Reactualizing the Ecomomic Spirit in Javanese Literature Based on

the Javanese Local Wisdom

Djoko Sulaksono and Budi Waluyo

Javanese Language Learning Program, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Values of economic spirit, Javanese society, local wisdom, Javanese literature.

Abstract: To increase the economic necessity in the globalization era, everyone should have a high spirit of work to

comply with daily needs. In fact, an economic spirit in the general society especially Javanese people is still

low and must be increasing. This descriptive qualitative research aims to describe and explain about the

relationship between the Javanese literature and the economic spirit of Javanese people. The data from this

research are mainly concerned with the “Mintaraga Gantjaran” text written by Prijoehoetomo. The data were

collected by a note-taking technique using the “Mintaraga Gantjaran” text which is related to the topic of the

research. The data were analyzed using a content analysis technique in the form of a literature approach. To

test the data validity, this research used a triangulation technique. The research result shows that Javanese

literature, in this case the “Mintaraga Gantjaran” written by Prijoehoetomo, contains values of economic spirit

pertaining to the economic condition in this modern era. Re-actualizing the values of economic spirit in

Javanese literature not only increases the work ethic of Javanese society, but also improves a sense of

ownership toward Javanese literature that contains values of Javanese local wisdom.

1 INTRODUCTION

The economic condition of Indonesian society has

long been a main concern considerably. In fact,

almost 10% of the total population of Indonesia

remains below the poverty rate. In addition,

Indonesia's economic growth is relatively low, only

about 5.011% in 2017 (www.bps.go.id). This

condition, if left uncontrolled, is going to get worse.

Some unavoidable causes of this worsening economic

condition include geographical conditions, lack of

public facilities and infrastructure such as hospitals,

and places to organize economic activities amid the

weakening entrepreneurial spirit of society (Phung, et

al., 2016: 75).

To re-address this phenomenon of weakening

economic growth, some steps are necessarily taken to

support all parties. In terms of the government

concern, a regulation can foster economic activities,

so that the state trade is more likely to focus on and

side with the people (Greenfeld, 2006). However, this

condition is still far from expectations. The economic

policy in Indonesia seems unfavorable to people, for

example, the price of basic necessities is high, so that

Indonesian people find it difficult to meet their needs

of life. To supervise economic policies, the

government can take advantage of meeting people’s

and investors’ demand of the commodity. Within a

framework of existing economic regulations, the

government is in favor of the people who indirectly

trigger economic activities to support economic

transactions. Pro-people economic policies can also

suppress the game and monopoly of companies that

own high capital (Palazzo, 2016).

The weakening economic condition of Indonesian

people is not only caused by external factors

(regulations, economic climate, and big

shareholders), but also internal factors (the lack of

economic enthusiasm) to develop creative economy.

This results in a less developed economic condition

of Indonesian society. To solve this complicated

problem, the government can push people's economic

spirits to generate PNPM and KUR programs and

boost the entrepreneurship spirit of Indonesian

society, though, in reality these government-launched

programs are still less effective.

Another way to improve the economic spirit of

Indonesian society is to actualize the values and

economic spirit in Javanese literary works. Javanese

literature contains values that are very complex and

relevant to various problems existing in the

community, especially the Javanese community

(Rahmat, 2016: 75). Javanese literary works, as

Sulaksono, D. and Waluyo, B.

Reactualizing the Ecomomic Spirit in Javanese Literature Based on the Javanese Local Wisdom.

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (ICEEE 2017), pages 199-202

ISBN: 978-989-758-308-7

199

proposed by Susanto (2011), are relevant to modern

Javanese literary works of capitalism, while postwar

work of world II is more likely to reflect the

dominance of technology and network of global

capitalism. One of the Javanese literary works in

question is a novel.

A novel is a literary work in the form of a prose

that is longer than a short story. In a novel are

problems of complex figures based on the underlying

customs (Sulaksono, 2016: 17). Just like a literary

work, a novel has a structure. The structure in a novel

consists of elements of the builder who build the

novel, as well as elements of storytelling that

encapsulate the social conditions recorded in the

author's memory (Prabowo, 2013: 93). The structure

includes (1) theme, (2) plot/groove, (3)

characterization, (4) setting or setting, and (5) point

of view.

As a miniature of life stories, a novel contains

either values or messages for the readers to digest

(Rodgers, 2007: 480). The messages in a novel are

extremely varied and, of course, concern with social

issues (Anwar, 2009: 391). Not only does the author

infrequently convey messages related to economic

problems, but also related values of social life. In the

Prijohoetomo's Mintaraga Gantjaran novel, these

values are set to re-actualize economic spirits in

which the author of this novel is expected to foster the

spirit of economic activities for Indonesian citizens.

2 METHODS

As this is a descriptive qualitative research using an

interdisciplinary literary approach, its structural

analysis aims to analyze the in-depth structure and

content of literary works in detail. The object of

research is the Mintaraga Gantjaran novel written by

Prijohoetomo. Referring to the object of research, the

method of collecting data is note-taking. In addition,

it also added in-depth interview method with literary

experts and economic experts. The data are derived

from three ketoprak manuscripts using a content

analysis technique, along with data of reduction

stages, data presentation, and data verification

(Sutopo, 2002). To test the validity of data, a data

triangulation technique is used, namely a

triangulation of data sources and a triangulation of

theories.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The data analysis in this research is called a structural

approach. This literary analysis uses a structural

approach that attempts to analyze the elements in a

literary work, as well as its interrelated mechanism.

On the one hand, it deals with the relation of elements

with the totality of meaning (Ratna, 2012: 91). The

structural approach not only analyzes the intrinsic

elements of literary works, but also the extrinsic

elements of the work (Wellek & Warren, 2014: 24).

The intrinsic elements in literature are themes,

characterizations, plots, backgrounds, points of view,

language styles, titles, mandates, and interpersonal

relationships. The data analysis in this research

focuses on the analysis of values and economic spirits

found in the Prijohoetomo’s Mintara Gantjaran novel.

From the storyline points of view, this novel

contains the inspirational stories of a puppet. The

transformation of such puppet stories is intensively

found in the aspects of characterization and flow

(Nurgiyantoro, 2016). The storyline and

characterizations in the novel become a

transformation of the puppet story entitled Begawan

Ciptohening. It tells about the story of one of the

Pandavas, namely Arjuna who meditates to obtain

weapons of destruction that will be used in the

Western War, (Cohen, 2007).

Points of analysis in this novel are related to some

values of economic problems. First, it is a bold

economic value and, in this context, deals with a

steady heart and great confidence (Sulaksono, 2015:

118). The bold representation of values can be viewed

from the brave Arjuna’s karate, King Niwatakawaca

of the Ima-imantaka State. Although the king is

famous for his miraculous powers, he has no fear at

all.

The second value is the leadership. A leader must

be able to lead himself, or herself before leading

others. A good leader should always think about the

fate of people, peace, religion, and welfare of the

nation (Sutarjo, 2006). In this novel, the value of

leadership seen in the footage of King Darmawangsa

describes how Arjuna meditates to get weapons from

the Gods. This reflects the nature of King

Darmawangsa which reflects the nature of a leader

who must protect his people from external attack.

The third value is gotong royong (a mutual

cooperation value), a reflection of the social life that

must always help each other (Khristianto, 2016, 95).

In Prijohoetomo's Mintaraga Gantjaran novel, Arjuna

is willing to help the Khayangan Kingdom and the

mediator of Bathara Indra, who at that time, faced an

attack from enemies of the Ima-imantaka kingdom.

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Arjuna's willingness to provide assistance greatly

reflects a social protection of the community, which

is to uphold the attitude of mutual help and mutual

assistance to each other.

Some values found in this novel are associated

with the economic spirit among Javanese people

contextually. First, it represents courage of Javanese

people to start a business or economic activities to

improve their lives (Roy, 2003). When someone will

start a business, he or she must have strong

confidence that his or her business will succeed. If

someone is hesitant to start a business, then he or she

certainly will never start a business, so the economic

situation will no longer good.

Leadership is a value that connects with the ability

of management. An entrepreneur must have good

management skills (Greenfeld, 2006). Enterprises

without good management skills are nonsensical.

Management in this case not only deals with financial

management and business management, but also

concerns with human resource management

(Astaman, Wahyono, & Wardoyo, 2016).

Furthermore, it is important to re-actualize gotong-

royong values in the Javanese society. If someone

will start a business in the absence of a mediocre

capital, he or she can use a principle of mutual effort

by looking for business partners to cooperate with. By

doing so, the existing business partners can help run

business easily that both benefit financial or capital

practices, as well as the implementation of

businesses. Thus, if the three values in this novel can

be re-actualized and socialized in the success-

obsessed Javanese society, they can add to people’s

business and economic spirits. If the spirit of doing

business community is good, then surely their

economic life will improve.

4 CONCLUSIONS

A low economic activity of Indonesian people is one

of the triggered factors for the low interest and the

spirit of doing a business. However, it can be

mitigated if the government sets to generate economic

regulations that favor and benefit the people. In

addition, another way to spark the economic spirit of

Javanese society is by way of re-actualizing economic

values behind Javanese literary works. Mintaraga

Gantjaran is a Javanese literary work in the form of a

novel that contains several economic values, each of

which epitomizes the value of courage, leadership,

and gotong-royong (a mutual cooperation value).

These three values are highly relevant to the

economic activities of Javanese society. By

actualizing and socializing them fully, the spirit of the

public in running a business triggers the improvement

of an economic situation. In what follows, to

introduce Javanese literary works to the community,

it is necessary to foster the love and pride of the work

of Javanese literature that becomes an integral part of

local wisdom of Javanese culture.

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