153 Symbolic Meaning of Drama “Perlawanan Diponegoro” Nur Sahid1, Sukatmi Susantina1, Nicko Septiawan2 1Department of Theatre, Faculty of Performing Arts, Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta, Indonesia Jl. Parangtritis Km 6,5, Sewon, Bantul, Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta 55188 2PT Cahaya Dua Creativa, Indonesia E-mail: nur.isijogja@yahoo.co.id Received: October 11, 2016. Revised: November 12, 2016. Accepted: December 11, 2016 Abstract Study on Drama entitled “Perlawanan Diponegoro” or “Diponegoro Insurrection” by Lephen Purwanto is aiming at deeply digging the semiotic meanings attached to it. This study employed Keir Elam’s theatrical semiotics as the approach, while Krippendorf’s content analysis was implemented as the method of study. Citing from Krippendorf, content analysis is a method that is particularly develop to study symbolical phenomena with a major purpose that is to dig and reveal other examined phenomena, comprising content, meaning, and essential element of a literary work. Keywords: theatrical semiotics; theme; symbolic meaning; meaning; content analysis How to Cite: Sahid, N., Susantina, S. & Septiawan, N. (2016). Symbolic Meaning of Drama “Perlawanan Diponegoro”. Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education, 16(2), 153-162. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/harmonia.v16i2.7445 HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016), 153-162 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/harmonia DOI: 10.15294/harmonia.v16i2.7445 p-ISSN 2541-1683 e-ISSN 2541-2426 tect Islam from the unbeliever, in this case was the Dutch (Carey, 2011, p. 700), and as a war against the Dutch colonialism. In the end, the war or insurrection lead by the Prince which lasted for 5 years, killed many victims both from the Prince and the Dutch’s sides. The war was ended by Magelang treaty on March, 8th 1930 (Carey, 2011, p. 778). The treaty had Prince Diponegoro and Colonel Jan Baptist Cleerens to discuss the reconciliation since February, 1930. Colo- nel Jan Baptist Cleerens himself was Dutch Troops Commander based in Bagelan and Banyumas (Carey, 2011, p. 778). The trea- ty itself was not last long, proven by the Dutch’s deception by arresting Prince Di- ponegoro on March, 28th 1830. The prince was taken to Jakarta to be then exiled to North Sulawesi. The prince was suddenly taken to Makassar on July 1933 and died there in January, 8th 1855. INTRODUCTION Prince Diponegoro is a famous war- rior who fought for independence, from Java Indonesia. Prince Diponegoro, or kno- wn as Pangeran Diponegoro (1785-1855) was well-known as a mystic, an obedient Muslim, and a warlord, opposing Dutch colonialism during the years of 1825-1830. The prince belongs to one of the famous national heroes in Indonesian national his- tory. The guerilla war done by him during his glory in most of Javanese major cities had proven to be able to put the Dutch co- lonialism in a chaos. Prince Diponegoro made his war against the Dutch as a holy war against the invader’s cruelty. This made Indonesian people felt sympathetic and finally helped him during the war. People believed that the Prince’s insurrection had two mea- nings, as a holy war to defend and pro- HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 153-162154 The history of Prince Diponegoro’s insurrection against the Dutch colonia- lism had become inspirations for several artwork creations, i.e. Raden Patah Busta- man who painted an oil painting entitled “Penangkapan Pemimpin Pangeran Di- ponegoro” or “The arrest of Leader Prince Diponegoro” (1857), Remy Sylado wrote a novel entitled “Pangeran Diponegoro” or “Prince Diponegoro” in 2008, a dancer na- med Sardono W. Kusumo created “Opera Diponegoro” or “Diponegoro Opera” in 2012, as well as Lephen Purwanto, a drama player from Yogyakarta who created a ra- dio drama script entitled “Perlawanan Di- ponegoro” or “Diponegoro Insurrection” in the year of 2016. The mentioned examp- les are small parts of many art works inspi- red by the story of Prince Diponegoro’s struggle war against the Dutch colonia- lism. How artists captured the phenome- na of Diponegoro’s insurrection war du- ring the past era had proven that the story of Diponegoro’s struggle in defeating the Dutch had never been away from being the inspiration of art work creations. This can be understood and widely accepted since the figure of Prince Diponegoro itself always has the image of a nationalist, pat- riotic, populist, and religious. The selfless struggle done by the Prince in defending common people is actually valuable and is deserved to be known by current genera- tion. Further, it is considerably needed to be spread out and learned from the young generation, so that the youth will value the Prince’s struggle for more than just a name of the main street, university, and other public places. Related to the phenomena described in the previous parts of this study, resear- cher attempts to analyze the script of an episode of radio drama about Prince Dipo- negoro entitled “Perlawanan Diponegoro” or “The Diponegoro Insurrection” by Le- phen Purwanto (2011) by using the theat- rical semiotic approach from Keir Elam (1991). The radio drama itself actually had a considerable number of episodes that cannot be covered in the study, thus, rese- archers specified the analysis by studying only one episode entitled “Perlawanan Diponegoro”. The episode selection was based on the consideration of numbers of symbols appeared during the time it was on-aired. The symbol itself is an essential element connecting the material mode (signifier) and the meaning (signified). Symbols in the radio drama’s episode studied in this study are mainly found in its theme elements and characterizations. As it has been studied, the theme and charac- terization is an element forming a drama- genre-narrative story (Sahid, 2014, p. 1-4). The characters in the story, such as: Prin- ce Diponegoro, Patih Danurejo (The Vice Regent), Adipati Mangarto (The Duke), Residen Smissaert, and Prince Mangkubu- mi are some of the symbols in the context of theatrical semiotics which the signified can be analyzed. The incidents and comp- lications in the drama “Perlawanan Dipo- negoro” in this study actually results from the conflicts between characters. Therefo- re, the analysis of this dramatic theme can- not be separated from the characterization analysis. The meanings attached to the the- me element are analyzed further by using the theatrical semiotic approach. From the background information and context analysis, two research questi- ons are derived, 1) how is the theme of the drama entitled “Perlawanan Diponego- ro”? 2) how are symbolic meanings imp- licated in the drama entitled “Perlawanan Diponegoro”? Thus, this study is aimed at analyzing the theme and meanings of dra- ma entitled “Perlawanan Diponegoro”. METHOD From research questions and the aims, thus, this study implemented the content analysis method. Krippendorf (cited in Nuryanto, 1992) stated that the content analysis method is particularly de- veloped to study symbolical phenomena by digging and discovering other pheno- mena of an art work’s content, meaning, and essential elements as its main purpo- se. This method implies the notion that Nur Sahid et al., Symbolic Meaning of Drama “Perlawanan Diponegoro” 155 the most important intellectual activity is making inferences or conclusion about the study goals. The content analysis method in this study was done in particular steps. The first stage was inventory which was done in this study by inventorying the theme of “Perlawanan Diponegoro” radio drama. Second was the stage of identifi- cation that was done by identifying con- flicts between characters of the drama. The third was the stage of classification that was done by classifying symbols emerged in the drama. The fourth was the stage of interpretation. It was done by interpreting meanings behind the symbols emerged in the drama. RESULT AND DISCUSSION This study employs the theory of theatrical semiotics of Keir Elam (1992). It has been widely explained that semiotics has clear implications for drama and theat- re study. In the discourse of drama, howe- ver, semiotics allows the investigation of drama text structurally. On the other hand, in theater’s discourse, the semiotics provi- des a metalanguage which can be used to analyze the language of pictures, physics, and aural of the theatre. The term “theat- re” tends to link more to the phenomena of the performer - audience transaction. It re- lates to the production and communicati- on of meaning in the performance with the basic systems underlying it (Elam, 1991, p. 2). In relation to this, it can be inferred that the study of semiotics towards theat- rical performance is possible to be done both for certain element attached to the performance −for instance, the element of drama of a theatre performance− and the whole theater performance. In this study, the analysis focuses only on the element of drama (the written text) of the radio drama “Perlawanan Diponegoro”, and not on the radio drama as an oral performance. Elam (1991, p. 2) mentioned “dra- ma” as a fiction work which is designed as stage representation and constructed based on specific drama conventions. In other words, “theater” is limited to what happened between the performers and audiences, meanwhile “drama” indicates network factors which are related to the represented fiction. Thus, the work scope for a semiotician lies on two text materials, i.e. the drama text (written) and the theater text (the theatre performance). Mukarovsky (cited in Elam, 1991, p. 7) stated that symbols are able to identi- fy an art work, including theater, as a se- miotic unit in which the signifier is the art work itself as the “material”, while the sig- nified is the “aesthetic object” that lies on the society’s collective awareness. In this context, symbol in artwork acts as two fa- ces entity which relates the material mode or signifier with the mental concept or sig- nified. The drama text is considered as a macro symbol, that the meanings are de- termined based on the total effects. This macro symbol should be divided into smaller units before the analysis stage is started. As a result, drama as an artwork is not a single symbol, but more to a semiotic unit network that employs work-related symbols. A drama is formed from smaller units that comprise theme, characterizati- on, and plot. The four elements are inter- related to each other to form an integral unity. The Analysis of Structure The existence of theme in a story is inescapable. Without this “theme”, a wri- ter cannot develop a story; since the theme in a novel or drama is a stand or ground to build the story further (Saad, 1967, p. 62). A writer will always combine the theme together with several other story facts and tools of storytelling till the story is fully structured. H. J. Waluyo (2007, p. 24) men- tioned theme as main idea included in the drama. Further argued by Waluyo that in a drama, theme will be developed through dramatic plot inside the main plot through protagonist and antagonist characters with a characterization that allows conflicts that are formulated in a form of dialogue. A writer inserts theme together with facts and events occurred in the story. A HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 153-162156 theme is an element that is used as a unifier of other story elements, such as: character, plot, and dialogue. Kernodle (1978, p. 270) stated that sometimes a writer reveals the story theme implicitly through characters and setting. Argued further by Kernodle that usually a theme can be in a form of the moral value of attitudes that are deve- loped in life. The drama entitled “Perlawanan Di- ponegoro” showed social conflicts of the main character of the story, Prince Dipo- negoro on one side and Patih Danurejo in another side. The illustration of events hap- pened during the insurrection war lead by Prince Diponegoro against the misconduct behavior done by Patih Danurejo who was supported by the Dutch, had sharpen the conflict between the two parties. The social condition was illustrated by the writer to emphasize the society’s anxiety throug- hout the country. The society anxiety was caused by Patih Danurejo’s misconduct behavior in taking the land owned by people of Te- galrejo village deliberately to build the Dutch’s railroads. Tegalrejo people who were led by Prince Diponegoro could not accept the misappropriate behavior done by both the Dutch and Patih Danurejo. As a result, the Prince’s cohort pulled out the border signs that were planted as the land border. The anxiety was then also resulted in an uncertain socio-politic condition. Prince Diponegoro struggled in his at- tempt to stand up for the fairness of peop- le in Tegalrejo, however, some people like Patih Tegalrejo who preferred to take the Dutch’s side for his own advantage. As a local person, Patih Danurejo was never touched seeing the misery had by people in Tegalrejo whom land was ta- ken by the Dutch. Patih Danurejo even as- ked for Residen Missaert’s help to confront Prince Diponegoro eventhough Prince Mangkubumi who acted as Sultan (King) Menol’ advisory did not approve the batt- le planned by Danurejo and Missaert. The fact showed how Danurejo disrespected Sultan Menol as the King of Kasultanan Yogyakarta. The Nationalism Spirit Prince Diponegoro seemed to have a spirit of nationalism. For him, the Dutch should not own the Java land. The prince had a famous vow saying that he better died than giving the Java land to the Dutch. This was clearly seen from the dialogue: Diponegoro: Ini Pangeran Diponegoro tidak akan tunduk kepada kompeni Belanda. Sedu- muk batuk senyari bumi. Tidak ada ta- nah untuk penjajah. Allahu akbar. Kita tak bisa diam dijajah dan diinjak kom- peni Belanda. Ayo lawan….. Allahu Ak- bar! Allahu Akbar..!! (Musik pelan ke- mudian berubah ke nada timggi heroik. Terdengar lirih suara ringik kuda). ..................` dan tak akan menyerah! Ayo ra- kyatku berjihad fi sabilillah sekarang! (Pur- wanta, 2011, p. 38). The dialogue illustrates the Prince’s stance which stands still against the Dutch’s colonialism. His stance is based on the belief had by the Prince that defending homeland is part of jihad fi sabililillah (a war for religion sake to beat the enemy of Is- lam; to defend Islam from non-believers). Prince Diponegoro’s action to fight against colonial is not a form of rebellion against Kasultanan or the Kingdom of Ma- taram. Even the Prince still belongs to the Kingdom’s descendant. What the Prince countered was the misconduct behavior of the Dutch who had spoiled the rights of Mataram’s common people. As a Mus- lim and a teacher of Islam, the Prince was a wise, fair, polite, and refined man. Even, he actually did not like to war. Pangeran Mangkubumi: Jangan berperasaan begitu. Kita semua wong Jawa dijajah dan didholimi Belan- da. Warga Ngayogya kini semakin bera- ni melawan Belanda, setelah Nak Pange- ran meneladani mereka. Mengobarkan perlawanan kepada kompeni. Pangeran Diponegoro: Paman apa kita berdamai saja? Agar ti- dak terjadi korban jiwa dan darah sia-sia akan membanjiri Tegalreja. Pangeran Mangkubumi: Nur Sahid et al., Symbolic Meaning of Drama “Perlawanan Diponegoro” 157 side of Pangeran Diponegoro. They admi- red Prince Diponegoro as a fair, wise, nob- le, and faithful man, especially in defen- ding his homeland (Purwanta, 2016, p. 34). The personality of Prince Diponegoro was opposite to Patih Danurejo. This opened the conscience inside Mangarto’s soul in which he realized that he also needed to defend his land. As a result, Mangarto told Patih Danurejo and Residen Smissaerts’s plan to attact Tegalrejo to Prince Mangku- bumi and Sultan Menol. Mangarto’s acti- on reflected the spirit of nationalism to his own nation. In addition, the spirit and action that reflected nationalism could also be seen from the character of Prince Mangkubu- mi who, as the King’s advisor, could not be persuaded by both Patih Danurejo and Residen Smissaert to issue the decision of war. It showed his wisdom and careful- ness. Residen Smissaert: Pangeran itu hanya penasehat Sultan Me- nol, bukan sebagai Patih. Jadi tidak berhak menghalangi kami menanyakan sesuatu ke- pada Sultan Menol. Patih Danurejo: Patih Mangku! Ini soal darurat kok harus dengan aturan adat berbelit. Biar Sultan Menol langsung memberi titah! Pangeran Mangkubumi: Kanjeng Sultan Menol masih perlu bimbin- gan sebelum memutuskans sesuatu. Saya, Ibunda Ratu Sultan dan Kanjeng Pangeran Diponegoro berhak bertanya kepada Patih dan Tuan duduk soalnya, sebelum ada titah dari Sultan Menol (Purwanta, 2011, p. 41). Mangkubumi was never afraid of Danurejo and Missaert’s insistence in doing war. He believed that Prince Dipo- negoro would never rebel the Kingdom. Prince Diponegoro had a soft hard, polite, and had an adequate understanding of Is- lam that he would never betray the King- dom. Apathy shown by Prince Mangku- bumi when Danurejo told him that he was just an advisor and not the King (Purwan- ta, 2011, p.42). Mangkubumi believed that Insya Allah dengan membaca basmalah. Allah akan mengampunimu Nak Pan- geran. Niatkanlah sebagai jihad. Bukan semata-mata berperang melawan kelali- man. Pangeran Diponegoro: Begitu paman mendukung niat suci un- tuk berjihat. Akan kuucap basmallah. Saya sendiri tak berarti. Pangeran Mangkubumi: Ucapkan basmalah. Insya Allah paman akan berada di depan dan dibelakang- mu Nak! Pangeran Diponegoro: Alhamdullilah paman. Semoga perjuan- gan ini memang karena hidayah Allah. Bukan niat dendam dan amarah dari diri Ontowiryo. Pangeran Mangkubumi: Insya Allah, akan kami bela. Akan ku- tinggalkan tahta dan penuh iman berada di belakang Pangeran Diponegoro. Allahu Akbar!!! (Purwanta, 2011, p. 51-52). The dialogue presented the discus- sion between Prince Diponegoro and his uncle, Prince Mangkubumi which acted as the advisor of The King of Mataram. The prince finally decided to war because of the support he had from his uncle. The strong character of Prince Di- ponegoro and his attitude had resulted in supports he gathered from the people of Mataram. The prince’s followers were motivated by the religious talk, lecture, and speech given by him. The prince al- ways asked the people to stand for their homeland. Even, Panglima Arkiya, the prince’s right-hand man offered to pull all the border signs put by the Dutch soon af- ter it was planted (Purwanta, 2016, p. 30. The attitude of Arkiya reflects the high spi- rit of nationalism. He was never afraid of Danureja’s troops. In other sides, the character of Man- garto who was first introduced as the follo- wer of Patih Danureja then later started to realize his mistake also reflected the spirit of nationalism. It was told that after Patih Danureja’s failed attempt to destroy Tegal- reja village, half of Patih Danureja’s troops withdrew themselves and moved to the HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 153-162158 Prince Diponegoro was a decent warrior and took what Danurejo’s had said as a defamation. Traitor of Society If the protagonist characters were people dedicating themselves for the so- ciety, on the contrary was the character of Patih Danurejo. As a patih or vice regent, he always took every decision in his own way. He tended to close to Residen Smissa- ert rather than to the Royal family. This can be seen from the events of the story. For instance, when Patih Danurejo’s troops − which were under the command of Adipa- ti Mangarto− lost during the war against Prince Diponegoro, he directly went to Vredebrug Fort to ask for a help from Re- siden Smissaert (Purwanta, 2011, p. 35-36). Patih Danureja: Berapa yang mati? Pihak musuh? Adipati Mangarto: Seratus prajuritku mati hanya ditatap Pangeran Diponegoro. Patih Danureja: Apa? Kurangajar!!! Adipati Mangarto: Saya yang dibiarkan hidup dan meny ampaikan salam kepada Kanjeng Patih. Patih Danureja: Salam apa? Aku harus segera melapor ke Residen Smissaert di Beteng. Ayo kamu ikut! (Purwanta, 2011, p. 35). The action done by Patih Danurejo by directly reporting his losing to Residen Smissaert reflects his attitude on taking the Dutch’s side rather than the Mataram people’s. Even, in order to convince the Sultan, he slandered Prince Diponegoro. It was said by Patih Danurejo that Prince Dipo- negoro was a traitor who had killed hun- dreds of the Vice Regent’s troops, and that the prince had bad behavior in disturbing the railroad workers. His purpose was no other than to get the Sultan’s permission to do war against Prince Diponegoro. Betrayal towards his own nation was seen clearer when Patih Danurejo and Smissaert decided to finally attack Tegalre- jo village. It was clear that Patih Danurejo did not have the spirit of nationalism to his own nation. Though he claimed himself to be the royal official of Kasultanan Ma- taram, however, his orientation tended to help the Dutch. The border sign planting in the land of Tegalrejo people was the Dutch’s project to quicken the distributi- on of farming product had by the Dutch. People of Mataram never felt or even got advantages from the project. Because of this reason, Prince Diponegoro and the people of Tegalrejo fought against the bor- der line installation used for the railroad construction. In this case, the character of Resi- den Smissaert also had an essential role in influencing the decisions taken by Patih Danurejo. Patih Danurejo tended to fol- low the order and programs delivered by Residen Smissaert. This was done by Pa- tih Danurejo since he had an idea that the King was too young to rule a kingdom. The King was only a child who had not been ready to rule a Kingdom. Yet, it was not entirely true. In ruling the Kingdom, the Sultan was advised by Prince Mangkubu- mi and the Queen, the Prince’s biological mother. Therefore, the leadership of Sultan Menol was actually reliable. The Main Conflicts of the Story Both nationalism spirit and traitor of the society are problems implied in the drama radio “Perlawanan Diponegoro”. The main conflict underlying the conflicts, however, was the occurrence of political hegemony attempt by the Dutch as the colonialist towards the people in Mata- ram. The Dutch’s plan to build railroads to quicken their farming product delivery to Batavia became the main purpose. The railroad building was started by giving borderline sign to the local people’s land, including the land owned by Prince Dipo- negoro in Tegalrejo village. Both Pangeran Diponegoro and The Tegalrejo people believed that what was done by the Dutch was a form of ex- propriation of ancestral land which must be resisted. As a result, the Diponegoro’s Nur Sahid et al., Symbolic Meaning of Drama “Perlawanan Diponegoro” 159 insurrection to fight against the Dutch was supported by the society. Prince Dipone- goro himself believed that his fight against the Dutch was a realization of jihad fi sabi- lillah or a holy war to defend Islam from the non-believer (Purwanta, 2011, p. 38). Therefore, the Diponegoro’s insurrection contained both worldly and afterlife mo- tivation. This made the insurrection to be unstoppable. Even, the blessing given by Mangkubumi increased the motivation had by the prince. From the conflicts contained in the story, then it can be inferred that the the- me of radio drama entitled “Perlawanan Diponegoro” can be formulated into a sen- tence, “colonialism to other nations will be always opposed by the local people whenever the colonial does not respect the rights of the colonialized people”. The theme seems to inspirit the who- le story plot and characterization. The dif- ferent characterization and life attitude of the involved characters of the story, like, Prince Diponegoro, Patih Danurejo, Resi- den Smissaert, Prince Mangkubumi, Adi- pati Mangarto, Panglima Arkiya, etc seem to be accumulated into a story theme. The conflicts emerged throughout the story is rooted in different characterization and way of life had by the characters. The con- flicts are then resulted in variety of prob- lems as told in the previous sub sections of this study. In relation to this, all the con- flicts emerged in the story are formulated into a theme which is described. In other sides, the differences in cha- racterization are resulted in various con- flicts that caused the plot to move forward. The story is developed dynamically from the conflict between the right-hand man of Prince Diponegoro, Panglima Arkiya, who fought against the troops of Patih Danurejo about the borderline, into the conflicts had by Residen Smissaert and Patih Danurejo against Sultan Menol and Prince Mangku- bumi which resulted from the King and prince’s unwillingness to permit the war against Prince Diponegoro. As a result, the biggest conflict emerged involving Prince Diponegoro, Patih Danurejo and Residen Smissaert in a war taken place in Tegalrejo village. The plot developed in this drama seems to be influenced by the story theme. Therefore, there is a solid relationship bet- ween the theme and characterization, the characterization and story plot, and the story plot and theme. The Meaning of Symbols It has to be known that every aspect of performance is managed by denotati- on dialectics, such as, setting, the actor’s body, the actor’s movement, and the actor’s utterance that all determine and are determined by primer and secondary mea- ning symbols that are constantly changed (Elam, K., 1991, p. 11). Certain symbol does not only contain one particular meaning, but also semiotic symbol of a performance, for instance, a cloth can show the social- economy level, psychology, and even mo- ral of the wearer. It is sure, however, that in theatrical semiotics, connotations are not naturally unique. In contrast, the ability of audien- ce in receiving semiotic meanings depends closely on extra-theatrical and cultural va- lues contained in certain objects, mode of discourse, or behavioral forms. It is pos- sible that, in the end, the audience does not socially realize the meanings they give to several theatrical phenomena, ho- wever, theatrical communication allows these symbols to influence the practical functions of a theater in which everything works only to the extent that it has mea- ning. In its relation to the values which are coded socially, the theatrical semiotics constantly connotate ‘itself’ (Sahid, 2012, p. 50-57). It means, the connotative aspect works in a whole performance which al- lows audience to categorize everything presented to them from normal social pra- xis, and therefore perceiving performance as “a symbolical network” or as “a text”. In its relation to transformability or mobility of Bogatyrev signs, it is stated that sym- bols may have semantical meanings, not only in the level of connotation but also the denotation (Elam, 1991, p. 12). HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 153-162160 In line with Elam (1991), in analy- zing symbolical meanings contained in radio drama “Perlawanan Diponegoro”, the meanings analyzed are not only in the level of denotative meaning but also the connotative one. The Meaning of Prince Diponegoro Char- acter In the context of theatrical semiotics, the existence of Prince Diponegoro cha- racter who struggle to defend Mataram people whole heartedly (signifier) can be interpreted as a man having high spirit of nationalism (signified). As the heredity of Yogyakarta Royal Family, Diponegoro ac- tually can live in prosper without the need to struggle to fight the Dutch. However, his high pride and humanismhave led him to be a national hero rather than common Royal family who live comfortably wit- hout struggling. At the level of connotative meaning, the struggle of the prince seems to equal to the struggle of the current nations’ youth to fight against foreign influence in the field of economy, culture, etc. But, it needs to be admitted that the influence of foreign nation can be also through the education institution (Jaya, 2012, p. 133-140). As it has been known, even when Indonesia has gained its independence, however, certain fields like economy, culture, and education still receive high intervention from foreign parties. In fact, the foreign intervention in those fields are strong enough. Therefore, it is natural and understandable that some youths are still fighting for the economic, politic, cultural, and educational sovereig- nty. Meaning of Patih Danurejo Character In semiotic meaning, the action of Danurejo who takes Residen Smissaert’s side and is cruel to his own people (sig- nifier) can be interpreted as the symbol of nation’s traitor (signified). In the history of Indonesia during its struggling time, people like Patih Danurejo always exists. They tend to seek personal advantage over people’s misery. Danurejo always asks for help from Smissaert in fighting against Prince Diponegoro. In connotative meaning, the betrayal done by Danurejo in the context of current Indonesian society can be interpreted as symbolization of public figure, scientist, conglomerate, government official, or na- tion leader who takes advantage from sel- ling country’s asset, policy, and influence to other nations so that the other nations get chances to dominate and control the socioeconomic of Indonesia. This type of person does not have the spirit of nationa- lism. They are willing to be a traitor for the sake of personal advantage. Meaning of Residen Smissaert Character In semiotic meaning, the action of the Resident Smissaert character is cruel towards Prince Diponegoro and the Tegalrejo’s society. Placing border signs in the villagers’ land (signifier) can be in- terpreted as a form of arrogance of power (signified). The cruelty of Smissaert to the local people has purposed to build rail- roads to accelerate the delivery of farming products from Java to Batavia. In connotative meaning, the cruelty of Smissaert to the local people in the con- text of the present time can be interpreted as an action of many foreign companies who run the company in their own way without obeying the rule and neglecting local people’s right. These companies only want to get the most of the resources of In- donesia. As it has been known, there are plenty global companies which run their businesses in Indonesia only for their per- sonal advantages. They never think of the negative impact caused by their compa- ny for the local people. The case of was- te disposal misconduct from multinatio- nal mining companies in various places throughout Indonesia prove how compa- nies neglect the life of local people living around their companies. Even, there are also plenty companies which avoid paying tax to the government. Meaning of Placing Borderline in Tegal- rejo Village Placing borderline throughout The Nur Sahid et al., Symbolic Meaning of Drama “Perlawanan Diponegoro” 161 Tegalrejo village to build railroads by the troops of Patih Danurejo (signifier) con- tains semiotic meanings related to com- mon people’s right deprivation (dignified). The existence of local people as the citizen of Mataram has been violated by Danure- jo. This fact triggers Prince Diponegoro’s anger and lead him to declare war against the Dutch. In connotative meaning, the incident of placing the border line throughout the native people’s land is identical with evic- tion in many private places, like housing or rice fields owned by local people that is done by the government on behalf of the national infrastructure development. Building infrastructure by evicting local people’s private property has been happe- ning since the era of President Soeharto’s Orde Baru (The New Order). Usually, people can do nothing to defend their rights. Meaning of The Action of Pulling Out the Borderline It can be understood that pulling the borderline out of the land of Tegalrejo’s people by the troops of Prince Diponegoro (signifier) can be interpreted as the rise of consciousness to uphold truth and justice among Tegalrejo citizen (signified). Pan- geran Diponegoro’s troops and the local people bravely attack the policy had by Pa- tih Danurejo and Residen Smissaert who are considered robbing the local people’s land inherited from the ancestors. The incidents described in the pre- vious paragraph can be interpreted as local people revival in struggling for their per- sonal rights, both the personal, proprieta- ry material, social, cultural, etc. Since the reformation era, the awareness in fighting for common people rights are raised both in its relation to the leader or financier. Even when the struggle has no guarantee to be succeed, however, people tend to be braver in fighting for their rights when it is taken forcefully by a government or com- pany. Several cases show that for the sake of opening investment, businessmen are often taken the land of local people force- fully. Meaning of Prince Diponegoro’s Insur- rection Against Residen Smissaert The Prince Diponegoro’s insurrec- tion to the colonial under the command of Residen Smissaert (signifier) can be interpreted as the fight of santri (student learning Islam) against non-believer. Di- ponegoro refers the colonial who has co- lonialized Tegalrejo people as non-believer or secular. However, the term non-believer or secular does not mean that the Prince literally fights against one who does not believe in Islam, but more with the enemy who has taken away Tegalrejo people’s an- cestral land forcefully. In connotative meaning, the war bet- ween Diponegoro and the Dutch is identi- cal with the insurrection done by several Indonesia’s socio-religious organization that has been in a war against the bad in- fluence of western culture, such as: drin- king, drugs, free sex, etc. This insurrection is not yet over since the western influence has not lost yet. CONCLUSION There are two major conclusions of the study. First, the drama entitled “Per- lawanan Diponegoro” has a heroic theme that is formulated into a sentence “colo- nialism to other nations will be always opposed by the local people whenever the colonial does not respect the rights of the colonialized people”. This theme inspirits the whole story. In semiotics, the meanings contained in the drama entitled “Perlawanan Dipone- goro” has both denotative and connotative meanings. These connotative meanings are contextual and related to the problems had by Indonesian people nowadays. REFERENCES Carey, P. (2011). Kuasa Ramalan: Pangeran Diponegoro dan Akhir Tatanan Lama di Jawa (1785-1855). Jakarta: Ke- pustakaan Populer Gramedia dan HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 153-162162 KITLV (Koninklijk Institute voor Taal, Land en Volkenkunde). Elam, K. (1991). The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama. London: Routledge. Jaya, P. H. I. (2012). 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