Strategi Elit Lokal Membangun Wacana Pemekaran:(Studi kasus Wacana Pemekaran Provinsi Bolaang Mongondow Raya).

UMBOLA, Abdillah, Nur Azizah

2014 | Tesis | Politik dan Pemerintahan

Abstract The purpose of this study is to see the strategy applied by the ruling local government to realize territorial expansion draft. Ever since the idea of territorial expansion was proposed to the public of Bolaang Mongondow Raya (BMR), there has not been any contending ideas. In order to realize this draft, the local government has to have strategy, as well as assets (Economic asset, cultural asset, symbolic asset) if they would want it to be a dominant, prioritized draft. According to Bourdieu, a possible strategy that ruling government could take in order to make a draft dominant is through conservation, which is an act of defending and building upon the established drafts. The assets mentioned above then could be used by the ruling government to massively produce or reproduce the idea of the said drafts so it becomes imprinted as public opinion. Thus, the society upon which the imprinted draft “lives” as public opinion becomes unconsciously controlled by the government. The research questions of this study is what is the strategy (how to do it) of the ruling government of Bolaang Mongondow Raya in consolidating the territorial expansion draft? This study utilizes descriptive-qualitative method with case study approach. By such method, the reason behind the popularity of territorial expansion could be explained. The approach of this study has the purpose of explaining such phenomenon intensively, thoroughly, and detailed. The data analysis utilizes triangulation technique. The data consists of primary and secondary data whose validity is gathered, analyzed, and verified. Based on the research, two dominant issues concerning the territorial expansion draft are identified: (1) the issue of prosperity (visible); and the issue of the difference of religion and ethnicity (hidden), each having strong foundation to resurface. For example, the issue of prosperity appears as the result of what is considered an “unfair” treatment by the mother-province Sulawesi Utara (Sulut) in power distribution. Public facilities like road and healthcare, as examples, are still rare in BMR. This is also the case in the issue of difference of religion and ethnicity, since the people in BMR consist mostly of Moslems from Mongondow ethnic, in contrary with other territories in Sulut province which consist mostly of Christians from Minahasa ethnic. There are various strategies taken by the ruling government in order to realize the draft. Using available resources and assets, the government build the public opinion by presenting parts of the issues openly, while hiding some aspects of it. There are three mediums utilized by the ruling government to promote the territorial expansion agenda. The first is the local media which serves as the tool to build and conserve the public opinion regarding territorial expansion. The second is through advertisement boards and stickers. The third is through the BMR’s cultural space such as marriage ceremony. In the first medium, the issue of prosperity is often presented while the issue of the difference of ethnicity and religion is only presented implicitly. This second issue is only openly discussed in a limited forum attended only by Moslems and Mongondow people. In conclusion, this study could become a recommendation and reflection for interested parties to be attentive to these aspects: Firstly, mismanaging the territorial expansion draft in BMR could possibly lead to horizontal-conflict between society in Sulut, since the ruling government implicitly build the issue of difference in religion and ethnicity. Secondly, inequality and unfairness in Sulut has to be given thorough and serious attention. Thirdly, the expansion “bonus” like General Allocation Funds, Special Allocation Funds, and other kinds of funds should be distributed equally. Finally, the pro-expansion attitude has become xi a hegemony among the BMR public that they become less objective and less critical in assessing the overall condition of territorial expansion process in Indonesia. Key words: Elite strategy, discourse and unfoldment region.

Kata Kunci : Pembangunan Daerah