpose of the Study 10

1.2 The Theoretical Perspectives of the Study 11

1.3 Political and Historical Backgrounds of Australia-Indonesia Relations 23

1.4 Organization of Thesis 29

CHAPTER 2 – Review of Related Literature 30 2.0 Introduction 30

2.1 Representation 30

2.1.1 The Concepts of Representation 31

2.1.2 Representation and Reality 36

2.1.3 Representation as Process and Product 40

2.2 News Representation 49

2.2.1 Representation and News 49

2.2.2 Representations of Indonesia in Australian News 55

2.3 CDA Approach to News Representation 66

2.3.1 CDA: Theoretical Foundations 66

2.3.2 Recent CDA research on media representations 71

2.4 Conclusion 73

CHAPTER 3 – Analytical Framework and Research Methods 74

3.0 Introduction 74

3.1 The Current Analytical Frameworks for News Representation 74

3.1.1 The System Network in Systemic Functional Linguistics 75

3.1.2 Social Actor Framework 76

3.1.3 Social Action Framework 82

3.1.4 Evaluation and Appraisal system 88

3.2 The Proposed Analytical Framework for Foreign Media News Representation 99

3.2.1 News Actor Analysis 99

3.2.2 News Action Analysis 107

3.2.3 Author Evaluation Analysis 113

3.3 Research Methods 119

3.3.1 Research Approach 120

3.3.2 Method of Data Collection 120

3.3.3 Method of Data Analysis 126

3.3.3.1 Analysis of News Actors 128

3.3.3.2 Analysis of News Actions 130

3.3.3.3 Analysis of Author Evaluation 133

3.3.3.4 Triangulation 137

3.4 Concluding Remarks 139

CHAPTER 4 – News Actor Analysis 140 4.0 Introduction 140

4.1 Major and Minor News Actors 140

4.2 Categorization of News Actors 142

4.2.1 The Presidents 142

4.2.2 The Government Officials 144

4.2.3 The People 146

4.3 The Representations of the Indonesian Presidents and

Presidential Candidates 147

4.3.1 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 148

4.3.2 Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri 189

4.3.3 Former President Soeharto 204

4.3.4 General Wiranto as a Presidential Candidate 213

4.3.5 Prabowo Subianto as a Presidential Candidate 219

4.3.6 Conclusion on the Representations of the Presidents and the Presidential Candidates 225

4.4 The Representations of Government Officials 227

4.4.1 The ‘Government’ and the ‘government’ 228

4.4.2 Other Government Institutions 239

4.5 The Representations of the People of Indonesia 241

4.6 Concluding Remarks 248

CHAPTER 5 – News Action Analysis 250 5.0 Introduction 250

5.1 The Representations of Actions 250

5.2 The Representations of the Actions of Presidents and Presidential Candidates 257

5.2.1 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 257

5.2.2 Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri 269

5.2.3 Former President Soeharto 276

5.2.4 Presidential Candidates: Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto 279

5.3 The Representations of the Actions of Government Officials 283

5.3.1 The Central Government 284

5.3.2 The Parliament 288

5.3.3 The Judicial Power 292

5.3.4 The Police 299

5.3.5 The Military 305

5.4 The Representations of the Actions of the People 310

5.4.1 The General Population of Indonesia 310

5.4.2 The Islamists 316

5.5 Concluding Remarks 320

CHAPTER 6 – Author Evaluation Analysis 322

6.0 Introduction 322

6.1 Author Evaluation 323

6.2 The Author Evaluation of Presidents and Presidential Candidates

326 6.2.1 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 326

6.2.2 Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri 352

6.2.3 Former President Soeharto 358

6.2.4 Presidential Candidates: Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto 363

6.2.5 Conclusion of the Representations of the Presidents and Presidential Candidates 372

6.3 The Author Evaluation of Government Officials 374

6.3.1 The Aspects of Moral Ethics and Truthfulness 377

6.3.2 The Aspects of Capability 384

6.3.3 The Aspects of Reliability 389

6.3.4 Other Evaluation Aspects: Quantity and Emotion 396

6.4 The Author Evaluation of The People of Indonesia 410

6.4.1 The Common People of Indonesia 410

6.4.2 The Islamists 421

6.5 Concluding Remarks 431

CHAPTER 7 – Conclusion 434 7.0 Introduction 434

7.1 Contributions and Implications of the Study 434

7.1.1 Sociocognitive and Cultural Perspectives of News Processes

435 7.1.2 Framework of Foreign Media Representations 440

7.1.3 Indonesians in The Sydney Morning Herald 442

7.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research 444

7.3 Concluding Remarks 446

BIBLIOGRAPHY 448

SUMMARY

This study analyzes how the people of one country are represented in the news of another country In particular, this study observes the media representation of

Indonesia in an Australian broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald, from 2004 to

2009 The news items selected for this study are those of Indonesia’s national,

domestic, social and cultural issues Political news that have influence on the bilateral relations are not chosen The purpose was to see how Indonesia was perceived and represented by a foreign media on relatively neutral grounds and free from bias

News production and comprehension processes are viewed from social, cognitive and cultural perspectives which accommodate some tenets of critical discourse analysis and the frameworks developed in this study News items are understood to be

produced and consumed in the society realm, influenced by the author’s knowledge, ideologies, past experiences and goals of writing/publishing These are interpreted by readers having many different backgrounds and levels of exposure about the world News is preserved and recycled in the culture realm trespassing time and space News

is understood as the representations of events or social practices taking place in the society and experiencing recontextualization process of being selected and

transformed to fit the news discourse Thus, analyzing representations in news

discourse should consider the discourse and social contexts including the people

involved in the process, such as the discourse producers and the readers, besides the target representation This point can be seen from the three-dimension frameworks of analysis which analyze the object of representation, namely, the Indonesian news actors ranging from the presidents, the government officials to the common people

The first analysis – the news actor analysis – observes the representations of how the actors are referred to as persons The second one – the news action analysis – sees how they are represented through their actions The third one – the author evaluation analysis – shows how the reporters share their opinions about the news actors and their actions to the readers

From the three analyses, it was found that the current president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was represented in more positive images than the previous presidents and the other presidential candidates The government officials were mostly

represented negatively in terms of incapability and involvements in corrupt practices The common people of Indonesia were often represented in terms of huge number of people living in poor conditions who were creative and resilient enough to survive their limited conditions Specific in this group was the Islamists, and they were seen

as capable in influencing the secular government and involved in sex-related issues such as anti-pornography and polygamy The three analyses of the framework have provided a multi-perspectival approach in analyzing foreign news representations