THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISCOURSE AND POWER

Foucault (as cited in Bahasoan & Kotarumalos, 2014) viewed discourse as

a tactical element that operates in power relations. It then indicates that there is a
reciprocal relationship between discourse and power. Furthermore, as explained
aforementioned in the background that discourse becomes an inseparable part of
the power process and mechanism, it then can be said that discourse is a tool for
the interests of power, hegemony, cultural dominance and science. Moreover, it
can be seen that the distribution of discourse to the community in the post-modern
era is carried out strategically through the media, both printed and electronic,
which in this case, the discourse as viewed by Foucault above can be used as an
enforcer or a tool to strengthen power and of course also has a great influence so
that it can affect the mindset of the community. Foucault also said that the whole
discourse had quite strategic potential whether the discourse was dominant or not.

Furthermore, Foucault explained that discourse or knowledge also

operates strategically based on certain interests and that discourse is socially
distributed among the community while carrying a variety of ideologies, which
ultimately aims to influence the community as the object of the process of
discourse spreading. For instance, advertisements from skin care or beauty
products in our country mostly use models with fair skin, in which it can lead to
the discourse that the other women with black or light brown skin is considered
ugly, bad and not beautiful. Another example is the shampoo and hair
conditioning advertisement can cause an ideology which plays a strategic role to
insert racism ideology into society that might change people's mindset, in which
discourse of “fair or bright skin” will build ethnic sentiment since the
advertisements do not give rise to a sense of justice that may offense the Papuans
ethnic in this country. In these two cases, the public opinion will be controlled in
accordance with the ideology that the black or light brown skin and the curly hair
are considered not beautiful. It then will benefit producers of skin care or beauty
products that use these advertising media. In this case, even though the conception
of beauty is very relative, the capitalist agent (the cosmetics manufacturer's

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trading strategy) plays a role in playing the aforementioned discourse. Thus, it is
very important to have a deep review for a given discourse, either explicitly or
implicitly.

Additionally, during the reign of Soeharto, people became so frightened to

be accused for not being ‘Pancasilais’ since they would certainly be watched for
their activities and could even be jailed. This ‘Pancasilais’ discourse was used by
the New Order government to make a general conception of how an Indonesian
should be based on Pancasila and not to against it, yet in this case, what was used
by the New Order was their own version of Pancasila, in which it leaves no room
for speculation and is full of doctrine. Unlike the cosmetics and beauty products
advertisements case above where the hegemony or power of capitalism uses
discourse to maintain and strengthen its existence, this case of New Order era is
not only limited to capitalism, but also applies to the political repressive power of
the authorities. In the New Order era, it can be seen how the authorities created
and distributed the discourse that communism and marxism are a hidden danger
for this nation. This discourse then succeeded in shaping the social mindset of the
Indonesian people, or in other word, the New Order authorities successfully
gained sympathy and support from the majority of the Indonesian people at that
time.

By the case of New Order above, it can be concluded that discourse with
power has a systematic relationship; that a power will be sustainable if it has
succeeded in mastering public opinion or the ideological side of society as an
object of control, in which for this reason the use of discourse is needed. In that
case, the mastery of public opinion was successfully carried out by the New Order
by distributing and stabilizing the discourse of communism that was very cruel
and inhumane so that it was natural for them to be suppressed. Jones in his
summary of Foucault (as cited in Bahasoan & Kotarumalos) says humans will
only know the truth according to what they understand in human discourse itself,
and it is clear that humans are also hindered and limited by the particular
discourse they face.

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 Furthermore, Foucault explained that power is a mechanism that creates
legal rationality and knowledge as a tool to enforce greater power. For instance,
an incumbent governor who wants to regain political power will work hard to
dominate all sources of power and knowledge directly related to the process of
political succession. As a step to win, this incumbent as a candidate will have
consultation with various elements, especially the election organizers (e.g. KPU
and Bawaslu) as the most responsible elements in controlling power through their
knowledge and authority. Additionally, due to the power to justify the knowledge
and power of health, even though the incumbent is not medically fit, a doctor
might recommend that the incumbent be healthy and fit to run in the election, yet
the public does not have the academic right to protest because the power of
knowledge is in the doctor. Thus, collaboration of various elements of knowledge
and power then supports power in general on behalf of the State, which in this
case the incumbent governor who is elected even by fraudulent means will use
this knowledge and power tool to keep his position.

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 REFERENCES

Bahasoan, A. & Kotarumalos, A. F. (2014). Praktek Relasi Wacana dan Kuasa

Foucaltdian dalam Realias Multi Profesi di Indonesia. Retrieved from
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iEduNote. (2017). Power: Definition, 10 Sources of Power, Uses of Power

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Sik, H. Ng & Fei, D. (2017). Language and Power. Retrieved from

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Wikipedia. (n.d.). Power (social and political). Retrieved May 17, 2020 from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(social_and_political)