1 RAINBOW 2 (1) (2013) Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/rainbow CONCEPT OF LEADERSHIP IN PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER’S THE KING, THE WITCH, AND THE PRIEST Diana Novietasari Bedagama  Jurusan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni,Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia Info Artikel ________________ Sejarah Artikel: Diterima Oktober 2013 Disetujui Oktober 2013 Dipublikasikan November 2013 ________________ Keywords: Leader, Leadership, Leadership Concept ____________________ Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ This journal is entitled Concept of Leadership in Pramoedya Anantoer’s The King, The Witch, and The Priest. In this study, I emphasized discussion on the leadership concept and its effects to the people in this narration. This study discusses three problems; they are (1) how is the leaders depicted in this novel? (2) What is the leadership concept depicted in this novel? (3) What are the effects of the leadership concept applied to the people’s betterment in this novel? I used Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s novel entitled The King, The Witch, and The Priest as the primary data and some references from books and websites dealing with leadership concept as the secondary data. The data were gained by reading closely the novel, then identifying data from the novel, inventorying the data, classifying the data, selecting the data, building up the main topic of the narration that in leadership, and reporting the data. The analysis of this study used new criticism approach in order to find, identify and analyze the data from the novel. In addition, sociology approach was also used to support the analyses and answer the statements of the problem. From the data analysis I concluded that (1) the main characters had sense of leadership which was built up by the environment (2) there are six points of leadership concept which is depicted in this novel; they are the characterization of a leader, ideal relationship between formal and informal leaders, focus on leadership, problem solving, delegation, and transformational leadership (3) there are some improvements for the people because of the application of leadership concept by the leaders in the novel. In general, this study is expected to be useful for the readers who would analyze a literary work. I expected that this analysis could give new horizon to the readers about how to analyze a literary work according to the people’s attitudes and condition which are sometimes raised by an author. © 2013 Universitas Negeri Semarang  Alamat korespondensi: Gedung B3 Lantai 1 FBS Unnes Kampus Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229 E-mail: dee.bedagama@gmail.com E-mail: dee.bedagama@gmail.com ISSN 2252-6463 Diana Novietasari Bedagama / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 2 (1) (2013) 2 INTRODUCTION Nowadays, doubts about the Indonesian’s government arise in the Indonesian community. People start not believing to the government and their performance, and they are not satisfied with their policies and Indonesia’s condition. In any news, almost every day there is news about corruption done by the state apparatus, leaders, and government. Ironically, corruption in Indonesia is not only done by the “high position leaders in Indonesia”, but it is also done by the leaders in province, region, district, sub-district, and even in kampong. In this situation, people are faced to entrusted leaders in any case. That proves that Indonesian people have low quality of leadership. It is assumed that leaders who could not be trusted and could not do their job well are the causes of Indonesian people are suffering in many aspects. For example, the corruptions done by the leaders cause a state lost a lot of money which must be used to the state’s development in education, economy, industry, health, farming, and many others. Moreover, corruption causes poor people unable the good health facilities, and even healthy treatment as the government’s promised. They also could not get proper education, and a lot of school buildings are not feasible to use. Those conditions show me how important leaders as the agents of change to their people. Hanz Finzel (Finzel, 2002) in his book Empowered Leader gives more specific definition of a leader. According to him, leaders are people who can influence others to think, feel, or act in certain ways. This statement gives clearer perception of what role of leaders have. Leader is an important figure in a community because the existence of a leader could change the situation, condition, and even someone’s point of view. We could imagine how if the leader gives wrong instructions or influences to his/her people, what will happen to the people is just suffering. Highlighting the importance of the existence of a leader in a community and also the impacts of the existence of a leader’s quality in his community, I think there is an essential concept of leadership had by the leaders, so they could really be the agents of change sets in to a better life. To answer that question, novel The King, The Witch, and The Priest, a Javanese folktale retold by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, is assumed to be able to provide the concept of leadership. The right understanding of leadership’s concept is expected to bring a good leader to the people who does not only direct but also leads and serve his people. It is in line with John Maxwell’s statement (Maxwell, 2010:148) that a good leader is a person that should inspire others and an inspirable person should be able to adopt of service to the people he leads. The novel provides enough relations between people and their leaders. The condition in this novel tells the suffering of people because of the leader’s unwise action that caused terrible effects to the society. This story shows that a leader should have sense of humanity, willingness to listen, and humility. Then, I concluded that the concept of leadership actually is the concept of understanding the sensitivity to the circumstances around him and the demand of people he leads. DISCUSSION From this novel, the readers can see the concept depicted by the three prominent leaders. I highlighted that the novel provided a study of the important concept in leadership; they are characterization of a leader, the ideal relationship between formal and informal leaders, focus of a leader, problem solving, delegation, and transformational leadership. In this section I explain the concepts. Diana Novietasari Bedagama / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 2 (1) (2013) 3 In this novel there are three prominent leaders of the main character told by the author. They are the King Erlangga, Calon Arang, and Empu Baradah. The three leaders have their own characterization as a leader. The characterization of each leader influences how they lead their followers and decide the policies. Below is the explanation of the characterization of each leader. King Erlangga grew as a crown prince in the kingdom of Daha, so since his childhood he had been accustomed seeing the people’s condition and had seen the problems that exist in the society. It shaped him into a leader who was close to the people. Therefore, I concluded that the author describes him as a populist figure who was open to criticism. According to Eugene B. Habecker as quoted by John C. Maxwell in his book The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, a populist leader is a leader who will serve others and pay attention to their interests more than anything not to praise but because it is motivated by the sacrifice of love (Maxwell. 2009:145). King Erlangga was a person who was very thoughtful of the state and the welfare of his people. As an example, King Erlangga was trying to improve farms in Daha by building embankment to boost the agricultural commodity. In this planning, he was as an initiator who did not hesitate to lend a hand in solving the problems that occurred in the kingdom. He was willing to listen to his people. When his region faced a mysterious plague, King Erlangga tried to figure out and worked completion measures. King Erlangga also showed his generosity in problem solving of mysterious disease in the kingdom. He did not hesitate to ask for assistance when he could not handle it alone (page 85-87). Calon Arang is a picture of a strong and very ambitious woman. In this novel; she demonstrated full confidence which is Calon Arang. Calon Arang was a leader of black magic in the Girah village. In the novel, Calon Arang was described as very good in black magic. She was described as tough and very temperamental woman. She took care of her daughter alone, and it made her become an irritable and ambitious person, but she was able to perform her role as a single parent. She never begged any help from others. She also always tried to achieve what she wanted (page 15-17). Calon Arang’s confidence that made her want to give evidence to the public as a form of protection for his daughter that sometimes turned into arrogance. Too much confidence in a leader can create self-conceited and ambition. These attitudes eventually take a leader less able to control their emotions and personal desires. Although she was an irritable, arrogant, and ambitious person, in fact she was also a leader who had a high confidence to be able to admit that she had made a mistake and wanted to revise it (page 115-116). The narrator described Calon Arang as one of the leaders who was good enough to emulate when she wanted to admit her guilt as a mistake which caused suffrage. Many leaders are difficult to admit their mistakes; through Calon Arang the author gives a good depiction of Calon Arang’s characterization as a responsible leader. Empu Baradah was an icon of a spiritual leader in this novel. The narrator tries to present him as a fairly charismatic and low profile leader, but he still has a strong and influential impression. Empu Baradah was portrayed as a generous and kind person. He was a man of vast knowledge and a very attentive to the condition of the people around him (page 23). Empuh Baradah learned to live with a lot of prior knowledge scriptures; then it made him to be a person who was very intelligent. His attitude was based on the primary motivation in his life that was Diana Novietasari Bedagama / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 2 (1) (2013) 4 getting closer to God. It was proven when he got opportunity to assist King Erlangga in resolving the issues rose in Daha. He was also willing to help Calon Arang to get the purification of her soul when she was willing to admit her mistakes. In addition, Empu Baradah did not hesitate to share his knowledge to those who wanted to learn from him even to those who had opposed him (Page 115-116). This novel represents the relation of three leaders in process of achieving their purposes. As a formal leader, King Erlangga needed the assistance of the other two leaders who were informal leader to provide welfare for his people. They were informal leaders because they were appointed as leaders of a certain community and part of Daha Kingdom. Empu Baradah helped to resolve the problem existing in Daha kingdom when a mysterious illness was happened. Furthermore, long time after the mysterious illness was happened, Empu Baradah still showed his generosity to King Erlangga when King Erlangga was confused to relinquish his throne (page 125). However, both can give each other advice and solutions for others. While Calon Arang who was represented as the antagonist in the novel, she also had a role in the government of King Erlangga. Calon Arang’s role was forming the attitude of King Erlangga to face of problems. In the beginning of the story, there was told that Daha was always safe and the people were always in comfortable zone because they had prosperity, welfare, and safety; the presence of Calon Arang was a test to King Erlangga’s capability in leading his kingdom. When King Erlangga could not solve the problem created by Calon Arang, he needed to be assisted by Empu Baradah. Calon Arang thought that she could take revenge through casting spell. However, it did not make her find contentment and peace of herself. King Erlangga in this case came, indirectly bringing Empu Baradah helped Calon Arang to get the satisfaction and peacefulness. Empu Baradah had a purpose to be able to help everyone who had a problem especially for people who wanted to get closer to God and gain enlightenment or peace. In fact, the existence of informal leader brings both positive and negative for the leadership and achieving the goal of a formal leader. However, it is precisely the presence of these effects make the ability of a leader will be tested and trained. Through this novel, the narrator gives the readers a close linkage of the three characters in the novel that leaders in achieving a goal of a leader was still needed help from other leaders, although they are subordinate or part in government. In leadership there is an objective to be achieved by the leader (Sulistyani, 2008:29). In this novel, the narrator tells that the three prominent leaders had their focus on leadership. Firstly, for King Erlangga his people’s prosperity and welfare were the focus of his leadership. This was represented by all policies he made and his actions demonstrated his efforts for the welfare of his people. For the example, the construction of the embankment he made was useful for watering the fields and managed to increase crop yields in his region. In addition, the presence of King Erlangga’s embankment also promoted trade from abroad to his kingdom (Page 9- 10). Mysterious disease that was spread by Calon Arang caused people in Daha kingdom became afraid and worried. To gain his objectives, King Erlangga did a lot of efforts to resolve this problem. Actually, King Erlangga could have chosen not to solve the problem that plagued in some regions because his actions to solve the problem provoked Calon Arang to act more than ever, but as a leader he remained Diana Novietasari Bedagama / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 2 (1) (2013) 5 focused to solve the problem because it was also his responsibility (page 41-42). He could directly take action to overcome the problem. Calon Arang emphasized self- satisfaction as her primary goal. It did not merely occur when she felt angry and vindictive with people who disparaged her (page 15-16). Her action actually was the representation of her disappointment to the people’s attitudes to her family, and she tried to satisfy herself by taking revenge. On the other hand, Empu Baradah had an aim to bring his followers to be able to get closer to and be acceptable to the Sang Hyang (God). Therefore, in his effort to achieve his aim, Empu Baradah believed that he could take to get closer to Sang Hyang by assisting others. He helped King Erlangga to be able to resolve the issues rose in Daha. In addition, Empu Baraah also had his heart to lead Calon Arang which later also became his followers to obtain purification and acceptable to the Sang Hyang. Although finally Calon Arang admitted her mistakes, this narration represents that Empu Baradah did not judge or patron Calon Arang. He purely tried to teach Calon Arang to follow his way to get purification (Page 116 & 121). The leader’s capabilities in managing and resolving issues are essential to be owned by a leader because both large and small problems can be destructive. As the previous chapter, I told about four skills must be needed by a leader to overcome problems; they are problem diagnosis, initiative, listening, and decision making. In this novel, the narrator tells the readers about each leader’s mastery of those four skills in problem solving. A leader is required to be able to figure out the subject matter that happens. It can be obtained from the proper functioning of its members to obtain information supported the conclusion of the appropriate solution for the problem arise. In this narration King Erlangga diagnosed what the problems experienced by the people; he gathered information from his subordinates to get the root of the problem in the kingdom (Page 41). The next stage is the initiative; initiative is the ability to take the first step to resolve the problem. An initiative from a leader when a problem arose could be a fresh air for his followers because it could bring the people’s belief that their leader was really serious and had intention to resolve the existing problems. It was also happened when King sent troops; people felt that their king was so thoughtful of their safety. In line with King Erlangga’s action, Empu Baradah also showed his initiative when he had known the root of problem in Daha, so that he could decide what they must do to solve the problem. Then, Empu Baradah asked his star pupil to help him and told King Erlangga about what he must do. Listening is the ability to see a problem from the others’ point of view. Through listening a leader can also find intake suggestions that could help to resolve the problem. For a leader to listen to others’ opinion is not so easy because it takes humility of a leader to hav the willingness to listen. As in previous section, I highlighted King Erlangga’s characterization that he had willingness to listen others’ opinion (page 84). The last stage is the decision-making. Decision making is the final process of solving a problem which can determine the success of problem solving. In the novel The King, The Witch, and The Priest this also recounted the ways adopted by the King Erlangga to solve the problem that existed in his kingdom. A leader delegates a task to his members because he has divided the tasks that exist in the process of goal achievement according to the capabilities of its members. In addition, delegation is the recognition of the leader in achieving that goal he needs the help of his members. It is clear if the delegation provision is made when a leader Diana Novietasari Bedagama / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 2 (1) (2013) 6 is not able to take action on him. According to Robert Burns, the delegation is entrusted power possessed by a leader to others to complete a task that was not to be resolved by him alone. Through delegation, a leader recognizes that he needs help from his members to achieve their goals, and the delegation from leader gives confidence to members but he still remains fully responsible for the results of the work of members who received th e delegation. This novel tells that the king and Empu Baradah came to the decision to delegate tasks of this issue to others. Delegation also occurred when King Erlangga’s thoughts and efforts to solve the problem of mysterious disease afflicted his people were not successful, and he had felt unable to handle by him, and he finally delegated it to Empu Baradah. Delegating tasks were also performed by Empu Baradah as a group leader in completing the tasks assigned by King Erlangga. He felt that he couldn’t be able to execute the solution to get the secret of Calon Arang, so he gave his belief to his student, Bahula, to carry out his plan to defeat Calon Arang. Delegation is about trust and support. Delegation comes from a sense of confidence in the ability of its members. It is also felt by the King Erlangga so he was really sure to give credence to a great task to his memers. His belief in Empu Baradah arose from the capabilities possessed by Empu Baradah, not solely because of the circumstances that did not improve. It also happened when Empu Baradah decided to give a hard task for his student, Bahula. In this situation, Empu Baradah also gave truth to Bahula and it was also due to Bahula’s capability and excellent ability (Page 99). Trust is the foundation for awarding delegation. Trust helps a leader to provide support for the members to accomplish their tasks. Without the leader’s trust, they will feel the lack of sponsorship from the leader to finish their job. This is precisely what was then asked by Empu Baradah to King Erlangga; the trust means full support both materially and psychologically for the executor (page 88-89). Empu Baradah as someone who had given delegation authority by King Erlangga asked to the king to give full trust, because it would show the triumph of the given task. In this matter the King gave his support by providing all things which Bahula needed to undergo the plans. To delegate a task of a leader should be someone who can focus on the goal. King Erlangga and Empu Baradah are the examples of leaders who really focus on the purpose of the group which is tried to achieve. Authority is also an important aspect of delegation. Delegating a task means also provide authority for members to make decisions, and take action in order to complete the task. The narration also shows that Empu Baradah really got full of authority to take action to support it to solve existing problems in Daha. On the other hand, responsibility is needed to base the trust and authority. A member gets trust and authority to accomplish the task so he must prove to his leader that he is capable and responsible for completing tasks. Then, the results of all actions must be accountable to his superior. This novel also tells about accountable; Empu Baradah could complete his responsibility in carrying out his duties. When he had gained the spell book belonging Calon Arang, he was studying the book as well as his duties in order to eliminate the spell Calon Arang in Daha as a sense of responsibility to get the job done. Authority and responsibility are always connected to accountability. Accountability is not about the result of the duty but also how to complete it. (Page 83- 116) In this novel, Empu Baradah and Calon Arang are prominent leaders of the transformational leadership who gave the application of it. The transformational Diana Novietasari Bedagama / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 2 (1) (2013) 7 leadership is a process in which leaders and followers raise one another to the higher degree of morality and self-motivation. The leader tries to carry the ideals of humanist and social as a goal to be achieved, in which the self-satisfaction and personal reasons such as greed, jealousy, or hatred as a cornerstone goal left. Transformational leaders are always trying to raise awareness to the people around him and pull them toward higher moral values. This was represented in Empu Baradah; he was always trying to bring people who deviated on moral values to return to the ideal of moral values. There was the concept of transformational leadership shown that it was able to alter and change the values that were fixed for the beginning of the entrenched view toward a better and positive (Page 114-117). The implementation of transformational leadership was implemented by Calon Arang. She finally realized that her actual purpose was not to kill a lot of people but to take to the true satisfaction. In transformational leadership, leaders more concern with humanist goals rather than the self-satisfaction. Transformational leadership is not just bringing the leader to raise the self- motivation and morality. However, it can also invite members to come along with him to new levels of morality and motivation. In this section, I discussed the effects of the application of leadership concept I had discussed in the previous sections for the betterment of the society in the novel. In the previous section, I discussed Leader's Characters, Problem Solving, Delegation, and Transformational Leadership as the implemented leadership concept by the characters. These four concepts have great effects for the betterment of society in the story. Leader is a part of social group who later has a big hand in shaping and determining the development of society’s culture. In this case, the concept of leadership in the novel The King, The Witch, and The Priest shows that the pattern of leadership every leader described therein giving an effect for people around him. First, the positive characterization of King Erlangga was giving very good impact for the progress and prosperity of the people in Daha. His characterization which focused on his people and his wisdom made people to be able to enjoy the glory and prosperity of the various sectors. Then, the characterization of Empu Baradah, he was humble and he loves to bring a positive impact on the settlement issue in Daha. People were able to return to normal life, safe, and peaceful after Empu Baradah was able to beat Calon Arang. The ability of problem solving and delegation was also done by King Erlangga also provided good impact on people's life. King Erlangga demonstrated his capabilities as a leader in charge of the issues rose in the midst of society, so that it created a sense of trust in the people. The readers can see that delegation is not a thing to be shunned by the leader. The reasons of any leaders reject the option to delegate the task are caused by the lack of trust in the ability and the capability of their members. The last is the concept of ransformational leadership; this concept was bringing a great change to a previous system that had existed in Calon Arang’s leadership, and this change gave a positive impact for the wider community. Her willingness to change her aim of self- satisfaction to gain inner peace caused her followers also changed their negative actions. CONCLUSION I found six points of leadership concept in this novel. They are characterization of the leader, the ideal relationship between formal and informal leaders, focus of leadership, problem solving, Diana Novietasari Bedagama / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 2 (1) (2013) 8 delegation, and transformational leadership. In this study, the characterization of each leader could show how he/she leads and treats his/her followers. Next, the harmonious and good relationship between formal leader and informal leaders can support each other in order to achieve their objectives. Although each leader has different objective to be achieved in his/her leadership, he/she tries and works hard to achieve it. The next discussion in this analysis is problem solving; in this narration, to solve a problem a leader needs four problem-solving skills; they are the ability to diagnose a problem, the initiative to solve a problem, a willingness to listen, and decision making. Those four skills in solving problem can bring the solution for a problem. The other thing that is needed to build a good leadership is delegation. Delegation is important to help a leader to gain his/her objectives when he/she feels unable to overcome the problems. Delegation in leadership requires trust and authority from the leaders to members and responsibilities of members of the task given by the leader. In the assessment of the concept of leadership in this narration, sometime leaders need to apply transformational leadership in their leadership. Transformational leadership is a change in vision and mission of a leader which brings him/her and his/her members to achieve higher level of moral and human values, so the members can better contribute to the society. Furthermore, transformational leadership can bring humanist and social goal to the people. From the application of the leadership concept that I have explained, the three leaders in the narration are able to jointly build a prosperous society. Despite of the three leaders have the different characterization and focus of leadership, but they are able to align their focus of leadership so that the bigger purpose can be achieved. REFERENCES Davidson, Nicholas. 2009. Louis Gabriel Ambroise, Vicomte de Bonald. Luxemburg: Euro-Synergies. Finzel, Hans. 2002. Empowered Leader. New York: Paperback. Giddens, Anthony. 2011. The Constitution of Society. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Pedati. Kartono, Kartini. 2011. Pemimpin dan Kepemimpinan: Apakah Kepemimpinan Abnormal Itu?. 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