The Individual Dimension

Metaphor may also vary from person to person and it often depends on each person‟s major concern and interest in the topics. For instance, when a legislator in the commission of education and culture talks about non-professional topics, like law or corruption, he/she often employs metaphors derived from his/her professional life. A legislator in the commission of economy and finance may use different metaphors on these issues. A cultural and social observer who is always invited in the talk of Jakarta Lawyers club (TV-ONE) also uses different metaphors about the issues. He or she views corruption as culture, which is different from both legislators. One legislator views corruption as a political business and another one sees corruption as an ill society . However, the audiences may not be able to gain much from these metaphors because they do not have the necessary expertise to make sense of the legislator‟s or the cultural and social observer‟s metaphors based on their professional activities.

Another source of individual variation in the use of metaphor is personal history. Kövecses (2002) shows some examples of metaphors used by American politicians who like sports based on a 1996 issue of Time, such as Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Al Gore, and Jack Kemp. They conceptualised a variety of political issues in terms of the source domains of sports. For instance, Bill Clinton has been an enthusiastic golfer for a long time and he

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understood politics in terms of sport, which results in the POLITICS IS SPORT metaphor: “Let’s not take our eyes off the ball. I ask for your support, not on a partisan basis, but to rebuild the American economy” (Kövecses, 2002: 194). Thus, Bill Clinton‟s personal history in sports may influence the choice of metaphors. With respect to the personal history, this thesis does not cover a personal history because it is hard to match the speaker‟s activities with the actual metaphors, that is, how to find a remarkable fit that indicates a close correlation between the personal history and the metaphors used by individuals. For example, metaphor (131) below was expressed by a female legislator who was suspected of corruption.

(131) KORUPSI SEBAGAI BUAH-BUAHAN (Corruption as fruits) Tolong berikan apel Malang kepada Bos Besar.

Ketua Besar minta semangka Palembang dan apel Washington. (Please give19 Malang apples to the big boss)

(The big chief asks for Palembang watermelon and Washington apples)

The public knows well that the speaker of (131) was an actress, Miss Indonesia and a master‟s degree graduate. She may like fruits (apple or watermelon), but she is not a fruit seller. In that case, the personal history of the speaker (131) does not influence the choice of metaphor. The metaphor variation (131) is derived from her concern or interest to make special terms as a secret symbol/ code to avoid the use of vulgar language in ways of practicing corruption. The fruits (131) are not actual fruits, but just terms which mean:

‘apel Malang’ = uang rupiah (money in Rupiah (Rp) currency) „apel Washington‟ = uang dollar (money in the U.S dollar currency) „semangka Palembang‟ = uang rupiah & dollar (money in Rp. & the U.S.$) „Bos Besar‟ (Big Boss) = the elite members in the parliament

„Ketua Besar (Big Chief) = the chief of the political party

The fruits (131) refer to money in Rupiah and Dollar currency which is used to make the project of 20wisma atlit (athletic building) in Palembang run smoothly. The individual

19 _{„Apel Malang‟ is an apple fruit which is planted in Malang, East Java, Indonesia. Malang is famous for}

its apples. „Semangka Palembang‟ is a watermelon fruit that is planted in Palembang, South Sumatera, Indonesia. Thus, „apel Malang‟ is an apple from Malang and „semangka Palembang‟ is a watermelon from Palembang.

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who received the money is termed „big boss‟ and big chief‟ who needed money in Rupiah and Dollar currency. The fruit terms do not just refer to money, but also to where the building of wisma atlit takes place (Palembang). Thus, the terms „semangka palembang‟ mean the building project of wisma atlit in Palembang. Thus, the metaphor variation (131) is taken from the less general metaphor KORUPSI SEBAGAI MAKANAN, „Corruption as food‟ (see section 5.2.1), but the aspect of requiring the secret codes to keep the practice of corruption safe is an additional element.

Another metaphor variation of corruptor is also derived from the speaker‟s concern and interest,viewing corruptors in terms of animals and invisible creatures (ghosts), as in (132) below:

(132) KORUPTOR SEBAGAI HEWAN/HANTU (Corruptor as animals/ghosts) Bersihkan buaya-buaya koruptor dari negeri ini!

Tikus-tikus koruptor berkeliaran di banggar DPR.

Hukum tak mampu menyentuh hantu-hantu yang bergentayangan.

(Clean buaya-buaya koruptor (big corruptors) from this country!)

(Tikus-tikus koruptor (smart corruptors) are hanging around in parliament) (Law cannot touch the ghosts hanging around/law cannot catch corruptors)

The speaker of (132) is a politician. He assigns the animal quality-manner (crocodile and mouse) to humans and even the ghost quality to humans. The crocodile is a greedy animal and the mouse is a clever and nice smelling animal that likes to gnaw at food, boards and the things in the house. Both animals symbolise corruptors which have a strong power and unsatisfied feeling (crocodile), is smart and knows well how to engage in corruption acts (mouse). The ghost is an invisible creature. The quality of the ghost is assigned to corruptors (human quality) as a way of making sense: “to catch a corruptor is as difficult as to catch a ghost”. The metaphor variation (132) is based on the generic metaphor KORUPTOR SEBAGAI MANUSIA SERAKAH, „Corruptors as greedy humans‟ (see section 5.2.1).

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„Wisma Atlit‟ (athletic building) was a project to build a sport arena for Sea Games in Palembang, which was indicated as a corruption act. „Big Boss‟ and „Big Chief‟refer to the political elites who organised the project.

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In addition to metaphor variations of corruption, the metaphors of case also vary from person to person. Examples of these metaphors are provided in appendix N (133-134). The metaphors are taken from the generic metaphors KASUS SEBAGAI OBJEK DALAM WADAH, „Case as object in a container‟ and KASUS SEBAGAI OBJEK MISTERI, „Case as mysterious object‟ (see section 5.2.6). The metaphor (133) puts another object, “masuk angin” (catch a cold), into the container, which refers to the person who is involved in corruption. Indonesia practises an open court system. Someone‟s case is open to public discussion in mass media. The aspect of state and event (134) is added to the mysterious object. In this respect, the public talks about the cases, but the case cannot be sorted out and it is intentionally manipulated and politicised. Based on this experience, the significant cases of corruption are commonly dismissed. The speaker of (134) compares the status of the case to a natural principle of the river that finally flows into the sea.

Other metaphor variations are the metaphors of law (135), politics (136), democracy (137) and government (138) provided in appendix N. Metaphor (135) comes from the generic metaphor HUKUM SEBAGAI ORANG SAKIT (Law as a sick person). The state of being sick is added (mati suri, „suspended animation‟) to strengthen the meaning of the sick person, emphasising that it is impossible to reinforce the law. Metaphor (136) is based on two generic metaphors: POLITIK SEBAGAI KEKUATAN (Politics as power) and POLITIK SEBAGAI PERTARUNGAN (Politics as war). The words ikan teri (teri/tiny fish) refers to some small parties and ikan salmon (salmon fish) refers to a majority party which is engaged in a political debate in the parliament. In this case, the quality of the animal (fish) is added to the quality of politics.

The metaphor variation (137) stems from the generic metaphor DEMOKRASI SEBAGAI KEBEBASAN (Democracy as freedom). This metaphor adds a liquid object (water) and its quality, such as keran (tap), referring to a controlling instrument for the democracy; dibuka selebar-lebarnya (widely opened/turned on) refers to the freedom of expression, and kebablasan (uncontrollable) refers to the ways the freedom applies: in an anarchic, impolite and unethical way. Thus, when the tap is widely turned on (no control), the water is flowing heavily (the freedom is out of control), which may cause flooding (massive anarchic protest actions). The variation in (138) is from the generic metaphors

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PEMERINTAH SEBAGAI ORANG TUA/KELUARGA (Government as parent/family) and PEMERINTAH SEBAGAI LUMBUNG MAKANAN (Government as a food granary). These metaphors focus on the functions of parents or family being similar to the function of the government for its people. However, the parents or family described in (138) are a bad or criminal family that likes to do corruption and bribery acts as a source of income to support family life.

5.7 Metaphorical Entailments and Metaphorical highlighting and hiding