Pengajian Media
Malaysia
Jurnal
Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Jilid 13, Bil. 1
2011 Volume 13, No. 1 2011
Cultural Hybridity: Adapting and Filtering Popular Culture in Malaysian Television
Programmes
Siti Zanariah Ahmad Ishak (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak)
Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity Amongst Malay Women in
Malaysia
Md Azalanshah Md Syed (Universiti Malaya)
Pengaruh Persekitaran ke atas Polisi Organisasi Media Dalam Konteks Perhubungan
Media di Malaysia
Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin & Md Sidin Ahmad Ishak (Universiti Malaya)
Children Literacy Development and The Book Industry in Nigeria: The EFA 2015
Policy Somersault
Yakubu Ozohu-Suleiman (Universiti Malaya)
Sparking Off Ideas for Creative Writing Roselind Wee (Universiti Teknologi Mara)
Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga Dalam Menangani Konflik Dalam Kalangan
Remaja
Aziyah Abu Bakar, Wan Abd Aziz Wan Mohd Amin, Che Hasniza Che Noh
(Universiti Malaysia Terengganu) & Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin (Universiti
Malaya)
Jabatan Pengajian Media, Fakulti Sastera & Sains Sosial, Universiti Malaya
Department of Media Studies, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Malaya
Pengajian Media
Malaysia
Jurnal
Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Jilid 13, Bil. 1
2011 Volume 13, No. 1 2011
Jabatan Pengajian Media, Fakulti Sastera & Sains Sosial, Universiti Malaya
Department of Media Studies, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Malaya
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia
Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia
Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Kandungan Contents
Cultural Hybridity: Adapting and Filtering Popular Culture in Malaysian Television
Programmes
Siti Zanariah Ahmad Ishak.......................................................................1
Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity Amongst Malay Women in
Malaysia
Md Azalanshah Md Syed..........................................................................15
Pengaruh Persekitaran ke atas Polisi Organisasi Media Dalam Konteks Perhubungan
Media di Malaysia
Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin & Md Sidin Ahmad Ishak.......................35
Children Literacy Development and The Book Industry in Nigeria: The EFA 2015
Policy Somersault
Yakubu Ozohu-Suleiman..........................................................................49
Sparking Off Ideas for Creative Writing Roselind Wee...........................................................................................63
Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga Dalam Menangani Konflik Dalam Kalangan
Remaja
Aziyah Abu Bakar, Wan Abd Aziz Wan Mohd Amin, Che Hasniza Che Noh
& Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin.............................................................71
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia
Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Vol. 13, No. 1, 2011
Pages 1–15
Cultural Hybridity: Adapting and Filtering
Popular Culture in Malaysian Television
Programmes
Siti Zanariah Ahmad Ishak
ABSTRACT
The view that culture is ever changing is now widely accepted. The
localisation of foreign culture becomes significant due to the presence of
global mass media. This paper aims to explore the concept of hybridity in
popular culture and also to demonstrate the way Malaysian government
promotes hybridisation of popular culture in the television programmes.
Hybridity relates to the process in which culture is changed through
adaptation, reinforced by deterritorialisation, and conditioned by a set of
unequal power relationships. Hybridisation in cultural industry represents
the interaction of local cultural agents with global forms to produce dynamic
localised cultural commodities. In Malaysia, adaptation and censorship are
two significant ways of hybridisation which is enforced and monitored by
several government and non-government bodies. This study maintains
that while hybrid culture benefits subaltern group, hybrid process is being
used by dominant sectors in Malaysia to maintain their political hegemony.
Keywords: Censorship, drama serials, hybridity, popular culture,
adaptation.
INTRODUCTION
The argument for cultural purity, which implies that culture is static or fixed, is
viewed as being irrelevant (Werbner 1997). According to Tomlinson (1999: 144) the
nature of culture as “fluid, dynamic, protean, ever changing—and at no point in
history fixed, established, static” is now the widely accepted view. The changes of
cultural aspects in the local scenario are evident in many cultures in the world due
to the influence of foreign cultures. Hybridity takes many forms. For instance, in the
post-colonial study the adaptation of colonial language in the local has produced
hybrid languages which are termed as pidgin and creole.
In the global era, the adaptation of foreign culture in the local setting is pervasive
due to the presence of the global mass media in facilitating the transfer of knowledge
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
and images. The paper’s aim is firstly, to explore the concept of hybridity in popular
culture. Secondly, the aim is to demonstrate the way Malaysian government
promotes hybridisation of popular culture in Malaysian television programmes.
ADAPTATION AND HYBRIDITY
“Adaptation” rather than the term “hybrid” is commonly used in popular culture
to demonstrate a process in which global or foreign culture become localised. On
the one hand the term adaptation means “to change (something or yourself) to suit
different conditions or uses” (Cambridge International Dictionary of English 1995: 14).
Hybridisation, on the other hand, is a term originally used in biology. Hybrid refers
to “a plant or animal that has been produced from two different types of plant or
animal, especially to get better characteristics, or anything that is a mixture of two
different things” (Cambridge International Dictionary of English 1995: 696).
In social sciences and humanity, hybridisation relates to the political process
in which culture is adapted or changed through adaptation. Hybridity symbolises
power which has the potential of “empowering, transformative, dangerous or
transformative force” to the local culture (Werbner 1997: 4). The work of Bhabha
(1994) has been seminal in changing attitudes towards hybridity. In Bhabha’s (1994)
post-colonial study, the notion of hybridity is entwined with a discourse of race.
That is, racial-mixing was viewed by imperial power as being negative. Bhabha’s
work demonstrates that the colonised subject gains power from the new cultural site
created from the coloniser’s and colonised’s combined cultural practices. He states
that the new culture that often surfaces as a result of cultural mixing can be more
accurately recognised as a “third space.” In another study, Garcia Canclini (2005)
demonstrates that the marginalised culture of Latin America’s migrant towns is not
diminished in the process of hybridity. Rather, these rural migrants here successfully
commercialised these so-called marginalised art and craft for tourists’ consumption.
Hybrid culture bestows power to subaltern groups to create a new political culture
to resist hegemonic power (Bhabha, 1994; Canclini, 2005).
Cultural critiques in the post-colonial study (Canclini, 2005) have led to
hybridity being celebrated in popular culture. The process of globalisation has
had a particular impact on modern popular music, a forum in which can be found
many examples of hybrid cultural forms, as attested by researches which have
been undertaken in this area, at least in Asia (Shim 2006; Dujunco 2002; Roberson
2001; Lockard, 1995). Lent (1995) gives an example of a Japanese music group,
named Shang Shang Typhoon, which creates a musical fusion. Lent (1995: 5) states,
“Shang Shang Typhoon, mixes Western rock, jazz, and reggae with Japanese enka
ballads, folk, Okinawan melodies, and Buddhist festival song.” Tomlinson (1999)
takes an example of youth popular music forms like hip-hop (1999) to demonstrate
the notion of hybridity. He states that the music is useful for comprehending the
proliferation of new cultural identifications. Shim (2006: 27) argues that hybridity
embraces “new practices of cultural and performative expression.” Hybridisation
experienced by Korean popular music industry represents the interaction of “local
cultural agents and actors...with [new] global forms, using them as resources” (Shim
2006: 38) to produce dynamic localised cultural commodities that can be exported
to other countries.
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Cultural Hybridity
HYBRIDITY AND HETROGENITY OF CULTURE
Tomlinson (1999) argues that, in the age of globalisation, the emergence of hybrid
culture has been reinforced by deterrotarialisation. He states that:
[T]he idea that globalised culture is hybrid culture has strong intuitive
appeal which follows directly from the notion of deterritorialisation. This is
because the increasing traffic between cultures that the globalisation process
brings suggests that the dissolution of the link between culture and place is
accompanied by an intermingling of these disembedded cultural practice
producing new complex hybrid forms of culture (Tomlinson 1999: 141).
Thus, deterritorialisation is a process that has been brought about by globalisation
and occurs when “production, consumption, community, politics and identities
become detached from local place” (Kearney 1995: 554). Thompson (1995)
emphasises the role of the mass media in conveying symbolic forms to distant
locales. Thompson (1995: 22) claims that “the development of new technical media
may also have a profound impact on the ways in which individuals experience the
spatial and temporal dimensions of social life.” Connell and Gibson (2004) highlight
an example of deterritorialisation which is evident in the consumption of cultural
commodity on television as well as a result of both migration and multicultural
society. When local television delivers foreign television programmes into the home
it is an example of deterritorialisation. For instance, they contend that:
[t]he “third world” is now very much a part of the “first”, whether in terms
of the content of television, music and literature consumed by audiences,
or in terms of the populations of most major cities, now polyglots of
indigenous peoples and diverse migrant groups (Gibson 2004: 342)
The existence of global and national television has meant that the Third World is
no longer a place which exclusively represents local culture. In relation to this,
Appadurai (1990) highlights the significant of communication and technology
in their role of repositioning and reimagining places. Globalisation, through the
process of deterritorialisation, provides the alternative view that globalisation does
not produce a homogeneous world culture (Featherstone 1993; Tomlinson 1999).
Canclini (2005) uses the notion of deterritorialisation to point to the weakening
of the Western hegemony. He presents an example from Latin America, focusing on
emigration in two locations in Mexico; Tijuana and Aguililla. Canclini (2005) shows
the rise of margin cultures at the centre of globalised culture. Tomlinson (1999)
summarises Canclini’s work by stating that, “what the example of Tijuana provides,
then, is of a place where identity is complexly forged out of a ‘local’ experience
dominated by its relationship with other places: the rest of Mexico, North America,
the wider world—it is a “delocalised locality” (Tomlinson 1999: 140).
The emergence of new centres of cultural production has altered the global
flow of cultural commodities which were previously dominated by Hollywood.
The success of regional media centres, including Japan (Iwabuchi 2004), Korea
(Shim 2006), Bollywood (Ganti 2002) and Brazilian television (Kottak 1990) provide
choices for countries to diversify the content of their television programmes and
intensify hybridisation.
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
POWER RELATIONS IN HYBRIDITY
Power relations are an important variable in the production of a hybrid culture.
Tomlinson (1999: 146) argues that hybridity is not a “simple form of anarchic,
unregulated culture.” Instead, hybrid culture is conditioned by a set of unequal
power relationships (Kraidy 2002). Power struggles occur at the point at which
imported cultural resources come into contact with local cultures. According to
Kraidy (2002) the use of critical hybridity theory is useful to highlight the existence
(or non-existence) of the political potential of hybridity. He argues that “[p]olitically,
a critical hybridity theory considers hybridity as a space where intercultural and
international communication practices are continuously negotiated in interactions
of differential power” (Kraidy 2002: 317). He further argues that, “if hybridity
consists merely of observing, cataloguing and celebrating multicultural mixture,
the inequality that often characterises these mixtures is glossed over” (Kraidy
2002: 318). What Kraidy is suggesting then is that hybridity is not simply a neutral
phenomenon; rather those that occupy hybrid spaces are inherently engaged in a
political project. It should not be assumed that in the confluence of cultural resources
the “powerful” does not simply integrate the “less powerful” entity for the latter’s
benefit. Nederveen Pieterse (2009) argues that power relations are dynamic and
transformable. He states that “hegemony is not merely reproduced but refigured in
the process of hybridisation” (Pieterse 2009: 75). Power is refigured within a new
(hybrid) cultural site.
Hybridity also can be utilised for the interest of dominant sectors (Chow, 1993).
In criticising Bhabha (1994), Chow (1993: 35) argues that, “[W]hat Bhabha’s word
‘hybridity’ [revives], in the masquerade of deconstructing anti-imperialism, and the
difficult theory, is an old functionalist notion of what dominant culture permits in
the interest of maintaining its own equilibrium.” Ahmad (1995) for instance argues
that as the hegemonic economic and cultural power, transnational corporations gain
material benefits from hybridity.
In the case of localisation global cultural commodity, I argue that the Malaysian
government censorship bodies acts as dominant sectors that filter the process of
culture mixing. The refiguration of cultural hegemony is mediated by state’s political
interest. My argument is supported by Shim (2006) which demonstrates that the
emergence of Korean media centres is due to the government’s relax policy on
imported popular culture. For this reason, Frow’s (1992) contention on the flow
of global cultural commodity which is unregulated is not always true. He claims
that “[I]n popular culture, mixing of elements and styles may passed unnoticed, be
taken for granted or welcomed” (in Nederveen Pieterse 2009: 116). Both Nederveen
Pieterse (2009) and Frow (1992) de-emphasise the state’s political project of the
cultural site of the “third space.”
My contention is that some sectors of political and religious elite Malays are
the dominant sectors that filter hybridity. The undesired values of promiscuous
sexual conduct, dress which reveals sexuality and extreme popular music such as
heavy metal and punk are censored strictly. Meanwhile, foreign cultural elements
which do not contradict with the core values of Malay-Islam culture are encouraged
to be accommodated. Through the censorship process the state wants to maintain
the “purity” of local culture from cultural contamination of the West and as the
same time wants to gain modernity. In one way, the purity and modernity of local
4
Cultural Hybridity
culture from undesired influence is an important source of hegemony for MalayIslam political domination in Malaysian plural society. Given this, the state power
has altered the kind of cultural hegemony that emerges from cultural hybridity
mediated by television that empowers the subaltern group.
The political project of hybridity in cultural commodities demonstrates
resistances in many ways. Kahn (2006) demonstrates that foreign dances in a
Malay film is used to voice out anti-colonialisation. He also claims that in postcolonial Malaysia, Malay hybridity creates the foundation for a cosmopolitanism
outlook. Kahn (2006) shows that the 1955 Malay film entitled Penarek Becha or
“Trishaw Driver”, juxtaposes “Malay authentic culture” with Western cosmopolitan
culture. The year that the film was produced coincided with the emergence of a
heightened nationalism leading to the independence of Malaya in 1957. The scene
that particularly portrayed the element of hybridity was set in the cabaret-cum-night
club. Kahn (2006: 163) states:
... Ghazali and his friends are seen dancing a cha-cha with the hostesses. The
music ends and Ghazali returns to his table and calls for another dance, this
time a samba. Instead a young man stands up and announces that the next
act will be an exhibition of Inang Baru to be performed by five male and five
female dancers and a lead singer backed by a small Malay orchestra. Before
the exhibition is allowed to proceed, Ghazali shouts out his displeasure,
insisting again on samba. But he is politely rebuffed and the exhibition goes
ahead, much to the delight of the rest of the audience, although when the
camera pans to Ghazali he is looking angry and disgruntled.
Kahn (2006: 163) argues that the film symbolises “a plea for the decolonisation of
Malay culture” through the presentation of Malay dance called Inang Baru after
popularly known of foreign dances, samba, and cha-cha. Ghazali represents villainy
that link to Western cultural contamination. Kahn (2006) contended that the pure
Malay authentic culture as represented by Inang Baru together with Joget dance is in
fact is hybridised. He states that these dances are “from older traditions of music
and dance that were indigenised from Arabian sources, and subjected in turn to
further outside influence—Portuguese, Latin and North America” (Kahn, 2006: 166).
Other works signal the birth of intended or unintended political project of
resisting national culture through accommodation of foreign culture (Abu-Lughod
2005; Moorti 2004; Mandel 2002). Moorti’s (2004) study highlights how popular
British quiz shows, and Hollywood game shows,1 are adapted for Indian television.
For example, the copyright for game shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
are bought by Indian television stations and then re-produced locally. When this
occurs, these locally produced shows demonstrate a cultural fusion between Western
and Tamil culture. On the other hand, Moorti’s study shows that Tamil versions
of Western quiz and game shows have led to the creation of a Tamil vernacular
identity, rather than a pan-Indian national identity. For instance the clothing of the
hosts and contestants, which always consist of jeans, t-shirt and sneakers, represents
Western identity. On the other hand, the Tamil cultural markers are evident in the
requirement during the show that participants show their fluency in a pure Tamil
This particular television game show is a version of the popular “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” program,
renamed Kaun Banega Crorepati.
1
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
without English loan words. Moorti stresses that, “commodities become the access
route for the expressions of vernacular nationalisms, bypassing national discourses
of Indian-ness” (Moorti 2004: 550). In this case, indigenisation as a form of hybrid
culture risks national sovereignty.
Another study which demonstrates “cultural fusion” is Mandel’s (2002) study
which focuses on the production of a drama serial from Kazakhstan. The production
of this drama serial has been guided by a British crew involved in the production
of the well known drama serial Crossroads. The production of the Kazakhstan serial
accommodates two cultural styles, which has contributed toward its success. In the
end, the format replicated the glamorous lifestyles of the Hollywood Santa Barbara
and Tropicana soap operas, whilst the content message highlighted “past and present
politics, genres, ideologies, and nationalism” (Mandel 2002: 223) in addition to local
development issues. She states, that “[t]he intertextualities of the products broadcast
as Crossroads are variously understood by producers, sponsors, and audiences to
be vodka, information on a new tax law, or a fashion statement (Mandel 2002: 223).
Hence, both Moorti’s and Mandel’s studies show that the popularity of these locally
produced programmes in India and Kazakhstan, at least in relation to audience
reaction, are celebrated as they symbolise a desired Western modernity (Moorti
2004; Mandel 2002). These studies have also confirmed the successful indigenisation
of Western commercial cultural resources. For instance (Moorti 2004) has shown
that the local reproduction of a popular Western television game show has enabled
viewers in Tamil Nadu to bypass the pan-Indian identity.
Abu-Lughod (2005) highlights the influence of Western cultural ideology
as it is presented in locally produced drama serials on Egyptian television. This
indigenisation emerges from the personal background of Al-‘Assal, the writer for
the drama serials, who has a “Western” cosmopolitan background. Abu Lughod
(2005: 123) explains that “Although her [al-‘Assal’s] political and social concerns are
passionately focused on Egypt, her political vocabulary is international; she is well
aware of foreign literature, film and media; she has grown children who work in
Finland and France.” Al-‘Assal who writes a drama serial entitled Mothers in the
House of Love, states that:
In the retirement home itself, they started a class for teaching English,
because one woman had been an English professor; another woman who
had been a silversmith opened a small silver workshop and taught women
the skills needed for this work. They participated in the eradication of
illiteracy by teaching neighbourhood girls to read and write. They also gave
classes on household management, and even agriculture... (Abu Lughod
2005: 39).
Al-‘Assal advocates a socialist feminist message in the narrative of the drama (Abu
Lughod 2005). The messages she promotes for women focus on education, skills
development for the family and also for commercial purposes. Here the writer
promotes an ideology which allows women to be independent from men, and also
to encourage women to take on more dynamic social roles, despite their old age.
Thus, Western ideology contests women’s traditional roles and men’s authority in a
patriarchal society. However, Abu-Lughod (2005: 127) justifies her focus on “cultural
fusion” because it provides a window through which to view,
6
Cultural Hybridity
particular configurations of power, education, and wealth in particular
places—like an agricultural village in the heart of the tourist industry in
disadvantaged region in Egypt in the 1990s.
Although Abu-Lughod’s (2005) work does not directly utilise the theory of hybridity,
her work implies the political power relationship that exist within the local culture.
For instance from the perspective of individual rights, Al-‘Assal ideology is based
on Western culture values democratises women’s rights and alleviates men’s control
over women. This shows that the indigenisation of foreign cultural ideology resist
state ideology.
Moorti (2004), Mandel (2002) and Abu-Lughod (1997; 2005), do not utilise
the concept of hybridity; instead, “cultural fusion” or indigenisation is a process
which they employ, but which is not clearly defined and is often theorised under
the notion of cultural globalisation. However, I argue that indigenisation is a form of
hybrid culture. For instance, Moorti (2004) and Mandel’s (2002) studies both focus
on the media text in order to demonstrate the indigenisation of Western global
culture. Cultural fusion or indigenisation is a term which refers to the process in
which Western cultural products are commercially localised by media producers.
This type of indigenisation is celebrated because it provides ordinary citizens
access to Western modernity through consumption (Mandel, 2002). Indigenisation
also simultaneously enhances local and cosmopolitan identity by bypassing
national identity (Moorti, 2004); and brought about cosmopolitan outlook as well
as contesting national interests (Abu-Lughod, 1997; 2005). Most importantly, these
studies (Moorti, 2004; Mandel, 2002; Abu-Lughod, 1997; 2005) demonstrate that
popular culture has altered the hegemony of the state.
PROMOTING HYBRIDISATION IN TELEVISION PROGRAMMES
The global reach of Malaysian television can be illustrated through a process of
hybridisation between imported popular culture and local programmes. According
to Wang (2010) the number of adapted programmes broadcast on Malaysian
television is increasing. In the case of Malaysian television, hybridisation occurs
in two ways, firstly when locally produced popular culture programmes are
encouraged by the government to incorporate, for example, moderate Islam,
western modernity and other suitable elements from imported popular culture
into the production of local popular culture programmes. Secondly, imported
popular culture programmes are censored and monitored to eliminate perceived
negative values to the local. Here, adapting and filtering are two significant ways
of hybridisation. This section, therefore, focuses on the role of those government
bodies and the public that enforce and monitor hybridisation.
To this end there are five regulating bodies which monitor and censor television
popular culture programmes in Malaysia; The Film Censorship Board of Malaysia
(LPF), government agencies such as the Religious Department and the Ministry of
Home Affairs, the television station itself, the laws governing the mass media, and
the prime minister. In addition, there are unofficial monitoring sections including
the public, political oppositions and government leaders and supporters.
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
ADAPTATION AS HYBRIDISATION
The process of adaptation of imported popular culture is practiced in two ways.
Firstly, it is through the purchase of copyright. In such instance, the format of the
original programmes is retained; however these programmes are modified to reflect
the local culture through, for instance, the incorporation of local actors, languages
and settings (Moorti, 2004). The purchase of copyright from foreign culture
industries has occurred globally. Malaysia purchases the copyright to programmes
including Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Siapa nak Jadi Jutawan), Wheel of Fortune (Roda
Impian) and American Idol or Malaysian Idol and a popular and controversial Mexican
reality program, Akademi Fantasia or La Academia. The latter was adapted in 2003
by Malaysian Satellite television Astro (Maliki 2008). The first Spanish telenovela
adapted to a Malay version was Manjalara or Mi Gorda Bella (My Sweet Valentine)
which screened on TV3 in 2007 (Ghazali 2007).
The second process of adaptation occurred when the local culture industry
incorporate certain foreign values in the production of local programmes. Wang
(2010: 28) refers this adapted type as “cloned” or “copied” television programmes
which are not acquiring the copyright from the country’s origin. Karthigesu, (1994a:
88) contends that:
Local artistes now have to dress, sing, sway and rock in Hollywood style.
Local drama writers have to incorporate a certain amount of violence and
sex so that their dramas will catch the attention of the audience trained in
the Hollywood model.
What is observed by Karthigesu in 1990s was that locally produced musical and
drama programmes need to incorporate representations of Western culture if they
wanted to attract Malaysian audiences. For instance, North American popular
culture depicts a far greater degree of freedom and creativity with regards to their
costumes and actor behaviour, which seems to appeal to Malaysian viewers. Some
“copied” programmes are recognisable. Wang (2010) states that the programmes,
for instance are shows that the police drama Chips has been adapted in Malaysia
to Gerak Khas or Special Force; and SWAT to Skuad Elite or Elite Squad. According
to Wang (2010), 80% of adapted programmes are in the form of “copied” (Wang
2010: 30).
FILTERING AS HYBRIDISATION
The first and most prominent of the five regulatory censorship bodies that monitor
and censor popular culture content is LPF. The LPF is the authority which all
television producers, filmmakers and program importers must abide by. LPF was
formed by the Malaysian government under Section 3 of the Film Act (Censorship)
1952 (and revised in 1971) (Foo, 2004). Basic foundation of censorship work is to
foster universal values for the nation and for the world (Abdullah, 2001). In regard
to the interest of national identity, LPF censors those elements in popular culture
which contradict national aspirations and Malay-Islamic values (Abdullah 2001). In
regard to foster good relationship between countries, LPF censors those elements
which lead to the sentiment of disrespect to foreign leaders or put the country to
8
Cultural Hybridity
shame (Abdullah, 2001).
The board’s chairman, deputy chairman and its 63 members are recommended
by the Ministry of Home Affairs and appointed by the Supreme Ruler or Yang
Dipertuan Agong. The King is the highest patron of Islam and protector of Malay
custom in Malaysia. To ensure that the LPF’s decisions conform to government policy,
the majority of its appointees are retired Malay senior civil servants (Censorship
Board members ‘competent’, 2001 in Foo, 2004: 114). Foo further states the long
lists of the guidelines used by the LPF members to vet television programmes,
including the Federal Constitution, Internal Security Act, Printing Presses and
Publication Act, Seditious Act, Police Act, Penal code, Defamation Act, Official
Secret Act, Broadcasting Code of Ethics, National ideology (Rukunegara), Islamic
(Syariah) law, as well as recommendations from various government organisations
(Foo 2004: 123–124).
The LPF in-house censorship guideline is known by its acronym of VHS. It refers
to Violent, Horror and Sex. These three elements are censored if the LPF authority
finds out any undesired images, offensive scenes or conversation. Sexual references
are a significant element in popular culture shows and are a major concern of LPF
and certain sections of the Malaysian public alike. Malaysian attitudes towards
open references to sex are more conservative than in Western countries. For the LPF,
physical intimacy (for example bedroom scenes, kissing and hugging) revealing
clothing and open discussions about sex are ideally prohibited. Because sexual
references frequently occur in imported popular culture shows, these scenes cannot
be totally censored. For instance, it is impossible to censor female characters who
are attired in a revealing manner. Foo (2004) highlights an interesting newspaper
report as to how the LPF went about censoring sexual references in the film Nine
Months. The word “penis,” spoken by Hugh Grant when he wanted to know the
sex of his child in the film Nine Months was censored by the National Censorship
Board. Foo (2004) regards this is an extreme case of misjudgement between what
is a stated fact and sexual conversation. He also brings into focus the limitations of
LPF censorship of imported popular culture shows.
The second regulatory body includes government agencies such as the Religious
Department and the Ministry of Home Affairs; both of which must be consulted
by local producers before filming can begin. For shows that involve “sensitive
issues” such as those associated with religion, crime and law, producers must seek
approval for the script. The third regulating body is the television station itself.
Each station has a policy of allowing producers to self-censor. Most conform to this
in order for their work to be bought and broadcast on TV. For example, although
all TV stations are careful when depicting or discussing racial issues, TV1 and TV2
are stricter in handling these issues. For TV3, its preference is to portray the urban,
modern, wealthy way of life and to limit the depiction of poverty in society due to
its target viewers of urban population. The element of wealth is depicted through
expensive houses with elaborate furniture, luxury cars, Western overseas education
and fashionable clothes. Thus, it is common to watch Malay dramas with a plot that
revolves around wealthy urban families.
The fourth regulating body relates to the laws governing the mass media.
Since satellite television and the Internet gained widespread accessibility and
use in Malaysia during the mid 1990s, the Malaysian government has shifted its
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
attention from the regulation of conventional broadcasting, to the regulation of the
technology convergence of mass media. The government then proclaimed a new
act, the Communications and Multimedia Act of 1998.
The Communication and Multimedia Act of 1998 (C&C Act) speaks a new
language. The Act is written in the globalised language of the cyber sphere,
the language of information and communications technology. Familiar
words such as television, radio and broadcasting are not mentioned in the
Act. It speaks of “network facilities” and network service providers’, and
of “content applications service providers” (Kitley & Nain 2003: 88).
On the one hand, this has re-positioned Malaysia’s television industry, allowing
it to embrace dynamic convergence technologies such as the 3G mobile television
service which allows users to watch programmes on mobile phones. On the other
hand, these advances in technology have not lessened the degree of government
control over the broadcasting industry, which in fact still remains highly regulated
(Kitley & Nain 2003).
The fifth regulatory censorship body is the leader of the Malay ruling political
party, UMNO, which speaks on behalf of the ruling coalition party, Barisan Nasional.
The leader is the Malaysian prime minister. UMNO enforces the highest level of
censorship and is capable of overriding all the censorship bodies mentioned above,
however, this power is usually exercised only on rare occasions. In addition, the
unofficial monitoring body comes from the public and government supporters as
well as oppositional political leaders in the form of criticism. Criticisms of imported
TV popular culture which is highlighted by newspapers generally derive from
Malay politicians and Islamic leaders. These critics are in fact often supported by
the print media, which are again owned or managed by people who have a close
relationship with UMNO. The criticism acts as a resource for the government in its
role in censorship. Many of the critics of imported television content derive from
the ranks of UMNO politicians as well as from Islamic oppositional political leaders,
PAS. Furthermore, many were also leaders of government-run Islamic agencies
and departments. Some criticisms are taken into action, for instance in the issue of
superstitious and horror television dramas and movies.
However, not all criticisms are taken into action. The council of Islamic Jurists or
Mufti suggest that Bollywood movies on Malaysian television should be limited due
to their negative influence (Seneviratne 2001). In this case, the then Prime Minister,
Mahathir Mohamad was asked whether Bollywood movies contributed to the
sadistic rape murder recently (Utusan Online 2001). He responsed by suggesting that
there should be a detailed study to prove the claim (Utusan Online 2001). Mahathir,
therefore, implies that he does not agree to recommendations by the council to
limit Bollywood movies. In the same press conference, Mahathir did condemn the
negative influence to Malaysian youth of certain lyrics in Western songs.
However the Information Minister, Khalil Yaakob, in response to criticism of
Bollywood movies, promised that RTM would import Arab movies to balance the
presence of Bollywood movies. Another unsuccessful criticism was directed at one
of the most popular imported drama serials, especially among female viewers. This
was the Indonesian production Bawang Merah Bawang Putih which aired in 200610
Cultural Hybridity
2007. Rahmah Idris, a Member of Parliament, raised the issue during the UMNO
General Assembly2, arguing that Bawang Merah Bawang Putih (aired by TV3 between
2.30pm and 3.30pm) was becoming an addiction for women who tended to neglect
their house-duties. Idris urged the Ministry of Information to look into the matter.
A local newspaper reported her speech:
Our women are so engrossed in watching the drama serials that they cannot go
anywhere and those at work don’t pick up their telephones,” she said. (New Straits
Times, 18 November 2006).
HYBRIDITY AS ADAPTATION IN A MALAY MINI DRAMA SERIAL
In the following section, I explore further adaptation in a locally produced Malay
mini drama serial which was broadcast on TV3 in September 2006. The drama,
Seputih Qaseh Ramadhan (SQR) has consciously inserted the appropriate Islamic
values promoted by the government, upholding multiracial values, and practicing
Western modernity. SQR passed the censorship process and does not invoke any
criticism from viewers. Since SQR was broadcast during Ramadan, the holy month
for Muslims, the drama depicts religious practices of Muslims in this fasting month.
The Storyline
Qaseh is a woman protagonist in the Malay drama serial Seputih Qaseh Ramadhan.
When Qaseh marries Ridzuan, a son of a rich urban woman, she is a young, naïve,
working class woman. Their marriage is opposed by Ridzuan’s mother, Umi. In
trying to protect her husband from charges of drug possession Qaseh gives a false
confession and is imprisoned for several years. When she is finally released from
prison, she is unable to see her husband and children again because Ridzuan
has married another woman, Maria. Her story of the dutiful wife and mother is
told through her fulfilment of the roles of suffering wife and a mother who was
abandoned by her husband and mother in-law. With the assistance of her best
friend, an Indian woman who was her former neighbour, Qaseh starts a new life.
She is also sympathised by a lawyer, Johan, who has helped Qaseh to prove her
innocence. Johan fell in love with Qaseh but she would not accept his proposal. At
the end of the story she suffers cancer and dies after the fact that she was wrongly
imprisoned for drug possession.
Hybridity as Adaptation in Seputih Qaseh Ramadhan
Throughout the drama Qaseh was dressed in baju kurung (a type of Malay traditional
dress) and a loose head scarf. The dress symbolises an uneducated rural Malay
woman, for it is uncommon to see an urban Malay woman in other television dramas
wearing authentic traditional Malay attire.3 In the role of wife and daughter in-law,
the character of Qaseh was afforded typical Malay-Muslim woman’s qualities; blind
loyalty to a husband, non-assertiveness, naïvety and humility. Qaseh takes a firm
UMNO General Assembly is held annually. It is a political gathering of UMNO members to address
challenges that the party has to face.
3
I consider Baju kurung and a loose head scarf which exposes part of a woman’s hair as an authentic traditional
Malay costume. Now, Malay-Islam women commonly wear ‘Arabic style’ hijab which covers hair, neck and
shoulder.
2
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
stance against the lure of extramarital relationships. Although Qaseh’s appearance
is typical of a rural and uneducated woman, Qaseh’s character nevertheless
demonstrates confidence in managing her life in different settings; alongside her
wealthy mother in-law, in an urban law firm backdrop and in the context of her
friendship with an Indian woman. As a mother, Qaseh shows her assertiveness and
fought tirelessly to get her children back, a depiction of typical Malay motherhood.
The other characters are depicted of having different lifestyles. In contrast to
Qaseh’s working class background, Maria, Ridzuan’s second wife, in one scene
wears a blonde wig. Maria also wears Western fashions, speak English in some
conversations and dines in hotels. Her husband, Ridzuan however is depicted as a
devoted Muslim who abides by Ramadan practice. Qaseh’s best friend, Dewi wears
traditional Indian Sari to show ethnic difference. Dewi grieves when Qaseh dies. It
is uncommon in Malay drama to have different ethnic close friendship.
Based on Qaseh’s appearance and personality, she represents authentic Malay
culture. Maria depicts the hybridisation of Malay, Islam and Western values
constructed in the drama. The portrayal of Maria’s character, for instance, is one
of a hybrid identity between Western and Malay ways of life, elements of which
have given birth to Malay middle class lifestyles. The portrayal of urban lifestyles
which draw on foreign and local values to portray Malay middle-class characters
and family who simultaneously modern, Western, multicultural and Islamic are
common on Malaysian television stations. These Malay middle class characters are
depicted as having consumption habits. Within this new culture the state promote
the emergence of ostentatious middle class culture that emphasises consumption,
as well as Malay-Western-Islam images of women that support the government’s
project of modernity.
CONCLUSION
My argument is that in response to globalisation, the Malaysian government
enforced hybridity in popular culture to produce such a “third space” (Bhabha 1994).
This third space created the opportunity of a new culture which comprises a complex
interplay of an inward and outward outlook. In this view, ostentatious Malay middle
class emerges from hybrid popular culture. My exploration of indigenisation of
cultural commodities at the local context as a form of hybrid culture points to the fact
that researchers tend to see that the foreign cultural commodities flow on television
are unregulated. Researchers who use hybridity do not foresee the possibility of
a dominant sector such as censorship bodies, the state or the television proprietor
impose their power to expurgate the content of television programmes. I would
suggest that looking at the dominant sectors’ role on regulating television content
illuminates that hybrid process is being used by dominant sectors to maintain
their political hegemony. This in turn shows that hybrid culture not only benefit
subaltern group as these studies existed in the literature, but hybrid culture also
benefit dominant sector of state.
12
Cultural Hybridity
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Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Vol. 13, No. 1, 2011
Pages 17–36
Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with
M odernity A mongst Malay Women in
Malaysia
Md Azalanshah Md Syed
ABSTRACT
This article seeks to situate soap opera as a popular vehicle for Malay women
in contemporary Malaysia to engage with an increasingly globally oriented
form of transnational modernity. While this study employs a textual analysis
to examine this television genre, it argues that non-Western soap opera
provides sense of modernity to the local audience particularly Malay women
through various representations of consumer culture and its potential as
a site for escapism and a channel for mediated reality. Through an insight
into the role of a non-Western soap opera as a privileged site for engaging
with modernity amongst Malay women, this article provides a clearer
understanding of television’s role and its representation in the Malay world.
Keywords: non-western soap opera, television genre, consumer culture,
media representation, popular culture
INTRODUCTION
The popularity of non-Western soaps from Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines and
Latin America illustrates changes in the mediascape, the flow and consumption
of cultural texts in Malaysia. The popularity of non-Western soaps in Malaysia
is perhaps unrivalled by any other form of mass-mediated popular culture. The
success of non-Western soaps in garnering audiences in Malaysia has also made
its impact on the cultural landscape of the nation too. As a journalist for The New
Sunday Times put it, “the unconscious humming of the theme from Winter Sonata
as we cook and clean, the smiles that appear on our faces as the South American
beauties or bedroom-eyed heroes float across our computer screens” (John, Davis
and Chelvi 2003a). The diligence and devotion with which audiences watch these
soaps is quite staggering. As the reporter notes, “Many give the ‘are you crazy?’ look
at the suggestion of making a phone call during soap.” Further the daily routine
of family life is altered and constructed to facilitate time for these soaps. Not only
are other social activities like gatherings interrupted, “many hosts are in disbelief
15
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
when guests magically vanish from the party just before a soap is due to start”
(John, Davis and Chelvi 2003a).
The generic format of a soap opera draws both Western and non-Western
versions too, “as a pleasurable escape. Wives forget their drab husbands and
drab lives” and “consider the higher things in life—murder, mayhem, political
wrangling, scandals, family squabbles and, above all else, love” (John, Davis and
Chelvi 2003a). In interviews conducted amongst Malay women followers of the
genre, the responses point to the appeal of the soap opera as escapist entertainment.
Speaking about the Latin American telenovela Betty Yo Soy La Fea (Betty, the Ugly)
a Malay woman working as a professional says, “Betty was easy to follow, funny
and features a hero and a heroine with flaws—from their physical appearance to
their personalities—unlike other series I have seen where the characters are almost
perfect”(Farinordin 2003). A housewife was equally enamoured with the same series
for its melodramatic, suspenseful narrative ending with a happy denouement for
the heroine, in the manner of a typical soap storyline. She says, “I cried ... I am so
happy for her … before this, I was afraid of how the ending would turn out, but I am
so relieved now. It is the best telenovela I have seen till date (sic)” (Farinordin 2003).
Questions need to be asked—what makes non-Western soaps a unique and
popular object for Malay women? One defining feature of the genre of non-Western
soaps is the representation of modernity. Modernity is a subjective term. It has
malleable meaning which changes according to how it is perceived in different
contexts. While many scholars—Giddens (1990), Gaonkar (2001), Felski (1995),
Kahn (2001), Stivens (2006), etc.—have various views about modernity, this article
will focus on the elements in soap opera which generates the sense of modernity.
Although modernity and modernisation are deeply interrelated notions, I should
differentiate between the two concepts. Modernisation is about the transformation
process, which comes about through a highly involved relationship between the
political structure and the economy. On the other hand, modernity can be defined as
the cultural change that accompanies these processes of modernisation of economy
and politics. However, what are the most favoured elements of a sense of modernity
derived from non-Western soaps?
In this article, I argue soap opera generate a sense of modernity amongst Malay
women because this television genre provides various representations of consumer
culture; and act as escapism outlet and a channel of mediated reality. This article
is divided into four main sections. The first section focuses on the phenomenon
of non-Western soap opera among Malay women. The second section will deal
with the definition of soap opera as television genre to establish a background for
understanding its format, content and structure; the third is concerned with the
relationship of soap opera as a women-oriented genre; and the last, I will highlight
three major aspects of soap opera as a popular platform for providing a sense of
modernity.
NON-WESTERN SOAP OPERA IN MALAYSIA
The introduction of non-Western soaps in Malaysia began in the 1980s. But now
non-Western soaps have completely overtaken other genres as the most popular
television genre with astronomical viewership ratings, particularly among Malay
16
Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity Amongst Malay Women in Malaysia
women, who have been identified as the main audience of this genre (Bidin 2003;
Hamzah 2006; John, Damis and Chelvi 2003a). Malay women have been identified
as a large follower of this television genre. In fact, many debates in the Malaysian
parliament and political meeting have focussed the close association of Malay
women and popular soap opera on television (Saharani 2007; Bernama 2007a;
Hamzah 2006) While the popularity of non-Western soaps in Malaysia will create an
interest toward specific rating analysis in order to show audience shares for different
genres of programmes on television, particularly identifying how these shows
regularly viewed by the Malay audiences especially women in specific age range,
I have to argue here that the constitution of popularity, as claimed by Lewis (2002),
have various definitions and justifications. In fact, what constitutes “popular” has
to be deemed in terms of cultural and atmosphere as well as methodological setting.
According to Lewis (2002: 282-283), there are several techniques which have
been employed by the media industry to measure popularity of specific cultural
texts such as computerised recording systems through TV “people meters”. AGB
Nielsen is well known for applying this technique for measuring popularity of
specific television program on television. Website visits or “hits” can also be used
to identify “popularity” of cultural text over any given time period. Apparently,
these techniques are useful to study popularity but it is insufficient to evaluate
specific “phenomenon” which usually came out later as a major outcome. In other
words, by presenting daily specific rating figure of specific television program will
not suggest that it is becoming a phenomenon among audiences. In my study, nonWestern soap operas is a “cultural phenomenon” because it is not only popular
amongst the Malay audience but became a major subject for the local authorities
especially UMNO to criticise Malay women for ignoring their domestic task and
communal activities. For example, the manners of Wanita UMNO’s members who
were too busy watching Bawang Putih Bawang Merah (shallot and garlic) and caused
lower attendance at the UMNO’s national general meeting can be justified as a new
cultural phenomenon which is hard-pressed to explain.
In spite of the fact that these non-Western soaps are not dubbed into Malay
language and need to be watched with subtitles, the appetite for non-Western soaps
continues to grow among Malay audiences. Given the high literacy rate across the
population in contemporary Malaysia, non-Western soaps are not even dubbed into
Malay but shown with subtitles thereby making the broadcasting process easier
and the programmes more profitable for television channels (Hussien 2001). Under
the political umbrella of the “Look East Policy” launched in the early 1980s, the
government also advised the state run Television Malaysia to import and broadcast
more television programmes from Japan and South Korea. In the 1980s, Japanese
soaps such as Oshin and Rin Hanne Konma were dubbed into Malay and broadcast
on local television. The stories depicted in these soaps were different from the
consumerist middle class American lifestyle of Dallas. For example, the period
drama Oshin tells the story of a young Japanese peasant girl who grows up and
experiences different challenges in her life (Hussien 2001). Hashim (1989: 125) notes
that RTM and TV3 also introduced a special afternoon slot called Chinese Belt, which
showed many soaps from Hong Kong and China to attract local Chinese-speaking
audiences in Malaysia. The promotion of non-Western soaps had a significant effect
on the viewing predilections of the audiences. Japanese soap like Rin Hane Konma
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
was ranked ninth among the nation’s ten most popular TV programmes (Kyodo
News International 1988) and usurped the place of American soaps like Dallas.
Consequently, there was a huge influx of soaps from Japan in the mid-1990s till
early 2000s. Soaps like Beautiful Life, Concerto and Power Office Girl commanded high
ratings and some were even shifted to the prime time slot at night (Hussien 2001).
South Korea was another significant contributor to the wave of non-Western
soaps. The most popular Korean production is Winter Sonata which commanded
1.3 millions followers per episode on a daily basis. The popularity of Korean soaps
in Malaysia also sparked off appetite for Korean films, pop music and fashion. This
phenomenon has been identified as “Korean wave” (halyu) (Chua and Iwabuchi
2008). The Korean wave in soaps has continued with popular serials like Jewel in
the Palace, My Love Affair, Autumn Fairy Tale, Joyful Girl and My Love Patsi. A good
storyline, beautiful scenery, universal themes and attractive actors are thought to
be the recipe for the success of Korean soaps (Farinordin 2003). The popularity of
South Korean popular culture is also accompanied by a celebrity culture of adulation
for their actors. The Korean pop star and actor Jung Ji Hoon, also known as Rain,
is arguably the biggest star in Malaysia now.
In the early 2000s, television soaps from other Southeast Asian countries began
to appear on television channels in Malaysia. Romance soaps from the Philippines
Pangako Sa’yo (My promise to you) and Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas (I wish it would
never end) were not only being watched by large numbers, but were becoming a
topic of everyday conversations among people (John, Davis and Chelvi 2003a). The
absorption of Filipino soaps into the daily lives of people was complemented by the
tabloid press, which would circulate stories about the private lives of the lead actor
and actress of Pangako Sa’yo, Jericho Rosales and Kristine Hermosa (Tiong 2006).
The Thai soaps Phoenix Blood, Maid from Chicago, Heaven Meets Earth and Soda & Ice
also became popular with audiences, reaching the peak of their popularity in the
early to mid 2000s. These soaps also capitalised on the exotic scenery of foreign
settings like New Zealand (Yin 2003).
Another important source of non-Western soaps is Latin America. Although
Latin American soaps do not fit neatly into the slot of the generic non-Western soap—
due to elements of relatively open depiction of sexual matters and their historical
association with European culture and language—it is important to understand
why this status has been granted to Latin American soaps. The justification made by
the Malaysian authorities is that Latin American nations inhabit a similar space of
cultural evolution of rapid modernisation and economic development as Malaysia.
Latin American soaps not only tell stories that Malaysians can relate to but they offer
content with a more balanced Western influence (Bernama 2007b). In fact, authorities
have argued that Latin soaps are not in contradiction to local culture and they fit
within the broadcast guidelines of the Malaysian television (Bernama 2007b). As per
the Malaysian broadcast code and ethics, any foreign content must not go against
the vision and sensitivity of the multicultural Malaysian nation (Department of
Malaysian Broadcasting 2010). Latin American soaps are also accepted by the Malay
audiences for portraying stories that share similarities with Asian cultural norms.
Lau reports that habitual followers of Colombian soap, Yo Soy Betty La Fea (Betty,
The Ugly) are avid followers of this popular soap because ‘the culture and stories of
these countries are similar to Asian society’ (Lau 2003). Themes like family issues,
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Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity Amongst Malay Women in Malaysia
parent-child relationships and marital love pervade non-Western soaps, whether
they are from Asia or Latin America, with lesser emphases on individualism or
sexual intrigue as in most Western soaps.
After the abortive attempt by the state to produce local soaps in the 1980s,
the phenomenon of Latin American soaps really took off in Malaysia with the
deregulation of the industry in the early 2000s. The Venezuelan soap called Maria
Mercedes on NTV7, was screened all weekdays from Monday to Friday and attracted
more than 600,000 viewers per episode (Farinordin 2003). The success of Maria
Mercedes encouraged NTV7 to broadcast many other Latin American soaps like Mis
Tres Hermanes (My Three Sisters) and La Usurpadora (The Pretender), Yo Soy Betty La
Fea (I Am Betty the Ugly One) and Juana La Virgen (Juana’s Miracle). Ratings for these
soaps were high, between 400,000 to 900,000 viewers for each episode (Farinordin
2003). The popularity of Latin American soap operas also attracted the interest
of other local television networks like RTM and TV3. The afternoon slot on RTM
which showed a series of Spanish-language soap operas like El Amor No Es Como
Lo Pintan (Love Is Not How People Make It out to be) and Por Tu Amor (For Your
Love) attracted 1.3 million viewers. The climax to this phenomenon of popularity
of Latin American soaps came in 2002, when TV3 aired the Mexican family soap
Rosalinda claimed a record viewership 2.6 million viewers per episode. The lead
actress of the soap Thalia who is also a pop singer, became a star in Malaysia and
her theme song Ay-Amor, Rosalinda became a popular song.
Although Korean and Latin American soaps can be said to have been the most
popular programmes among audiences in the early 2000s, soaps from Indonesia
currently claim the highest place in the popularity ratings. From 2006 Indonesian
soap operas, locally known as Sinetron, were broadcast on most local television
channels and almost wiped out any remnants of local Malaysian soaps which had
survived the earlier onslaught of foreign non-Western soaps. The TV3 afternoon
slot, which screened the Indonesian soap Bawang Merah Bawang Putih (Shallot and
Garlic) from early 2006, attracted an astronomical viewership of about four million
viewers per episode (Saharani 2007a). The fantastical elements and riveting storyline
based on supernatural themes attracted the audiences in droves. This figure is
believed to be the highest rating for any soap opera in Malaysia. Many reasons are
given for the popularity of Indonesian soaps—from cultural proximity to good
production values. But it has also been noted that it is the supernatural storyline
of the soap based on local, indigenous folklore shared by people in Malaysia and
Indonesia which has attracted local audiences in Malaysia. This is a subject that
was never touched in the storyline of soaps from other regions and even banned
on Malaysian television for many years (Bernama 2007a; Hamzah 2006; Saharani
2007a). This trend of “supernatural” soaps from Indonesia continued with Bukan
Cinderella (Not Cinderella) and Liontin, broadcast by Media Prima through its
associate television station TV3. Apart from these supernatural soaps, Indonesian
soaps of romance and family life like Ratapan Anak Tiri (Grief of the step children),
Malim Kundang, Romantika Shanghai (Shanghai Romance) and Kenapa ada Cinta?
(Why is love?) were broadcast on RTM. Kawin Muda (Early Marriage) was aired on
a daily basis from Monday to Friday (Utusan Malaysia, 2008). In fact, the popularity
of Indonesian soaps has reached such an astronomical height that ASTRO, a local
satellite television station, introduced a 24 hour Sinetron channel called Aruna which
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currently screens an array of Indonesian soap operas such as Maha Pengasih (The
Most Blessed), Mewarnai Langit (Painting the Sky), Akibat Banyak Gaul (Too many
relationships), Perempuan (Women), Samson Betawi, Roman Picisan (Lousy Romance),
Suami-Suami Takut Istri (Husbands Afraid of Wives) and Titipan Ilahi (Gift from God)
(Utusan Malaysia 2008).
DEFINING SOAP OPERA: FORMAT, CONTENT AND STRUCTURE
A soap opera can be described as “a continuing fictional dramatic television program,
presented in multiple serial instalments each week, through a narrative composed of
interlocking storylines that focus on the relationships within a specific community
of characters” (Mumford 1995: 18). Many scholars like Hobson (1982), Ang (1985),
Buckingham (1987) and Geraghty (1991) also agree with these characterisations of
the soap opera as a long running, episodic television programmes with fictional
stories of romance, family and relationships that cater to women audiences. Given
these broad conventions, soap operas can be said to constitute a genre in their own
right, despite the immense variety in the field.
In calling the soap opera a genre, one must note that the notion of a genre as
a classificatory label is important for any television content. Genre not only serves
to classify and market an item as a product of a certain recognisable category, but
fundamentally operates as a way in which meaning is structured in any cultural
text. As John Frow contends, “genre is a set of conventional and highly organised
constraints on the production and interpretation of meaning” (Frow 2006: 10). A
genre imparts structure to a text, organises its content, creates audience expectations
and delivers meaning to them through that mutually understood structure. Thus,
it is not an overstatement to say that genre “is a fundamental aspect of the way
texts of all kind are understood” (Neale 2001: 1). Soap opera as televisual content
is governed by certain parameters, which also help to define it as a genre and I will
attempt to detail some of these conventions.
Firstly, the essential feature of a soap opera is its episodic nature. Soaps follow
a “serialised narrative in broadcasting” which must be screened on a regular basis,
normally on a daily or weekly basis (McCarthy 2001: 47). This serialised format of
presentation is such a crucial feature of the soap opera genre, that failing such a
requirement it may not be recognised as a soap opera, no matter whatever other
generic conventions it may satisfy. In her early studies of the soap opera, Gerathy
(1981: 9) even restricts the general definition of soap opera to this loose parameter
as a long continuous television serial.
Apart from the logistics of presenting a long-running, continuous narrative
in a serialised format, soap operas also tell their stories within certain narrative
conventions. It is not merely a matter of making a collection of characters and events
cohere in a story that can spread over numerous episodes. Soap operas follow
sensationalistic narrative formats to keep the viewer’s interest from flagging and to
tempt them to tune in on a regular basis to follow the story. The narrative conventions
of melodrama or suspense followed by soap operas generate uncertainties and
instabilities within stories of everyday life, which if depicted otherwise would not
deliver such sensationalistic appeal (White 1994: 353).
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Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity Amongst Malay Women in Malaysia
Thus, on the most basic level, the definition that I began with earlier may
seem to be adequate for understanding of the soap opera as a genre. However,
identifying a certain description as the unquestionable definition of soap opera is
perhaps misguided. While there maybe a general agreement on the fundamental
features of soap operas, we also need to appreciate the fluidity of the genre and the
innumerable permutations and combinations possible within the wide field of soap
operas. Even the most basic assumptions made about soap operas may vary from
case to case, showing that the parameters governing this genre “are not fixed and
immutable” (Bielby and Harrington 2005: 385). The key feature of soap opera as a
long running serialised television narrative is made problematic when we consider
that some soaps are short series with a few episodes, and in other instances “not
all serials qualify as soap operas” (Cantor and Pingree 1983: 24). There are also
wide divergences in the content of different soaps—ranging from comedy, tragedy,
melodrama, female-oriented, youth-oriented—that also make it a heterogeneous
genre. The longstanding status of soap opera in television programming and the
plethora of soap series produced through the decades across the world add to
its heterogeneity. As Cantor and Pingree note, as distinct from other dramatic
programmes, each soap opera “may have a different history, a different mode of
production, different (but overlapping) audiences and different content” (Cantor
and Pingree 1983: 154). Given its status as an object of popular consumption,
the susceptibility of the genre of soap opera to rapid change is also amplified by
fluctuating trends of popular culture.
However, the heterogeneous nature of soap operas does not detract from its
entity as a coherent body that constitutes a genre albeit one with a broad scope. All
these differences and divergences amplify our understanding of the broad scope
of the genre and alert us to be mindful of the different manifestations it may take.
Martín-Barbero in his study of Latin soap opera flows writes, “it is true that the
soap opera implies rigid stereotypes in its dramatic outline and strong conditioning
elements in its visual grammar, as required and reinforced by the logic of market
with increasingly transnational tendencies” (Martín-Barbero 1995: 282). As a cultural
text that is so enmeshed with the mundane cultural repertoire of public domain—as
what Hobson calls a “living form”—these many variances are bound to be part of
the genre. For example, in an environment of rapid proliferation of communication
technology and globalising economies, many locations have the production capacity
to cater to local audiences. Non-Western countries have managed to construct new
hybrid cultural texts that synthesise generic formats of texts taken from the West,
with local ingredients. They seem to posses “the DNA, the recipe and the technology
for invigorating local television industries” (Keane, Fung and Moran 2007: 10).
As a dominant television genre, soap opera is not only a popular form in itself;
it has become the paradigmatic form of storytelling on television that has shaped
a plethora of other genres. According to Wittebols ‘the soap opera, or more largely,
serial storytelling, has emerged as the dominant guide by which stories are told on
television, regardless of whether we are looking at news, prime time programming,
or the presentation of sporting contest’ (Wittebols 2004: 2). Many scholars argue that
the main objective of the soap opera and its form of storytelling is to attract mass
audiences and sustain their interest, which has also made it a commoditised form of
television commanding millions of viewers worldwide (Allen 1995; Hobson 2003).
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In his study of the Australian version of popular reality TV Big Brother, Turner (2005:
420) claims that this television genre operates in a very similar way as soap opera
in the way its structures stories and depictions of ordinary life on the television
screen. Foster (2004: 284) notes that the popular reality TV show Survivor employs
the concept of the cliff-hanger narrative borrowed from soap operas in order to
create suspense for the audience every week.
SOAP OPERA AS A WOMEN-ORIENTED GENRE
Another crucial feature of soap operas as television genre is its women-oriented
nature. Soaps have always been identified as a female television genre. But as Kuhn
(1984: 21) asks, “what precisely does it mean to say that certain representations are
aimed at a female audience?” I will try to answer this question by illustrating the
various points that support this contention about soaps as a women-oriented genre.
The bulk of content that is portrayed in soap operas—family issues,
neighbourhood and romance—are societal issues that are of interest to women
(Bowles 2002: 122). The feminine attributes associated with such matters depicted
on these soaps can be explained as a gender norm acquired through cultural
conditioning. In an early study on the famous British soap Crossroads, Charlotte
Brunsdon counts “the culturally constructed skills of femininity—sensitivity,
perception, intuition and the necessary privileging of the concerns of personal life”
as attributes which are required to appreciate the content of the series (Brunsdon
1981: 36). Thus, soaps require the viewers to have “a set of knowledge and skills
normally associated with them in patriarchal culture” (Mumford 1995: 45). It is
through these feminine competencies acquired in everyday life in a patriarchal
culture that Geraghty notes that women are able to decode “every word and gesture
in order to understand its emotional meaning’ and derive pleasure, which maybe
lost to male audiences who are not acculturated in such a manner” (Geraghty 1991:
43). Norms of gender in society are structured in such a way that issues associated
with private lives of romance, interpersonal relationships, families are invariably
deemed to be women’s issues. Fiske also defines soap operas as programmes based
on “women’s matters, that is, as a domain where patriarchy grants women a position
of some power” (Fiske 1987: 181–182).
Apart from the obvious thematic content of soaps, the narratives are told
from a female-centric perspective. For example, a soap opera may tell the saga of a
business family. However, the stories that are spun from this basic material are not
about the corporate successes of the family members, but more about interpersonal
relationships between the characters in glamorous settings of opulence and wealth.
Soaps like Dallas and Dynasty set the story in the glamorous locale inhabited by
families of business tycoons, but at its heart the story is about the relationships
between the characters, mostly told from the perspective of the heroines.
Soap operas emulate the narratives of melodrama and romance that evolved
with sentimental novels for women readers in the nineteenth century. According
to Geraghty, melodrama on soaps is presented through “the close-ups of faces,
of important objects, the deliberate movement of a character across a room, the
lingering of the camera on a face at the end of a scene” (Geraghty 1991: 30). Ko
also notes that Japanese soaps use such cinematographic techniques to heighten
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Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity Amongst Malay Women in Malaysia
the poignancy of a scene or underscore fluctuations of emotion (Ko 2004: 117).
Melodrama and romance have become staples of popular culture aimed at women.
As Gledhill (1992: 106) notes:
Since soap opera is known to have been devised to reach female audiences
and to deploy subject matter designated “feminine”, namely family and
personal relationships and a focus on emotion, it is assumed that such
concerns are “melodramatic” and in a circular process that melodrama is
somehow a “woman’s” cultural form.
In addition, there are ideological discourses embedded in the soap operas that
revolve around the roles women inhabit in ordinary life. Tania Modleski notes that
most soap operas have narrative structures that focus on the image of the “ideal
mother”, where “soaps convince women that their highest goal is to see their
families united and happy, while consoling them for their inability to bring about
familial harmony” (Modleski 1979: 14). This in turn generates pleasure for women
by creating identifiable role models for their own lives as mothers or potential
mothers. Another point that also helps to support this contention of soap operas
as a woman-oriented genre is the timeslot in which they tend to be scheduled. The
afternoon slot in which most soap operas are broadcast is a time when the rest of
the family is outside of the home, “when women form the bulk of the available
audience” and thus “women are likely to be in the majority among soap watchers”
(Bowles 2000: 122).
While these many points may support my contention that soap opera is a
women-oriented genre, some scholars like Gauntlett and Hill (1999: 226) and Gledhill
(1997: 367) have argued that the notion of gendered audience is no longer relevant
because the viewership of soaps is quite broad and may include men and children
too. Indeed, television audiences especially in non-Western settings form quite a
heterogeneous viewership (Morley 1992; Penacchioni 1984). Distinct categories
of popular culture catering to different demographic groups of age or sex are not
so pronounced in non-Western settings as in the West. Soaps often form the bulk
of collective television viewing for family members in non-Western settings. But
while one may accept that soap operas are not only watched by women, this does
not dilute the contention of the argument that the soap is a women-oriented genre.
Its stories revolve around issues that are devised with a female audience in mind.
The perspective that is privileged in the soaps is that of a female viewer, requiring
competencies associated with women such that any viewer, no matter what their
social identity, accommodates that perspective. In spite of the heterogeneity of the
audience it can be rightfully claimed that “the image of soap opera as a “women’s
genre’ persists to this day” (McCarthy 2001: 48).
SOAP OPERA AS A SITE FOR ENGAGING WITH MODERNITY
Soap operas are a ubiquitous part of everyday life for audiences who imagine distant
locales, form understandings of ordinary life and larger cultural trends through the
stories and images propagated by the genre. Many previous soaps scholars associate
these functions with the notion of modernity (Ang 1985; Chua 2004; Geraghty 1991;
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Hobson 2003; Iwabuchi 2004). I endorse this view and argue here that as a vehicle
for consumer culture, outlet for escapism and a platform of mediated reality, soaps
generate a sense of modernity. These three aspects underpin my argument about
soap opera genre as a potent site for engaging with modernity because they expand
the viewers’ imagination beyond the constraints of their personal lives, physical
locales and cultural boundaries. Giddens writes, “modern organisations are able
to connect the local and the global in ways which would have been unthinkable in
more traditional societies and in so doing routinely affect the lives of many million
of people” (Giddens 1990: 20). The following section will elaborate my argument
about how these three aspects function to deterritorialise imagination and make
soaps a paradigmatic site for women to engage with modernity.
Vehicle of Consumer Culture
The association between soap operas and consumer goods runs deep; soaps are
sponsored by manufacturers of retail consumer goods mostly targeted at housewives
(Brown 1994; Cantor and Pingree 1983; Geraghty 1991; Hobson 2003; Spence 2005).
In fact, the term soap opera was coined for these television programmes in their
early years because they were produced by detergent manufacturers like Procter
and Gamble, Colgate Palmolive and Lever Brothers (Allen 1985; Cantor and Pingree
1983). According to Waldrop and Crispell (1988: 29), soap operas were created to sell
soaps to women through an ingenious use of entertainment, a strategy that created
women audiences and attracted numbers not possible by direct advertising alone.
Allen rightly describes it as a “narrative form, cultural product, advertising vehicle
and source of aesthetic pleasure” (Allen 1985: 4). Thus, the origin of the genre shows
soap opera as a source of entertainment enmeshed with consumer culture.
Some scholars have located the potential of the commercials to generate
notions of everyday life for the audiences. By the constant bombardment of
messages about consumer goods purporting to support shared common interests
of women, advertisements create storylines about the needs of everyday life and
imbricate themselves in the imagination of everyday life for women. Portraying
the challenges of everyday life of maintaining households, commercials “forge an
imagined solidarity among women” (Spence 2005: 143).
While consumer culture is entrenched in the origin of the genre, the early
association of consumerism with soap operas was limited to direct advertising. It
was not until the 1980s when American soaps such as Dallas and Dynasty became a
global phenomenon that consumer culture began to be imbricated in the narrative
of the soap operas themselves. According to Ang (1985: 2), Dallas symbolises a new
modern age of television history underscored by the promotion of an American
lifestyle that revolved around consumer culture. Geraghty (1991: 121) notes that
while opulence is often depicted on American soaps, this is now filtered through
the lens of consumer culture. Enjoying luxury is now not depicted as an inaccessible
lifestyle reserved for the privileged few. Luxury is now shown as an aspirational
ideal accessible to any viewer who can muster the economic power to indulge in the
consumer culture freely available in the market. The American soap Dynasty created
an aspirational standard for consumer culture through spectacular images of foreign
locations, glamorous settings (Geraghty 1991: 127). The notions of individual choice,
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Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity Amongst Malay Women in Malaysia
upward mobility and unhindered interaction with the outside world promoted by
consumer culture in soaps foster a sense of modernity for audiences.
Apart from being laced with images of conspicuous consumption, the ability
of soaps to forge more mundane cultural trends that could be easily replicated and
followed by mass audiences, is a major factor through which soap operas act as a
vehicle for consumer culture. As Hobson notes with regard to the Australian soaps
Neighbours and Home and Away, which are also popular in Britain and New Zealand,
“the youth culture which features in some of the Australian soap operas…gave rise
to a fashion that reflected the surfing clothes… becoming a major fashion item for
young men” (Hobson 2003: 68). Other lifestyle changes such as consumption of
“fruit, vegetables, fish and brown bread” and going abroad for beach tourism were
also after-effects of trends cultivated in those soaps (Matleski 1999: 26).
Just like these soap operas in the Western world, their non-Western counterparts
are also deeply enmeshed with consumer culture (Iwabuchi 2008: 245). In the Latin
American countries, a version of romance dramas called telenovelas also began in the
1960s under the sponsorship of detergent manufacturers like Lever Brothers and
Colgate Palmolive and now continues to be a vehicle for sponsorships of a plethora
of consumer products. A parallel development in the telenovelas from commercial
breaks to narrative emphasis on consumer culture in the program has also taken
place. Product placement within the soaps is quite a popular trend in telenovelas
where consumer goods are portrayed as complementing the modern lifestyles of its
characters (Mattelart 1990: 47). The main attraction of a genre a called trendy drama
in Japan (urban lifestyle and fashion-based drama targeted at youth audiences) is
the conspicuous consumption of lifestyle products creating ideals of fashion and
glamour for its viewers. These trendy dramas with their consumerist focus “truly forge
a new life style for women in modern days with a Japanese situation, representing
urban life and consumption (sic)” (Matsuda and Higashi 2006: 19). These trendy
dramas are also immensely popular in other parts of Asia where audiences seek to
emulate the fashionable images of the Japanese characters. For example, Ko reports:
“Japanese idol dramas have emerged as an important phenomenon in Taiwan
… [and have] impacted the local life style, formation of the youth subculture,
consumption patterns, colloquial speech, and even urban planning” (Ko 2004: 109).
Another element that aids the promotion of consumer culture in soap operas
is the urban settings in which these soaps are invariably based. In fact, an urban
lifestyle seems to be indispensable for depictions of a modern lifestyle fuelled by
consumerism. As Leung notes, urban lifestyle is depicted as the key to modernity
with its “appeal of novelty” where “the city is portrayed as full of possibilities,
where the countryside is seen as backward, sleepy, and only for failures” (Leung
2002: 71). Iwabuchi says that urban lifestyle provides an indispensable visual
structure to the series of trendy dramas, where the cityscape of Tokyo is depicted
as the playground where all consumerist desires are fulfilled and pleasures of a
modern life are achieved (Iwabuchi 2004: 2). Explaining the popularity of this same
genre in audiences outside Japan in Taiwan, Ko (2004: 123) says that it is this image
of Tokyo, as the most progressive and vibrant city in Asia which is idealised by
its Taiwanese viewers as the epitome of modernity. Thus it appears that the “city”
has been identified as a space to engage with modernity, where “city is a space in
which modernism happens” (Lash 1990: 31).
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This association of soap opera with consumer culture through the many means
illustrated above—direct advertising, narrative focus on consumer culture, product
placement within the program, urban lifestyle and modern cityscape—make it a site
for women to engage with modernity. Soaps often show the transformative capacity
of consumer culture to change a subject to tell a broader narrative of progress from
tradition to modernity. Modernity is depicted as an ideal that can be acquired by
indulging in consumption of goods freely available in the marketplace. Especially
for Malay women, non-Western soaps offer a window onto an outside world of
consumer culture and a possibility of envisioning their personal journey of becoming
a modern individual who can participate in that world.
Platform for Escapism
Many previous scholars note that the crucial reason for the popularity of the soap
opera as a television genre amongst women audiences, particularly housewives, is
due to the sense of escape that it provides its viewers. “Escapism” is a key element
of the pleasure of viewing soaps and soaps give viewers an outlet for escapism
to free themselves temporarily from any burden they may have in the real world
and “becomes a site for liberation through desire” (Lewis 2002: 287). Ang says,
“producing and consuming fantasies allows for a play with reality, which can
be felt as ‘liberating’ because it is fictional, not real” (Ang 1985: 49). Spence adds
that women enjoy this escapism as part of the pleasure of watching soaps as “a
break, a fantasy, imaginary solution, some excitement, relaxation, or ‘a moment for
themselves’” (Spence 2005: 29). However, unlike older traditional cultural forms
such as stage plays, theatre, and to some extent romance fiction, which also offer a
sense of escapism, soap operas function in a modern way.
On the most basic level, soap operas are simply entertainment. The fundamental
purpose of the soap is to entertain its audience and to divert them from the worries
of their actual lives and take their imagination into another dimension for a short
time. As Dyer says:
Entertainment offers the image of ‘something better’ to escape into, or
something we want deeply that our day-to-day lives don’t provide.
Alternatives, hope, wishes—these are the stuff of utopia, the sense that
things could be better, that something other than what is can be imagined
and maybe realized (Dyer 1992: 18).
In a striking example of the lure of soaps drawing audiences from the struggles of
everyday life, de Melo illustrates how housewives in the Latin Americas who may
have pressing issues of daily survival, also tune into watch telenovelas on a regular
basis to relieve themselves of stress (cited in Oliveira 1993: 121).
With their typical themes, soaps produced in one location can be watched
by audiences elsewhere, without requiring much cultural proficiency, except for
minute adjustments. As carriers of cultural content from one place to another, soaps
become vehicles for introducing cultural trends and lifestyles to local audiences
from foreign regions. For example, Dallas propagated aspirations for a middle class
American lifestyle for non-Western viewers in the 1980s even if they had never
visited America. Recently, soaps from other regions like Japan, Korea and Latin
America have provided new images of urban middle class lifestyle in Asia. Lin and
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Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity Amongst Malay Women in Malaysia
Tong reports, “the representations of cosmopolitan city life, individual pursuits
of free love, social justice and modern consumerist desire can go beyond national
boundaries, attracting viewers in many part of Asia and creating a shared desire
among them” (Lin and Tong 2008: 102). Women may also become familiar with
issues that might be foreign within their cultural context. One’s sense of habitat is
not constricted by immediate physical location but latches on to the imaginative
spaces of the soap opera. For example, Lin and Tong claim that soap audiences
in Asia “enjoy the fantasy elements as both possible and plausible since the story
happens in a different city in Asia and thus offers some room for imagination or
fantasy” (Lin and Tong 2008: 94). Particularly in some rapidly developing Asian
countries like Malaysia, women are still restricted to the domestic domain despite the
liberalisation of economic and social structure, and media like soap operas become
an outlet for engagement with the wider world for these women. These women’s
view of modernity is shaped vicariously through the images in soap operas that
have assumed a ubiquitous place in everyday life.
The formal elements and structure of soaps is derived from a long tradition
of sentimental literature for woman. The genre thrives on extravagance and
sensationalism. The narratives may involve illogical resolutions to the stories: a dead
person returning, a conflict resolved, an identical twin. Ang makes an insightful
note about the melodramatic family narrative where the concept of family “is not
actually romanticised in soap operas; on the contrary, the imaginary ideal of the
family as safe haven in a heartless world is constantly shattered” (Ang 1985: 69).
This view has been further elaborated by Spence who adds that “family life is more
emblematic of splitting, separation, and struggle than of a narcissistic merging or
an imaginary unity of parents and children” (Spence 2005: 99). The sensationalism
draws them to enjoy the drama and immerse themselves in this alternate reality
because it “has the ability to provoke strong emotions in audiences, from tears
of sorrow and identification, to derisive laughter” (Mercer and Shingler 2004: 1).
And the visual aspects of the melodramatic presentation of soap narrative further
heighten its entrancing quality.
The theme of romance that forms the core of many of these soaps is another
recognisable trope in cultural products that have often been identified as escapist
entertainment for women audiences. In her study of romance novels and women
readers, Janice Radway (1984: 93) notes that reading romance texts in the age before
electronic media also constituted a source of escapism, where the readers could
access a sense of liberation from their mundane lives. This pattern has continued
with soap operas, which typically have a romance narrative at the core. Further,
soap operas reach audiences at a scale beyond the scope of romance texts of the
literary form that require literacy and significant leisure time.
Another generic element of soap operas is the portrayal of a resilient heroine
overcoming many tribulations. This also adds to the value of soap as escapist
entertainment. In a world where most societies are structured on a patriarchal
system, soaps provide spectacular stories of women meeting challenges in a hostile
work place or mounting triumphs of a domestic kind. This capacity of soaps as
an outlet for escapism is especially relevant to female audiences in countries like
Malaysia, where women may construe images of modernity as an imaginary space
of female triumph. For example, Iwabuchi (2002: 144) has noted that audiences in
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Taiwan, who follow the Japanese soap Tokyo Love Story ranked it as a favourite for
its portrayal of strong, independent women.
Channel for Mediated Reality
While this sense of escapism is an important aspect of soaps, soap operas do not
merely paint a fantastical other worldly realm that dissolves all incumbent realities
of the viewer’s world. Soap opera is not a fantasy genre. As a genre, soaps are firmly
embedded in the tradition of natural realism purporting to portray the lives of
everyday people. The aesthetic ideology of soaps as portrayals of everyday life reality
insinuates itself into the perceptions of the audiences as truthful representations
of reality. According to Wittebols, soap operas reflect the realities of everyday life
and this element gives the audience ‘a sense of immediacy’ (Wittebols 2004: 3). The
narrative style of this television genre allows the audience, particularly women, to
have a greater understanding of everyday life issues.
Depicting themes of everyday lives, soap operas act as a channel for constituting
a mediated reality for its audiences. In soaps, realistic portrayals of ordinary lives
are crucial to their narrative structure. Ang identifies the pleasure of recognition,
of issues or character types, as the major attraction of Dallas for its audiences. As
she writes, “being able to imagine the characters as ‘real people’… is an anchor for
the pleasure of Dallas” (Ang 1985: 20). In this scheme, Livingstone (1988: 67) notes
that British soaps are portrayed as being even more ‘mundane and down to earth’
in contrast to American soaps like Dallas and Dynasty which offer aspirational
images of glamour and opulence. Thus the narrative of soaps construct pictures
of ordinariness that is then broadcast back to audiences to amplify their sense of
reality with those mediated images of ordinariness.
While the portrayals of quotidian issues of everyday life may make audiences
accept soaps as representations approximating their ordinary lives, soaps actually
follow sensationalistic plotlines that go against realism. For example, while family is
the central theme for many of the soap operas, these are presented in a melodramatic
fashion with “emotional entanglements with home as the stable centre” (Geraghty
1991: 60). These melodramatic narratives may not occur in actual lives, but the
melodramatic lens of these soap narratives may begin to colour the imagination of
the viewers. Women may empathise with certain characters and take to heart the
message “to strive on with the eventual hope of attaining their goals, or personal
growth and happiness” (Leung 2004: 100). As Ang notes, stories like the triumph
of a long-suffering heroine, create pleasure for the viewers to construct imaginary
resolutions for everyday reality (Ang 1985: 122). Thus, taking the narratives of soap
operas as stories of everyday life they may however begin to look at their lives
through that lens, further contributing to creation of mediated reality for the viewer.
Opening up a space for such issues, soap operas take on the role of a mediatory
tool that can influence and inform notions of everyday life for women audiences.
As Hobson points out “its stories must be the stories of the audience and it’s
predominate emotion must be that of recognition… of the characters and… stories
they tell” (Hobson 2003: 172). Hobson, however, is partly right because some
studies in Asian countries show that along with recognising or identifying some
elements, viewers also tend to distance themselves from some other elements in the
soap operas (Chua and Iwabuchi 2008). Audiences are confronted with the moral
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Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity Amongst Malay Women in Malaysia
dilemma of accepting the “same” or going along with “different” as portrayed
in the soap. For example, identification with a strong female character in a soap
opera may inspire a woman to be more assertive in her life. On the other hand,
dis-identification could provoke her to condemn such behaviour as improper and
unfeminine. It is the playful interpretation of the stories of everyday reality that
allows women to form such judgments in their own lives that forms the pleasure of
watching soaps. This may enable them to question, reflect and form opinions about
their life against the images and stories from the soaps. In his research on Hong Kong
soaps in Guangzhou, China, Fung suggests that middle class audiences exercised
such a critical attitude in making judgments about the depiction of everyday life
in those soaps. He notes:
… the audience believes they have the ability to grasp, re-configure and
finally depict a realistic picture of Hong Kong through reading the bordercrossing television. While fantasizing about the materialistic superiority of
the capitalist society of Hong Kong, ironically, the audience are aware of the
fact that uncritically embracing the materialistic way of life in Hong Kong is
unrealistic for them, not because they cannot fantasize about the unrealistic
way of life in Hong Kong, but because they are incapable of actualising this
consumption in their own context (Fung 2008: 90).
What I want to suggest here is that women are no longer dependent on direct
physical observation or experience anymore to learn about the complexities of
family life. Watching daytime soaps has become part of everyday culture for a large
number of women in the world. Apart from extraordinary stories of romance, the
important focus in soap opera is family life. The portrayal of issues of ordinary
family life in soap operas allows women to understand and engage with the
complexities of their own lives. Soap operas encourage women to interpret their
own experience in relation to the ideas presented in these programmes. Simple
narrative elements and interesting storytelling characters are employed to connect
with a universal audience, but also allow them to share contemporary social issues
regardless of their differing cultural locations. Television viewing is an essential
part of modern life and reaches across different strata of population crossing over
barriers of literacy or class.
In his studies of the role of television in everyday life, Silverstone claims that
“television is a domestic medium … it is part of our domestic culture … providing
in its programming and its schedules models and structures of domestic life, or
at least of certain versions of domestic life” (Silverstone 1994: 24). Soap opera is
a pervasive feature of everyday culture and a node for consumption of popular
culture for women whose lives revolve around the private space of the household.
Soap operas on television allow women to engage and associate their own lives
with alternative lifestyles and also to engage with contemporary social issues drawn
from the complexities of family conflict, love and relationships.
Another aspect of soaps as stories of everyday life that contributes to making
it a source of mediated reality is that they often choose topical issues circulating
within a society. For example, the British soaps EastEnders introduced issues of
homosexuality in the 1980s when gay people, AIDS and same sex marriages were
29
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
becoming an issue in popular discourse (Geraghty 1991; Hobson 2003). Other media
like newspapers may overtly construct notions of reality and happenings in the
world, soap operas also do so in their own way. These soap operas also provide
repertoires of images and social discourses that influence popular perception of
larger social issues. Soaps help amplify the viewer’s sense of inhabiting a world
beyond the immediate vicinity of one’s surroundings, who must cope with the
larger issues of a society and develop opinions about them. The issues articulated
in soap operas endeavour to be current and contemporary, making the audiences
feel connected with the larger society they inhabit. As Hobson notes, soaps “running
contemporaneously with the experience of the audience” whether it is to mark
some holidays, change in season, trickle into the mediated reality by virtue of their
contemporaneity with the social lives of the audiences at large (Hobson 2003: 34).
And the long running, continuous storyline of soaps to which the audiences tune in
on a regular basis, further amplifies this sense of being connected to a world outside
their own personal lives. Circumscribed within the boundaries of her domestic life,
a woman may not have direct experience of many societal issues, but soaps provide
an outlet for her to engage with wider society. As Hobson notes, “they can share in
understanding it in greater depth by experiencing the representation in televisual
form” (Hobson 2003: 142).
By portraying issues of interest to women in their actual lives soaps also become
the means through which these women mediate understanding of their own lives.
The viewers not only become involved in the dramatic problems faced by the
characters but begin to vicariously filter their actual lives through those narratives.
With its capacity to draw audiences into the imagined world of the soap, the story
also percolates into the lives of its audiences. They begin to look at their everyday
lives through the lens of the narratives of the soap operas. Thus, soaps are a textual
intervention in the domain of the imagination, a channel for mediated reality.
CONCLUSION
Non-Western soaps have emerged as a potent site to engage with modernity in
contemporary Malaysia. As a vehicle of consumer culture, a platform for escapism
and a channel for mediated reality, soaps are now a dominant site for women to
derive ideas of modernity in the now realised dream of the Malay state for a Malay
middle class and capitalist development of the economy. Within this scenario,
women have a particular affinity with soap operas and this genre of popular culture
has shaped women’s notions of their roles and ideas of modern life.
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia
Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Vol. 13, No. 1, 2011
Pages 37–49
Pengaruh Persekitaran ke atas Polisi
O rg a nis a s i Me di a Da l a m Ko nte k s
Perhubungan Media di Malaysia
Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin & Md Sidin Ahmad Ishak
AbstraCT
THE INFLUENCE OF MILIEU ON MEDIA ORGANIZATION
POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF MEDIA RELATIONS IN MALAYSIA
Media relations are important aspect in organisational communication
strategy. Thus, it is highly critical for public relations practitioners to build
an effective relationship with media personalities. This research discusses
Malaysian media relations practices focusing on the environmental factors
including political power, advertising and corporate media shareholders
that may influence corporate organisation policies in the context of media
relations in the country. In-depth interviews are conducted to study the
opinions of print and television editors regarding the issue. The Agenda
Setting Theory is used as a framework for this study. The study has found
that political authorities and advertisers seem to have strong influence
over the corporate organisation’s policy that may affect public relations
practices. However shareholders do not seem to bode as a strong influence
in the same context.
Key words: media relations, editor, corporate organization policies,
environmental factors
PENGENALAN
Kajian mengenai pengaruh polisi organisasi media dalam konteks perhubungan
media yang berlaku antara wartawan dengan pengamal perhubungan awam telah
banyak dilakukan oleh para sarjana seperti Aronoff (1975); Kopenhaver, Martinson &
Ryan (1984); Curtin (1999); William, Tomoko & Dirk (2002); Shin & Cameroon (2003);
Dan & Jonghyuk (2004). Menurut Syed Arabi Idid (2004) di sektor swasta Malaysia
teras kepada aktiviti perhubungan awam adalah perhubungan media. Kepentingan
perhubungan media di negara ini disokong oleh kerajaan melalui pekeliling
kerajaan (1982) yang menyenaraikan fungsi dan tanggungjawab perhubungan
35
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
awam termasuk mengadakan siaran media serta Pekeliling Perkhidmatan Bilangan 5
(2007) berkaitan pengurusan media.
Daripada perspektif pengamal media khususnya editor dan penerbit,
perhubungan media penting bagi mereka dalam usaha mendapatkan bahan berita
untuk dimasukkan ke dalam penerbitan masing-masing. Sebagai gatekeepers, editor
tertakluk kepada polisi yang ditetapkan oleh organisasi masing-masing. Setiap
organisasi media mempunyai polisi yang berbeza. Organisasi media kerajaan seperti
Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) harus mengikut polisi yang telah ditetapkan
oleh Kementerian Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan Malaysia. Sementara
organisasi media swasta perlu patuh kepada polisi yang ditetapkan oleh pemilik
atau pemegang saham. Media massa swasta juga tertakluk kepada Kod Kandungan
Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (2004) dalam penyebaran kandungan media
kepada publik. Menurut Curtin (1999), keinginan dan hasrat kebanyakan wartawan
dan editor untuk mengekalkan kawalan terhadap pengamal dan bahan-bahan
berita perhubungan awam diperlihatkan melalui desakan kuasa yang dinamik
(power-driven dynamic). Walaupun mereka boleh menerima idea daripada bahan
perhubungan awam, tetapi mereka menetapkan garis pemisah dengan pengamal
perhubungan awam. Mereka bukan sahaja mahu mengawal, tetapi juga mahu diberi
perhatian oleh pengamal perhubungan awam.
Walau bagaimanapun, faktor-faktor persekitaran iaitu kuasa politik, pengiklan
dan pemegang saham syarikat media mungkin mempengaruhi polisi organisasi
korporat dalam konteks perhubungan media, seterusnya memberi kesan kepada
usaha pengamal perhubungan awam untuk membina hubungan dengan editor
media massa dan untuk mendapatkan publisiti dalam media massa di Malaysia.
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melihat pendapat editor media massa mengenai
pengaruh persekitaran ke atas polisi organisasi media dalam konteks perhubungan
media di negara ini. Faktor-faktor persekitaran dalam kajian ini merujuk kepada
kuasa politik, pengiklan dan pemegang saham syarikat media. Kajian ini
menggunakan kaedah tinjauan jenis temu bual mendalam dan merupakan teknik
yang sering digunakan oleh para sarjana (Denzin & Lincoln 1998). Pemilihan
sampel dalam kajian ini menggunakan kaedah pensampelan rawak berlapis serta
melibatkan dua peringkat prosedur pemilihan. Peringkat pertama ialah pemilihan
agensi media massa cetak dan elektronik utama yang terletak di Lembah Klang.
Populasi media dibahagikan kepada dua lapis iaitu satu lapisan media surat khabar
dan satu lapisan lagi media televisyen. Hasil daripada pemilihan secara rawak
daripada populasi, sebuah surat khabar yang dipilih sebagai sampel manakala,
sampel kajian yang terpilih untuk kategori televisyen ialah sebuah stesen swasta.
Peringkat kedua melibatkan editor yang bertugas di kedua-dua agensi media
ini. Seramai lima orang editor dipilih dari akhbar harian dan lima orang editor
dari stesen swasta. Pemilihan ini dibuat berdasarkan peranan dan tanggungjawab
yang dimainkan oleh responden sebagai gatekeepers media yang mempunyai kaitan
langsung dalam urusan perhubungan media dengan pengamal perhubungan awam
di negara ini. Responden akhbar harian diberi pengenalan sebagai AKHBAR 1,
AKHBAR 2, AKHBAR 3, AKHBAR 4 dan AKHBAR 5 sementara responden stesen
televisyen swasta dirujuk sebagai TV A. TV B, TV C, TV D dan TV E. Teori Penetapan
Agenda dirujuk sebagai landasan kajian ini.
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Pengaruh Persekitaran ke atas Polisi Organisasi Media dalam Konteks Perhubungan Media di Malaysia
PERSEKITARAN DAN POLISI ORGANISASI
Kajian terdahulu menunjukkan pengaruh persekitaran ke atas polisi organisasi
media wujud termasuk dalam konteks amalan perhubungan media. Menurut
Sriramesh (2004) di seluruh dunia, media dimiliki oleh beberapa sumber utama
berdasarkan sifat semula jadi sistem politik dan tahap perkembangan ekonomi
sesebuah negara, iaitu dua pemboleh ubah infrastruktur. Dalam negara demokrasi
yang maju, usahawan biasanya melabur di dalam media. Kejayaan media, jika
dinyatakan dalam terma ekonomi, dipertahankan oleh sistem kapitalis terutamanya
dalam penjualan iklan, dan secara relatifnya hanya terdapat sedikit keuntungan
daripada bayaran langganan. Ini adalah disebabkan keperluan untuk menjual
berita sebagai komoditi adalah tinggi, dan ini membawa kepada pemilihan liputan
yang menarik, tetapi kebebasan untuk membuat pilihan editorial adalah semakin
luas. Tiada perhubungan kewangan yang langsung ataupun tidak langsung antara
kerajaan dan media dalam sistem-sistem ini.
Keadaaan di negara sedang membangun adalah berbeza kerana hak milik
media lazimnya ada pada kerajaan atau orang politik serta golongan elit dalam
masyarakat. Isi kandungan yang dipaparkan di dalam media sering memberi
keutamaan yang tinggi kepada isu “status quo” disebabkan pengaruh golongan elit
yang menguasainya. Kebanyakan kerajaan di negara sedang membangun di Asia
menguasai dan mengawal media elektronik dan media cetak yang dimiliki oleh
pihak swasta. Tambahan pula, ideologi teokratik juga mempengaruhi isi kandungan
media di Asia (Sriramesh 2004).
Walaupun media di kebanyakan negara sedang membangun di Asia dimiliki
oleh sektor swasta, ia secara langsung masih di bawah kawalan kuasa politik atau
kerajaan. Sussman (1999) telah melaporkan penemuan penyelidikan dari Freedom
House bahawa pengongkongan terhadap pemberita daripada memberi pendapat
dengan sewenang-wenangnya telah bertambah secara halus iaitu dengan undangundang berbanding melalui cara kekerasan atau penindasan. Di Asia, pengiklanan
kerajaan adalah satu cara utama untuk mengekalkan kawalan terhadap isi
kandungan. Keadaan ini disebabkan oleh sejumlah besar hasil pendapatan adalah
daripada pengiklanan dan adalah cara asas untuk mengekalkan kewujudannya
oleh kebanyakan media swasta di Asia; cara ini adalah amat berkesan. Kawalan
pembekalan dari segi produktiviti seperti berita (selalunya diimport oleh kerajaan
dan menjual kepada organisasi media dengan harga kos subsidi); ini adalah cara
lain yang berkesan bagi kerajaan mengekalkan kuasanya untuk menguasai media
massa swasta. Ia juga adalah cara lazim yang digunakan oleh ahli politik di Asia
untuk memiliki rangkaian media (biasanya media cetak) dan menggunakannya
untuk mempengaruhi pendapat publik. Cara tersebut juga digunakan oleh bekas
Presiden Filipina, Joseph Estrada.
Menurut Ahmad Sebi (1996) setiap akhbar ada polisinya. Polisi ini perlu
supaya dapat membantu akhbar tersebut menentukan arah dan tujuan, tugas dan
tanggungjawabnya. Meskipun ada akhbar yang menurunkan polisinya secara
bertulis, namun kebanyakannya tidak berbuat demikian. Kebanyakan akhbar
membiarkan soal polisi itu difahami dan diikuti oleh para pekerja melalui apaapa yang disiarkan dan apa-apa yang tidak disiarkan. Jadi, kebanyakan akhbar
menentukan polisi masing-masing melalui proses waktu dan tradisi. Polisi
kebanyakan akhbar ditentukan oleh pengarang atau lembaga pengarang yang
37
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
memimpin jabatan pengarang yang menentukan berita yang patut disiarkan dan
yang tidak patut disiarkan. Akhirnya, melalui proses waktu asas-asas pemilihan itu
menjadi satu polisi yang difahami dan diikuti oleh para pemberita dan penyunting.
Polisi juga boleh ditentukan oleh sikap akhbar terhadap sesuatu perkara
yang menjadi isu masyarakat. Di samping menyiarkan berita tentang isu itu,
akhbar juga menyatakan sikap dan pandangannya secara terus terang di ruangan
rencana pengarang atau lidah pengarang. Di ruangan ini, suara tersebut ialah suara
pengarang, suara lembaga pengarang dan lembaga pengurusan akhbar itu (Ahmad
Sebi 1996). Walaupun kerap kali ada juga disiarkan berita yang bertentangan
dengan pendirian akhbar tentang isu-isu tertentu, namun ia bukanlah satu
penyongsangan, tetapi ia juga satu polisi—polisi bahawa akhbar perlu memberi
ruang dan mendengar suara orang lain, termasuk mereka yang tidak sependapat
dengan sikapnya (Mansor dan Ahmad Sebi 1996).
Kajian Faridah Ibrahim (2003) menunjukkan responden berpendapat wartawan
era baru ini perlu peka terhadap tuntutan profesionalisme yang memerlukan berita
yang objektif, tepat dan bertanggungjawab. Kajian ini berpendapat organisasi media
perlu mewujudkan satu bentuk peraturan dalaman seperti polisi editorial yang
boleh dijadikan panduan kepada para pengamal media. Walaupun peraturan ini
digunakan secara longgar dan tidaklah tegar seperti undang-undang media, tetapi
ia adalah penting diambil kira dan dirujuk di setiap peringkat penghasilan berita,
demi menjaga dan mempertahankan kredibiliti media.
Dalam perkaitan ini, polisi Syarikat The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia)
Berhad (NSTP) ada menekankan perkara berkaitan pencegahan penipuan.
Berdasarkan Perkara 16.1 dalam NSTP Employee Handbook (2008: 92), syarikat tersebut
mengharapkan standard tingkah laku dengan integriti yang tinggi daripada semua
pihak yang berurusan dengan pekerja-pekerja, pengarah-pengarah, pemegangpemegang saham, perunding, kontraktor dan publik. Syarikat komited untuk
menyingkirkan penipuan dan rasuah bertujuan memastikan bahawa semua aktiviti
dilakukan secara beretika, jujur dan standard ketelusan yang setinggi mungkin,
keterbukaan dan bertanggungjawab dalam usaha melindungi kepentingan publik.
Menurut Ahmad Sebi (1996) memang akhbar menghadapi pelbagai tekanan,
baik daripada dalam mahupun daripada luar, supaya akhbar mengubah arah
dan polisi. Dari dalam para pemegang saham mahu melihat keuntungan yang
bertambah melalui peningkatan jumlah jualan. Pembaca pula ingin membaca lebih
banyak cerita “ringan”, cerita-cerita yang bersifat lewa atau “escapism”, yang boleh
membawa mereka jauh daripada kebosanan tugas dan kejelikan kehidupan harian.
Jika tidak menyajikan cerita begini mereka berhenti membeli dan edaran akhbar
akan merosot (dlm. Mansor dan Ahmad Sebi 1996).
Pengiklan juga dilihat menggunakan pengaruh mereka dalam menentukan
berita atau rencana yang disiarkan oleh media massa. Satu isu yang diketengahkan
oleh Bobbitt dan Sullivan (2005) adalah tentang membuat komitmen berkaitan
pengiklanan kepada pihak editor sebagai pertukaran untuk liputan berita. Sumber
berita bersetuju membeli iklan paling minimum, dan sebagai pertukaran penerbit
akan menyiarkan berita yang positif. Strategi “buy an ad, get a story” adalah
kebiasaan dalam kalangan penerbitan perdagangan, tetapi idea ini telah luput.
Sesetengah penerbitan akan membuat urusan sedemikian, tetapi yang selalu
melakukannya adalah dalam kalangan yang tidak dihormati di dalam bidang ini.
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Pengaruh Persekitaran ke atas Polisi Organisasi Media dalam Konteks Perhubungan Media di Malaysia
Penerbit akhbar dan stesen televisyen yang serius tidak akan bersetuju dengan
perancangan sedemikian, dan kebanyakan wartawan dan editor marah dengan
cadangan bahawa pengiklan utama perlu diberi layanan istimewa.
Fenomena ini masih berlaku dalam kalangan editor pengembaraan dan
rekreasi. Beberapa contoh mendapati dari senarai tahunan “TOP X”, penerbitan
pengembaraan menyiarkan “top 10 resort destinations” di dalam negara, atau
majalah golf menyenaraikan “top 50 golf courses” di dalam beberapa negeri.
Apa yang mereka bayangkan adalah dengan menghantar wartawan melihat
pusat peranginan dan padang golf berkenaan untuk membuat perbandingan dan
kemudian mengundi bagaimana membuat “ranking order entries on the list”. Secara
realiti, senarai “TOP X” tidak berasaskan merit, tetapi merupakan senarai pengiklan
bagi penerbitan “TOP X” berkenaan. Berdasarkan contoh di atas, Bobbitt dan
Sullivan (2005: 220) menjelaskan, “An important clarification of this clause dealing
with ‘the integrity of a constructive working relationship with the news media’ is
that it does not prohibit the reasonable giving or lending of product or services to
media representatives who have a legitimate news interest”.
Menurut Chamil Wariya (2008) editor akan bekerjasama rapat dengan bahagian
periklanan atau jabatan komunikasi korporat masing-masing. Mereka mengetahui
mana-mana syarikat yang banyak berbelanja untuk iklan di media berkenaan. Faktor
komersial ini dilihat telah mempengaruhi bilik-bilik berita di negara ini. Syarikat
yang banyak mendapat publisiti dalam segmen perniagaan media massa tertentu
berkemungkinan mempunyai hubungan yang baik dengan peneraju editorial atau
banyak membelanjakan untuk ruangan iklan dalam media berkenaan. Contohnya,
pernah berlaku konflik antara syarikat pengeluar roti Gardenia dengan TV3 kerana
stesen ini menyiarkan berita yang meragui mengenai status halal produk tersebut.
Penyiaran berita tersebut telah menyebabkan mereka membatalkan penempahan
iklan di TV3 menyebabkan stesen televisyen swasta tersebut kehilangan sumber
pendapatan. Walau bagaimanapun, mereka mengiklankan semula selepas
menyedari tindakan tersebut merugikan diri sendiri.
Bobbitt dan Sullivan (2005) turut memberi contoh lain yang sering berlaku
dalam pemasaran pelancongan. Tempat peranginan dan taman tema sering dikritik
oleh pesaing, wartawan dan kumpulan pemerhati media kerana membiayai tiket
penerbangan dan penginapan hotel kepada wartawan pelancongan dalam usaha
mereka mempengaruhi wartawan untuk menulis cerita yang positif. Walaupun
sesetengah penerimaan perbelanjaan yang terletak dalam garis panduan
kepentingan berita yang sah (legitimate news interest) seperti pembukaan tempat
peranginan dan taman tema, konflik berfokus pada tahap keuntungan berlebihan.
Dalam isu ini, Jabatan Pemasaran, Disneyland, California dan Walt Disney World,
Florida sering menjadi sasaran kritikan kerana secara kebiasaannya pertemuan
media mereka dibuat secara mewah.
Associated Press (AP) menyediakan garis panduan yang spesifik untuk
penulis sukan di akhbar mereka yang mengembara untuk mencari berita mengenai
pasukan di kolej dan profesional. Peraturan meliputi pihak akhbar membayar
semua perbelanjaan pengangkutan penulis, tempat tinggal dan makan minum; dan
jika sekiranya tidak praktikal, maka pihak akhbar boleh memohon perbelanjaan
daripada pasukan berkenaan. Pihak akhbar juga boleh memohon bayaran balik
daripada pasukan tersebut berkaitan perkhidmatan bilik media seperti panggilan
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
telefon jarak jauh atau perkhidmatan faksimile. Garis panduan ini juga memberi
peringatan mengenai potensi berlakunya konflik kepentingan yang selalu berlaku
apabila wartawan dikehendaki menyumbangkan artikel kepada media guides atau
mana-mana pasukan penerbitan, atau semasa mereka hadir sebagai jemputan
dalam rancangan temu bual di televisyen atau radio (Bobbitt dan Sullivan 2005).
Menurut Mus Chairil (2000) organisasi media sebagai sebuah entiti komersial
terpaksa mengambil kira kepentingan pemilik sahamnya. Pemilik saham sebagai
tuan punya sebenar sesebuah organisasi itu boleh menetapkan perkara-perkara yang
bakal disiarkan dalam sesebuah akhbar. Ini adalah untuk memastikan pelaburan
itu mendatangkan pulangan yang wajar. Pelaburan untuk membuka sebuah
syarikat akhbar bernilai berjuta-juta ringgit. Oleh sebab itu, pemilik mengharapkan
pulangan pada kadar tertentu terhadap pelaburan mereka. Dalam konteks ini,
pemilik saham menyerahkan kuasa kepada lembaga pengarah syarikat untuk
menentukan hala tuju dan polisi penerbitannya. Selepas polisi ini ditetapkan, tugas
untuk melaksanakannya diserahkan kepada ketua pengarang kumpulan ataupun
pengerusi eksekutifnya sebagai pemegang permit penerbitan untuk memastikan
kejayaannya. Polisi sesuatu penerbitan itu terkandung dalam kenyataan misi syarikat
itu. Petugas media di sesebuah organisasi media itu sememangnya didedahkan
kepada misi organisasi itu. Perkara ini dapat dilihat dari segi pengolahan bahan
dan sumber yang digunakan bagi sesuatu berita itu.
Dalam perkaitan dengan teori, kajian ini memilih Teori Penentuan Agenda
yang diperkenalkan oleh McCombs dan Shaw pada tahun 1972. Rogers dan Dearing
(1988) menjelaskan bahawa antara fungsi penentuan agenda ialah agenda publik
memberi kesan atau berkaitan dalam banyak cara dengan agenda polisi. Agenda
polisi ialah apa yang difikirkan oleh publik dan pembuat polisi. Teori Penentuan
Agenda meramalkan bahawa agenda media memberi kesan kepada agenda publik
dan agenda publik memberi kesan kepada agenda polisi (dlm. Littlejohn 1991).
Menurut Littlejohn (2002), kuasa media bergantung pada beberapa faktor seperti
kebolehpercayaan media terhadap isu-isu tertentu pada masa-masa tertentu, tahap
bukti berlakunya konflik yang dapat dilihat oleh orang-perseorangan dalam publik,
tahap orang-perseorangan berkongsi faedah media pada masa-masa tertentu, dan
keperluan publik terhadap media untuk panduan mereka.
Dalam konteks perhubungan media, Turk (1988) berpendapat keputusan
penentuan agenda oleh editor mungkin dipengaruhi oleh sumber perhubungan
awam. Apabila keadaan ini berlaku, editor dilihat menjadi orang awam dan
sebahagian agenda dibina melalui informasi yang dikemukakan oleh sumber
mereka, iaitu para pengamal perhubungan awam yang mengemukakan berita
organisasi pengamal kepada editor. Di samping itu, beliau melihat, “Public
relations-supplied press releases, then, appeared to influence which stories would
be in the news, but they did not necessarily influence the content of those stories.”
Pincus, Rimmer, Rayfild, & Cropp (1993) yang menyokong Turk (1988) berpendapat
pengamal perhubungan awam mungkin boleh membantu dalam pembinaan agenda
media melalui hubungan profesional dengan editor-editor media massa. Berasaskan
Teori Penentuan Agenda, para pengamal perhubungan awam boleh mempraktikkan
perhubungan media dengan para editor media massa. Faktor persepsi editor yang
menyukai pengamal perhubungan awam mungkin membantu dalam meningkatkan
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Pengaruh Persekitaran ke atas Polisi Organisasi Media dalam Konteks Perhubungan Media di Malaysia
hubungan kerja antara pengamal perhubungan awam dengan editor, seterusnya
menyokong peranan pengamal perhubungan awam dalam proses pembinaan
agenda media.
Kesimpulan kepada penentuan agenda yang meletakkan peranan media
sebagai penonton atau penerima dalam proses penetapan agenda, Rogers, Dearing
dan Chang (1991) berpendapat pembentukan agenda memberi fokus kepada mereka
yang menetapkan agenda media. Dalam hal ini, pengamal perhubungan awam
memainkan peranan dalam proses pembentukan agenda dengan menyediakan
bahan atau idea yang mempunyai nilai berita yang berharga kepada editor. Walau
bagaimanapun, mereka tidak mempengaruhi kandungan cerita yang dibekalkan
kepada editor. Perkembangan ini menunjukkan bahawa keperluan agenda media
mungkin datang daripada tekanan dalam organisasi dan persekitaran, iaitu kuasa
politik, pengiklan, pemegang saham serta pengamal perhubungan awam.
PENGARUH KUASA POLITIK, KUASA PENGIKLAN DAN PEMEGANG
SAHAM
Setiap organisasi media mempunyai polisi berkaitan hubungan mereka dengan
pihak luar termasuk pengamal perhubungan awam. Sesuatu polisi penerbitan itu
terkandung dalam kenyataan misi sesebuah syarikat media massa. Menurut Mus
Chairil (2000), petugas media di sesebuah organisasi media memang didedahkan
kepada polisi tersebut. Perkara ini dapat dilihat daripada segi pengolahan bahan dan
sumber yang digunakan dalam sesebuah berita. Hasil temu bual yang dijalankan
menunjukkan semua responden bersetuju bahawa organisasi mereka mempunyai
polisi umum berkaitan operasi syarikat yang melibatkan urusan dengan pelanggan.
Walaupun dinyatakan secara umum, “pelanggan” mungkin merujuk pada pengamal
perhubungan awam yang mempunyai kaitan langsung dalam urusan perhubungan
media dengan responden.
Hasil kajian menunjukkan faktor persekitaran, iaitu kuasa politik, kuasa
pengiklan dan pemegang saham syarikat media memainkan peranan yang
penting,tetapi pada tahap yang berbeza-beza dalam mempengaruhi polisi organisasi
dalam konteks perhubungan media di negara ini. Semua responden berpendapat
faktor-faktor ini berperanan penting dalam mengawal perhubungan editor dengan
pengamal perhubungan awam.
• TV B: Saya dapati faktor-faktor persekitaran seperti kuasa politik, kuasa
pengiklan dan pemegang saham amat mempengaruhi polisi organisasi.
Melalui organisasi, faktor-faktor ini secara tidak langsung dapat mengawal
perhubungan editor dengan pengamal perhubungan awam di negara ini.
• AKHBAR 3: Walaupun media bebas membuat laporan, tetapi masih tertakluk
kepada sesuatu perkara yang tidak tertulis yang berkaitan kuasa-kuasa ini.
Para responden menganggarkan faktor-faktor ini mempunyai tahap pengaruh yang
kuat, tetapi peratusannya berbeza-beza ke atas polisi organisasi dalam mengawal
perhubungan editor dengan pengamal perhubungan awam.
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Faktor Politik
Semua responden berpendapat faktor politik mempunyai pengaruh yang sangat
kuat ke atas perhubungan antara pengamal media dengan pengamal perhubungan
awam. Pemegang kuasa politik menjadi faktor penentu kepada bahan siaran berita
dalam media massa. Mereka boleh mengarahkan bahan yang boleh disiarkan dan
tidak boleh disiarkan. Terdapat individu tertentu yang boleh mendapat liputan dan
sebaliknya. Menurut responden, pada masa ini pihak yang paling kuat pengaruhnya
ke atas perhubungan media ialah Perdana Menteri, Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi (Ketika kajian dijalankan).
• AKHBAR 2: Kuasa politik misalnya, mempunyai pengaruh yang kuat terhadap
polisi organisasi dalam konteks perhubungan media. Sebagai akhbar arus
perdana yang diberi tanggungjawab sosial, kami bertanggungjawab kepada
pemerintah. Berita-berita yang berkaitan kerajaan akan diberi keutamaan
seperti dasar-dasar kerajaan, acara-acara melibatkan Perdana Menteri,
Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan Menteri Kabinet perlu diberi liputan utama.
• AKHBAR 5: Berkaitan faktor persekitaran, ia melibatkan editor kumpulan
yang mengeluarkan arahan bahawa individu tertentu dalam politik yang
perlu diberi layanan istimewa sejak lima tahun lalu. Ini termasuk Perdana
Menteri, menteri tertentu dan Khairy Jamaluddin. Malah terdapat arahan
tidak bertulis untuk tidak menyiarkan berita dan gambar ahli politik tertentu
dalam akhbar. Pada pandangan saya, faktor kuasa politik mempunyai
pengaruh yang paling kuat berbanding yang lain dalam mengawal
perhubungan editor dengan pengamal perhubungan awam di negara ini.
• TV C: Pengaruh politik sangat kuat. Mereka menjadi faktor penentu kepada
bahan siaran berita di televisyen. Mereka boleh mengarahkan bahan yang
boleh disiarkan dan tidak boleh disiarkan. Ada individu yang boleh dibuat
liputan dan ada yang tidak boleh. Yang paling kuat pengaruh ialah Perdana
Menteri, Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Hasil kajian ini selaras dengan pendapat Kuldip Rampa yang menjelaskan polisi
pengarang akhbar di Malaysia dipengaruhi oleh kawalan kerajaan dan tekanan
(dlm. Martin dan Chaudhary 1997). Editor media massa mengakui bahawa kuasa
politik di negara ini mempunyai pengaruh secara langsung dan sangat kuat ke
atas polisi media massa termasuk dalam konteks hubungan antara editor dengan
pengamal perhubungan awam. Individu yang mempunyai kuasa politik boleh
mengarahkan editor media massa membuat liputan untuk isu-isu tertentu atau
mengeluarkan arahan menghalang editor daripada membuat sesuatu liputan media
berkaitan sesuatu isu, organisasi atau individu tertentu. Kuasa seumpama ini boleh
menjadi penghalang kepada usaha pengamal-pengamal perhubungan awam untuk
mendapat publisiti daripada media massa.
Dari satu segi, pengaruh politik ini telah membantu memudahkan tugas
pengamal perhubungan awam politik dan organisasi Kerajaan Persekutuan
(kementerian-kementerian) dalam urusan perhubungan media bagi mendapatkan
publisiti organisasi yang diwakili mereka. Ini kerana melalui pengaruh ini, media
massa harus memberi keutamaan untuk membuat liputan aktiviti-aktiviti yang
dianjurkan, terutama yang melibatkan tokoh politik dan pemimpin-pemimpin
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Pengaruh Persekitaran ke atas Polisi Organisasi Media dalam Konteks Perhubungan Media di Malaysia
tertinggi dalam kabinet Kerajaan Persekutuan. Tambahan pula, organisasi-organisasi
kerajaan merupakan sumber rasmi yang penting kepada media massa untuk
dijadikan bahan penerbitan mereka berbanding organisasi swasta atau NGO di
negara ini.
Faktor Pengiklan
Kajian menunjukkan faktor pengiklan mempunyai pengaruh yang kuat ke atas
polisi organisasi, dan seterusnya kepada perhubungan media. Sebanyak 70 peratus
responden mengakui bahawa pengaruh faktor ini kuat kerana pihak pengamal
media mengakui bahawa mereka menerima arahan daripada pihak atasan seperti
Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif yang meminta mereka membuat liputan berkenaan
organisasi-organisasi tertentu, khususnya pengiklan besar yang telah menyumbang
dalam bentuk iklan yang berjumlah berbilion ringgit.
• AKHBAR 1: Semakin banyak membeli iklan dengan akhbar kami, maka
semakin banyak peluang untuk mendapat liputan.
• TV D: Saya mengakui faktor ekonomi iaitu pengiklan adalah kuat
mempengaruhi polisi organisasi. Ini kerana syarikat berkenaan membeli
iklan dan pada masa yang sama meminta stesen kami membuat liputan. Ini
menimbulkan situasi menang-menang antara stesen kami dengan syarikat
pengiklan.
Walau bagaimanapun, jika pengamal perhubungan awam berminat membeli
iklan di dalam media cetak (ruang) atau elektronik (masa siaran) maka, mungkin
bahan mereka boleh dipertimbangkan untuk siaran berita. Hal ini diakui oleh
responden yang berpendapat bahawa bahan-bahan berbentuk iklan dan promosi
boleh disiarkan dengan syarat pihak pengamal perhubungan awam membeli iklan
dalam bentuk ruang (media cetak) dan masa siaran (media elektronik). Dapatan ini
menggambarkan bahawa perlu ada hubungan timbal-balik yang mungkin memberi
faedah kepada kedua-dua belah pihak.
• TV C: Polisi, iaitu matlamat penyiaran kami ialah mencapai dua faktor iaitu
populariti rancangan atau rating dan pendapatan.
• AKHBAR 5: Pihak pengurusan telah memberi arahan supaya syarikatsyarikat yang menyokong akhbar kami dari segi iklan perlu diberi sokongan
dan kerjasama secara mandatori. Laporan terhadap syarikat ini akan
ditempatkan dalam ruang yang menonjol.
Hal ini bermakna polisi penyiaran berita di stesen televisyen swasta mengambil kira
kedua-dua faktor ini, iaitu bilangan penonton dan jumlah iklan yang dibeli semasa
siaran berita. Dalam konteks ini, pengkaji berpendapat mungkin akhbar harian yang
dikaji mempunyai polisi yang juga mengambil kira dua faktor yang sama, iaitu
jumlah pembeli/pembaca dan ruang iklan yang dibeli oleh organisasi pengiklan.
Dapatan ini selari dengan strategi “buy an ad, get a story” di Amerika Syarikat yang
dikemukakan oleh Bobbitt dan Sullivan (2005). Malah memperkukuh pendapat
Chamil (2008) bahawa faktor komersial, iaitu iklan dilihat telah mempengaruhi
bilik-bilik berita di negara ini.
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Persefahaman seumpama ini—antara pengiklan dengan akhbar harian—
mungkin menyebabkan wujud pengaruh ke atas polisi akhbar harian dan stesen
televisyen dalam konteks perhubungan media di negara ini. Dapatan ini menyokong
situasi di Barat yang menunjukkan bahawa pertukaran seumpama ini masih berlaku,
terutama dalam penerbitan perdagangan, pengembaraan dan rekreasi. Menurut
Bobbitt dan Sullivan (2005) strategi “buy an ad, get a story” berlaku apabila sumber
berita bersetuju membeli iklan dan sebagai pertukaran media akan menyiarkan
berita positif. Maka kajian ini mencadangkan bahawa pengaruh kuasa ekonomi
menerusi pembelian iklan boleh mempengaruhi polisi editor dalam membuat
keputusan memilih bahan berita yang ada kaitan dengan kuasa ini.
Syarikat-syarikat swasta didapati boleh mempengaruhi editor-editor media
massa melalui kuasa ekonomi mereka dengan membeli iklan yang ditawarkan
oleh pihak media massa sama ada surat khabar ataupun televisyen. Pembelian
iklan yang berjumlah jutaan ringgit mampu mempengaruhi polisi organisasi yang
menjadi pegangan para editor dengan memberikan ruang kepada syarikat-syarikat
ini dalam bentuk liputan aktiviti dan penerbitan dalam media cetak atau penyiaran
dalam media elektronik. Dalam hal ini, tugas dan tanggungjawab pengamal
perhubungan awam syarikat tersebut dalam perhubungan media mungkin lebih
mudah kerana publisiti yang dipersetujui oleh editor media massa hasil daripada
situasi “menang-menang” ini. Sebaliknya, pengamal perhubungan awam dari
syarikat atau organisasi yang tidak membeli iklan harus bekerja dengan lebih gigih
bagi mendekati editor media massa bagi mendapatkan publisiti untuk organisasi
yang diwakili. Mereka tidak ada modal pertukaran dengan media massa untuk
mendapatkan publisiti secara percuma.
Faktor Pemegang Saham
Sebanyak 80 peratus responden berpendapat pemegang saham dalam syarikat
media massa seperti akhbar harian dan stesen televisyen swasta tidak mempunyai
pengaruh ke atas polisi organisasi seterusnya mengawal perhubungan editor dengan
pengamal perhubungan awam di negara ini.
• AKHBAR 3: Mengenai faktor pemegang saham, saya dapati pengaruhnya
lemah jika mahu dibandingkan dengan faktor politik dan ekonomi untuk
mempengaruhi polisi organisasi.
• TV C: Saya mendapati pemegang saham seperti dalam syarikat induk kami
tidak mempunyai pengaruh untuk mempengaruhi polisi organisasi dalam
mengawal perhubungan editor dengan pengamal perhubungan awam di
negara ini.
Responden berpendapat walaupun tiada pengaruh, pengamal media masih
melayani permintaan mereka untuk membuat liputan sebagaimana kenyataan
responden berikut: • TV D: Kami menerima arahan daripada pengerusi syarikat yang merupakan
antara individu yang menjadi pemegang saham.
• AKHBAR 4: Saya berpendapat pemegang saham juga mempunyai pengaruh
kerana mereka ada kepentingan atas syarikat kami.
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Pengaruh Persekitaran ke atas Polisi Organisasi Media dalam Konteks Perhubungan Media di Malaysia
Walaupun editor media massa menuruti polisi syarikat seperti yang dikehendaki,
pemegang saham tiada pengaruh dalam menentukan hubungan antara editor
dengan pengamal perhubungan awam. Ini mungkin kerana pemegang saham tidak
terbabit secara langsung dengan operasi atau aktiviti syarikat. Apa yang penting
kepada mereka ialah keuntungan yang bakal diperoleh pada setiap tahun kewangan.
• TV A: Pengaruh pemegang saham dalam menentukan hubungan antara
editor dan pengamal perhubungan awam adalah lemah. Ini mungkin kerana
pemegang saham tidak terbabit secara langsung dengan operasi atau aktiviti
syarikat.
Dapatan ini mungkin menarik kerana perkembangan tersebut menunjukkan bahawa
mungkin hubungan antara para editor media massa dengan pengamal perhubungan
awam dipengaruhi oleh persekitaran melalui organisasi mereka dalam konteks
perhubungan media di negara ini. Editor media massa harus mengikut arahan polisi
organisasi dan organisasi pula harus mengikut arahan faktor-faktor persekitaran
ini yang mempunyai pengaruh secara langsung ke atas organisasi-organisasi media
di negara ini. Responden mengakui bahawa pengaruh kuasa politik dan pengiklan
telah menyebabkan usaha pengamal perhubungan awam untuk mendapat publisiti
gagal walaupun telah membina perhubungan media yang positif dengan editor
dan wartawan.
• AKHBAR 1: Wujud keadaan di mana pengaruh kuasa yang kuat sehingga
memberi kesan ke atas perhubungan media yang telah lama dibina oleh
pengamal perhubungan awam dengan editor.
• TV A: Jika pengamal perhubungan awam tidak berada dalam aliran politik
yang sama dengan kerajaan yang sedang memerintah, dan dasar-dasar
politik syarikat, maka situasinya semakin rumit. Syarikat akan hanya
menerima input pengamal perhubungan yang dirasakan relevan, menepati
matlamat agenda yang hendak disampaikan kepada khalayak dan yang
dapat memberi manfaat kepada syarikat. Apa-apa maklumat atau data yang
sebaliknya, akan ditapis.
Hasil kajian ini dilihat menepati apa-apa yang ditekankan oleh Sriramesh (2004)
yang berpendapat bahawa hak milik serta kawalan ke atas media negara sedang
membangun seperti Malaysia dikuasai oleh kerajaan, orang politik dan golongan
elit dalam masyarakat. Hasil kajian ini menyokong Teori Penentuan Agenda yang
diperkenalkan oleh McComb dan Shaw (1972) yang melihat media massa sangat
penting kepada masyarakat kerana boleh mempengaruhi pemikiran mereka melalui
agenda media. Pihak editor didapati menentukan isu yang akan diterbitkan dan
disiarkan berdasarkan agenda yang telah ditetapkan mereka. Agenda media
didapati boleh dipengaruhi oleh faktor persekitaran seperti kuasa politik dan
pengiklan. Ini kerana sebagai gatekeepers media, editor memutuskan informasi di luar
domain mereka untuk dibentuk menjadi agenda media dan seterusnya membantu
menetapkan agenda isu berkaitan masyarakat (Pincus et al. 1993).
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
RUMUSAN
Hasil kajian menunjukkan kuasa politik dan pengiklan mempunyai pengaruh yang
kuat ke atas polisi organisasi media akhbar harian dan stesen televisyen dalam
konteks perhubungan media di negara ini. Manakala pemegang saham didapati
tidak mempunyai pengaruh dalam konteks yang sama. Pengaruh persekitaran ini
mungkin menjejaskan amalan perhubungan media yang dibina oleh pengamal
perhubungan awam dengan editor media massa. Polisi ini pula menjadi panduan
penting kepada pengamal media apabila berurusan dengan pengamal perhubungan
awam organisasi luar. Faktor polisi organisasi yang berkaitan hubungan dengan
publik luar merupakan salah satu aspek penting yang dapat mengawal dan
mempengaruhi hubungan editor dengan pengamal perhubungan awam dalam
konteks perhubungan media di Malaysia.
RUJUKAN
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arah. Dalam Mansor Ahmad Saman dan Ahmad Sebi Abu Bakar. Peranan media
dalam masyarakat moden. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Aronoff, C. (1975). Credibility of public relations for journalists. Public Relations
Review, 1, 45-56.
Bobbitt, R & Sullivan, R. (2005). Developing the public relations campaign: A Team-based
approach. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Chamil Wariya. (2008). Penulisan berkesan media cetak, elektronik dan web. Kuala
Lumpur: Malaysian Press Institute.
Curtin, P.A. (1999). Reevaluating public relations information subsidies: Marketdriven journalism and agenda-building theory and practice. Journal of Public
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tuntutan profesionalisme dan kepentingan industri. Jurnal Komunikasi UKM,
19, 59–78.
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Kandungan Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia.
Kopenhaver, L.L., Martinson, D.L., & Ryan, M. (1984). How public relations
practitioners and editors in Florida view each other. Journalism Quarterly, 61,
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Littlejohn, S.W. (1991). Theories of human communication (Edisi ke-4). Belmont,
California: Wadsworth.
Littlejohn, S.W. (2002). Theories of human communication. (Edisi ke-7). Belmont
California: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.
Mansor Ahmad Saman & Ahmad Sebi Abu Bakar. (1996). Peranan media dalam
masyarakat moden. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
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Pengaruh Persekitaran ke atas Polisi Organisasi Media dalam Konteks Perhubungan Media di Malaysia
Martin, L.J., & Chaudhary, A.G. (1997). Sistem media massa: Suatu perbandingan (Terj.).
Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
McCombs, M. E., & Show, D. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media.
Public Opinion Quarterly, 36: 176–185.
__________________________. (1976). Structuring the unseen environment. Journal
of Communication. Spring.
McCombs, M. E., & Bell, T. (1996). The agenda-setting role of mass communication.
Dlm. Salwen, M.B., & Stacks, D.W. (Sunt.). An integrated approach to communication
theory and research. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
McQuail, D. (2005). Mass communication theory. London: Sage Publications.
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Ibrahim dan Mus Chairil Samani. Etika kewartawanan (Edisi ke-2) (Sunt.). Subang
Jaya: F.A.R. Publishers.
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(Malaysia) Berhad.
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_________________________, bil. 5. (2007). Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia.
Putrajaya.
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perceptions of public relation: How business, news and sports editors differ.
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Rogers, E.M., Dearing, J.W., & Chang, S. (1991). AIDS in the 1980s: The agenda
setting process for apublic issue. Journalism Monographs, no. 126.
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in media relations. Journal of Communication Management, 7 (3), 239–253.
Sriramesh, K. (2004). Public relations in Asia: An anthology. Singapore: Thomson.
Sussman, L. (1999). The news of the century: Press freedom 1999. New York: Freedom
House.
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Thomson Learning.
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Precision public relations. New York: Longman.
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47
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia
Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Vol. 13, No. 1, 2011
Pages 51–63
Children Literacy Development and The
Book Industry in Nigeria: The Efa 2015
Policy Somersault
Yakubu Ozohu-Suleiman
ABSTRACT
The paper examines the linkage between Nigeria’s anticipated failure in the
Education for All (EFA) 2015 goals and her policy implementation strategies
in relation to her literacy industry and socio-demographics. The assessment
is premised on the increasing concern for universal literacy, which grew
out of the 1990 World Education Conference in Jomtien and the 2000 Dakar
World Education Forum. The principal aim is to locate valid evidences
that may confirm and explain the expected failure. By way of review and
situation analysis, the paper looks at key intervention strategies of the
Nigerian government under the Universal Basic Education UBE (formerly
Universal Primary Education—UPE) and Nomadic Education policies.
The paper then discusses the interface between the literacy industry and
literacy policy implementation, where evidences of disconnection between
the two is established and brought to bearing with Nigeria’s failure in
the 2015 EFA targets. The paper goes further to juxtapose literacy policy
implementation with major socio-demographic facts in Nigeria, where
additional evidences revealing large scale disagreement between 2015
EFA goals and basic socio-demographic influences in Nigeria are found in
support of the thesis of this paper that Nigeria will indeed fail to deliver
the 2015 EFA targets, and that the failure is significantly consequent upon
poor policy implementation strategy arising from (1) strategic disconnection
between her literacy industry and literacy policy implementation and (2)
Unsettled socio-demographic influences. Some measures are recommended
to reinvigorate Nigeria in the global drive towards EFA beyond 2015.
Keywords: Literacy industry, literacy policy, socio-demographics,
education-for-all, universal basic education
INTRODUCTION
As the world anticipates the mid-21st century, with the United Nations’ Literacy
Decade (2003-2012) fading out fast, it is most appropriate now to check progress in
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global literacy development. This is particularly important because it was noted five
years ago that universal literacy had remained a major challenge for both developing
and developed countries in terms of commitment and action (UNESCO 2004: 5).
Statistics from less developed countries of Africa has continued to reveal exponential
growth in human populations. This growth has been quite disproportionate with
progress in literacy development in the region. Already from Sub-Saharan Africa,
the Nigerian government has announced that it may not be able to meet the 2015
Education for All (EFA) goals (Gulloma & Onochie 2010).
Like the lingering polio vaccination controversy in northern Nigeria, the
crippling effect of which has made it difficult for the world to meet the disease
eradication targets, Nigeria’s inability to meet the 2015 EFA goals is an enormous
setback on global literacy development efforts, particularly because the country
holds more than 14 percent of an estimated one billion human populations in Africa.
Broadly speaking, the question that follows is why might Nigeria not meet the
goals of Education for All in 2015? There are indeed many ways to explain this failure.
The objective of this paper is to examine the linkage between Nigeria’s anticipated
failure and her policy implementation strategies, specifically in relation to her
literacy industry (Book publishing and Education sectors) and socio-demographics.
The aim is to confirm the failure and establish valid explanatory factors.
It is the thesis of this paper that Nigeria will fail in the 2015 EFA children
literacy development targets, and that the failure is significantly consequent upon
poor policy implementation strategy, arising from (1) Strategic disconnection
between the literacy industry and literacy policy implementation and (2) Unsettled
socio-demographic influences. In presenting this position, the paper reviews the
country’s literacy profile, and examines the various intervention strategies of the
government under the Universal Primary Education (UPE); the Universal Basic
Education (UBE) and Nomadic Education. The paper then zeroed in on the interface
between the literacy industry and literacy policy implementation, where evidences
of disconnection between the two was established and brought to bearing with
Nigeria’s failure in global literacy development. The paper went further to juxtapose
literacy policy implementation with major socio-demographic facts in Nigeria. Here
again, evidences of large scale disagreement between EFA 2015 goals and Nigeria’s
socio-demographic influences were found in support of the thesis of this paper
NIGERIA’S LITERACY PROFILE
With a population standing at 140,003,542 (2006 Census); 154,729,000 million
people (2009 estimate), Nigeria remains the most populous black nation on earth,
occupying more than 14 percent of an estimated one billion human population in
Africa, and the 8th most populated country in the world. The evolution of Nigeria
from the mid-1800s until it attained independence in 1960 is largely the story of the
transformation impact of the British (Aderinoye 2007). Thus, “Western” education
and literacy was introduced to the country by the British. There is also Quranic
literacy and education system, which came into the country earlier with the advent
of Islam in the 13th century, and was spread through Usman Dan-Fodio-led Jihad
during the first quarter of the 19th century. However, due to the preponderance of
British colonial influence, national emphasis has been on western education since
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Children Literacy Development and The Book Industry in Nigeria: The Efa 2015 Policy Somersault
independence. Therefore, literacy is discussed in this paper within the context of
western education.
Literacy development in Nigeria is guided by the broad national objective,
clearly spelt out in the Second National Development Plan 1970-1974, and endorsed
as foundation for the national policy on education: “To build a free and democratic
society; a just and egalitarian society; a united, strong and self-reliant nation and
dynamic economy and a land of bright and full opportunity for all citizens”. As
a member of the international community and a signatory to the United Nations,
Nigeria is also bound by international conventions and declarations on education
and literacy, making the country accountable to the world in universal literacy
development.
The 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS 2009) puts the
literacy rate of 15–24 year old at 69.4 percent overall. Of this, Female occupies 64.3
percent, while Male occupies 82.5 percent. This suggests an improvement on the
2005 profile, which put national literacy rate at 57 percent (NPC 2005: 34). The
2005 figure was a downward fluctuation from that of 2003, which puts the literate
population of Nigeria at 68 percent, out of which male constitute 75.7 percent,
and female 60.6 percent (CIA 2010). Before this time, the country had witnessed
steady deterioration in literacy development, as captured in the 2005 report of the
Millennium Development Goal in Nigeria:
Literacy level in the country has steadily and gradually deteriorated,
especially within the 15-24 years group. By 1999, the overall literacy rate
had declined to 64.1% from 71.9% in 1991. The trend was in the same
direction for Male and Female members of the 15-24 years age bracket.
Among the Male, the rate declined from 81.35% in 1991 to 69.8% in 1999.
The decline among the Female was from 62.49% to 59.3% during the same
period (NPC 2005: 14).
No meaningful discussion of progress in children literacy development can occur
without looking at children’s enrolment in schools. There is absolute interdependence
between the two. According to reports from the Federal Ministry of Education (FME/
UBE and NBS 2007), a total of 19.2 million primary school pupils were enrolled
in 2001. This figure rose to 19.8 million in 2002 and 25.7 million in 2003. Although
the report revealed disparity between male and female in the formation of this
enrolment, it failed to disclose the proportion of the enrolment to the actual figure
of school age children who were expected to have enrolled at that period. However,
a recent report submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women by the Federal Government says, “contrary to the
data from previous years, primary school education enrolment between 2004 and
2006 among female children showed a downward trend from 80 to 60.4 percent
(a decrease of 19.6 percent ) of the total number of girls that are within the age of
enrolment” (Punch 2008).
The trend, the report further reveals, was similar to that of boys which dropped
from 80 percent to 64 percent (a decrease of 16 percent) within the same period. The
report also indicates that the same fate befell the secondary school level in 2004 as
enrolment dropped from 83.4 percent to 46 percent among female students. Again
in May 2008, UNICEF reported that approximately 10 million school age children
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(primary and secondary) are out of school in Nigeria. Of these, 4.7 million are of
primary school age, while 5.3 million are of secondary school age and 62 percent of
children out of school are girls (see Punch 2008). It is important to note that there
has not been any significant change in this trend.
Policy Interventions in Children Literacy Development
To demonstrate how fundamental literacy is to human development, the United
Nations’ Literacy Decade came under the motto “Literacy as Freedom”, knowing
that Freedom, well defined, is a universal right. The importance of literacy in human
development underscores the 1990 Jomtien World Conference on Education for All
(WCEFA), whose article 1:1 and article 3:1 clearly provide that every person—child,
youth and adult shall be able to benefit from educational opportunities designed to
meet their basic needs; and that basic education should be provided to all children,
youths and adults (www.mopme.gov.bd). Nigeria is a signatory to these resolutions
and those of the Dakar World Education Forum that followed on 26–28 April 2000
(unesdoc.unesco.org), where new set of EFA goals were set to be attained in 2015.
Specifically on children, these goals include:
• Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and
education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;
• Ensuring that by 2015 all children, with special emphasis on girls, children
in difficult circumstances and from ethnic minorities have access to and
complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
As if these meetings were not enough, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
adopted in September 2000 at the United Nations Millennium development
declaration allocated two of its eight goals to education, one of which is goal 2: To
achieve universal primary education (Igbuzor 2006: 2).
As if these meetings were not enough, the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) adopted in September 2000 at the United Nations Millennium development
declaration allocated two of its eight goals to education, one of which is goal 2: To
achieve universal primary education (Igbuzor 2006: 2).
The Universal Basic Education (UBE) is the on-going children literacy policy
in Nigeria, which grew out of the Jomtien conference. The policy was introduced in
Nigeria on 30 September 1999, in line with global convention of providing universal,
free and compulsory basic education for all citizens. The Universal Basic Education
Commission (UBEC) is the institutional framework for the implementation of UBE
in Nigeria. It is noteworthy that the Universal Basic Education stresses the inclusion
of girl child and women and a number of underserved groups: the poor, street
and working children, rural and remote populations, nomads, migrant workers,
indigenous people, minorities, refugees and the disabled (Unagha 2008: 1–2). The
government had equally introduced Nomadic Education under the institutional care
of Nomadic Education Commission to implement mobile literacy for the Nomadic
Fulbe (Cattle readers), who originates largely from northern part of the country
and the nomadic fishermen found mainly in southern part of the country. In both
programmes, the government has continued to implement different intervention
projects of money disbursement (VON 2010), procurement and supply of books to
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Children Literacy Development and The Book Industry in Nigeria: The Efa 2015 Policy Somersault
schools and specialised institutions, construction and renovation of classroom blocks
including provision of other literacy consumable. This benevolent procurement
and disbursement of money and literacy consumable, including books equally
characterised the Universal Primary Education programme (UPE) in Nigeria in the
1970s, which eventually failed due to corrupt handling (Dike 2002: 1).
It is noteworthy that these disbursements only go to public schools, which lacks
qualified and/or committed teachers. The basic role of the book sector (Publishers)
in the Universal Primary Education scheme occurs in two dimensions. One is
that the Publishers are requested to commission qualified local authors to write
on relevant subjects, which it publishes on contract basis. The government then
procures and distributes the books to schools and other beneficiaries. Another is
direct adoption of foreign books or relevant local book by the government, which a
publisher is requested to modify and publish. In both cases there are great chances
for lobbying by authors and publishers, and decisions are usually not free of political
considerations that often disagree with quality.
This pattern is not radically different from what obtains under the current
Universal Basic Education, which is even worsened by the large scale unofficial
opportunity it provides for local politicians and public office holders to participate in
contractual procurement and supply of literacy materials to educational institutions.
Publishers are still treated as contractors and business partners to the government.
There are no strategic efforts to integrate or absorb the book industry into literacy
policy planning and implementation as evident in the (1) increasingly high costs of
publishing, (2) lack of tax incentives to the book industry and (3) lack of functional
book policy. A little light on these evidences might help further understanding of
the argument here.
EVIDENCES OF DISCONNECTION BETWEEN LITERACY INDUSTRY AND
LITERACY POLICIES
1. High Publishing Costs
The contradiction between increasingly high cost of publishing books in Nigeria
and the government’s desire to achieve the 2015 children literacy development
goals is a clear indication of policy somersault. This is evident in the absence of
linkage between the book industry and basic education policy implementation. The
following model attempts to capture the nature of the role assigned to the book
industry in the implementation of Universal Basic Education in Nigeria.
The Model of Disconnection depicts government’s systemic insensitivity to
industrial inputs in the book industry, revealing clearly that key economic variable
that plays determinant role in the output cost and accessibility of literacy materials
to users are not considered in the planning and implementation of literacy policy
in the country, whereas there is absolute dependence of the book industry on the
input variables.
The simple effect of this is exorbitant cost of reputable publishing and gross
disempowerment of local authors whose manuscripts are rotting in waste, and the
larger proportion of parents who are unable to afford textbooks for their children.
To meet their literacy obligations to the nation, most authors unavoidably resort to
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huge bank loans, even in the face of economic disempowerment that hinders the
book market.
Figure 1: MODEL OF DISCONNECTION between the book industry and the
UBE implementation *
*Source: Author
GOVT
INPUT
UBEC
BOOK
INDUSTRY
SUPPLIERS
OUTPUT
BENEFICIARIES
Outwardly, the government holds conferences and stakeholders meetings with book
publishers, conduct applied researches and commission book writing and publishing
to overshadow the reality of literacy policy implementation in the country. In reality,
as the model also tries to explain, the book industry is treated strictly as a publisher
who produces/ print literacy materials when so demanded by government-approved
procurement/ supply contractors. No sustainable effort is made to integrate the book
industry, being predominantly private sector-run, in literacy implementation by way
of strategic policy and industrial interventions that will eliminate industrial input
barriers, and make book publishing and buying affordable to authors and parents.
If one has ever happened, it is how to make them funding partners, as Abani (2003:
5) argues: “In Nigeria, the private sector’s involvement has tended to focus on its
role in contributing finances”. This is a key point of disconnect between the book
industry system and literacy policy implementation in Nigeria, which naturally
contradicts the essence of children literacy development as enunciated in the 2015
EFA goals. One might want to argue however that if industrial inputs are cheapened,
there are chances that all kinds of rubbish will begin to emerge from the industries.
Again, this is where a functional book policy is required to regulate the industry. But
unfortunately, there is no book policy in Nigeria, as the next evidence elaborates.
2. Lack of Functional Book Policy
Fundamentally, literacy is the ability of the individual or people to read and write for
knowledge acquisition and self development. This inextricably makes book central
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Children Literacy Development and The Book Industry in Nigeria: The Efa 2015 Policy Somersault
in literacy development. However, another revealing contradiction in the pursuit
of literacy in Nigeria is the lack of book policy. On April 22 2008, at the World Book
and Copyright Day in Lagos, the Federal Government was reported as saying that
a National Book Policy for Nigeria was going to be ready soon (ThisDay 2008). Up
till now, Nigeria has no functional book policy. One may want to ask if there had
been no efforts at putting up a book policy or even a book development commission
in view of the series of book events that spans over two decades. According to Ike
(2004: 3),
During the year 2000, the Federal Ministry of education announced the
establishment of a National Book Council and actually convened the
inaugural meeting of the Council in Abuja on 15 September 2000. The
Council has not functioned since [then]. The Nigerian Book Foundation,
which began to operate in 1993 as a non-profit, non-governmental
organization, has tried to fill the gap as a national book development
organization, bringing together stakeholders in the book sector to adopt a
holistic approach to national book development. Drastically reduced sources
of funding since early 2001 have, however, hampered its effectiveness.
While this evidence goes further to confirm the disconnection between the book
industry system and literacy policy implementation in Nigeria, it also offers a backup account of the effect of poor implementation strategy in the country’s inability
to meet the 2015 global targets on children literacy development.
3. Lack of tax Incentives to Book Publishers
Closely related to high cost of publishing materials is the lack of sustainable efforts
by the government to give tax incentives to the book industry. Such policy is capable
of lowering production costs, with a corollary of the book industry making positive
and enduring impact on literacy development in the country. Rather, what the
country has been witnessing since the 1980s is series of unproductive task forces,
study groups and committees set up to make recommendations on the various facets
of book production and distribution etc. Some of these tasks forces as Ike (2004:1)
outlines include the 1983 Nigerian Congress on Books; the 1984 Task Force on
Scarcity of Books and Stationery; 1987 Panel on Book Policy for Nigeria; 1989 ODA/
World Bank Book Sector Study; 1990 National Council on Education Committee
Report on Rationalization of Textbooks in primary and Secondary Schools; 1990
British Council—sponsored Conference to Debate the Book Sector Study; AugustSeptember 1990 Ministerial Committee on Provision of Books to Schools and
Colleges; August 1993 Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council
Review Workshop on Preferred Recommendations for Solving the problems of the
Nigerian Book Industry and Formation of Implementation Strategies; April 1994
Conference on Book Development organised by the Nigerian Book Foundation on
the Theme “Making Books Readily and Affordable”; 2008 World Book and Copyright
day etc. Ike (2004) observes that none of this catalogue of committees, intelligent
groups and task forces, neither has there been any one since 2008, could stop book
famine in Nigeria.
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4. Funding Disaster: Education as not Nigeria’s Priority
The first problem cited by the Federal Government of Nigeria for its anticipated
failure in the 2015 EFA goals is lack of funds. Funding has quite often been deceptively
cited and erroneously perceived as such, to justify failures in Nigeria. There are
indeed many African countries belonging to the low-income category, but Nigeria
is not one of them. Besides, substantial foreign aids, both in money and intellectual
resources, come in support of most of the global development programmes and
goals. For example the World Bank, among others, is a key partner in the funding
of Universal Basic Education in Nigeria. Though foreign aids have been criticised
as instrument of dependency, the problem in Nigeria is not availability of funds;
it is how the monies meant for various development purposes are disbursed and
whether they are actually used for the purposes they are meant, and to what extent
is this commitment.
In addition to the question of usage of funds, there is the fact that education has
never been Nigeria’s priority. This fact is evident in strategically and consistently
low budgetary allocations to the education sector. The Nigerian education budget,
since independence has been fluctuating between 1-3-9-17.59 percent of entire
budgetary allocations up till 2002 as available data shows (Ajetomobi & Ayanwale
2005: 7; Dike 2002). Whereas the United Nations benchmark is 26 percent of total
budgetary allocation to education, never has there been anytime till this moment
that the education sector enjoyed up to 18 percent of total budgetary allocation
in Nigeria. Rather there has continued to be downward fluctuation on budgetary
allocation to education in the country. Based on accessible data, the following table
highlights government spending on education in Nigeria (Table 1).
Table 1: Federal government budgetary allocation and spending on education
in Nigeria1
Budgetary Allocation
Year
Spending on Education (%GNP)*
(%)
Angola
4.9
1995
7.2
Cote d’ Ivoire
5
1996
12.32
Ghana
4.4
1997
17.59
Kenya
6.5
1998
10.27
Malawi
5.4
1999
11.12
Mozambique
4.1
2000
8.36
Nigeria
0.76
2001
7.00
South Africa
7.9
*Spending on Education compared with some other African countries as at 2002.
Again it is important to note that Nigeria’s education budget has remained below
10 percent since 2001. Quite often, the people blame British colonialism and
imperialism for the woes of Nigeria’s economy, but when this situation is compared
1
Source: Dike, 2002, www.afbis.com/analysis/education10204234737.htm. Tabulated by author
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Children Literacy Development and The Book Industry in Nigeria: The Efa 2015 Policy Somersault
with that of Malaysia, which has common colonial experience with Nigeria, the
evidences of internally generated poor performances becomes more glaring.
The 2008 budget speech of the Malaysian Prime Minister has it that RM30 billion
was allocated to education (www.readycompanies.com). This was an upward review
from RM29 billion, approximately 21.5 percent of the entire budget (RM134.7b)
allocated to education in 2006 (Ming et al. 2005) The Nigeria total disclosed revenue
is currently put at 10.49 billion US Dollars, amounting to slightly over RM36 billion.
With this fact, it is clear that RM30 billion allocated to education alone is almost the
entire Nigeria revenue in a fiscal year. It is not how much richer Malaysia is than
Nigeria. Rather, the allocation to education is evident of the priority accorded to
sector by the Malaysian government. Till today Nigeria has continued to witness
downward fluctuation in budgetary allocation to education, making it even more
difficult to meet the 2015 EFA goals in the country.
5. Socio-Demographic Influences
Poverty, unemployment and population explosion inter alia, including lack of
Planned Parenthood are a group of unsettled socio-demographic influences that
have continued to cripple literacy development in Nigeria. The MDG Monitor
2010 reported that “in sub-Saharan Africa, school fees consume nearly a quarter of
a poor family’s income, paying not only for tuition, but also indirect fees such as
Parent-Teacher Association and community contributions, textbook fees [emphasis
mine], compulsory uniforms and other charges”. According to this report, African
countries like Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana,
Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, whose national income
falls quite below that of Nigeria, have thought it wise to eliminate school fees in
order to meet the EFA goals. This policy received positive response from the local
populations in terms of school enrolment. It was noted for example that in Ghana
public school enrolment in the most deprived districts and nationwide soared from
4.2 million to 5.4 million between 2004 and 2005. In Kenya, enrolment of primary
school children increased dramatically with 1.2 million extra children in school in
2003 alone; by 2004, the number had climbed to 7.2 million, of which 84 percent were
of primary school age (see www.mdgmonitor.org). Although the sharp increase in
school enrolment occasioned by the elimination of school fees in these countries was
observed to have come with increased pressure on facilities, the policy is capable
of addressing the widespread abuse of children in Nigeria resulting largely from
parents’ inability to afford the consistently rising cost of qualitative basic education
in the country. Current statistics shows that 70 percent of Nigerians live below poverty line
(CIA 2010), meaning that over 100 million of an estimated 154,729,000 million
Nigerians live in absolute poverty. This poverty profile is sustained till today
with endemic corruption that resulted in extremely poor remuneration of school
teachers, whose meagre salaries are often withheld for the larger part of the year
in unidentifiable fixed deposit accounts to generate interest for individuals. The
categories of parents and beneficiaries most emphasised in the EFA targets are the
most disempowered in the Nigerian literacy implementation processes.
Current unemployment rate in Nigeria is put at 4.9 percent while annual
population growth rate is 1.999 percent 2009 estimate (CIA 2010). Only 47.33 million,
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representing 30.6 percent of an estimated 154,729,000 population constitute the
Nigerian work force. This means that over 60 percent of the Nigerian population
falls under the dependent population category. A huge proportion of the working
population is self-employed business men/women, traders and artisans etc. The
traders and artisans constitute the higher majority of the self-employed, and they
are mainly women and school age children. Because of pervasive poverty, most of
the children drop out of school. Those who are able to continue have to be engaged
in some form of trade to generate money for their own school fees and feeding for
themselves, their younger ones and the parents. This category of children cannot
afford private schools, and are practically unable to buy textbooks as most public
schools are not well equipped with library. Thus, only a few of the Nigerian children
successfully complete good quality basic education. Majority ends with poor quality
basic education while a significant others drop out­—especially those from the
absolutely poor and/or Unplanned Parenthood background. Difficulties in securing
employment after school have equally been discouraging many poor parents from
sending their children to schools and making it even more difficult for Nigeria to
realise children literacy development goals. This is especially common in eastern
part of the country, where high premium is placed on material acquisitions.
Unplanned Parenthood is endemic in northern Nigeria, where the culture of
Almajarinci—the practice of “begging to survive”2 among school age children is
legitimised. The Almajirais—illiterate school age children who practice Almajarinci
—are found on the streets individually or in groups with plates on their hands,
everywhere around northern Nigeria begging for food. They beg to survive and they
most often sleep wherever the night catches up with them. There are no accessible
statistical information on the Almajirais, evidences on the streets are however clear
that this category of deprived children constitute a significant proportion of the
overall children population in northern Nigeria.
Although the Almajirais in essence acquires Quranic literacy, since national
development emphasises western education Almajarinci becomes a major set back
in children literacy development in Nigeria. While this fact exists, there really
are no clear-cut commitments to addressing the scourge of Almajarinci and other
fundamental socio-demographic set back on Nigeria’s efforts towards Education
for All in 2015. These, together with the systemic disconnect between the literacy
industry and policy strategies sums up to confirm that Nigeria will not be able to
meet the EFA 2015 targets.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This paper started with the objective of assessing the linkage between Nigeria’s
anticipated inability to meet the EFA 2015 goals and her policy implementation
strategies in relation to her literacy industry and socio-demographics. The aim is to
confirm and establish the principal factors responsible for the country’s inability to
meet the 2015 global literacy development goals. The assessment is premised on the
“Begging to survive” is the contemporary usage and practice of Almajarinci in Northern Nigeria.
The concept originally refer to a system of Islamic education where children are sent by parents to
organised schools far from their homes to seek Quranic literacy and education in order to instill
discipline and fear of God, and make them useful members of the society.
2
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Children Literacy Development and The Book Industry in Nigeria: The Efa 2015 Policy Somersault
increasing concern for universal literacy, which grew out of the 1990 World Education
Conference in Jomtien and the 2000 Dakar Education Forum. The principal thesis
of the paper is that Nigeria will not meet the 2015 EFA targets, and that the failure
is significantly consequent upon poor policy implementation strategy in relation
to her literacy industry and socio-demographic facts.
Critical reviews and situation analysis of the policies and institutional
frameworks for the implementation of literacy in Nigeria was conducted, and the
evidences found reaffirms the thesis of this paper. Thus, the paper concludes that
the Nigeria will not meet the EFA 2015 target, and might continue indefinitely to
renege on her undertakings in global literacy development unless drastic measures
are taken to tackle the issues of policy implementation strategies and the domestic
underpinning socio-demographic influences.
It is agreed in wisdom that a builder must first clear his field of weeds before
laying the foundation, for the fear that no building can be erected successfully
on unclear vegetation. In the light of this wisdom, the following measures are
recommended for stakeholders and policy makers to reinvigorate Nigeria’s
participation in global drive towards Education for All beyond 2015.
• Full absorption of the literacy industry into literacy policy strategies, supported
with cut-down measures on costs of publishing to empower local authors
whose manuscripts are lying fallow and to improve readership culture, which
itself, is tied to affordability rate of literacy materials. This way, efforts are
also made to eliminate production input barriers through strategic policy
and industrial interventions that will cheapen output costs of especially basic
education and literacy resources.
• Increased budgetary support for education. Effort must be stepped up by the
Nigerian government to operate progressively from, at least, 20 percent
to possibly beyond the United Nations’ benchmark of 26 percent of total
budgetary allocation to education. This should be supported with abolition
of school fees the same way some other poorer African countries identified
earlier have done. Such intervention should be viewed as social responsibility
that cuts across public and private schools offering basic education in the
country.
• A comprehensive and harmonised basic education curriculum, with functional
monitoring system that ensures high quality delivery at primary and
secondary school levels. At present, Nigeria is operating no less than
five curricula for basic education. There is the National Curriculum; The
Education Resource Centre Curriculum; The Federal Curriculum; The West
African Examination Council Curriculum and the National Examination
Council Curriculum. These curricula are competing for attention, with the
representatives of each body always on visitation to the schools to ensure that
its own curriculum is applied. All of the curricula are planned around the
same thing—basic education, but with wide variation in structure, subjects
and topics prioritisation, including depth of treatment of topics etc. This
makes the task of literacy delivery even more complex and difficult.
• Intensify community-based literacy programme that takes literacy to the
doorsteps of not only the Nomads, but also the huge populations of children
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of rural dwellers who constitute over 70 percent of Nigeria’s population.
This strategy should be supported with employment creation and sustained
campaign on Planned Parenthood to eradicate abuse of children and improve
on the literate proportion of children from poor background.
• A comprehensive and functional book policy will also help to regulate the
activities of the industry, which is currently so loose, as Ike (2004) observes,
that anyone who is able to erect a tent can be granted publishing license.
This recommendation is linked to integration of the book industry system
in literacy policy planning and implementation in Nigeria.
REFERENCES
Abani, C. (2003). Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003/4,
The Leap to Equality. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001467/146732e.pdf.
Pp5 Retrieved March 3 2010.
Aderinoye R. (2007). Country Profile Commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring
Report 2008,Education for All by 2015: will we make it UNESCO: unesdoc.
unesco.org/images/0015/001555/155500e.pdf, retrieved March 3, 2010.
Ajetomobi J.O. & Ayanwale A.B. (Undated). Education allocation, unemployment
and economy growth in Nigeria: 1970 – 2004. www.saga.cornell.edu/saga/
educconf/ajetomobi.pdf. Retrieved March 3, 2010.
CIA (2010). The world fact book: Africa: Nigeria. www.cia.gov/library/publications/
the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
Dike, V. (2002). The state of education in Nigeria and the health of the nation. www.
africaeconomicanalysis.org/articles/14/1/The-state-of-education-in-Nigeria-andthe-health-of-the-nation/Page1.html. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
FME/UBE & NBS (2007). Federal ministry of education; universal basic education
and national bureau of statistics data. Ref: (No Author): Country Report on
Progress Towards Achieving Education for All (EFA) Goals in Nigeria. www.iccle.
org/images/Nigeria.pdf. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
Gulloma A. & Onochie M. (2010, March 4). Nigeria may not meet 2015
EFA goals – Minister.In Daily Trust. www.news.dailytrust.com/index.
php?option=com_content&views=article&id=15192:nigeria-may-not-meet-2015efa-goalsminister&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=119. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
Igbuzor, O. (2006, July 3). The state of education in Nigeria. A keynote Address
Delivered at a Roundtable Organised by Civil Society Action Coalition on
Education for All (CSACEFA). www.gamji.com/article6000/NEWS6144.htm.
Retrieved March 4, 2010.
Ike, C. (2004). Book publishing in Nigeria. www.sabre.org/publications/publishingin-nigeria.pdf. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
MDG Monitor (2010). Achieve universal primary education. Target 2.A. www.
mdgmonitor.org/goal2.cfm. Retrieved March 4 2010.
Ming, Lee and Tony (2005, October 9). Budget 2006: human capital development
in education. Malaysia Blog. educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/2005/10/budget2006-human-capital-development.html. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
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Children Literacy Development and The Book Industry in Nigeria: The Efa 2015 Policy Somersault
NDHS (2009). Nigeria demographic and health survey 2008. Abuja: National Planning
Commission & Maryland: ICF Macro Calverton.
NPC (2005). Federal Republic of Nigeria: Nigerian millennium development goals 2005
report. Abuja: National Planning Commission.
NPC (2005), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy Abuja:
National Planning Commission.
Punch Newspaper (2008, September 19). Nigeria: Declining school enrolment www.
punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200809190454214.
Retrieved March
15, 2010.
ThisDay Newspaper (2008, April 22). Nigeria: national book policy ready soon – FG.
allafrica.com/stories/200804220565.html. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
Unagha, A. O. (2008). Implementing universal basic education (ube) through strategic
provision of school library services. www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/amanze.
htm. Retrieved March 5 2010.
UNESCO (2004). The plurality of literacy and its implication for policies and
programmes Paris:UNESCO. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001362/136246e.
pdf. Retrieved March 4,2010.
VON (2010, March 1). N20 million earmarked for mass literacy. Voice of Nigeria.
www.voiceofnigeria.org/Massliteracyb.htm. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
Wikipedia (2010). Nigeria: demographics. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria. Retrieved
March 9, 2010.
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Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Vol. 13, No. 1, 2011
Pages 65–71
Sparking Off Ideas for Creative Writing
Roselind Wee
Abstract
Many students, particularly those from Asian countries, find writing
tedious and unpleasant. They find it difficult to get ideas that can spur
them to write. Most of the time, they say that they have no idea on what to
write. As educators, we have to find ways to make writing enjoyable and
this will motivate and inspire them to engage in writing. With the right
encouragement and guidance, writing can be very enjoyable. This paper
explores the techniques the writer employed to help her young daughter
to obtain ideas that spur her to write creatively. At the age of twelve, the
latter published a series of eight stories which she wrote when she was
nine. She has just published a second collection of another eight stories. It
is important to create plenty of opportunities to develop writing interest.
Old stories that have been told and retold for generations can be updated
to create new modern stories that reflect the modern time. This technique is
particularly useful for students who find it difficult to come up with original
ideas. Real life experiences whether of the writer or of those around him
can be a rich source of inspiration. The trick is to use all the senses and to
be alert to the surroundings so that ideas can come easily. The mass media
such as the television and the Internet is an important resource to find ideas
on writing. Moreover, the imagination of the writer can spark off many
interesting and novel ideas.
Keywords: writing, techniques, update stories, experiences, mass media,
imagination
INTRODUCTION
In order to write well, our students need to develop adequate language proficiency
and be able to come up with a variety of creative ideas that can capture the interest
of the readers. Writing which enables us to express our ideas and feeling can be a
pleasurable and rewarding experience. However, many students have a negative
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attitude towards writing as they often complain that they do not have any idea
on what to write on. When a writing assignment is given, we often hear the same
complaint from the students of having no idea over and over again. More often
than not, the students experience writers’ block that makes it difficult for them to
create essays (www.korepetycje.com).
As educators, our role is to make writing an enjoyable experience for our
students. Lenhart et al. (2005) found out that those who enjoy their school writing
more are more likely to engage in creative writing at school compared to those who
report very little enjoyment of school writing (81% vs 69%). If our students enjoy
writing, they will be keen to take part in writing activities.
DISCUSSION
Overcoming the writer’s block
In this modern age, our students are too caught up in watching television or
involving in other technology-based activities such as chatting on line, playing
on-line games or surfing the Internet. Thus, the time spent on reading and writing
is drastically reduced. It is small wonder that the students have little enthusiasm
to engage in any form of writing and this includes creative writing. In addition,
producing a good piece of creative writing is not easy but regular practice will give
the students the tools to come up with innovative creative ideas.
Kenzabura Oe, a Nobel prize-winning novelist, said that “accumulated
practice”enables the writer to come up with a landscape no one has ever seen before
(Sher cited in Anderson 2006). This is most often achieved unexpectedly through the
habit of work when sudden ideas, ways and means, wonderful words and phrases,
and sometimes complete breakthroughs come. Therefore, regular practice will enable
the students to develop the capability to develop ideas for their stories (Anderson
2006). Once the students start writing, they will be able to get more creative writing
ideas (www.incresebrainpower.com). Therefore, students need constant practice
that will provide opportunities for inspiration to come.
Updating old stories
All of us have read stories that are written by others and there are some which
we may particularly like and remember. If we read voraciously various kinds
of literature, we will be able to get a glimpse about the various styles of writing
by different authors (Lad 2008) It is common to find many stories having similar
elements as they are often repeated, passed on and transformed (Cox 2005).
Some of the popular stories for children have been told from generation to
generation and they are still as popular today. We can try to get our students to
retell a story that they have heard before, for example, “Romeo and Juliet”, “The
Princess and the Frog”, or “Cinderella” that have been told in hundreds of different
ways. Stories with a formula have proven to work and updated versions of them can
be created (www.incresebrainpower.com).The story line is similar but adaptations
have been made to suit the story to the present time. Numerous films have also
been made based on old classical stories and we have modern versions of Cinderella
being filmed. Bollywood has come up with “Bride and Prejudice” following closely
the story of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. Recently, an updated version of
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Sparkling Off Ideas For Creative Writing
“The Princess and the Frog” has been made into a popular movie. Instead of the
frog turning into a handsome prince, the girl turned into a female frog to marry the
frog. Only then, she became a princess and managed to break the spell and turn
the frog back into a Prince.
This idea of updating an old story was creatively used by my daughter,
Victoria, when she wrote “The Donkey Bride” (Siaw, 2008). In the original story
entitled, “The Squire’s Bride”, a rich squire saw a beautiful girl through a telescope
and was attracted to her. Subsequently, he tried to get her father to agree to let her
marry him in exchange for free rental for the land he farmed. In the end, he was
tricked by the girl into marrying a mare instead. Victoria adapted this story and
came up with her own version of the story, “The Donkey Bride”. A rich landlord
by the name of Lord Ritchie was drawn to the sweet melody of a girl’s song and
fell in love with her. He approached her father to let him marry the girl. The young
girl was against the idea of marrying an old man and she cleverly tricked him into
marrying a donkey instead.
Besides adapting from old stories, we can teach our students to combine stories,
for example, combining the biblical story of Adam and Eve with the movie Star
Wars. An interesting story can be created with putting a man and a woman alone
on a new planet. The stories of “King Kong” and “Romeo and Juliet” may inspire
the idea of a romantic story between an ape and a human who are both rejected
by the ape and human societies. Therefore, the possibilities for creating stories are
endless (www.increasebrainpower.com).
Observing the Environment
Writers need to develop a keen sense of awareness and sensitivities of their
surroundings and be able to observe the things around (Lad 2008). The five senses
of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell have to be employed. Writing helps writers
to become aware, and it opens the senses to grasp the world. They must be able
to see, hear, touch, taste and smell the environment. This keen observation of the
environment will enable the writers to give vivid description of real life experiences.
Writers need to be on the look-out for potential material and their life experience
that is seen, experienced, thought of and felt will provide a valuable source of ideas
(Anderson 2006).
Anderson (2006) suggested the need to carry a notebook every where to jot
down interesting things; descriptions of people and places, snatches of overheard
conversation, sudden insights and ideas. Our students need to be able to pick up
elements of well-known characters confronted with different situations and record
events and things seen and heard. An inspirational short story idea can be based
on an inspiring real life incident (Lad 2008). Victoria once observed a very comical
situation in school about a student who was supposed to get into the back seat
of the car when her mother came to pick her up from school. She was about to
go in when she suddenly changed her mind and decided to sit in front of the car.
Oblivious of what was happening, her mother sped off, leaving the poor bewildered
girl chasing after the car. Failing to catch up with the car, the girl came back to the
school porch crying sadly for being left behind. It was a hilarious situation creating
a lot of laughter and also sympathy around. Victoria was inspired to write about
this story when she reached home.
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Getting Inspiration from Experiences
Many times, a simple incident from one’s own life can help to shape a short story
(Lad 2008). We can prompt our students to change real life incidents to fit into stories.
For example, Victoria’s experience with her autistic brother prompted her to write
about a boy who liked to bully people including the autistic boy whom his mother
babysat. Victoria’s keen observation of the autistic traits in her brother enabled her
to write about the autistic protagonist but the plot was entirely fictional. Combining
reality with fiction, Victoria narrated how the autistic boy finally rescued the bully
from a group of kidnappers. Similarly, her observation of the many maids who came
and went from our household because they could not adjust to the environment
inspired her to write about a maid named Silly Sill who hilariously made many
mistakes while working for a family
The students’ own experience is a valuable resource for stories. They can relate
their own experiences, for example, the first day at school or the visit to a new place.
Another tip to create creative writing opportunities is to link writing topics to what
the students are familiar with and are excited about (Recckio 2003). Lenhart et al.
(2008) found out that in their focus groups, teens report being motivated to write
by relevant, interesting, self-selected topics. Victoria had a bad experience of being
teased and taunted for her habit of carrying her Tupperware bottle around. Even
though it was not a pleasant experience, she wittingly turned this experience into
the story of Old Maria who always carried a magic pillow which could sing every
time she put her head on it. An old grouchy king who could not sleep found the
pillow which cured his insomnia. Subsequently, the old king was reluctant to part
with the pillow when Old Maria went to claim it. Eventually, the king exchanged
the crown for Old Maria’s magic pillow. Victoria’s imagination has transformed her
personal experience into a fairy tale!
Using the Memory
By way of association, memory often works in a spontaneous manner (Anderson
2006). Certain smell, sound or sight may bring you back to a time that is memorable.
The past returns through mundane coincidences, often a chance perception—a smell,
a song, a taste by way of recall (Anderson 2006). Memories can be effectively used
by making them dynamic and alive. This can be done by changing key elements,
for example, shifting the people, maybe making them live in a different town or
continent. This may well explain why we have a Black Cinderella in one of the
movie versions. The setting of the movie Bride and Prejudice was in India whereas
the original setting of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was in England. In both
versions, the mother was keen to marry off her daughters. Thus, the story can be
set at a different time or present from a different person’s point of view (Anderson
2006). For example, The true story of the three little Pigs by Jon Scieszka can be retold
from the wolf’s point of view. The possibilities are endless, for example “Cinderella”
can be told from the point of view of one of the ugly sisters, “The Three Billy Goats
Gruff” from the point of view of the troll and “Godilocks and the Three Bears” from
the point of view of Goldilocks (www.teachingideas.co.uk). Shifting the elements
around will lend a new energy or perspective to your story
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Using the Mass Media
The mass media such as the radio, television and newspapers report events that
happen around the world such as robberies, thefts, murders and many more strange
events. These significant events may trigger off inspiring stories. Anderson (2006)
pointed out that we can watch out for newspaper or radio items that intrigue us in
some way or yield powerful images. According to Anderson (2006), a chilling image
from a newspaper article also lodged in the brain can be stored in the notebook and
may find its place in a piece of creative writing A real life issue taken from the news
can be approached from a different perspective (www.increasebrainpower.com).
In The Cunning Thief (Siaw 2008), Victoria narrated about a lazy unemployed man
who kept on stealing from the people in the neighbourhood. Everyone was tired
of losing his money and valuables and employ Detective Smart Alex to solve the
mystery of the missing items. Jeffrey even thought of earning a reward for calling
up the police but was finally outsmarted by the smart detective who caught him
red handed. This story is similar to many similar incidents that are reported in
the newspapers. Therefore, news items can be a valuable resource for students to
come up with creative ideas.
Movies are entertaining to many people so it is likely that educators can get
students interested in watching them. Therefore, they may also be a rich resource
for ideas for stories. Many children and even adults love to watch “The Little
Mermaid”. Victoria has loved to watch that movie on CD since she was young and
she used to watch it over and over again when she was young. This movie inspired
her to write “The Sea Adventure” (Siaw 2008). A young girl, Sandy, went fishing
with her father and caught a big fish. They got pulled down by the fish and turned
to become a mermaid and a merman when they ended up in the Kingdom of the
Sea. It was a beautiful story with vivid descriptions of the underwater world full of
fishes, octopuses, mermaids, mermen and the King. In the end, they turned back to
human beings when they went back to land. My friend’s daughter is in love with
her story and has become her fan.
Developing Effective Listening
Developing the ability to listen can also help to provide ideas for short stories,
for example, an incident can be incorporated into a funny short story idea based
upon something heard (Anderson 2006). Victoria loves to hear stories from me and
likewise, students will enjoy story-telling sessions. Once, I related a story about
a very much trusted maid who was going home after a long service. She asked
permission from her employer to bake a cake which she wanted to bring home.
However, she forgot to take it back. The employer was terribly shocked when she
found her jewellery inside the cake when she cut it up. Victoria craftily turned the
story into “The Left Behind Cake” which was renamed The Special Cake (Siaw 2008).
In addition, I told Victoria about my cousin who stored her gold on the roof top.
Some workmen came and took all her gold away. Victoria came up with a similar
story entitled The Miser’s Gold. Therefore, having story telling sessions with students
may provide the stimulus for them to come up with ideas for creative writing.
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Using the Imagination
Imagination is very much needed to be able to write creatively as it allows possibilities
to be explored and goes beyond what is immediately known (Anderson 2006). To
produce stories that are interesting, writers need to let the creative juices flow and
the imagination run wild. For example, a scary short story may need to transport
the writer to a different world. “Gulliver’s Travels” takes the protagonist to a variety
of places that are out of this world. A creative imaginative streak would surely be
helpful to make it as interesting as possible (Anderson 2006). It is important and
beneficial to nurture and develop students’ creativity. We need to constantly look
out for a more creative approach that allows students’ imaginations and creative
abilities to develop (Blake n.d.).
Getting good ideas will encourage students to indulge in this pleasurable
activity of creative writing. If they find ideas come to them easily, it will inspire them
to write. Unlike academic or factual writing, creative writing can be a pleasurable
experience because the writers are free to make use of their imagination to create.
The writer uses his/her imagination to expand the topic and make it interesting
thereby making it creative (www.korepetycje.com).
There is no limit to what the imagination can come up. In the story entitled,
The Right Prince, Victoria took a young girl to Fairyland where there were fairies,
goblins and talking animals. It also rained cats and dogs, literally and a fridge that
Priscilla saw actually led to a supermarket where she met a Fairy Queen. She invited
Priscilla into her carriage which could fly to her palace. As she did not have any
children, she adopted Priscilla. So was the happy ending for the little orphan girl.
This was a story that really stretched not only the writer’s imagination but that of
the readers as well. Another imaginative story was about a magic book which two
girls had. It grew bigger and bigger by the days until eventually a man came out
of it to tell the girls the story of his life and how he came to be in the book. As there
is no limit to what the mind can come up with, we have to encourage students to
develop their creativity and imagination to the fullest. Another story that was a hit
was about a family of goblins who went on an outing at a holiday resort and ended
up being captured by a group of humans who caged them up and put them in a zoo.
CONCLUSION
Language educators have an important role to play to get students interested in
writing. It is important that they provide plenty of opportunities for them to write.
Overcoming writers’ block is necessary to get them into writing. Updating old stories
and combining stories will enable students to come up with inspiring ideas to write
on. In addition, a keen sense of observation and memory are important. The writer’s
experience is a valuable resource and the mass media such as the newspapers, radio
and television also has an important role to play in providing the ideas for writing.
Being able to listen well is also useful. For creative writing, the imagination is very
important as it creates something that can really capture the interest of the readers.
Thus, equipping students with these basic tools will provide them with some ideas
for their creative writing.
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REFERENCES
Anderson, L. (2006). Creative writing – A workbook with readings. USA: Routledge.
Blake K. (n.d.). An exploration of how creative writing can be improved in a Year
Five class. www.gtwc.org.uk/new-cpd/images/stories/CP. Retrieved on 21st
April, 2009
Cox, A. (2005). Writing short stories .USA: Routledge
Creative writing. www.teachingideas.co.uk/English/creative.htm. Retrieved on 28th
April, 2009.
Creative writing 1deas. www.increasebrainpower.com/ creative-writing-ideas.html.
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69
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia
Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Vol. 13, No. 1, 2011
Pages 73–89
Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga Dalam
M enangani K onflik D alam K alangan
Remaja
Aziyah Abu Bakar, Wan Abd Aziz Wan Mohd Amin Che
Hasniza Che Noh & Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin
Abstract
RELEVANCE OF FAMILY COMMUNICATION IN ADDRESSING
PARENT–ADOLESCENT CONFLICT
Family communication plays an important role in the efforts to address
communication problems between adolescents and their parents. The
question is, to what extent can family communication cause a conflict on
adolescents in the face of current challenges. What are the conflict strategies
used by adolescents when communicating with their parents. This study
looks at patterns of family communication and conflict strategies in relation
to teenagers The Interactional View Theory is applied to guide this study
which uses a quantitative approach using questionnaires given to 360 urban
youth in the East Coast of the Peninsular Malaysia. The results indicate that
family communication patterns are directed towards high conformity and
less conversation. It is also found that most of the adolescents use avoidance
and collaborating strategies more than dominating strategy when dealing
with conflict with their parents. This study shows that in the delivery of
excellent youth, parents and teenagers must create a situation of harmony
and hapiness while communicating in order to build good relationships
within the family.
Keyword: Family communication pattern, conversation orientation,
conformity orientation, avoidance strategy, collaborating strategy,
dominating strategy, adolescent.
Pengenalan
Kelonggaran hubungan ibu bapa dengan remaja menjadi faktor kebanyakan remaja
masa kini terlibat dengan pelbagai masalah tingkah laku, malah ada yang terlibat
dengan jenayah berat. Dalam konteks ini, komunikasi keluarga memainkan peranan
penting dalam usaha mewujudkan situasi komunikasi yang harmoni dan gembira
antara ibu bapa dengan remaja dalam membina hubungan dalam keluarga (Crespi &
71
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Sabatelli 2002). Menurut Koerner dan Fitzpatrick (2002), dalam komunikasi keluarga
terdapat “pola”, iaitu kecenderungan keluarga membentuk cara berkomunikasi
antara satu dengan lain. Kesan daripada “pola” tersebut memberi implikasi berbeza
terhadap tingkah laku dan psikologi remaja. Sebagai contoh, pola komunikasi
ibu bapa yang berbentuk keakuran mungkin akan mewujudkan anak-anak yang
sentiasa dalam kesunyian, manakala pola komunikasi ibu bapa yang berbentuk
perbualan—iaitu banyak memberi kata-kata sokongan kepada anak-anak—akan
mewujudkan anak-anak yang sentiasa mempunyai kepuasan diri yang tinggi
terhadap diri, keluarga dan persekitarannya.
Walaupun banyak sarjana daripada pelbagai disiplin ilmu misalnya, psikologi
mendapati bahawa pola komunikasi keluarga banyak menyumbang konflik dalam
hubungan remaja dengan ibu bapa (Koerner & Cvancara 2002; Crespi & Sabatelli
2002; Meeus, Oosterwegel & Vollebergh 2001), remaja tidak menganggap konflik
yang wujud disebabkan oleh pola komunikasi keluarga sebagai menyusahkan.
Sebaliknya, bagaimana mereka dapat “mengurus” konflik tersebut yang akan
menentukan kepuasan diri mereka terhadap hubungan mereka dengan ibu bapa
(Noller et al. 2006). Oleh itu, cara mengurus konflik yang sesuai diperlukan untuk
mengoptimumkan pencapaian matlamat remaja kerana strategi konflik yang diguna
boleh memberi kesan kepada fungsi dan kesejahteraan diri remaja.
Objektif Secara khususnya kajian ini mempunyai objektif seperti berikut:
1. Mengenal pasti pola komunikasi keluarga di negeri Pantai Timur
Semenanjung Malaysia.
2. Mengenal pasti strategi konflik dalam kalangan remaja di negeri Pantai
Timur Semenanjung Malaysia.
3. Mengenal pasti perkaitan pola komunikasi keluarga dengan strategi konflik
di negeri Pantai Timur Semenanjung Malaysia.
Hipotesis
Kajian ini membentangkan enam hipotesis bagi mencapai objektif iaitu:
1. Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara strategi mengelak remaja dengan
orientasi perbualan.
2. Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara strategi mengelak remaja dengan
orientasi keakuran.
3. Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara strategi bekerjasama remaja
dengan orientasi perbualan.
4. Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara strategi bekerjasama remaja
dengan orientasi keakuran.
5. Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara strategi menyerang remaja
dengan orientasi perbualan.
6. Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara strategi menyerang remaja
dengan orientasi keakuran.
72
Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga dalam Menangani Konflik dalam kalangan Remaja
Metode
Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah tinjauan berbentuk cross sectional yang bermaksud
data dikumpulkan sekali sahaja dalam satu tempoh masa (Gall, Gall, & Borg 2003);
dan borang soal selidik diedarkan kepada responden bagi tujuan pengumpulan data.
Seramai 360 responden terdiri daripada remaja bandar, iaitu dari bandar Kuantan,
Kuala Terengganu dan Kota Bharu telah dipilih sebagai sampel kajian. Pemilihan
responden menggunakan kaedah persampelan berstrata dengan sampel dipilih
secara berasingan, iaitu mempunyai subsampel jantina yang berbeza. Kemudian
kaedah pensampelan sistematik digunakan untuk memilih sampel dalam setiap
subsampel. Data yang diperoleh daripada responden kemudiannya dianalisis
menggunakan perisian Statistical Package for the Social Science 16.0 dengan fokus
kepada statistik deskriptif seperti kekerapan, peratusan, purata dan sisihan piawai
serta statistik inferensi korelasi Pearson.
Pola Komunikasi Keluarga dan Strategi Konflik
Pola komunikasi keluarga telah dikembangkan oleh Ritchie dan Fitzpatrick (1990)
dengan mencipta Revised Family Commu­nication Patterns (RFCP). Pola komunikasi
keluarga terdiri dari dua dimensi, iaitu orientasi perbualan dan orientasi keakuran.
Orientasi perbualan merujuk pada pembentukan suasana yang menggalakkan semua
ahli keluarga untuk menyertai interaksi secara bebas dalam pelbagai topik dan isu
dan ia berbentuk dua hala. Orientasi keakuran merujuk pada pembentukan suasana
yang menekankan homogen berkaitan sikap, nilai dan kepercayaan dan suasana
komunikasi ini berbentuk sehala.
Strategi konflik ialah “alat” untuk mengurus konflik. Menurut Reis (2005),
individu tidak akan hanya menggunakan satu gaya strategi konflik sahaja kerana
strategi konflik bukan bentuk tingkah laku yang statik, tetapi dipengaruhi oleh
pelbagai faktor seperti situasi, hubungan, keluarga dan budaya yang dipegang oleh
sesebuah keluarga tersebut. Beliau juga mendapati pemilihan strategi konflik turut
dipengaruhi oleh adab atau tingkah laku yang diperoleh atau dipelajari daripada
proses sosialisasi daripada keluarga dan orientasi bentuk sesuatu keluarga itu
sendiri. Sehubungan itu, tiga dimensi strategi konflik, iaitu strategi mengelak,
strategi bekerjasama dan strategi menyerang diaplikasikan sebagai pemboleh ubah
dalam kajian ini yang sebelum ini telah diguna pakai oleh Comstock dan Strzyzewski
(1990) dalam kajian mereka mengenai pola komunikasi keluarga dengan strategi
konflik semasa penontonan televisyen dalam kalangan adik-beradik.
Strategi konflik yang terdiri dari strategi konflik mengelak adalah keadaan
apabila individu dengan pasangan (remaja dengan ibu bapa) akan mengelak
daripada berbicara secara terbuka (Berens 2000). Berdasarkan pandangan ini,
Berens yang memetik daripada Sillars (1986) mendapati bahawa strategi mengelak
termasuk memandang remeh akan sesuatu perkara dan juga akan mengubah topik
mengenai sesuatu perkara agar tidak terus dibincangkan untuk mengelak daripada
berlaku sebarang konflik. Berens (2000) juga turut menjelaskan bahawa strategi
konflik mengelak dinyatakan juga sebagai bersikap patuh, bersetuju tanpa syarat,
menyerah, dan mencuba untuk menamatkan perbincangan.
Strategi konflik bekerjasama pula ialah tindak balas terhadap konflik dalam
keluarga yang melibatkan komunikasi secara aktif dan positif digunakan sebagai
73
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
strategi mengurus konflik dengan pihak yang terlibat (Berens 2000). Dalam kajian
ini pihak yang terlibat ialah remaja dengan ibu bapa. Strategi konflik menyerang
merujuk pada komunikasi yang dilontarkan dengan cara marah atau menentang
orang lain atau dengan mereka yang sedang berkonflik. Banyak konflik timbul
dalam keluarga disebabkan oleh pola komunikasi keluarga, terutama dalam
hubungan remaja dengan ibu bapa (Zhang et al., 2005; Koerner & Cvancara 2002;
Ballard-Reisch & Weigel 2006). Perkaitan pola komunikasi keluarga dengan strategi
konflik dapat dilihat dari beberapa perspektif.
Dalam perspektif budaya Barat, konflik antara remaja dengan ibu bapa dilihat
sebagai suatu landasan dalam kebahagiaan keluarga (Allison & Shultz 2004).
Misalnya, remaja Barat banyak menggunakan strategi menyerang dengan ibu bapa
dan ia tidak dianggap sebagai kesalahan. Allison dan Shultz (2004) menjelaskan
bahawa apabila remaja menggunakan strategi menyerang ia membawa erti
bahawa remaja bersedia meluahkan perasaan tidak puas hati mereka terhadap
peraturan atau tindakan ibu bapa. Di pihak ibu bapa, strategi menyerang oleh
remaja membawa erti bahawa mereka perlu memberi kerjasama atau terbuka
terhadap pandangan anak-anak. Banyak kajian menunjukkan strategi menyerang
berkait secara signifikan hanya dengan remaja Barat (Allison et al. 2004; Siu Man
2004; Dumlao & Botta 2000). Menurut Dumlao dan Botta (2000), pola komunikasi
berorientasikan perbualan lebih berkait secara positif dengan remaja Barat. Ini
secara tidak langsung menggambarkan bahawa remaja dalam keluarga Barat
menggunakan strategi menyerang lebih tinggi berbanding strategi mengelak semasa
wujudnya situasi konflik dengan ibu bapa. Hal demikian kerana pola komunikasi
yang berorientasikan perbualan memberi peluang yang luas kepada anak-anak
untuk menyatakan pandangan dalam pelbagai isu dan idea. Maka, tidak hairanlah
sekiranya ada peraturan ibu bapa yang tidak sesuai bagi remaja, mereka akan
membantah secara terang-terangan.
Dalam perspektif budaya Cina, perkaitan strategi konflik dengan pola
komunikasi keluarga dikaitkan dengan budaya konteks tinggi dan collectivistic
(Zhang 2007). Menurut Hall (1976)—yang banyak mengkaji tentang budaya Cina
tradisional—aspek falsafah Confucianism amat kuat pengaruhnya ke atas pola
komunikasi dan strategi konflik yang digunakan oleh orang Cina. Misalnya, gagasan
atau idea Confucian, iaitu hexie (harmoni) dan mianzi (muka) adalah antara faktor
utama menentukan pola komunikasi dan strategi konflik keluarga (Oetzel et al.
2006; Ting-Toomey et al. 2000).
Zhang et al. (2005) pula menyatakan bahawa menjaga hubungan dalam
keluarga amat penting. Walaupun budaya Cina telah mengalami perubahan
akibat perkembangan globalisasi, keharmonian dalam keluarga tetap dipegang
sebagai nilai budaya yang perlu dijunjung, khususnya dalam kalangan generasi
muda. Oleh itu, bagi mengekalkan keharmonian dalam hubungan perseorangan,
individu patut berkomunikasi dalam cara yang dapat membantu memelihara
dan mengekalkan hubungan harmoni di samping mengelak daripada terjadinya
konflik. Konsisten dengan pandangan tersebut, Zhang (2007) menyatakan fungsi
utama komunikasi adalah bagi menjaga hubungan sosial yang dijalinkan. Baginya,
amat penting bagi setiap ahli dalam keluarga bersama-sama dapat berfikir, berasa,
saling mempercayai dan berusaha mengekalkan apa-apa sepatutnya yang penting
buat keluarga berdasarkan tuntutan budayanya.
74
Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga dalam Menangani Konflik dalam kalangan Remaja
Oleh yang demikian didapati beberapa kajian yang berkaitan pola komunikasi
keluarga dengan strategi konflik remaja dalam kalangan keluarga Cina Amerika
berkait secara signifikan dan positif dengan keharmonian hubungan antara
remaja dengan ibu bapa (seperti Huang 1994; Ann Yu Lung 1999; dan Choa
2000). Misalnya, keluarga Cina Amerika didapati cenderung menekankan pola
komunikasi berorientasikan keakuran yang bercirikan ketegasan dan mengawal.
Bagi ibu bapa Cina adalah penting untuk tegas dan mengawal agar anak-anak
berdisiplin. Sebagaimana dinyatakan oleh ibu bapa Cina Amerika, “Tidak ada
kritikan dan ancaman, tidak ada pencapaian” (Ann Yun Lung 1999). Penyataan
daripada ibu bapa Cina Amerika ini membayangkan bahawa tanggungjawab
ibu bapa adalah untuk memberi tindakan seperti mengawal, menghukum dan
memotivasikan anak-anak yang akhirnya menjadikan mereka individu yang berjaya
dalam masyarakat. Anak-anak pula bertanggungjawab mematuhi peraturan yang
telah disediakan oleh keluarga demi menjaga hubungan dan maruah keluarga. An
Yun Lung (1999) dan Siu Man (2002) mendapati kebanyakan remaja Cina banyak
menggunakan strategi mengelak dan strategi bekerjasama dengan ibu bapa mereka.
Hal demikian dapat dikaitkan dengan kenyataan remaja Cina bahawa kegagalan
mereka akan menyebabkan keluarga akan dipandang rendah dan jika mereka
mencapai pencapaian yang tinggi, keluarga mereka akan dipandang tinggi.
Teori Pendekatan Interaksi
Teori Pendekatan Interaksi yang dikemukakan oleh Paul Watzlawick pada tahun
1967 menjelaskan bahawa pola komunikasi keluarga dan strategi konflik amat
penting dalam proses sosialisasi. Bagi menjelaskan hubungan pola komunikasi
keluarga dengan strategi konflik, aksiom keempat dalam Teori Pendekatan Interaksi
menjelaskan bahawa keadaan hubungan remaja dengan ibu bapa bergantung
bagaimana setiap pihak menandakan rangkaian komunikasi mereka. Individuindividu tersebut melihat perkara yang sama dengan cara yang berbeza.
Berdasarkan pandangan teori tersebut, banyak kajian yang berkaitan dengan
pola komunikasi dengan strategi konflik berkait secara signifikan dengan kelemahan
dari segi pembangunan psikologikal, tingkah laku sosial dan pencapaian akademik
dalam kalangan anak-anak (Chen, Dong & Zhou 1997; Strage & Brandt 1999; Jones,
Beach & Forehand 2001). Misalnya, dalam kalangan remaja Barat, pola komunikasi
berorientasikan keakuran tidak dapat membina dan membentuk hubungan dalam
keluarga. Sebaliknya, remaja daripada keluarga Cina Amerika lebih banyak
menggunakan strategi mengelak dan bekerjasama dan menerima orientasi keakuran
ibu bapa sebagai unsur didikan, pemantauan dan kawalan daripada ibu bapa
demi kebaikan diri mereka pada masa hadapan. Oleh sebab remaja dan ibu bapa
dapat menandakan rangkaian komunikasi mereka dengan cara yang sama, maka
persamaan dan persefahaman dalam hubungan mereka dengan ibu bapa dapat
diwujudkan. Ini akan membantu remaja mempunyai kepuasan diri yang tinggi
dalam mencapai kejayaan dalam hidup mereka pada masa hadapan (Crespi &
Sabatelli 2002; Oetzel et al. 2003).
75
Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Hasil kajian dan perbincangan
Pola komunikasi keluarga berorientasi perbualan dan berorientasi keakuran diukur
dengan mengadaptasikan pengukuran Revise Family Communication Pattern (RFCP)
oleh Ritchie dan Fitzpatrick (1990). Pola komunikasi keluarga berorientasikan
perbualan dibahagikan kepada dua kategori, iaitu rendah (markah dari 15 hingga
38) dan tinggi (markah dari 39 hingga 60). Dapatan mendapati pola komunikasi
keluarga responden kajian ini adalah berorientasikan perbualan rendah sebanyak
60.8 peratus dan berorientasikan perbualan tinggi sebanyak 39.2 peratus (Jadual 1).
Keputusan kajian ini selari dengan Muslim dan Zainuddin (2006) yang mendapati
orientasi perbualan rendah bercirikan ibu bapa yang bersikap tegas dengan anakanak.
Jadual 1: Pola komunikasi orientasi perbualan mengikut kategori (n=360)
Dimensi pola komunikasi keluarga
Orientasi perbualan
Rendah (15 – 38)
Tinggi (39 – 60)
Min=36.4
SP=7.84
Kekerapan Peratus
219
141
60.8
39.2
Jadual 2 memaparkan taburan responden mengikut pola komunikasi berorientasikan
perbualan. Berdasarkan keputusan kajian jumlah skor yang diberikan untuk setiap
item, nilai skor tertinggi (min=3.06, SP=0.94) adalah pada kenyataan “Ibu bapa saya
selalu berkata begini, sepatutnya awak mesti melihat kebaikan dan keburukan sesuatu isu”.
Di sini dapat dilihat mungkin ibu bapa menanamkan satu nilai kedalam diri anakanak agar anak-anak boleh bersifat fleksibel, tidak tergesa-gesa dan boleh berlaku
adil dalam membuat sesuatu keputusan penting di masa hadapan. Cara begini
dapat mengeratkan hubungan ibu bapa-anak kerana setiap permasalahan akan
ditangani secara positif bersama. Dapatan untuk kenyataan “Dalam keluarga, kami
selalu bercakap tentang perancangan dan harapan masa hadapan” menunjukkan skor yang
diperoleh ialah min=2.82, SP=0.95. Ini menunjukkan mungkin ibu bapa mengambil
berat mengenai masa depan anak-anak mereka. Cara begini dapat mengeratkan
hubungan antara ibu bapa dengan anak kerana segala permasalahan yang timbul
dapat dikongsi bersama. Ini diikuti dengan kenyataan “Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata,
setiap orang mesti mempunyai pandangan dalam membuat keputusan keluarga” (min=2.72,
SP=0.96). Di sini dapat dilihat mungkin ibu bapa bersikap terbuka dalam menerima
pandangan dan nasihat dari anak-anak. Tidak semestinya anak-anak lebih muda
dari ibu bapa, maka segala yang diperkatakan tidak ada yang benar.
Nilai skor yang terendah (Min=1.89, SP=0.92) ialah pada kenyataan “Dalam
keluarga,kami selalu berbicara pasal politik atau agama di mana di antara kami mempunyai
pendapat yang berbeza”. Ini mungkin menunjukkan bahawa ibu bapa tidak suka
adanya pandangan berbeza antara mereka dengan anak-anak dari segi politik atau
agama. Ibu bapa kadangkala mempunyai prinsip atau falsafah mengenai sesuatu
fahaman politik mereka dan mahu falsafah tersebut menjadi nilai yang dituruti
oleh anak-anak mereka.
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Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga dalam Menangani Konflik dalam kalangan Remaja
Jadual 2: Taburan responden mengikut pola komunikasi orientasi perbualan
(n=360)
Skor
Item
1
2
3
4
Min
SP
1. Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata ”awak mesti
melihat kebaikan dan keburukan sesuatu isu”.
8.3
15.8
37.2
38.6
3.06
0.94
2. Dalam keluarga, kami selalu bercakap tentang
perancangan dan harapan masa depan.
10.3
24.2
37.5
28.1
2.82
0.95
3. Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata ”setiap orang
mesti mempunyai pandangan dalam membuat
keputusan keluarga”.
13.1
25.3
38.6
23.1
2.72
0.96
4. Ibu bapa akan bertanya pendapat saya apabila
kami sedang membincangkan sesuatu.
13.6
29.9
38.6
20.8
2.67
0.96
5. Saya seronok berbicara dengan ibu bapa,
walaupun kami tidak bersetuju tentang
sesuatu perkara.
13.9
29.2
52.3
21.7
2.65
0.97
6. Ibu bapa dan saya mempunyai masa yang
panjang dan santai untuk berborak.
17.2
29.4
34.4
18.8
2.50
0.98
7. Kami berbincang sebagai sebuah keluarga
tentang apa yang kami buat sepanjang
hari.
22.8
24.2
36.7
16.4
2.47
1.02
8. Saya selalu memberitahu ibu bapa apa yang
saya fikir tentang sesuatu perkara.
25.2
26.4
29.4
18.3
2.40
1.06
9. Ibu bapa saya suka mendengar pandangan
saya walaupun saya tidak begitu setuju dengan
pandangan mereka.
24.2
31.1
29.2
15.6
2.36
1.01
10. Ibu bapa menggalakkan saya meluahkan
perasaan.
26.4
28.3
28.9
16.4
2.35
1.04
11. Saya boleh memberitahu ibu bapa saya
tentang semua perkara.
22.5
29.4
31.7
16.4
2.22
1.07
12. Ibu bapa saya cenderung untuk terbuka
tentang emosi mereka.
32.5
31.9
25.6
10.0
2.13
0.98
13. Dalam keluarga kami, kami biasa bercakap
tentang perasaan dan emosi kami.
33.6
33.6
21.9
10.8
2.10
0.99
14. Ibu bapa saya menggalakkan saya mencabar
idea dan kepercayaan mereka.
39.2
26.7
21.7
12.5
2.08
1.05
15. Dalam keluarga, kami selalu berbicara
tentang perkara seperti politik dan agama
walaupun terdapat ahli yang tidak bersetuju
dengan pendapat ahli keluarga yang lain.
42.4
30.8
21.1
5.6
1.89
0.92
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
Hasil kajian ini mempunyai persamaan dengan Narimah et al. (2008) yang
menyatakan bahawa ibu bapa yang berorientasikan perbualan rendah kurang mesra
dengan anak-anak. Sebaliknya, keluarga yang berorientasikan perbualan tinggi
akan lebih mesra dengan anak-anak yang menyaksikan ibu bapa meluangkan masa
untuk melakukan aktiviti bersama-sama dengan anak-anak mereka.
Pola komunikasi keluarga berorientasi keakuran dibahagikan kepada dua
kategori, iaitu rendah (markah dari 11 hingga 28) dan tinggi (markah dari 29 hingga
44) dan kajian mendapati 52.8 peratus keluarga responden banyak menggunakan
pola komunikasi orientasi keakuran tinggi, manakala hanya 47.2 peratus
berorientasikan keakuran rendah (Jadual 3). Keputusan kajian ini selari dengan
Choa (2001) yang mendapati dalam kalangan ibu bapa Cina, orientasi keakuran
tinggi diamalkan dalam keluarga ialah cara untuk mendisiplinkan anak-anak.
Menurut Narimah et al. (2008), kebanyakan ibu bapa keluarga petani menekankan
orientasi keakuran semasa bercakap dengan anak-anak bertujuan untuk menegur di
samping mengawal anak-anak. Mereka menyatakan bahawa peranan komunikasi
ibu bapa adalah untuk mensosialisasi anak agar menjadi anggota keluarga dan
masyarakat yang baik.
Jadual 3: Pola komunikasi orientasi keakuran mengikut kategori (n=360)
Dimensi pola komunikasi keluarga
Orientasi keakuran
Rendah (11-28)
Tinggi (29 – 44)
Min=28.8
SP=6.05
Kekerapan
Peratus
170
190
47.2
52.8
Jadual 4 membentangkan taburan responden mengikut orientasi keakuran.
Berdasarkan keputusan kajian jumlah skor yang diberikan untuk setiap item, nilai
skor tertinggi adalah pada kenyataan “Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata begini, anak-anak
tidak boleh melawan cakap orang tua” (min=3.51, SP=0.86). Ini mungkin disebabkan
sikap hormat terhadap orang yang lebih tua amat dititikberatkan dalam amalan
kehidupan seharian selagi ia tidak bercanggah dengan agama dan peraturan.
Seterusnya adalah kenyataan “Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata, awak akan lebih memahami
apabila awak dewasa nanti” (min=3.12, SP=0.90). Dalam konteks ini mungkin ibu
bapa cuba membentuk anak-anak agar menerima pandangan atau keputusan ibu
bapa berdasarkan pengalaman yang telah mereka lalui. Dari situ mereka akan
lebih memahami apa-apa yang sebenarnya berlaku. Ini diikuti dengan kenyataan
“Apabila berada di rumah, saya diharapkan patuh kepada peraturan ibu bapa” (Min=2.97,
SP=1.03). Ibu bapa cuba membentuk anak-anak agar menjadi seorang yang patuh
dan tidak membantah sesuatu perkara yang telah diputuskan.
Nilai skor terendah (Min=2.03, SP=1.00) adalah pada kenyataan “Ibu bapa saya
selalu berkata, idea saya betul dan awak tidak sepatutnya mempersoalkannya”. Bagi ibu bapa,
tiada sebab untuk menyanggah pandangan mereka sama ada betul ataupun salah.
Kajian oleh Koerner dan Fitzpatrick (2002) mendapati ibu bapa yang mengamalkan
komunikasi berorientasikan keakuran tinggi akan membantutkan perkembangan
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Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga dalam Menangani Konflik dalam kalangan Remaja
komunikasi anak-anak mereka berbanding komunikasi berorientasikan keakuran
rendah. Ini kerana ibu bapa menghendaki anak-anak mematuhi keputusan ibu
bapa tanpa mempersoalkannya.
Jadual 4: Taburan responden mengikut orientasi keakuran (n=360).
Item
Skor
1
2
3
4
Min
SP
1. Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata “anak-anak tidak
boleh melawan cakap orang tua.”
5.8
7.2
17.5
69.4
3.51
0.86
2. Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata “awak akan lebih
memahami sesuatu perkara apabila awak dewasa
nanti.”
6.4
16.7
36.7
40.3
3.12
0.90
3. Apabila berada di rumah, saya diharapkan
patuh
kepada peraturan ibu bapa
10.8
21.7
26.9
48.6
2.97
1.03
4. Keluarga mengharapkan saya patuh tanpa
menyoal apabila melibatkan perkara penting.
16.9
22.8
34.7
25.6
2.72
1.08
5. Dalam keluarga, ibu bapa selalu memberi kata
putus tentang semua perkara.
23.9
30.3
27.2
18.6
2.68
1.03
6.Apabila ibu bapa saya tidak bersetuju tentang
sesuatu, mereka tidak ingin mengetahui
tentangnya.
35.3
28.3
23.1
13.3
2.63
1.02
7.Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata “ada sesetengah
perkara yang kita tidak boleh bincangkannya.”
19.4
28.1
31.4
21.1
2.54
1.03
8.Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata “awak tidak
sepatutnya
berhujah sehingga membuatkan orang marah.”
19.4
18.3
33.3
28.9
2.54
1.03
9. Ibu bapa saya berasakan penting untuk menjadi
ketua.
17.2
25.3
34.7
22.8
2.41
1.05
10. Ibu bapa saya kadang-kadang menjadi marah
apabila pandangan saya berbeza daripada mereka.
40.6
27.8
20.6
11.1
2.14
1.05
11. Ibu bapa saya selalu berkata “idea saya betul
dan awak tidak patut mempersoalkannya.”
38.3
30.6
20.8
10.3
2.03
1.00
Strategi Konflik
Strategi konflik dalam kalangan remaja, iaitu strategi mengelak, strategi bekerjasama,
dan strategi menyerang diukur dengan mengadaptasikan pengukuran Dimensi
Gaya Konflik (Conflict Style Dimension [CSD] oleh Ting-Toomey et al. (2000). Jadual
5 memaparkan taburan responden mengikut strategi mengelak. Berdasarkan
keputusan kajian jumlah skor yang diberikan untuk setiap item, nilai skor tertinggi
(min=3.39, SP=0.79) adalah pada kenyataan “Saya cuba mengelak daripada bertengkar
dengan ibu bapa”. Ini menunjukkan mungkin remaja mengambil kira perasaan ibu
bapa tanpa mengira situasi yang dilalui. Cara begini dapat mengeratkan hubungan
antara remaja dengan ibu bapa di samping mengekalkan rasa hormat yang tinggi
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
terhadap ibu bapa. Seterusnya kenyataan “Saya cuba untuk mengelak dari sebarang
pertengkaran yang tidak diingini dengan ibu bapa saya” menunjukkan skor yang tinggi,
iaitu min=3.37, SP=0.83. Di sini dapat dilihat kemungkinan remaja bersikap terbuka
dalam menerima peraturan yang disediakan oleh ibu bapa. Tidak semestinya
peraturan yang dibuat oleh ibu bapa akan menyusahkan diri remaja. Ini diikuti
dengan kenyataan “Saya cuba untuk mengelakkan perselisihan faham dengan ibu bapa bagi
mengelak terjadinya pergaduhan” (Min=3.24, SP=0.91). Di sini dapat dilihat mungkin
remaja menanamkan satu nilai ke dalam diri mereka agar mereka boleh bersifat
fleksibel, tidak tergesa-gesa dan boleh membuat sesuatu keputusan penting pada
masa depan. Cara begini dapat meningkatkan rasa hormat remaja terhadap ibu
bapa kerana setiap permasalahan akan ditangani secara positif.
Nilai skor yang terendah (Min=2.48, SP=1.05) ialah pada kenyataan “Saya lebih
suka mendiamkan diri dari memberi respon”. Ini menunjukkan bahawa mungkin remaja
lebih suka menjaga hati ibu bapa dan tidak mahu ada perbezaan pandangan antara
mereka. Ibu bapa kadangkala mempunyai pandangan mereka sendiri tentang
kehidupan berdasarkan pengalaman hidup mereka. Jadi sebagai anak, walaupun
terdapat beberapa pengalaman ibu bapa yang tidak relevan untuk diamalkan pada
masa kini, tetapi kemungkinan boleh diguna dan dianggap sebagai panduan yang
boleh diubah suai dengan kehidupan hari ini.
Jadual 5: Taburan responden mengikut strategi mengelak (n=360)
Item
Skor
1
2
3
4
Min
SP
1. Saya cuba mengelak daripada bertengkar
dengan ibu bapa.
1.9
13.3
28.3
56.4
3.39
0.79
2.Saya cuba untuk mengelak dari sebarang
pertengkaran yang tidak diingini dengan
ibu bapa saya.
3.9
11.4
28.3
56.4
3.37
0.83
3.Saya cuba untuk mengelak perselisihan faham
dengan ibu bapa bagi mengelak terjadinya
pergaduhan.
6.1
14.2
29.2
50.6
3.24
0.91
4.Saya lebih suka tenangkan hati berbanding
bertengkar mengenai isu tersebut.
10.0
21.7
29.2
39.2
2.98
1.01
5.Selalunya saya hanya mendiamkan diri dan
membiarkan perkara itu selesai dengan
sendirinya.
21.9
26.1
27.5
24.4
2.54
1.09
6.Saya lebih suka mendiamkan diri daripada
memberi respon.
21.4
28.9
28.9
20.8
2.48
1.05
Dapatan kajian yang diperoleh ini selari dengan Dumlao dan Botta (2000) yang
menyatakan strategi mengelak yang tinggi oleh remaja adalah untuk menamatkan
perbalahan dengan ibu bapa kerana tidak mahu berbincang mengenai sesuatu
isu, idea atau pandangan dengan ibu bapa selanjutnya atau pada masa depan.
Dengan kata lain, strategi mengelak yang tinggi menunjukkan adanya tanda protes
terhadap ibu bapa. Dalam konteks budaya Malaysia atau tatasusila budaya orang
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Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga dalam Menangani Konflik dalam kalangan Remaja
Melayu, sekiranya seseorang anak menentang ibu bapa secara terang-terangan, ia
dianggap sebagai anak kurang ajar, derhaka dan sebagainya. Oleh yang demikian,
strategi mengelak yang digunakan oleh responden kajian ini mungkin untuk
menyembunyikan kedurjanaan dan kedurhakaan anak-anak terhadap ibu bapa.
Jadual 6 memaparkan taburan responden mengikut strategi bekerjasama.
Keputusan kajian menunjukkan jumlah skor yang diberikan untuk setiap item,
nilai skor tertinggi (min=2.91, SP=0.99) adalah pada kenyataan “Saya berusaha
menyelesaikan masalah kami melalui perbincangan yang baik”. Di sini dapat dilihat
remaja mungkin menanamkan satu nilai dalam diri mereka agar boleh bersikap
fleksibel, tidak tergesa-gesa dan berlaku adil dalam membuat sesuatu keputusan
penting. Cara begini dapat mengeratkan hubungan dan meningkatkan rasa hormat
kepada ibu bapa-anak kerana setiap permasalahan boleh ditangani bersama secara
positif. Seterusnya kenyataan “Saya bersetuju dengan pandangan ibu bapa semasa
membuat keputusan” dengan skor min=2.82, SP=0.94 menunjukkan kemungkinan
remaja sentiasa memberi sokongan kepada ibu bapa tidak kira dalam apa-apa jua
situasi. Cara begini dapat mengeratkan hubungan antara remaja dengan ibu bapa
kerana ibu bapa akan berasa bahagia kerana segala permasalahan boleh dikongsi
bersama. Ini diikuti dengan kenyataan “Saya bercakap secara jujur dan terbuka
tentang sesuatu masalah” (min=2.74, SP=0.96). Di sini dapat dilihat remaja bersikap
terbuka dalam memberi pandangan kepada ibu bapa demi kebaikan bersama pada
masa hadapan. Walaupun anak-anak lebih muda daripada ibu bapa, maka tidak
semestinya mereka tidak mempunyai idea yang bernas.
Jadual 6: Taburan responden mengikut strategi bekerjasama (n=360)
Item
Skor
1
2
3
4
Min
SP
1.Saya berusaha untuk menyelesaikan masalah
kami
melalui perbincangan yang baik.
10.6
21.4
34.2
33.9
2.91
0.99
2.Saya akan bersetuju dengan pandangan ibu
bapa semasa membuat keputusan.
9.7
25.8
37.2
27.2
2.82
0.94
3. Saya akan bercakap secara terbuka dan jujur
tentang sesuatu masalah.
10.6
29.7
34.2
25.6
2.74
0.96
4.Saya menggunakan penyelesaian masalah
dengan berbincang terus dengan ibu bapa.
11.4
28.6
37.8
22.2
2.71
0.94
5.Saya cuba menyelesaikan masalah perbezaan
pendapat kami melalui perbincangan terbuka.
15.6
24.2
39.7
20.6
2.65
0.98
6.Saya akan berjumpa dengan ibu bapa saya
untuk memastikan sama ada kami boleh
menyelesaikan masalah kami.
17.5
25.8
35.0
21.9
2.61
1.01
Nilai skor yang terendah (min=2.61, SP=1.01) ialah pada kenyataan “Saya akan
berjumpa dengan ibu bapa saya untuk memastikan sama ada kami boleh menyelesaikan
masalah kami”. Ini menunjukkan bahawa mungkin ibu bapa tidak suka adanya
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perbezaan pandangan antara mereka dengan anak-anak. Kadangkala remaja
menjadi bosan kerana ibu bapa tidak mahu bertolak ansur dan terbuka, misalnya
berkaitan kursus yang diminati oleh anak-anak.
Dapatan kajian yang diperoleh ini selari dengan kebanyakan kajian yang
dilakukan terhadap keluarga Cina (Choa 2001; Siu Man 2002) yang menunjukkan
bahawa kebanyakan remaja menggunakan strategi bekerjasama tinggi dengan ibu
bapa bagi menjaga keharmonian keluarga.
Berdasarkan Jadual 7, keputusan kajian menunjukkan nilai skor tertinggi
(min=2.68, SP=0.96) adalah pada kenyataan “Saya akan gunakan kemahiran saya dalam
menyelesaikan masalah”. Di sini dapat dilihat kemungkinan remaja menanamkan satu
nilai ke dalam diri mereka agar bersikap adil dan tegas dalam membuat sesuatu
keputusan penting. Cara begini dapat menyedarkan ibu bapa bahawa setiap
permasalahan boleh ditangani secara positif bersama. Seterusnya kenyataan “Saya
akan cuba menggunakan kemahiran saya dalam menyelesaikan perbezaan dengan ibu bapa”
(min=2.52, SP=0.93). Ini menunjukkan mungkin remaja mengambil kira perasaan
ibu bapa mereka dalam apa jua situasi. Cara begini masih dapat mengeratkan
hubungan antara remaja dengan ibu bapa kerana setiap permasalahan dapat
dikongsi bersama. Ini diikuti dengan kenyataan “Saya tegas dengan pendirian saya
bila berdepan dengan konflik” (min=2.54, SP=0.97). Di sini dapat dilihat mungkin ibu
bapa bersedia bersikap terbuka dan bertolak ansur dalam menerima pandangan
dan nasihat dari anak-anak. Tidak semestinya anak-anak lebih muda daripada ibu
bapa, maka segala yang diperkatakan tidak ada yang benar.
Jadual 7: Taburan responden mengikut strategi menyerang (n=360)
Item
Skor
1
2
3
4
Min
SP
1.Saya akan gunakan kemahiran saya untuk
menyelesaikan masalah.
11.1
33.3
31.7
23.9
2.68
0.96
2.Saya akan cuba menggunakan kemahiran
saya dalam menyelesaikan perbezaan
dengan ibu bapa.
14.4
35.3
34.2
16.1
2.52
0.93
3.Saya tegas dengan pendirian saya apabila
berdepan dengan konflik.
18.3
34.7
30.3
16.7
2.45
0.97
4.Saya akan pastikan matlamat saya
tercapai sewaktu konflik berlaku.
25.3
31.4
26.9
16.4
2.34
1.03
5.Saya suka mempertahankan hak saya
sebagai anak apabila bertengkar dengan
ibu bapa.
36.1
24.7
23.6
15.6
2.19
1.09
6.Saya akan bertengkar dengan ibu bapa
jika ia berkaitan dengan hal saya.
48.3
27.2
14.7
9.7
1.86
1.00
Nilai skor yang terendah (min=1.86, SP=1.00) ialah pada kenyataan “Saya akan
bertengkar dengan ibu bapa jika ia berkaitan dengan hal saya”. Ini menunjukkan bahawa
mungkin remaja tidak suka adanya pandangan yang berbeza antara mereka
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Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga dalam Menangani Konflik dalam kalangan Remaja
dengan ibu bapa, terutama yang berkait dengan hal peribadi. Ibu bapa kadangkala
mempunyai prinsip atau falsafah yang bercanggah dengan minat anak-anak mereka
misalnya, berkaitan fesyen dan kawan.
Dapatan kajian yang diperoleh ini selari dengan banyak kajian lepas yang
menunjukkan kebanyakan remaja Asia tidak cenderung untuk menggunakan
strategi menyerang dengan ibu bapa (Ann Yu Lung 1999; Choa 2001; Siu Man
2002; Zhang 2007). Dalam konteks Malaysia, remaja yang menggunakan strategi
menyerang terhadap ibu bapa akan dianggap anak durhaka. Ini kerana strategi
menyerang mempunyai elemen-elemen verbal yang cenderung untuk menjatuhkan
kredibiliti ibu bapa. Maka itu, keputusan kajian ini telah menyokong banyak kajian
ke atas keluarga yang melibatkan keluarga Asia.
Sebanyak enam hipotesis telah dibentuk untuk menjelaskan perkaitan pola
komunikasi keluarga dengan strategi konflik. Hasil analisis Hipotesis 1 menunjukkan
nilai korelasi antara strategi mengelak remaja dengan orientasi perbualan ialah r
= 0.28, dengan nilai signifikannya ialah p = 0.000. Nilai signifikan yang lebih kecil
daripada 0.05 (p< 0.05) membawa erti hipotesis ini diterima. Kekuatan nilai korelasi
antara strategi mengelak dengan orientasi perbualan (r = 0.0–0.29) adalah positif
dan sangat lemah. Hasil keputusan menunjukkan orientasi perbualan menyumbang
kepada penggunaan strategi mengelak oleh remaja. Semakin kerap ibu bapa
menggunakan pola komunikasi berorientasikan perbualan, kekerapan remaja
menggunakan strategi mengelak turut meningkat. Ia selari dengan kajian Zhang
(2007) yang mendapati pertalian dalam keluarga amat penting. Oleh itu, fungsi
utama komunikasi ialah menjaga hubungan sosial yang dijalinkan.
Hasil analisis Hipotesis 2 menunjukkan bahawa nilai korelasi antara strategi
bekerjasama dengan orientasi perbualan adalah r = 0.59 dengan nilai signifikannya
ialah p=0.000. Nilai signifikan yang lebih kecil daripada 0.05 (p< 0.05) menunjukkan
hipotesis ini diterima. Hasil kajian menunjukkan strategi bekerjasama berkait secara
sederhana dan positif dengan orientasi perbualan (r = 0.5–0.69). Ini bermakna
orientasi perbualan dapat menyumbang kepada strategi bekerjasama remaja.
Kekerapan ibu bapa menggunakan orientasi perbualan, akan meningkatkan strategi
bekerjasama oleh remaja. Ia selari dengan kajian Trubisky, Ting-Toomey, dan Lin
(1991) yang mendapati remaja Cina Taiwan lebih banyak menggunakan strategi
bekerjasama dengan ibu bapa mereka sewaktu konflik berlaku.
Hasil analisis Hipotesis 3 menunjukkan nilai korelasi antara strategi menyerang
dengan orientasi perbualan adalah r = 0.25 dengan nilai signifikan p=0.000. Nilai
signifikan adalah lebih kecil daripada 0.05 (p< 0.05). Ini bermakna hipotesis ini
diterima. Hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat perkaitan yang sangat lemah dan
positif antara strategi menyerang dengan orientasi perbualan (r=0.0-0.29). Ini
bermakna orientasi perbualan dapat menyumbang kepada strategi menyerang
oleh remaja. Semakin kerap ibu bapa menggunakan orientasi perbualan, semakin
meningkat remaja menggunakan strategi menyerang. Ia selari dengan Koerner dan
Fitzpatrick (1997) yang mendapati ahli keluarga akan berasa selesa kerana dapat
menyuarakan sesuatu perkara yang mereka tidak berpuas hati bagi menyelesaikan
konflik mereka.
Hasil analisis Hipotesis 4 menunjukkan nilai korelasi antara strategi mengelak
dengan orientasi keakuran adalah r = 0.344 dengan nilai signifikan p= 0.000. Nilai
signifikan adalah lebih kecil daripada 0.05 (p< 0.05). Ini bermakna hipotesis ini
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Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia / Malaysian Journal of Media Studies
diterima. Hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat perkaitan yang lemah dan positif
antara strategi mengelak dengan orientasi keakuran (r=0.3-0.49). Ini bermakna
orientasi keakuran menyumbang kepada strategi mengelak oleh remaja. Semakin
kerap ibu bapa menggunakan orientasi keakuran, strategi mengelak remaja
juga meningkat. Ia selari dengan Berens (2000) yang mendapati individu yang
menggunakan strategi mengelak cenderung untuk tidak berkonfrontasi.
Hasil analisis Hipotesis 5 menunjukkan nilai korelasi antara strategi bekerjasama
dengan orientasi keakuran adalah r = 0.39 dengan nilai signifikan p= 0.000. Nilai
signifikan adalah lebih kecil daripada 0.05 (p< 0.05). Ini bermakna hipotesis ini
diterima. Hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat perkaitan yang lemah dan positif
antara strategi bekerjasama dengan orientasi keakuran (r=0.30-0.49). Ini bermakna
orientasi keakuran dapat menyumbang kepada strategi bekerjasama oleh remaja.
Semakin kerap ibu bapa menggunakan orientasi keakuran, strategi bekerjasama
diguna oleh remaja turut meningkat. Ia selaras dengan Zhang et al. (2005) yang
menyatakan bahawa remaja lebih memilih menggunakan strategi bekerjasama
dalam hubungan mereka dengan ibu bapa.
Hasil analisis Hipotesis 6 menunjukkan nilai korelasi antara strategi menyerang
dengan orientasi keakuran adalah r = 0.36 dengan nilai signifikan p= 0.000. Nilai
signifikan adalah lebih kecil daripada 0.05 (p< 0.05). Ini bermakna hipotesis ini
diterima. Hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat perkaitan yang lemah dan positif
antara strategi menyerang dengan orientasi keakuran (r= 0.30-0.49). Ini bermakna
orientasi keakuran menyumbang strategi menyerang oleh remaja. Kekerapan ibu
bapa menggunakan orientasi keakuran, strategi menyerang diguna remaja turut
meningkat. Ia menyokong kajian Aziyah (2008) yang mendapati bahawa remaja
berasa marah dengan pengawalan dan penguasaan ibu bapa ke atas diri mereka.
Secara keseluruhan hasil analisis kajian ini mendapati strategi mengelak,
strategi bekerjasama, dan strategi menyerang dalam kalangan remaja berkait
secara signifikan dan positif dengan orientasi perbualan dan orientasi keakuran.
Dapatan kajian ini konsisten dengan Aziyah (2008) yang menyatakan bahawa
pola komunikasi keluarga banyak membawa sengketa dalam hubungan remaja
dengan ibu bapa. Maka, remaja akan menggunakan strategi konflik dalam
mengurus persengketaan tersebut. Ini menunjukkan semasa bersengketa dengan
ibu bapa remaja akan menggunakan strategi konflik dalam menguruskan konflik
mereka dengan ibu bapa. Kajian ini memberi implikasi kepada Teori Pendekatan
Interaksi yang menerangkan strategi mengelak, strategi bekerjasama, dan strategi
menyerang yang dikaitkan dengan pola komunikasi berorientasikan perbualan
dan berorientasikan keakuran dapat membentuk persetujuan dan persefahaman
adalah bergantung bagaimana setiap pihak menandakan rangkaian komunikasi
mereka (Watzlawick et al. 1967). Sekiranya setiap pihak iaitu remaja dapat menerima
peraturan yang disediakan ibu bapa sebagai satu cara mendidik agar anak-anak
menjadi seorang yang bertanggungjawab dan berdisiplin, maka teori menjelaskan
akan wujud keharmonian dan kebahagiaan dalam hubungan remaja dengan ibu
bapa atau hubungan ibu bapa dengan remaja. Ini menunjukkan aksiom keempat
dalam Teori Pendekatan Interaksi dapat dikukuhkan dan aplikasinya harus
diperluaskan lagi pada penyelidikan seterusnya.
84
Hubungan Komunikasi Keluarga dalam Menangani Konflik dalam kalangan Remaja
Rumusan
Berdasarkan hasil kajian dan perbincangan di atas, dapat dirumuskan bahawa pola
komunikasi keluarga kajian ini berorientasikan keakuran tinggi dan rendah orientasi
perbualan. Ini menunjukkan pola komunikasi keluarga responden mementingkan
ketegasan, kepatuhan dan disiplin diri yang tinggi ke atas anak-anak. Disiplin diri
yang tinggi akan membantu remaja menahan diri dari terjebak dengan aktiviti
yang tidak bermoral dan juga pengaruh dari rakan sebaya. Dapatan menunjukkan
kebanyakan remaja menggunakan strategi mengelak dan strategi bekerjasama
lebih tinggi berbanding strategi menyerang dalam strategi konflik mereka. Ini
menunjukkan bahawa responden kajian ini adalah remaja yang mementingkan
kepatuhan yang tinggi dengan ibu bapa. Selain itu, pola komunikasi keluarga
(orientasi perbualan dan orientasi keakuran) berkait secara positif dengan strategi
konflik sama ada strategi mengelak, strategi bekerjasama, dan strategi menyerang
remaja. Ini menunjukkan bahawa dengan menggunakan strategi konflik, remaja
dapat meningkatkan kemahiran dan keupayaan diri dalam menangani masalah
yang dihadapi terutama sewaktu situasi konflik dengan ibu bapa.
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