ABSTRACT

This study examines the advertising messages of various commercial enterprises that utilize the Indonesian Independence Day by participating in the event through non-commercial advertisements in print media from 1980-2008. The matter in this study is related to the issue of Indonesian nationalism, which since its formation until the Reformation era continues to encounter various obstacles. The questions that arise in this study are what kinds of nationalism-themed advertisements were produced and the reason behind their production, and by what companies, as well as on what basis were the ads produced? This research uses discourse analysis method from the perspective of history in order to see the relation between the advertisers and the media owner. This research examines data from various advertisements taken from a number of media from 1980 to 2008. The hypothesis of this research is that companies exploit the situation and condition of the National Independence Day, as well as to promote their interests. This study was conducted to complement previous studies on the phenomenon of the New Order and Reformation era.

Keywords:Advertisement, Pseudo-Nationalism, Private Newspaper, New Order, Reformation

1. Introduction

Advertising is one part of the propaganda, which in its distribution always utilizes a variety of media. An ad aims for the advertised product or idea to be sold or at least known by the public. Advertising has long been known as a method of mass promotion so that so many viewers can receive a message. Various media are also deliberately chosen based on the needs and segmentation of target customers (Cook, 2001: 1-2).

In the context of mass communication approach, an ad can be viewed as a communication tool that provides a specific message from the sender to the recipient. Ads have a nature to encourage, stimulate, and persuade so as the recipients may like, choose and, more importantly, purchase a variety of products offered by the manufacturer (Hoed, 1994: 112; James, 1994).

Advertising is often offered at a variety of persuasive, active, and often also by compelling means. The goal is that these ads are continuously present, in accordance with the publishing schedule of the print media itself. These veiled compelling means can be seen from how the ads were placed in strategic places to see and read which are sometimes considered irritating by readers. However, it is an act of deliberate disruption by the sender of the message, so that the readers get to see the ads offered in its available form of language and graphics (Combs, 1994; Jackall 1995; Alkatiri, 2005: 66).

In addition to the commercial advertising discussed above, in the context of advertising, there is also the presence of non-commercial advertising or public service announcements. Non-commercial ads are ads that present goods or services that are generally associated with a national issue, which aims to spread and commemorate the issue. This type of advertising can be associated with the product or the service from the producer of the ads. The advertisers often use non-commercial ads during the New Order government in informing, asserting, and preserving its political and social policies to the public, especially with regard to the issues of nationalism. In the years 1980-2008, there have been found many non-commercial advertising, especially in the print media that raised the issue of nationalism. These ads generally appeared on any national holidays, and especially re-appear at the national Independence Day. This phenomenon is increasingly blooming in the post-Reformation era. It is related to the frequent occurrence of conflicts that inhibit the conception of national unity.

Nationalism is a complex and crucial issue and a major focus in the process of forming the unity of Indonesia. There are several problems in relation to the issue that appeared in the New Order and Reformation period that also have not been able to be resolved, namely issues concerning democracy, education, youth, SARA, economic crisis, welfare, and economic and social inequality. These issues in turn trigger political and economic instability in the two government administrations in Indonesia.

New Order government has been trying to convince the public and its policies have been successful in overcoming issues of nationalism, as expressed in a variety of media. But the reality in the field is the opposite. It is evident from the many conflicts and problems that occurred after the collapse of the New Order government. The ruling government implemented the same thing in the Reform era. In connection with that, there are advertisers, which in this respect are the manufacturers who exploit the existing issue, circumstances, and conditions that produce ads related to the issue of nationalism. These ads have started appearing in print media since 1970 and continued until 2014.

In social science, a review of advertisements may exhibit the phenomenon of the strengthening process of the national values of a society. This may be understood through the meaning of the message of non-commercial advertising, which also reveals an impression of a government reign (Williamson, 1998: 12-17; PPPI, 2004: 1-9; Nasir, 2007; Adityawan, 2008).

Based on the issue mentioned above, this study aims to examine a variety of non-commercial advertising messages that represent the idea of nationalism, made by commercial companies during the New Order government until the Reformation era government that were distributed in the print media in 1980-2008. In addition, this study also intends to determine the form of the non-commercial advertisement that was made with regard to the issue of nationalism during the periods mentioned previously.

References

3. Brief History of the Military Regime Period of New Order 1966-1998

In the mind of part of the Indonesian people New Order period is identical with the military regime. New Order is also identical with the violence centralistic power in all aspects of life under Soeharto administration. On that account, New Order period is also known as the Soeharto Order, which had been in power for 32 years.

Historically the New Order period started on March 11, 1966 in accordance with the Directive of the Eleventh March of 1966 until President Soeharto stepped down from his presidency in 21 May 1998. In one part, according to its name, the New Order regime is recognized as a regime that reforms political values or it is also known as Development Order Regime. However, in the other side, in its development, the New Order regime is widely known as a militaristic. This New Order Regime is also of integral and paternalistic in nature that wishes to unify various elements of public organizations into one unifying entity that is easy to control, such as organization of labour, youth and journalistic along with farmer and fishermen organizations, organization for businessmen, organization for public servants, and other organizations. In this case, it includes integrating the elements of diversity into Indonesian ideology of Pancasila (the Five Principles). Based on that, the New Order government along with the military have the obligation to remind its people on such thing by means of violence and coercion (see Heryanto & Mandal, 2004; Nasir, 2007, Jenkins, 2010; Alkatiri, 2013).

There is a model developed by New Order Regime, which is based on the binary opposition, claiming that the authority/ruler is always the good and right one whilst the other group is a trouble maker who is always wrong and threatening. They then are labelled as insurgent, provocateurs, anti-Pancasila (Indonesia’s Five Principles), left extremist, right extremist, latent threat, anarchic group, organization without form, and groups that are blamed as undermining the security stability, which means disrupting the progress of the development (Adityawan, 2008; Alkatiri, 2013).

The government of New Order has tried and convinced the people that its policy has succeeded in addressing the issue of political and economic stability, as written in a variety of speeches and articles in mass media. However, in the field, the problem has yet been addressed and the fact speaks out loud that so many conflicts have taken place after the New Order regime fell. The many problems that have yet been settled by the 32-year regime of the New Order are those like the notion of democracy of Pancasila, corruption, collusion, bureaucracy system, militarism, economic crisis, minority community, and the issue of welfare resulting in economic disparity.

However, the militaristic regime under Soeharto has proved able to increase the country’s GDP up to 7.6% (1990-1995) so that the World Bank’s assessment stated that Indonesia is comparable to countries like South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan (WB Report 1994 in Nasir, 2007).

By issuing a variety of laws and regulations, the New Order regime managed to form a parliament that is so loyal to President Soeharto. Since 1967 to 1988, New Order had managed to hold as many as seven general elections. The people’s representations elected in the general election repaid what they’ve received by repeatedly elect Soeharto as the mandate holder of the parliament and the people’s consultative assembly to be the president for 32 years (Eriyanto, 2008: 3-4). In the mid of the New Order Regime period, to be exact 1983, they have already appointed Soeharto as the Father of Development. This had confirmed Soeharto as the ultimate role model of this nation and state, which revealed the obvious asymmetrical relation between the patron and the client in the version of the new feudalism.

4. Brief History of Indonesia’s Press from New Order to Reform

In New Order era, the government implemented a tight control and allowed only limited information flow by means of controlling media institutions, besides actively producing numerous information of their own. This is done in order to shape political stability, which is part of part of the goal to control the Indonesian people within one integrated union in the form of the symbol of unity and integrity (oneness) (Sen & Hill, 2001).

In the New Order era there were lots of coercion in the political system through violence mechanism using mass media as the instrument in order to make propaganda concerning their policies. By way of propaganda asymmetric relation is shaped where the dominant ruling class has the authority to create the reality of its communication discourse. Whilst the receivers are the people who, taken for granted, are given the power of all that comes from the authority. These are the signs of the hegemonic New Order, which can be seen from the domination over the mass media that have the power to spread their interest.

The instrument of the New Order politics, including its political communication, can be regarded as symbolic repetition instrument, which deliberately repeats again and again the same ideas, issues, notions and strategies from time to time (Piliang in Eriyanto, 2008). This repetition takes place in the form of public service ad, both commissioned by the government and private parties as the partner of the government.

The political and economic system of the New Order or Soeharto Order has indeed affected the dynamics of the mass media industry development (here we are going to discuss about the print mass media only). Media is turned into a propaganda instrument and serves as the government trusted agency. During this era there have been several regulations concerning the press life, such as:

1) In 1966 the government issued the Law of Press (Chapter 20, article 1) and it was then confirmed by the Presidential Decree No. 11/1966 that every media must have publishing permits (SIT).

2) The journalistic organization and institution are under the control of the government.

3) The government through the Office of Armed Forces Information Services published newspapers like Berita Yudha and Angkatan Bersenjata. Whilst through the government political party, Golkar, they published Suara Karya. The bureaucracy and government apparatus from the central to the regional level have to subscribe those three newspapers (Atmakusumah, 1981: 80 and Muis 2000: 160 in Nasir, 2007: 9-11).

4) In 1984, the government through the Minister of Information issued Decree No.1/1984 on the requirement of permits (SIUPP). This decree has the power to limit and control press freedom.

5) Limiting newspaper pages (only 16 pages are allowed) and the ad pages can only be 35%.

6) The government has the rights to liquidate mass media.

7) Specifically for electronic media (private radio stations) they have to broadcast the news of the government’s radio station and particularly for the electronic media (private TV) they are not allowed to produce their own news (Nasir, 2007: 259).

5. Brief History of the Indonesian Press in Reform Era¹

The 21^st May 1998, by the Indonesian people, is considered as a sign of new political freedom named Reform. But, it turned out that it was just a necessity, as it wasn’t fully done, many had to face constraints and obstacles. That era was just a transition from the New Order era (previous era) toward the democratic era, which goes on and on. In this period we had gone through transition from the militaristic authoritarian system to democratic system. In this period the government had experienced four administrations ranging from President Habibie, President Abdurrahman Wahid, President Megawati to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In Reform period, the press institution also got some freedom due to the issuance of a number of regulations that remove the old ones like:

1) In 1999 new Press Law was issued saying that there is no requirement for the press to have SIUPP or Press Publishing Permit. That everyone or every organization has the right to build a media. That the government has no influence in press development.

2) In 1999 and 2001 Broadcasting Law and Freedom to Information Law were issued.

3) In 2001 the government liquidated the Ministry of Information.

4) From 1999-2001, the Reform Government has issued as many as 800 s permits for media publication (Tempo 7 January 2001 in Nasir, 2007). The result was so many new businessmen emerged in the field of mass media. The orientation shifted to market and pluralist in nature.

5) Mass media become so bold and open to throw criticism to the government’s policies.

6) There is restriction on how many pages newspapers, magazines, tabloids and ads should have.

7) A variety of print media (newspaper/tabloid/magazine) emerges; there are also yellow papers with the orientation of pornography and crimes.

8) Press workers are allowed to form journalistic organizations (there were about 24 organizations being formed).

9) For electronic media (radio and TV) there is now requirement to broadcast government’s news; they are even allowed to broadcast their own news (Nasir, 2007: 259).

10)Foreign investors and foreign media are allowed to do media-related business in Indonesia.

However, behind that, there was also an increase in violence toward press workers. Legal Aid Agencies announced that from 2003-2009 there were about 131 cases of physical violence and 104 cases of non-physical violence suffered by agencies, organizations or press workers committed by police, military, militia and public organization (Legal Aid Report 2010 in Ibrahim, 2011: 76).

In one side, reform, freedom and prosperity have brought implications to the media boom in Southeast Asia and also in Indonesia. However, in the other side, the boom also creates negative effect to the media, like those who act as market brokers for those in power, with the orientation to sensation, and direct involvement in the opponent’s political defamation (Ispandriano Hanitzsch, & Loeffelholz, 2002: 7).

6. Discussion and Interpretation

The study found that 86 of the 180 ads in the category have a correlation with issues of nationalism and unity. The ads were divided into decades according to the socio-political context of the case. The classification is as follows: 1) Ads in 1980s (22 ads); 2) Ads in 1990s (28 ads); 3) Ads in 2000-2008 (36 ads). Of the 86 ads that have been filtered again, 54 ads are considered to represent non-commercial advertisements that contain strong national issues. While in this study, only 9 of 54 examples of non-commercial ads obtained will be discussed which are from the period of 1980s: 3 ads, 1990s period: 2 ads, and the period of 2000-2008: 4 ads. The findings will be briefly discussed below.

6.1. Ads from the Period of 1980s

Description of text as shown in Figure 1: “Long live Indonesia August 17, 1982 (as the main title). The content is 1. In commemorating the 37th Anniversary of the National Independence, participation in the development of the country and the nation is the duty of us all. With enthusiasm and hard work for concrete effort, it is our pleasure to take part in the country's development, for Indonesia’s bright and happy future. Long lives Indonesia!”

Description of the visual element: there is an illustration of a woman operating a tobacco roller. She is seen using a protective uniform, such as a cap on her head. She is seen working. This image is consistent with the text contained in the advertisement, which is the theme of hard work and concrete effort.

Analysis of the ad shows that the Sampoerna cigarettes company is seemed as participating in the development of Indonesian nationalism. This is evident from the phrase “participation in the development of the country and the nation is the duty of us all. With enthusiasm and hard work for concrete effort, it is our pleasure to take part in the country’s development...” The ad lists the word “we” which makes it show as though the company is also part of the community that helps build the nation. It shows the image of the company’s nationalism to the public. The ad was published in the momentum associated with the 37th National Independence Day, August 17, 1982, when the issue of socio-economic development policies being implemented by the New Order government. At that time, the word “development” becomes the magic word that almost all government and private institutions should use (Zeffry, 2013), including the above advertisement, which seemingly needs to also support the path of the development of Indonesia.

Description of text as shown in Figure 2: “Rise Youth of Indonesia! Future, The Future is Your Obligation” (as the main title). Under that headline under are four paragraphs, which contains the affirmation and the description of the intention of the messages, which the company USI/IMB wished to communicate. In short, the paragraphs contains: 1) That Indonesia needed to prepare its next generation. 2) That the development is characterized by the progress of science and information flow in all fields of activity. 3) That based on the second paragraph, computer technology will increasingly play a role and becoming a primary need. 4) That the company is experienced since 1973 in fostering young generation to become experts in the field of computers. Description of Image: This ad shows a picture of three smiling children, which consist of a girl and two boys. At the bottom of the ad, there is a logo and slogan USI/IBM “we look to the future”.

This ad cites a verse from a national hymn “Bangun Pemudi-Pemuda”. The image of children here is meant as an illustration that the future of the country will become their responsibility and obligation later on. The message of this ad is similar to IBM ad’s previous year that use hymn as its message. Like the content of the song, this ad reminds the youth that being a new generation they are to rise, learn, and work. Correspondingly, the ad illustration shows a picture of three young teenagers, which consists of two teenage boys and a teenage girl that indirectly

shows a bond of brotherhood of the nation’s children. This ad made by a computer company, IBM, intends to show that the youth will need to be aware of and will be in touch with modern technology. It’s because computer technology will increasingly play a role and becoming an increasingly urgently needed. All of it seems to be the duty of the youth of the future, which also seems to be the company's obligations to actualize that goal, such as the words contained in the ad.

This advertisement, as though, implies as well that the IBM has the obligation to help Indonesia’s new generation. Here IBM shows that its corporation is the patron who has the power to manage and dominate the life of the younger generation of the Indonesian people.

Description of text as shown in Figure 3: “Service Medal, Final Struggle?” In the title, there are sub-paragraphs which explains that: 1) Independence is a prized possession of every Indonesian. 2) Independence is gained through sacrifice for the sake of nationalism. 3) Indonesia’s struggle is not only for independence, nor embedded service medal. 4) Indonesia needs to continue to develop. 5) Multi Bintang Indonesia, a company that has long been established in Indonesia, does not stop even after sterling achievements, but participate to contribute in development of education, environmental sustainability, social welfare, tourism and sports. 6) All that was done because Multi Bintang Indonesia believes that independence is not the end of the struggle, but rather the beginning for developing Indonesia. Description of image: This ad contains a large picture of a service medal on red ribbon.

This ad uses a rhetorical question, “Is getting a service medal means the end of a struggle?” Through that rhetorical question, the advertiser intends to assert that the road to maintain and continue the struggle with the nation’s development is still open through determination of nationalism and brotherhood, which aims for the creation of a prosperous society. Determination referred to a form of devotion of a person to the country and nation. The issue is then used by the producer of this ad, PT Multi Bintang Indonesia, which seemingly also to help serve the nation and the country through their concrete effort in participating in the development by producing branded Bintang beer. It is clear that the producer have attempted to link a service medal (in the form of a star) with the company’s trade mark which also in the form of a star. This ad proves that the elements of independence such as a service medal are utilized as an idiom to associate the message with a similar element of the company. Here, the company tries to participate in the anniversary of National Independence by conveying the message through this ad.

6.2. Ads from the Period of 1990s

The context of the ad in the 1990s coincides with the golden celebration the National Independence, the 50th year (1945-1995). Indonesia’s Golden Celebration turns into a special event, because the government feels that it is able to pass through various obstacles and impediments during the development of the welfare of Indonesia. The ads in that year ring messages to actualize a prosperous Indonesian nation in achieving glory in the future. In that context, there are some ads that raised the issue, including such as the example below.

Description of text as shown in Figure 4: starts with a statement “Independence is the foundation, hard work and creation is the structure”. Under that line, there is one paragraph that asserts that Honda also feels concerned

and participates in the development for the glory of Indonesia through the automotive industry as its fighting field. Description of visual elements: This ad depicts a wrench is being use to tighten a bolt. It tries to depict an illustration of hard work and cooperation between the elements during the development era in Indonesia.

This ad takes advantage of the situation the 52nd anniversary of the National Independence Day to commemorate the Golden Celebration. In this case, the producer seems to want to prove its devotion and service through the company’s hard work for the welfare of the community. Honda is one of Japanese automotive companies that are given the opportunity to spread its wings since the New Order government (1966). During the early New Order period (1966-1980), the government provides cooperation opportunities (joint venture) between foreign companies and national companies. Some are successfully growing and some others do not go as expected. Honda is an automotive company that is able to compete in order to develop. Its success is demonstrated by depicting their hard work through the illustration above. In the ad, Honda intends to state that they also participate in the commemoration of the national independence through hard work in the automotive section, which is considered as its field of struggle.

Description of text: as shown in Figure 5: containing the sentence “The Meaning of Independence: Age is but a number” and then continues with the assertion that independence and giving meaningful substance to independence is of equal importance. However, the responsibility will be lighter if done through cooperation, united in brotherhood, towards a fulfilling and prosperous Indonesia.

Description of visual elements the background of the ad is the national flag of Indonesia, which is red and white, with a blue border and blue font. Under the inscription is the XL logo. On the side are some youth working together in the Pinang climbing game to win merchandise from XL.

Analysing this message, the producer wishes to convey a “Long live the Republic of Indonesia for its 53rd year of Independence” message at the same time provide a moral message to the readers. The contents of the message is a form of encouragement to the people of Indonesia to help each other and cooperate, as illustrated by the game of Pinang Climbing in which working together are necessary. Another point of the message of this ad is that obstacles are not a problem, with determination and unity of the community, various obstacles and problems can be overcome. The people of Indonesia commonly know Pinang climbing game. It is particularly held on every Independence Day celebration. Therefore, producer of the ad has a keen eye to exploit the situation by using the game in accordance to the social context and the culture of the people of Indonesia, so that the meaning of the message is directly conveyed to its target. In terms of textual and visual analysis, we can say, in a critical way, that in one side, the XL corporation as though plays a role as the prize provider whereas in the other side, the participants (the climbers) play the role of bounty hunters. In this situation XL Corporation shows itself as the ruler over those who manage to deal with all the obstacles and have all the courage to deal with the challenges facing them.

6.3. Ads from the Year 2000-2008 (Reform Era)

The years 1998-2002 in Indonesia was marked by major events, namely the economic crisis that led to the resignation of President Suharto after nearly 32 years in power. He was replaced by his Vice President, B. J. Habibie and became the 3rd president. This period can be regarded as a critical one for the existence of the Republic of Indonesia, because in that era, there were many conflicts between ethnic, and religious groups, which culminated in riots in Jakarta on May 13, 1998. The incident has claimed hundreds of lives and lays severe damage to buildings, due to looting, and burning of shopping centres, especially in Jakarta, which then spread to other major cities in Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi. On that basis, some producers attempt to remind the concept of national unity, such as the one shown in the ad below.

Description of content as shown in Figure 6: “A twig alone will break. A twig tides in bundle wont shake. A

divided nation will fall; a united nation stands tall. Over 13,600 islands, over 600 languages, and over 200 ethnic groups. Communication binds them”. After that, it is asserted with the sentence: “There is no distance between us. Long live, my Indonesia”.

Description of the visual element: a depiction a broom twigs as seen from its upper side. Downside of the broom is seen twisted and expands and seems wider that upper side. This ad depicts that the unity of Indonesia is unlike that if a broomstick. In the culture of Indonesia there is known idiom, that a piece of twig will be easily broken, but if the twigs are bundled and tied together it would be a broom, a strong one and not easily broken. The intent of the message is to reveal, that like the broomstick, if a nation is united, then divisions can be avoided. And one of the effort build a unity of a nation is through communication. These ads tries to link producer's business sector, namely communication companies, with the issue of national unity by taking elements of Indonesian culture for the concept of illustration.

The presence of the ad is meant to build awareness to the whole society of the need for unity in word and deed. Telkom Company, in the ad above, coveys that strength can be achieved if all elements of the nation bound together in unity through communication as the medium. The use of the word “communication clear” is in accordance with the main business of P. T. Telkom. The company calls to all the people of Indonesia through the ad, that a bundle of twigs bound together can be an integral tool and at the same time a good cleaning tool.

In the early 2000s the nation is overcome by many adverse events. In that period the people of Aceh demanded a referendum, and there were a number of bomb attacks in several churches in Indonesia. Several advertisers clearly reflect the situation of that time, they appeal to all elements of the nation to forget their differences for the sake of the unity of Indonesia. But at the same time, they also offer the merchandise of their products.

The ads on this period provide important messages to, once again, keep the unity of the nation in the midst of the turmoil of conflict in many areas. People are encouraged to build mutual trust and understanding to avoid divisions. Advertisers reminded that the main cause of division is rocky communication between each other. The ads this are year clearly inspired by the unfavourable state of the nation, such as the existence of ethnic conflicts, the demand for autonomy for the region, separated from the unitary state of Indonesia, and the presence of terrorist bombings with religious message. These conditions and situations have also given an opportunity for advertisers to contribute by way of reminding the people of Indonesia through ads related to the issue of nationalism and national unity of Indonesia, as disclosed in the ad below.

Description of the text starts with the sentence taken from a maxim “Indonesia, united we stand, divided we fall”. Explanatory phrases, “we realize the involvement of every individual to uphold the unity and integrity of Indonesia is extremely important. Our role a connector, from Sabang to Merauke, is a reflection of such”.

Description of image as shown in Figure 7: this ad displays a series of words composed of arranged word game beads (scrabble). These letters are arranged on a brown wooden board. The imperfect wording forms the imperfect

sentence: “In-onesia Bers-tu Kita Te-uh Be-cerai Kita Runt-h” [this sentence means: united we stand, divided we fall]. In addition, at the bottom, there is a collection of letters that form the word Garuda, which is the advertiser. Letters that are missing in the imperfect wording are G/a/r/u/d/a, which seems to covey that Garuda is essential to put together and perfected the sentence above it. At the top, is the colour of the sky blue with the slogan of Garuda Indonesia? In the upper right corner, there is the phrase “now with improvement” along with a small image of a plane. At the bottom of the ad, there is also sky blue colour and with Garuda Indonesia logo.

Analysis of the message is that Garuda Indonesia endeavours to describe the company’s role in the efforts to strengthen the national unity of Indonesia. This is done by connecting Indonesia from Sabang to Merauke with its air transport. This ad would like to assert that the series of letter G/a/r/u/d/a that make up a word is a very essential point which can be a means of unifying the nation, as seen from the purpose of the above advertisement.

In addition, another message from this ad is that if the nation is divided, then the unity of Indonesia will collapse as a nation and the Republic of Indonesia. Garuda seeks to convince the readers that flight services they provide will contribute to the unity of the nation of Indonesia. This ad shows a veiled message, that in one side, the Indonesian people need to maintain the concept of unity from Sabang to Marauke, by way of improving the interethnic, inter-racial, inter-religious kinship, and that Garuda Indonesia Airways is able to answer the challenge insinuated in the ad.

Description of text as shown in Figure 8: there is a sentence above a visual display, which is “More than a chain, more than just red and white”. The meaning of the context of the sentence is asserted by the three phrases on the bottom right of the ad. The content of the sentence is a very cliché display the symbols of unity, which is a chain, and independence, which is the colour red and white. The sentence was later asserted by the phrase at the bottom: 1) That chain can be broken, and the colours red and white can be worn out. 2) Those who weren’t in the war and did not experience the first time the nation’s flag was hoisted, should not be fixated on the archaic symbols. 3) At the end of the paragraph is mentioned that society needs to work in order for unity and independence to, once again, have meaning.

While the description of the visual element of the ad takes the form of several hands that are seen repainting the red and white colours (as symbol of the Indonesian flag). On one side, this ad is emphasizing the chain as a symbol of unity. This is indicated from the large sentence written on the top of the ad, which is “more than a chain, more than just red and white”. However on the other side, the ad conveys the message that it is no longer appropriate, if the people of Indonesia are still fixated on the chain symbol and the red and white colours. While the ad wanted to emphasize that concrete work is a form of evidence to uphold the unity of the nation that would give meaning to the independence of Indonesia.

The company of Djarum cigarette is fairly diligent in publishing ads with messages urging the people to uphold the unity of Indonesia. PT Djarum puts in mind that differences of opinions and attitudes are commonplace, but

acquiescent is essential to build a united Indonesia. This particular company is the opinion that Indonesia is like a large harmonious house, inhabited by close-knitted citizens. Therefore, it is essential to mend back the unity that was starting to tear. Through this ad, this cigarette manufacturer seems like urging the people to stop the fighting, start caring each other, and work together to build and fill the Indonesian independence with the concrete work, as carried out by Djarum cigarette company which has the ability to grow so big. In one side, in this advertisement PT Djarum wanted to show that they are a company that has contribution in reminding people of the danger of conflict. In other side, the company also wanted to say that its success could also be seen from its huge advertisement that annually filled the print media.

This ad as shown in Figure 9 contains a brief text, “the road ahead for the nation is inseparable from one significant event, 62 years ago”, whilst the description of the visual element shows of the statues of Soekarno-Hatta (as the founding fathers) seen on a side-view mirror of a car. The intent of the message is that the side-view mirror is a metaphor serving as a reflection tool that can be used to see objects behind us and that signifies that we need to look back at the past. The emphasizing point of this ad is that, as a nation that enjoys the beauty of independence, it is important that we reflect on past, or remember the heroes that have fought for the way to the independence of Indonesia.

The ads above reveal that diversity should be seen as a major gift and fundamental to build and develop Indonesia. All three ads above urge the people of Indonesia to unite in love and for the sake of nationalism. In this section, many non-commercial ads relate to the issue of maintaining nationalism. Some companies in their ad suggest that the sense of unity has been lost due to apathy. The messages of these three company ads state that to survive as great nation, love and the spirit of brotherhood are needed from all the people of Indonesia. These three ads in the 2000s essentially describe the greatness and wealth of the Republic of Indonesia, which should be considered as a boon and also a shared responsibility for maintaining the nation’s unity. They are in accordance to the socio-political context of the current situation, which is entering the period of Reform Democracy, still unstable with all the conflicts, both at local and national levels. For that reason, the result is as though those three advertisements are concerned about making people aware of the social and political context of what is happening by trying to remind the Indonesian people with a number of signs of their collective memory such as the red and white element and the Soekarno-Hatta as two founding fathers of the nation who had proclaimed Indonesian independence.

7. Relational Analysis between Media and the Advertisement Producer

An advertisement takes its form after going through a process of imagination, financial control and management, so it is a product of compromise, argumentation, negotiation with a context and short time (Davis & Watson, 2010).

According to Adman Nursal, who authored a book titled Political Marketing (2007), in its essence, political marketing is a series of planned, strategic and tactics activities with long-term objectives, in order to disseminate political meanings to the wide audience. The objective is to form and bring in hope, attitude, conviction, orientation and behaviour of the people (Nursal in Setiyono, 2008: 18). The characteristic of a political advertisement operates as a one way-communication to the heterogeneous society. However, of the nine advertisements being studied, the producers’ product brands had not been positioned as the focus because the objective was not to put forward the product brands. The advertisements show that they are the result of a compromise of the ad producer not only with the people, but also with the ruling government.

Studies on ads can be carried out from a variety of fields and perspectives. One of them is from the point of view of the theory of economic politics. This theory sees the pattern of government (ruler) relation with the media ownership and the mechanism of media market. In addition, this theory pays attention on the relation of political system with the media institution, which is unsurprisingly part of the economic institution (McQuail, 1989: 63). This economic politics theory also studies the role of the state as an institution that produces, sends and organizes the communication flow of the mass media. On that account, the alteration and change of the government system has obviously some influence to the development of mass media as part of the industrial activities (Musco, 1996: 75 and Giddens 2002 in Ispandriano, Hanitzsch, & Loeffelholz, 2002). If we do closer observation, we would come across with a difference in the content and in the delivery method used by the advertisements being scrutinized in this article. The advertisements taken from the New Order period show, in general, the orientation toward the ideological policy of the ruling regime, which is the ideology of the national development. On the other side the advertisements coming up in the Reform era have the tendency to be oriented to the context of national disintegration.

The ownership of and control over media has some effect on the type of values and diversity or the uniformity of the ideas passed on by the media, including the casting of the ad model. In this account, the theory of economic politics sees the asymmetrical relation between media owner and the media workers, between the media owner and the state authority (Golding and Murdock 1991 in Ritonga, Iskandar, & Ispandriano, 2002: 97).

The explanation of this situation is that both for the government and the private parties media is an instrument for their interest. For the instrumentalists, the ownership of media becomes the dominating instrument of the dominant class (Golding and Murdock 1991). Media serves as the driving force of the support for the interest of the class in power. Therefore, media message always serve the established power, produced by an industry, which is predominantly the big corporations that make profits, an industry that depends on the advertising world to make it work and rely on the government officials as the resources bearing particular ideology (Herman and Chomsky 1988 in Ritonga, Iskandar, & Ispandriano, 2002: 99). From the nine ads being studied in this research, it shows the fact that the nature of the partnership is pseudo, both between the ad producers and the government or the media. In this account, media works for a commercial journalism, which is a media that seek for opportunities to make profit by taking into account the interest of the advertisement commissioner as part of the activities supporting their media industry.

As media is ruled by the dominant group, reality is susceptible to be manipulated and distorted to become something fake or pseudo. On that account, media studies from the perspective of history’s discourse analysis have for its objective is disclose the fake reality which is done by the dominant group for the interest of their ideology (Stuart Hall in Eriyanto, 2001: 26-27). The pseudo reality is the result of the finding meanings of the dominant group itself over the social political condition and over the goal of their interest.

8. Conclusion

Advertisers, which in this case are the commercial companies, seem trying to convey their message in their ads, in relation to the issue of Indonesian nationalism since the middle of the New Order (1980) until the era of the Reformation (2008). The messages are expressed through a variety of images and choice of words. The selection of images, the use of particular words, and the merger between words and pictures, have resulted in a message that is directed to persuade, solicit, appeal, reflect, and raise awareness of nationalism and the development of the society. Generally the data found in the ads leads to the message to maintain the unity of the nation in the middle of political conflicts and economic decline. National symbols such as the Red-White flag, the map of Indonesia, Garuda Pancasila and are also frequently used.

The development of society, whether in the social, economic, political and cultural aspects have pushed the way messages concerning the integration of national unity are conveyed to become more complex. It can be concluded that the ads obtained from the early years of the period of this study (1980s) are very simple, and the language is direct any without metaphor. However, in line with the progress of the existing circumstances, the use of text and visual language has become more sophisticated in the next ads. In addition, advances in graphic design and processing techniques have also made a more impressive display of ads.

The ads that were created directly show and reflect the conditions of their era. In the ads created around the 1980’s and 1990’s, there are occurrence of desire and hope for the future of an advanced nation, in relation with the Five-Year Plan and the early concept of the New Order development. While the ads made in the Reformation era, especially in 1998-2008, generally generates a sense of concern or awareness of the advertiser on a nation in chaotic state, due to financial crisis, accompanied by a many inter-ethnic conflicts. From 1998 until 2008, at the time of the Reformation, the national issue of concern were the national integration. The ads found at that time raised the theme of concern and showed how the companies assisted in building the national integration and seemed to be trying to provide practical solutions through words and images in their ads.

The ads are generally published in the media at the time prior to or adjacent to the Proclamation of Independence Day. Thus, the raising of the nationalism issue becomes relevant and appropriate to the context. Although the nature of the ad is a kind of non-commercial public service announcement, nevertheless since the logos or trademarks of the company’s advertisers are also inserted, these ads became a quasi-promotional or propaganda material from the corporate advertisers concerned. Advertising strategy with the theme of national integration on the national commemoration days, especially the anniversary of independence of the Republic of Indonesia seems as a show that these corporations have concerns about the national issues. From the socio-political context of the time the ad is published, it seems that the message is not only addressed to the public, but also to the current regime at the time. The advertisers deliberately present themselves through non-commercial ads as well as to show to the New Order and the Reformation government that their companies also participated in commemorating the anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia.

The big issue carried by the state in integrating the nation seems also becomes a part of the vision of the companies, so that the goal of capitalistic enterprises to develop their business from the corporate may to enter into mainstream issue at the national level. This strategy has, indirectly, raised the image of the companies or given a positive image of the companies, making them reliable and close to the issues in the community. This is an advantage for the image of the companies in question, either in the eyes of the government or in the public eye, as if they were involved in the development of the nation’s character.

This research also sees that in the midst of economic downfall in early Reform there were in fact a number of companies that wished to do the ad campaign each year; it can be in accordance to national days involving the issue of nationalism. They who often did that are the big corporation of telecommunication, flour product, banks, automotive producers, cigarette producers, newspapers, and airlines. Apparently they are companies that have affiliation with the New Order regime and the Reform and they were partners of the media.

We can say, despite the fact that press is commercial, the media like Kompas, Suara Merdeka, and Tempo have the spirit and commitment of integration so that it gives them opportunities and space to work on public service ad. In this context, both Kompas, Suara Merdeka, and Tempo with their ideology of secular conservative nationalist have shifted to pragmatic in responding diverse national issues. They present products of public service ads that are selected. Their pragmatic actions are also based on their relation with the advertisers in terms of partnership, ideology and their primordial nature.

From the analysis of this study it can be stated that a company can contribute in maintaining the unity of Indonesia through non-commercial ads installed in the print media. On the one hand, the action is as a form of their social responsibility. On the other hand, is a form of pseudo nationalist act as if they were participating in national issues? Therefore, in addition to the ads they publish, commercial companies have ways to maintain and remind of the need for national unity.

References

NOTES

^*Developed from the research done by Zeffry Alkatiri, Fuad Gani and Iwan Gunawan. “Representation of National Integration in Public Service Advertisements in Print Mass Media 1968-2008”, Research. DRPM UI. 2010.

¹The term Reform was initially used by the IMF and World Bank when they were to provide advices to the Soeharto administration to reform its economic and financial areas. This took place when Indonesia was hit by economic crisis in 1997-1998. This term was then developed by the political observer, mass media, and demonstrated to refer to the recovery of social and political system in Indonesia.

²Private company working on the telecommunication field and its product is telephone card.

³Suara Merdeka is a newspaper, which was before published as Merdeka. After being banned by the New Order government, this newspaper uses Suara Merdeka as its name.

⁴PT Telkom is a state-owned company working on telecommunication field.

⁵Garuda Indonesia Airways is a state-owned company working on airline field. It was established since 1949 and this company keeps growing until now.

⁶PT Djarum is one the biggest cigarette producers in Indonesia owned by a Chinese-Javanese family. Its factory is in Kudus, Central Java. This company has been always the sponsor for the sport activities of badminton and musics.