METAPHORS IN THE EX-GAM’S POLITICAL DISCOURSES DURING PRE-PUBLIC ELECTIONS IN ACEH

Jarjani Usman

doi:10.22373/ej.v4i2.1667

Abstract

The Free Aceh Movement, locally called Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM), developed several unique political discourses after having signed a peace accord with the Government of Indonesia (GoI) in Helsinki in 2005. The discourses created are metaphorical in Acehnese language, aimed to structure people’s mind and to be accepted and transformed into their actions that supported GAM during pre-public election post conflicts. However, research on analyzing the metaphors is scant. This research used Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980a, 1980b) conceptual metaphor and Fairclough’s framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to critically analyze the political discourses in order to unveil the meaning and their ideology position. The research shows the most commonly used metaphor was ELECTION IS A BATTLE. However, the currently used political metaphors are more persuasive, urging people to voluntarily come back to their political party, than previously used ones that seemed to strongly force people to be on their side.

Highlights

Aceh, an Indonesian province located in the northern tip of Sumatra Island, has experienced several waves of political, armed conflicts against the Government of Indonesia (GoI)
The data were collected from various sources such as newspapers, books, and pamphlets that documented the discourses used by Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) and PA politicians in order to win the people’s heart post-conflict public elections in Aceh
The data were critically analyzed by using Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980a, 1980b, 1993, 1999) Conceptual Metaphor and Fairclough’s (1989, 1992, 2010) framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

Summary

Introduction

An Indonesian province located in the northern tip of Sumatra Island, has experienced several waves of political, armed conflicts against the Government of Indonesia (GoI). Movement, which was at first locally called Aceh Merdeka (AM) and later on Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM), and the GoI from 1976 to 2005 in order to free Aceh from Indonesia. Following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) mediated by the former President of Finland, Marty Ahtisaari, who chaired the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) (Aspinall, 2005), one of the points realized was establishing a locally-based political party named Partai Aceh ( called PA) by the ex-combatants/politicians. Having established the political party, the ex-GAM politicians propagated that they intend to continue their struggle for Aceh sovereignty through a soft political approach to replace the previous militaristic approach for over thirty years (Aspinall & Crouch, 2003). Many of them successfully reached top positions in local and central governments such as senators, legislative members, and executives at provincial and district/municipality levels

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Results

Conclusion