Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 18 No. 2 – October 2018 pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580-5878 111 Death Penalty in The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe Editorials: Neutral or Loaded? Assertive or Timid? Siegfrieda A.S. Mursita Putri siegfrieda@ukrida.ac.id English Department, Universitas Kristen Krida Wacana Abstract Coming under the spotlight of the world news due to the death penalty verdict against eight drug traffickers announced early 2015, Indonesia made the world pleaded to not proceed the execution. It is interesting to see how the press media viewed this controversial issue and manifested them into linguistic features in their opinion. This paper reported views about the issue from the perspective of English newspapers. Aiming to identify the level of neutrality, certainty and assertiveness in presenting perspective, this study employed mainly qualitative method focusing on the discourse. The analysis was focused on (1) how the participants of the event were referred to, (2) lexical choices used to portray events, players and policies, and (3) modality values, orientation, manifestation and value of modality. Editorials on the issue published in selected English newspapers were collected. By applying van Dijk’s method, the level of neutrality was analyzed. The basis of the modality analysis was Halliday’s. Both newspaper editorials showed different level of neutrality, certainty and assertiveness. There were formal and neutral choices in naming the participants of the event. The Jakarta Globe delivered their attitude using loaded words, while The Jakarta Post used more neutral and formal words in addition to using less modal forms. The study also showed the dominant use of low modality and implicitly subjective modality in presenting perspectives. This implied that the newspapers were not assertive and not strictly speaking metaphorical in delivering their perspectives to the readers. Keywords: editorial, lexical choice, modality, discourse analysis, death penalty Introduction Early 2015, Indonesia became the spotlight of the world due to the capital punishment verdict announced against nine drug traffickers: two Australians, four Nigerians, one Filipino, one Brazilian and one Indonesian. The world, and even the people of Indonesia, was divided into arguments: pro and contra to this decision despite international appeals and communications were performed sending pleas to reconsider the verdict. However, these did not affect the verdict as Widodo has declared the death penalty “positive” for his country, according to The Guardian. It is interesting to see how the media view this controversial issue and manifests them into linguistic features in their opinion, how the language is used as a medium of power. Newspapers have the opportunity to expose their readers to their attitudes toward certain issues through their writing, specifically by using specific lexical naming, words, and modality. Fowler claims that every day newspapers print one or two separate articles which express their point of view. The articles are distinct from news reporting, features and other regular daily items. This section is variously indexed as leading article, editorial, The Sun says, and so on (1991:208). mailto:siegfrieda@ukrida.ac.id Journal of Language and Literature pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580-5878 Siegfrieda A.S. Mursita Putri 112 According to Brown and Mott, editorials are ‘columns that expose the policy of the paper’ and ‘reflect local opinion on vital questions’ (1957). Henry and Tator state editorials are expressions of the broader ideological stance of the newspaper’s owners and managers in which the public are being addressees rather than spectators (2002: 93). Therefore, it is assumed that editorial reflects local opinion and the standpoint of the newspaper. Literature Reviews Van Dijk’s Method of Analysis This research is to find out how the participants of the event were referred to, and the portrayal of events, players and policies in the editorial of the newspapers. In order to find out the answer, the author looked at the linguistic elements: naming choices and lexical choices. According to Fowler and Kress (1979: 200), the difference in naming signifies different assessments by the writer of their relationship with the person referred to and of the formality or intimacy of the situation. The different possibilities for naming choices include extreme formality such as using the complete unabbreviated title of an official, for example, “France’s President Francois Hollande”; a neutral naming choice, for example, “the president”; less formal that shows closeness to the person referred to, for example, “Jokowi”; and naming choices that reflect the biases of the writer, examples of which would be stereotypical or ideologically guided naming choices such as “drug traffickers” or “the nine drug convicts”. The naming choices for the actors employed by the editorial were analyzed to identify “different ideological affiliations” (Sykes, 1985: 87). Not only the naming choices, but the researcher also looked at the lexical choices used to portray events, players and policies related to the capital punishment for the inmates. It is stressed by Fairclough (1989: 116) the ideological significance of lexical choices, and it is also argued that “a text’s choice of wordings depends on, and helps to create, social relationships between participants”. Sykes also contends that the choice of different words for referring to the same thing by different speakers reveals “different ideological affiliations” (1985: 87). An example is the choice of “state-sanctioned murder” versus “execution”. Modality Devices In addition to look at the naming and lexical choices, this research is also to find out the assertiveness of the editorial through the use of modality device. Modality values, orientation, manifestation and value of modality were analyzed to answer this problem. Modality is a linguistic tool that presents the perspective of the speaker or writer in expressing his/her attitude toward an issue or event. According to Downing and Locke modality is a linguistic tool which can be employed to express the attitude contained in the proposition taken toward an event (2002: 381). Fowler regards modality as the ‘comment’ or ‘attitude’ which is presented explicitly or implicitly in the linguistic stance taken by the speaker or writer (1991: 85). Quirk defines modality as the manner used to reflect the speaker’s judgement of the likelihood of the proposition it expresses being true (1985: 219). Halliday explains (2004: 146-147), “Modality is used to temper, to qualify in some way, our propositions (modalization or epistemic modality) or proposals (modulation or deontic modality).” The type of modality in the clause as an exchange of information (probability or usuality) is referred to as modalization and the type of modality in the clause as an exchange of goods-&-services (obligation or inclination) is referred to as modulation. 1. Modalization: Epistemic Modality Modalization communicates any degree of probability (might, may, could…) or usuality (sometimes, usually, always). Modalization can be realized in the following ways: with a finite modal operator in a verbal group, with a mood adjunct, with a modal operator and a mood adjunct, with a preposition phrase, and with interpersonal Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 18 No. 2 – October 2018 pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580- 5878 113 metaphors. The examples are shown further in data analysis section. 2. Modulation: Deontic Modality Modulation (deontic modality) regards degrees of obligation (necessity) in propositions and inclination or, as Halliday (1994:359) suggests, readiness, which could be seen as including willingness and also ability in proposals. Modality Types and Values In line with modality, another variable in debating is the “value attached to the modal judgment”: high, median or low (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004: 128). The speakers express their assertiveness in delivering their arguments through the use of high value of modality since it shows the high level of certainty. Below is a summary table of modality value with more complete examples: Table 1: Examples of Modality Value (Mathiessen, 1995: 506) MEDIAN OUTER LOW HIGH Modalization Probability She’ll be home now. She’s probably home now. She may be there. She is perhaps there. She must be there. She is certainly there. Usuality She’ll be at home on Wednesdays. She’s usually at home on Wednesdays. She can be there on Wednesdays. She’s sometimes there on Wednesdays. She must be there on Wednesdays. She is always there on Wednesdays. Modulation Obligation You should go home. You’re supposed to go home. You may go now. You’re allowed to go now. You must go home now. You are required to go home now. Inclination I’ll go home now. I’m keen to go home now. I can go home now. I’m willing to go now. I will go home now. I’m determined to go home now. Orientation and Manifestation of Modality Orientation is “the distinction between subjective and objective modality, and the explicit and implicit variants” (Halliday, 1994:357). Halliday states, “The explicitly subjective and explicitly objective forms of modality are all strictly speaking metaphorical” (1994: 362). In debating, orientation refers to the speaker’s strategies of expressing modality, or to the extent to which the speaker accepts responsibility for what s/he is saying. These strategies are illustrated in the Figure 1 and the intersection of subjective/objective and explicit/implicit modality (Orientation and Manifestation) are illustrated in the Table 2. Journal of Language and Literature pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580-5878 Siegfrieda A.S. Mursita Putri 114 Table 2: Orientation and Manifestation (Martin et al, 1997: 70) Kind of modality Congruent realizations Metaphorical realizations Finite Implicitly subjective Adjunct (mood) Implicitly objective Predicator Implicitly objective Mental Clause Explicitly subjective Attributive Clause Explicitly Objective Probability can/could, may/might, will/would, should, ought to, must possibly, probably, certainly, ..... (Cognitive :) I guess, I think, I know It is possible... It is probable.. It is certain ... Usuality sometimes, usually, always, ..... It is unusual .. Obligation necessarily ..... be allowed to, be supposed to, be obliged to, (affective) I’m willing for... I expect .... I want... It is permitted .. It is expected It is necessary ... Readiness: Inclination willingly, eagerly, ..... be willing to, be keen to, be determined to (verbal group complex) I’d like to ... I want to.... It’d be lovely to .... Readiness; ability be able to It is possible for...to... Methodology This data in this research will look at English newspapers published in Indonesia and compare the editorial discourse on a specific issue. Based on the understanding that different choices in employing linguistic tools will result in different perspectives, this study aims to investigate how the perspective of news media about the death penalty executed in Indonesia in 2015 is represented through the naming choices, lexical choices and the use of modality. The newspapers selected are The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe. The Jakarta Post is selected because, as quoted from http://www.expat.co.id, for decades the Paper has provided the expatriate and English-reading Indonesian communities with excellent coverage of local, national and international events. Besides, it is chosen because of “its unbiased coverage of the news” (http://www.expat.co.id). The Jakarta Globe is selected because it is “popular with the expatriate community” (http://www. expat.co.id). The objects of this study were thirteen editorials collected from The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe online archives. The editorials were related to the death penalty for drug smugglers, and were published between January and April 2015. The editorials collected from their home website were then copied and pasted to MS Word for data processing and data analysis. The selected editorials were analyzed based on the naming and lexical choices, and by sorting out the sentences with modal devices. Then, the modal devices were Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 18 No. 2 – October 2018 pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580- 5878 115 classified based on their forms, types and values. Further, they were also classified based on their orientation and manifestation. Findings and Discussion Based on the analysis on lexical naming, there are levels of formality in addressing the world leaders, the inmates, the policy and the participants of the events. In addition to that, there are neutral and loaded lexical choices in the editorials. The analysis also finds that nearly half of the modality value is low (47%). Further analysis shows that the orientation and manifestation of modality is mostly implicitly subjective (64.93%), and under twelve percent (11.94%) of the total modality are presented explicitly. Formal, but Loaded with Opposition The attitude of being formal but loaded with opposition means that the editorial does not only employ formal naming choices in addressing some of the participants, but also loaded naming choices to refer some other participants. In addition to that, the lexical choices are loaded with opposition to the event. As stated by Fowler and Kress (1979: 200), the difference in naming signifies different assessments by the writer of their relationship with the person referred to, and of the formality or intimacy of the situation. The extreme formalities are shown, among others, in the use of “President Joko Widodo”, “Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott”, “Vice President Jusuf Kalla”, and “Indonesian Zainal Abidin”. Neutral naming choices are also seen in, among others, the use of “the president”, “the international community”, “the execution”, “its decision”, “these individuals”, “the firing squad”, “foreign nationals” and “people on death row”. Then, loaded naming choices are seen in the use of, among others, “a victim of his aides”, “drug offenders”, “state-sanctioned murder” and “murderers”. This extreme formality to loaded naming choices is found in The Jakarta Globe. The lexical choices in the editorial are also loaded with opposition. The choices are, among others, “political strategy”, “political leverage”, “massive international condemnation”, “a barbarous point”, “an awful lot of pleasure”, “unprecedented international fiasco”, “a barbaric relic”, “schadenfreude”, “a stunt – bloody and grotesque”, “the sins of the Indonesian government” and “shameful travesty”. Below is the example excerpted from the editorial that shows opposition to the execution: A day that no rational, compassionate human being could ever wish for appears to be at hand: the day that 10 fellow human beings, nine of them foreign nationals, are gunned down in a hail of bullets because the Indonesian government wants to make a barbarous point. The Attorney General’s Office, which seems to be taking an awful lot of pleasure in organizing the executions, …. The AGO is required to give the inmates 72 hours’ notice about their execution, so it appears that the killings — yes, killings; make no mistake, this is state-sanctioned murder — could take place as soon as Tuesday. … Why persist with a practice as savage as the death penalty when much of the world cries out against it? What can Indonesia gain from this? It is in the president’s power to end this shameful travesty and grant these individuals clemency. So it is to President Joko Widodo that we beseech mercy for Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso; for Serge Areski Atlaoui; for Myuran Sukumaran; for Andrew Chan; for Rodrigo Gularte; for Raheem Agbaje Salami; for Martin Anderson; for Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise; for Okwudili Oyatanze; and for Zainal Abidin. We stand for mercy, Mr. President. Will you stand with us? (Do the Right Thing and Show Mercy, President Jokowi – 24 April 2015) Journal of Language and Literature pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580-5878 Siegfrieda A.S. Mursita Putri 116 The editorial above presents its formality through the use of “President Joko Widodo”, and addressing the inmates by mentioning their full names. However, there are also loaded lexical choices showing the opposition to the event, such as “fellow human beings”, “a barbarous point”, “state-sanctioned murder”, and “shameful travesty”. Although the lexical use is loaded with opposition, it can be understood that the editorial is also at opposition to the drug trafficking. This can be seen how in other The Jakarta Globe’s editorial address the inmates: “drug dealers or traffickers”, “death row convicts”, “drug offenders”, instead of addressing them formally or neutrally. Formal and Neutral The attitude of being formal and neutral means that the editorial consistently employs extremely formal and neutral naming choices. As stated by Fowler and Kress (1979: 200), the difference in naming signifies different assessments by the writer of their relationship with the person referred to, and of the formality or intimacy of the situation. The lexical choices also do not portray loaded intention to show opposition to the event. Extreme formalities in referring to the country and world leaders can be seen, among others, in the use of “President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo”, “Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff”, “Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott”, “France’s President Francois Hollande”, and “UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon”. This extreme formality is also shown in referring to the people on death row, as seen in the use of, among others, “Indonesian migrant worker Siti Zaenab”, “One convict, Filipina Mary Jane F. Veloso”, “drug convict Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira”, and “Brazilian drug trafficker, Rodrigo Muxfeldt Gularte”. The Jakarta Post tends to refer the agents formally by mentioning their position, their nationality, and full name. The use of neutral naming choices is also seen in, among others, “The Indonesian Foreign Ministry”, “The Saudi kingdom”, “President Jokowi”, “the Tony Abbott government”, “the Jokowi administration”, “the Dutch and Brazilian leaders”, “five foreign nationals” and “two Australians”. Low formality in naming choices are also seen, among others, in “Australia”, “Jakarta”, “Rousseff”, “Manila”, and “Jokowi”. This low formality is used in combination with the neutral naming choices in the following parts of editorial mostly after the extreme formality choice is used. Here is an example excerpted from the editorial that shows formality: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo stole the show as Philippines world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and undefeated US boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. were gearing up for their “bout of the century” in Las Vegas on Saturday. Pacquiao spared time to write to Jokowi, asking the Indonesian leader to show mercy to his compatriot Mary Jane Veloso, one of the nine death row inmates awaiting execution in Indonesia. Global pressure has indeed been mounting on Jokowi to save the lives of the convicts. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and France’s President Francois Hollande are the latest world leaders who have appealed to Jokowi to reconsider the execution. As Brazilian President Dilma Roussef did, Hollande warned Jokowi of strained diplomatic ties between Jakarta and Paris if the latter turned a deaf ear to the international demands…. (Unnecessary Circus – 29 April 2015) It can be observed the use of extreme formality in addressing the leaders, such as “President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo”, “UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon”, “France’s President Francois Hollande” and “Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff”. Neutrality is also seen in the use of “the Indonesian leader” to refer to the President. The editorial also addresses one of the inmates using her full name. This extreme of formality is shown consistently in other editorials by The Jakarta Post, both in addressing the leaders and the inmates. Below is another example excerpted from the editorial that shows neutrality toward the execution: … Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 18 No. 2 – October 2018 pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580- 5878 117 One convict, Filipina Mary Jane F. Veloso, had her execution postponed at the eleventh hour following an appeal by her lawyers and Manila after her alleged recruiter surrendered on Tuesday to the Philippine police. The other eight drug trafficking convicts — two Australians, three Nigerians, one Ghanaian, one Brazilian and one Indonesian — … Australia may recall its ambassador, as did Brazil and the Netherlands when their nationals were executed on Jan. 18. … What Jakarta needs to focus on now is ensuring that all the rights of those still on death row are respectfully observed and the executions as well as the treatment of families are conducted with due dignity. … We should consider them as the norm in diplomatic language. The concerns of all friendly countries related to this case should be considered carefully by Jakarta. Indonesia should not react harshly to a protocol in international diplomacy. … Every country will respond in accordance to threats and act in their own national interests. In the same way Australia has disregarded international humanitarian pleas not to turn back migrant boats because the Tony Abbott government believes it is in its national interest, so too has the Jokowi administration acted. … Nevertheless, it is a policy that has been made based on the due process available, no matter how imperfect, and thus should be respected. Indonesians themselves should step up the war on corruption to better ensure a clean, reliable judiciary. (Respect Thy Neighbor’s Law – 30 April 2015 Neutrality is seen in the use of nouns to refer the drug convicts: “two Australians”, “three Nigerians”, “one Ghanaian”, “one Brazilian”, and “one Indonesian”. Low formality is also seen in the words referring to the government: “Jakarta” and “Manila”. In addition, there were almost no “loaded” words found in this editorial. This can be inferred as neutrality of the editorial in viewing the execution. Low Modality Values Chart 1: Comparative Percentages of Modality Values Despite the fact that all modality values are found in the editorials, low value of modality is the highest, almost half of all modality found (see Chart 1). Both newspapers mostly employed low value of modality. According to Halliday and Mattiessen (2004: 128), and as quoted in Yuyun (2014), the speakers in debate setting express their assertiveness in delivering their arguments through the use of high value of Journal of Language and Literature pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580-5878 Siegfrieda A.S. Mursita Putri 118 modality since it shows the high level of certainty. In other words, high value of modality represents high level of certainty in delivering statements or arguments. Therefore, it is inferred that both newspaper have low level of certainty in presenting their propositions and proposals. Below are sentences employing low modality value found in the editorials. (1) (i) Hopefully there will be a solution to the diplomatic spat (ii) and the two leaders can meet again for another summit in Istanbul in October. (“Brazil’s Red Card” – The Jakarta Post, 24 February 2015) The modality value found in sentence (1) are low as seen in the employment of will and hopefully in clause (i) and of can in clause (ii). (2) (i) We may file a harsh objection with the Saudi government, (ii) or perhaps go so far as to withdraw our ambassador in Riyadh in a show of anger at the recent execution of Indonesian migrant worker Siti Zaenab, (iii) who was sentenced to death for killing her employer in 1999. (“Lesson from Saudi Arabia” – The Jakarta Post, 16 April 2015) Value of modality found in (2) is low, represented in clause (i) by the use of modal forms may and in clause (ii) by the use of modal forms perhaps. (3) (i) That would include the figure frequently cited by President Joko Widodo (ii) that 50 people die each day from illegal drug use. (“Deal with the Drug Issue the Right Way” – Jakarta Globe, 5 June 2015) As seen in sentence (3), the use of low modality are represented in the modal form would. (4) (i) Opponents of the execution of drug traffickers here may be tempted to indulge in schadenfreude (ii) at Indonesia finding itself at the sharp end of the stick, (iii) but such a sentiment is both misplaced and perverse. (“Death Penalty Has No Place in Our Society” – Jakarta Globe, 15 April 2015) Sentence (4) above shows the low modality use in the modal form may. Orientation and Manifestation of Modality After analyzing the modality types and modality values, the orientation and manifestation of modality in both newspapers were analyzed. The chart below represents the distribution of orientation and manifestation of modality in both newspapers. Chart 2: Orientation and Manifestation of Modality in The Jakarta Post Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 18 No. 2 – October 2018 pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580- 5878 119 Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 656) state that by the means of nominalization, modality is construed as an unquestionable fact i.e. modality is expressed explicitly with objectivity. As we can see, the chart 2 above shows that The Jakarta Post mostly employed implicitly subjective modality, reaching almost 60% of modal forms found in the paper’s editorial. Therefore, it is inferred that The Jakarta Post is not strictly speaking metaphorical: they present subjectivity on their point of view indirectly. According to the research conducted by Yuyun (2014), the more explicitly objective modal is used in the text or speech, the more assertive or straightforward the speaker is. Chart 3: Orientation and Manifestation of Modality in Jakarta Globe The chart 3 above shows that Jakarta Globe mostly also employed implicitly subjective modality, reaching more than 70% of modal forms found in the paper’s editorial. As stated by Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 656), the ones expressed in nominalization are construed as unquestionable facts: expressed explicitly with objectivity. Therefore, it can be inferred in delivering their point of view, the newspaper is not strictly speaking metaphorical: they present subjectivity indirectly. 1. Implicitly Subjective Chart 4: Comparative Percentages of Implicitly Subjective Modality Journal of Language and Literature pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580-5878 Siegfrieda A.S. Mursita Putri 120 As seen in chart 4, both newspapers mostly use implicitly subjective modality in presenting their perspectives, reaching almost 65% of all modalities found in the editorials. According to Halliday & Matthiessen (2004), it is inferred that being implicitly subjective means that the speaker is being indirect in stating their subjectivity. Below are some examples of implicitly subjective modals employed in the sentences. (5) (i) Judging from the statement by the Attorney General’s Office, (ii) the nine drug convicts on death row may be dead by now or may still be alive (iii) as Indonesia continues to defy calls from human right activists and the international community. (“Acting in the Best Interests of Indonesia” – Jakarta Globe, 28 April 2015) From the sentence (5), it is seen that the use of modal forms in “may be dead” and “may still be alive” show the implicitly subjective. The use of may in both phrases show subjectivity on the set of propositions. In addition, it is presented implicitly through the modal operator “may”. (6) (i) He should have learned the lesson (ii) from this unprecedented international fiasco. (“Damage Is Done, So What Next?” – Jakarta Globe, 29 April 2015) The use of implicitly subjective modal forms in sentence (6) is seen from the use “should”. It presents subjectivity of the paper’s editorial by prescribing others to do something. It is also presented implicitly as it is using modal auxiliary form. (7) (i) Indonesians will never forget Australia’s generous help for the people in Aceh and Nias, (ii) and we wish (iii) that we could have the opportunity to show the same generosity to Australia. (“Abbott’s Own Tsunami” – The Jakarta Post, 21 February 2015) Implicitly subjective modal forms in sentence (7) are seen in the use of will in clause (i) and could in clause (ii). Those two modal forms present subjective view of the paper, as they show inclination. They are also implicit as they are not stated directly, but using other pronoun “Indonesians” and “we”, which refers to the “Indonesians”, to represent the editorial. (8) (i) While Australia and other countries might feel compelled to take diplomatic measures, (ii) it should be noted that Indonesia’s actions are not prejudiced toward one country or another. (“Respect Thy Neighbor’s Law” – The Jakarta Post, 30 April 2015) From sentence (8) it is seen that the use of implicitly subjective modal forms is represented in modal form might in clause (i) and in modal form should in clause (ii). They show probability which is stated implicitly. The use of implicitly subjective orientation and manifestation of modality in Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 18 No. 2 – October 2018 pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580- 5878 121 the paper’s editorial showed their subjectivity on their point of view indirectly. 2. Implicitly Objective Chart 5: Comparative Percentages of Implicitly Objective Modality The chart above shows that the second- high orientation and manifestation of modality used in both newspapers is implicitly objective in presenting their perspectives, in which it reaches 23.13% of all modalities found in the editorials. Being implicitly objective means the speaker is being objective but indirectly state them. The following are examples of implicitly objective orientation and manifestation of modal forms found in the editorials. (9) (i) Whether he enjoys such worldwide publicity, (ii) Jokowi has risen to fame unfortunately for a policy that sparks controversy. (“Unnecessary Circus” – The Jakarta Post, 29 April 2015) As seen in sentence (9), the modal form unfortunately shows the implicitly objective attitude toward the situation in which Jokowi has risen to fame. (10) (i) Drug-related deaths are obviously tragic affairs (ii) and nothing to make light of (iii) but even more tragic is the government’s failure to get a grip on reality (iv) and address Indonesia’s drug problem in a meaningful way. (“Deal with the Drug Issue the Right Way” – Jakarta Globe, 5 June 2015) Sentence (10) shows that the modal forms obviously has implicitly objective orientation and manifestation. In delivering their position, The Jakarta Post and Jakarta Globe are being implicit in more than 88% of the modalities found in the editorials. On the other hand, their explicitness is not clearly shown as there are less than 12% of the modalities in the editorials explicitly stating their position or proposition. Below are the explanations about explicitness found in the editorials of both newspapers. 3. Explicitly Subjective Chart 6: Comparative Percentages of Explicitly Subjective Modality Journal of Language and Literature pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580-5878 Siegfrieda A.S. Mursita Putri 122 Below are some examples of modal forms that are explicitly subjective. (11) (i) On the basis that Joko won’t grant any clemency to drug offenders, (ii) we have reasons to believe that there have been no reviews of the cases at all. (“Executions Go Against Indonesian Interests” – Jakarta Globe, 26 April 2015) (12) (i) In the same way Australia has disregarded international humanitarian pleas not to turn back migrant boats (ii) because the Tony Abbott government believes it is in its national interest, (iii) so too has the Jokowi administration acted. (“Respect Thy Neighbor’s Law” – The Jakarta Post, 30 April 2015) (13) (i) “We think it is important for there to be an evolution in the situation, for us to have some clarity,” international media quoted Rousseff as saying on Friday. (“Brazil’s Red Card” – The Jakarta Post, 24 February 2015) Sentences (11), (12), and (13) employ the modal elements “believe” and “think” to express their opinions. As stated in Yuyun (2016), these modalities are realized as a separated clause, separated from the clause containing the proposition which is ‘technically’ being modalized. These projecting clauses are considered as explicit forms of modality and interpersonal grammatical metaphors. Explicit modality shows that the editorial’s opinion is not realized as a modal element within the clause, but is realized as a separate projecting clause. As seen in (11), (12), and (13), it can be inferred that the editorials show their subjectivity in delivering their proposition. 4. Explicitly Objective Chart 7: Comparative Percentages of Explicitly Objective Modality Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 18 No. 2 – October 2018 pISSN 1410-5691; eISSN 2580- 5878 123 The followings are the explicitly objective modalities found in the two newspapers editorials. (14) (i) Rather, it is a sign of greatness. (“Acting in the Best Interests of Indonesia” – Jakarta Globe, 28 April 2015) (15) (i) With nearly 300 Indonesian nationals facing execution overseas, (ii) it is possible that they will follow in the footsteps of Siti Zaenab sooner or later. (“Lesson from Saudi Arabia” – The Jakarta Post, 16 April 2015) (16) (i) It is regrettable (ii) that the diplomatic tension occurs (iii) as the two presidents have known each other (iv) since they attended the G20 Summit in Brisbane last November. (“Brazil’s Red Card” – The Jakarta Post, 24 February 2015) The modal forms as seen in (14), (15) and (16) show the explicitly objective orientation as seen in the use of “it is a sign of greatness”, “it is possible” and “it is regrettable”. This type of modality is expressed through attribute clause and nominalization. As pointed by Halliday and Matthiessen (2004: 362) that it is one of the most effective way of creating objectivity. However, there are only less than two percent of this modality orientation found in the editorials. Conclusion Based on the findings described, this study concludes that there is one attitude from the editorials towards the death penalty executed in Indonesia in 2015: they present formality in their writing. However, The Jakarta Globe shows more opposition by using loaded words compared to The Jakarta Post which shows neutrality. Further, based on the analysis of modality forms, both newspapers are implicitly subjective in presenting their standpoint on the issue. This means that they are not strictly speaking metaphorical: they present subjectivity on their point of view indirectly. References Bolivar, Adriana. “The Structure of Newspaper Editorials”. in Malcolm Coulthard (ed.). Advances in Written Text Analysis. London: Routledge, 1994. pp. 276- 294. Brown, Maynard B. and George Fox Mott. “The Editor Speaks”. in New Survey of Journalism. George Fox Mott (ed.). 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April 2016: 29-35. The editorials are retrieved from the official home site of The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe.