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LITERA
Vol. 21 No. 3, November 2022
https://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/litera/issue/view/2430
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21831/ltr.v21i3.53338
268
Community attitude to the news of pandemic Covid-19
Rohali*, Siti Perdi Rahayu, Herman, Yeni Artanti, dan Dwiyanto Djoko Pranowo
Universitas Negri Yogyakarta, Indonesia
*Corresponding Author; Email: rohali@uny.ac.id
ABSTRACT
This study aims to describe the themes and attitudes of the community towards news about the Covid-19 pandemic
on WhatsApp. By conducting critical discourse analysis, it is hoped that an understanding will be formed that can
enlighten the public on how to interpret and understand the information about the COVID-19 pandemic that they
receive through the WhatsApp application and be selective in sending this information to others. The results of the
study show the following. Fisrt, the attitude of affection contains 4 themes, namely religious, health, education,
and economic themes. There are two functions of a religious theme, namely a request to God and an expression of
gratitude. The health theme has three functions, namely an invitation to maintain progress, vaccination
recommendations, and health humour. The theme of education is represented in the form of public attitudes
regarding the readiness of universities for offline learning. The function of the economic theme is related to
expressions of concern and ironism towards the deteriorating Indonesian economy. Second, the attitude of the
community's cognition is realized with the theme of health which has the function of protest, fake news, and health
humour. Thirth, dehavioral attitudes carry three themes, namely health, education, and economy. The function of
the health theme is behaviour in responding to the funeral process for Covid-19 victims and vaccination. The
function of the educational theme is related to the behaviour of the community towards the preparation of offline
learning. The economic theme is represented by behavioural deviations from health protocols during the
implementation of PPKM.
Keywords: discourse analysis, attitude, covid-19, WA
Sikap masyarakat terhadap berita pandemi Covid-19
Abstrak
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskipsikan tema dan sikap masyarakat terhadap berita tentang pandemi Covid-
19 di WhatsApp. Dengan melakukan analisis wacana kritis, diharapkan akan terbentuk pemahaman yang dapat
mencerahkan masyarakat bagaimana memaknai dan memahami informasi tentang pandemi covid-19 yang mereka
terima melalui aplikasi WhatsApp dan selektif dalam mengirimkan informasi tersebut ke orang lain. Hasil
penelitian menunjukkan hal-hal sebagai berikut. Pertama, sikap afeksi memuat 4 tema yaitu tema religius,
kesehatan, pendidikan, dan ekonomi. Ada dua fungsi tema religius yaitu permohonan kepada Tuhan dan ungkapan
syukur. Tema kesehatan memiliki tiga fungsi yaitu ajakan menjaga prokes, anjuran vaksinasi, dan humor
kesehatan. Tema pendidikan direpresentasikan dalam bentuk sikap masyarakat terkait kesiapan perguruan tinggi
dalam pembelajaran luring. Fungsi tema ekonomi berkaitan dengan ungkapan kekhawatiran dan ironisme terhadap
ekonomi indonesia yang semakin memburuk. Kedua, sikap kognisi masyarakat diwujudkan dengan tema
kesehatan yang memiliki fungsi protes, berita bohong, dan humor kesehatan. Ketiga, sikap perilaku mengusung
tiga tema yaitu kesehatan, pendidikan, dan ekonomi. Fungsi tema kesehatan adalah perilaku menyikapi proses
pemakaman korban Covid-19, dan vaksinasi. Fungsi tema pendidikan berkaitan dengan perilaku masyarakat
terhadap persiapan pembelajaran luring. Tema ekonomi direpresentasikan dengan penyimpangan perilaku
terhadap protokol kesehatan di tengah pemberlakuan PPKM.
Kata kunci: analisis wacana, sikap, covid-19, WA
Article history
Submitted:
18 September 2022
Accepted:
25 November 2022
Published:
30 November 2022
Citation (APA Style): Rohali, R., Rahayu, S. P., Herman, H., Artanti, Y., & Pranowo, D. D. (2022). Community
attitude to the news of pandemic Covid-19. LITERA, 21(3), 268-278. https://doi.org/10.21831/ltr.v21i3.53338.
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INTRODUCTION
The Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia had a very broad impact. All aspects of life have changed
due to this virus. In the field of education, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the educational
paradigm from face-to-face learning to online learning, from conventional media and approaches to
information technology-based media and approaches. In the economic field, the COVID-19 pandemic
has weakened some of the foundations of the economy, both on a micro and micro scale. Culinary
outlets, shops and supermarkets are closed during the pandemic. The big companies employing
thousands of employees were forced to lay them off. The impact of this pandemic did not escape
religious life. Places of worship are closed and worship is carried out at home. Likewise in socio-cultural
life, which forces us to avoid the tradition of going home for Eid, family visits, arts and cultural activities
are prohibited. In other words, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of the nation's life.
During the pandemic, mass media and social media have become the mouthpiece of information
both related to the COVID-19 pandemic and also related to government policies in handling or
suppressing the spread of the virus. As reported by ITS News (2020), several mass media put sentences
that provoke the curiosity of readers in news titles ( clickbait ). The survey was conducted by AC.
Nielsen in six major cities in Indonesia showed that 69.6% of respondents in the six cities associated the
coronavirus with negative aspects such as dangerous, infectious, emergency, deadly, scary, worried,
epidemic, pandemic, and disease. The results of a survey conducted by the Central Statistics Agency
(2021) related to community behaviour during the emergency PPKM period also varied, some obeyed
the rules and some did not comply with the health protocol rules. This cannot be separated from the
influence of information circulating in the mass media and social media including WhatsApp.
Likewise news on social media such as those hapening in WA. Various news circulated in the
form of chain messages which in a matter of minutes had spread to all regions in Indonesia. The types
of information shared are also varied, some are scientific and some are in the form of personal opinions.
Some are serious and some are in the form of jokes, some are based on factual data and some are in the
form of fake news. Sometimes it is difficult for recipients of messages in WA to know whether the
information is true or false, scientific or unscientific, reminding or inciting, and so on. For this reason,
it is necessary to understand how to interpret the information conveyed via WhatsApp.
According to Altmann (2008), three are the three characteristics that seemed most obvious among
the definitions analyzed were that "attitudes" are (a) a mental state-conscious or unconscious; (b) a
value, belief, or feeling; and (c) a predisposition to behaviour or action. Or it could be argued that three
characteristics seem most obvious among the analyzed definitions of attitude: (a) mental state—
conscious or unconscious; (b) a value, belief, or feeling; and (c) the tendency to behave or act
In line with the above opinion, Faturochman (2009) quotes Fishbein & Ajzen, assuming that
attitude is a relatively permanent organization of feelings, beliefs and behavioural tendencies towards
other people, groups, ideas or certain objects. It is said further, that there are three important things
related to the definition, namely (a) affective aspects (feelings), (b) cognitive aspects (beliefs), and (c)
behavioural aspects. The affective aspect of attitude appears in a person's feelings towards the object
being addressed. These feelings can be positive, negative, or neutral. Then, the aspect of cognition or
belief is related to a person's belief in the truth or untruth of the object he is responding to. The belief is
realized on the knowledge or opinion that he understands. The third, namely the behavioural aspect can
be distinguished from behaviour in the form of real tendencies, intentions, or commitments.
Regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indonesian government has taken steps to prevent and stop
the transmission of this virus. Various policies have been carried out, ranging from large-scale social
restrictions, homecoming bans, and the new normal, to the implementation of Community Activity
Restrictions (PPKM) up to level 4. With the implementation of this PPKM policy, people's attitudes and
behaviour are quite diverse. Research conducted by the Disaster Risk Reduction Forum (FPRB) of
Indramayu Regency (2000) related to the responses of the people of Indramayu Regency also varied,
some were obedient and some were disobedient for economic reasons (Lina, 20021).
A survey conducted by BPS in July 2021 shows (a) there are groups of people who comply with
health protocols and there are still non-compliant behaviours, such as being less compliant in avoiding
crowds (22%) and washing hands with soap. sanitiser (25%), and maintaining a minimum distance of 2
meters (33%), (b) the level of compliance in maintaining health protocols outside Java and Bali is still
lacking, (c) the majority of the population feels bored/very bored while PPKM is in effect (60% of
respondents)).
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The WhatsApp social media application which was released in 2009 is an application that has the
most complete features compared to other similar applications. Whatsapp has the main features that are
its mainstay. These features include text messaging, voice calls, video messaging calls, picture sending,
and so on. In addition, the ease of use also makes this application widely downloaded and used by the
Indonesian people.
It is because of the completeness of its features that many internet users in Indonesia download
and use this application on their mobile phones or their computers. As reported by liputan6.com, at the
age of 12 in 2021, the number of WA users worldwide reached 2 billion active users every month. The
results of the KIC survey (2020) show that WhatsApp is the respondent's favourite application (98.9%).
With 171 million internet users, 87.7% are active users with 30.8 hours of application usage per month
(good news from Indonesia, 2020) In other words, almost the majority of internet users in Indonesia are
WhatsApp users.
Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a model of linguistic analysis that examines discourse by
involving elements outside of language, namely context. One of the CDA approaches is the analytical
model proposed by Norman Fairclough. According to Fairclough, discourse activities are social practice
activities. This causes a dialectical relationship between social practice and the process of discourse
formation, namely, discourse affects social order and social order affects discourse.
According to Jorgensen and Phillips (via Munfarida, 2014), Fairclough's approach is called a text-
oriented discourse analysis that seeks to unite three analytical traditions, namely (a) textual analysis in
linguistics (including Halliday's functional grammar); (b) macro- sociological analysis of social practice.
including Foucault's theories which do not provide a methodology of text analysis, and (c) the micro-
sociological interpretive tradition in the discipline of sociology. Thus Fairclough considers that the
unification of the linguistic, macro-sociological and micro-sociological analysis traditions separately
cannot answer the problem comprehensively. In Fairclough's model, a discourse is analyzed
linguistically but also takes into account the micro and macro social context by providing sufficient
stages and types of analysis.
Fairclough, (1995) says that discourse analysis is used to systematically explore the often unclear
causal relationships between (a) discursive practices, events and texts, and (b) social and cultural
structures, relationships, and processes. In addition, according to him, discourse analysis is used to
investigate how these practices, events, and texts arise from and are ideologically shaped by power
relations and power struggles.
Tiruneh, et al (2020) said that the Fairclough model CDA analysis consisted of three main steps,
namely description, interpretation, and explanation. The description step is related to images and
linguistic elements, namely vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, text structure, and metaphor. The
interpretation step is related to the inference of the relationship between the discourse process and the
interpretation of the text, namely the situational context and the intertextual context. Meanwhile, the
explanation step is related to the process of evaluating and persuading personal and social concepts
METHOD
This research is qualitative descriptive research using the Fairchlough model of critical discourse
analysis approach. The three main steps in this analysis are (1) the description, (2) the interpretation,
and (3) the explanation. At the description stage, the researcher reads the text messages about covid-19
in Whats App (WA) and describes its linguistic elements. At the interpretation stage, the researcher
interprets the linguistic data. The interpretation includes interpretation related to the context of the
situation and the intertextual context. In the explanation stage, the researcher describes and explains the
meanings contained in the analyzed discourse.
The data of this research are words, phrases, and sentences containing news or information related
to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Meanwhile, the source of this research data is news in the form of text
information, and photos sent to WhatsApp Groups. The data was collected using the techniques,
proposed by Sudaryanto (2015), of participatory observation (Simak Libat Cakap) and nonparticipatory
observation (Simak Bebas Libat Cakap. The observation technique proposed by Sudaryanto is
commensurate with that proposed by Moleong (2011) complete participant (participant in full),
participant as the observer (participant as an observer), observer as the participant (observer as the
participant).
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The data were analyzed using the Fairclough model of critical discourse analysis. The analysis
steps of the Fairclough model are (1) the description step: describing the image and linguistic elements,
namely vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, text structure, and metaphors contained in the news (chat) about
the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, (2) the interpretation step: inferring the relationship between the
discourse process and the text interpretation, namely the situational context and intertextual context, and
(3) the explanation step: evaluating and persuading about personal and social concepts.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Results
There are 19 data on affective attitudes. The attitude of affection or feeling carries the four themes,
with the function of each theme being diverse. Among the themes carried out in the messages on WA
Group, the health theme is the most dominant (9 data), then the religiosity theme (6 data), the economic
theme (3 data) and the education theme (1 data). The attitude of the community's affection can be seen
in table 1 below.
Table 1. People's affective attitudes in responding to Covid-19 News in WhatsApp group
No
Theme
Function
Number
Frequency
1
Religiosity
1. Prayers to God
2. Thanksgiving
6
31.6%
2
Health
1. Invitation to do process
2. Vaccine recommendations
3. Prohibition of gathering etc.
4. Humour
9
47.4%
3
Education
Hope for PTM soon
1
5.3%
4
Economy
1. Worries
2. Ironism (wealth of state officials with the
condition of the people)
3
15.8%
Amount
19
100%
The attitude of cognition or belief in messages of covid-19 news in the WA Group turns out to
only carry one theme, namely the theme of health (4 data), while the themes of religiosity, education,
and economics did not exist. There are 3 main functions of cognitive attitudes on health functions as
shown in table 2.
Table 2. People's cognitive attitudes in responding to Covid-19 news in WhatsApp group
No
Theme
Function
Number
Frequency
1
Religiosity
-
0
0 %
2
Health
1. Protest against government policy regarding
PPKM extension
2. Fake news (not yet known)
3. Humour (making love can avoid corona)
4
100%
3
Education
-
0
0 %
4
Economy
-
0
0 %
Amount
4
100%
Meanwhile, the attitude of people's behaviour in responding to Covid-19 news in the WhatsApp
Group carries three main themes, namely the health theme (14 data), the education theme (2 data), and
the economic theme (1 data), while the religiosity theme (0 data). The functions in these themes are
quite diverse as shown in table 3 below.
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Table 3. People's behavioral attitudes in responding to Covid-19 news in WhatsApp group
No
Theme
FUNCTION
Number
Frequency
1
Religiosity
-
0
0%
2
Health
1. Fast funeral service action (because government
response is considered slow)
2. Take part in vaccinations
3. Refrain from having a picnic
4. Don't want to be vaccinated (choose not to get
social assistance over getting vaccinated)
14
82%
3
Education
1. University steps for the PPKM
2. Humour
2
11.8%
4
Economy
The act of closing the place of business for economic
actors who violate PPKM
1
5.9%
Amount
17
100%
Discussion
Affective attitude (Feelings)
The attitude of affection contains 4 main themes, namely religious, health, education, and
economic themes. Each theme has a variety of functions. The first theme is religiosity. This theme has
two functions, namely a request to God and an expression of gratitude. These functions are represented
in various verbal and nonverbal forms. In verbal form, speakers use various forms, they are (a) prayer
strings and (b) religiously meaningful words. Data (1), (2), and (3) use prayer as an expression of
religiosity. In nonverbal form, expressions that have a religious tone are represented in the form of
pictures and emoticons.
Data (1), Data (2), Data (3)
Figure 1. Attitude of affection with the theme of religiosity
Data (1), (2), and (3) are from the Ministry of Religion, marked by the Ministry of Religion logo
on the top left. Speakers use the prayers in an Islamic way. Data (1) is an excerpt from the Koran Annisa
verse 9 and the hadith of Bukhari. The keyword in the verse is the word ' di'afah ' (weak) which has a
semantic relation to the phrase herd immunity. At the bottom of the letter Annisa verse 9, it is also
quoted the hadith of Bukhari which contains the words Allah sending medicine for all diseases. The
sentence has a semantic relation to the word vaccine (vaccination) which is believed to be a 'cure' for
COVID-19. Thus, the speaker tries to convince members of the WhatsApp group that vaccination is in
line with Islamic religion.
The same thing is also found in data (2) which quotes one of the hadiths about the obligation to
wash hands for Muslims. The hadith has a semantic relationship with one of the processes, namely
washing hands (wudlu). While data (3) cites the hadith narrated by Ahmad, Malik, and Ibn Majah which
contains the phrase the obligation for Muslims not to endanger themselves and others. The words of la
dororo, ' do not endanger yourself and wa la diroro' and do not harm others. The speech in the hadith
has a semantic relationship with the title and subtitle of the upload, namely wearing a mask, because
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based on research results, wearing a mask can avoid the risk of contracting and transmitting COVID-19
(Triatmojo, 2020).
In addition, there is also a function of expressing gratitude and the desire to perform worship
normally (offline). This expression is marked by words that mean an expression of gratitude such as
alhamdulillah, thank God, and so on. This religious attitude is usually expressed by speakers when
hearing, reading, or seeing uploads that have a good or positive meaning, such as healing from a disease,
someone who has been vaccinated, and so on.
2a, 2b
Figure 2. Expressing gratitude and the desire to worship normally
In Figure 2 above, speakers and interlocutors are discussing the use of antigen and PCR while
travelling (2a) and talk about restrictions in worship (5b). The expression Bismillah … Alhamdulillah
(2a) is an expression of hope that everything will go well and the expression of wanting to go offline
immediately (2b) is an expression of hope that conditions will get better so that speakers can take
recitations offline. These expressions indicate that Indonesian society is a religious society. The Covid-
19 pandemic that has spread in Indonesia since 2020 has made people aware of God's power. Therefore,
during the pandemic, they are getting closer to God and more and more religious. The use of words and
expressions that have religious meaning as in the data above shows that people's attitudes tend to be
more religious (see again the survey results of the Ministry of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia).
The second theme is health. There are three functions in this theme, namely an invitation to
maintain progress, vaccination recommendations, and humour about health. The invitation to maintain
health protocols is represented by words and sentences that state invitations, suggestions, and
prohibitions.
3a, 3b, 3c
Figure 3. The theme of health is an invitation to maintain progress
The utterance ' Monggo bapak ibu… kita tetep harus menjaga prokes’” Please ladies and
gentlemen... we still have to maintain health protocols” in the picture (3a) is the speaker's attitude
towards the news links about the Sedayu takziah cluster (one of the areas in the Bantul district) which
has spread to Sleman district. The use of the Javanese word ' monggo' in the speech is a form of code
mixing because the speaker uses Indonesian. In addition, there is also the use of non-standard
Indonesian, namely the word tetep 'fixed'. This shows that the relationship between the speaker and the
speech partner is egalitarian or has the same authority. In picture (3b), there is the speech “Oh … baik
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mbak. Tetep jaga kesehatan ya mbak” Oh ... well, Ms Take care of your health sis…. which indicates
the intention of the invitation/recommendation to maintain health, and in the picture (3c) there is the
phrase ‘aku belum vaksin sama sekali’ “I have not been vaccinated at all” followed by a crying (sad)
face emoticon. This indicates that the speaker was trying to express his sad feelings because he has not
had the opportunity to be vaccinated. It also shows that there has been growing awareness in the
community about the importance of vaccination.
The recommendation to maintain this health protocols (prokes) is following the rules regarding
the prevention of COVID-19 issued by the government, namely 3M, washing hands, maintaining
distance, and wearing masks, which is then added by staying away from crowds and reducing mobility
so that it becomes 5M (PADK Kemenkes). To oversee the 5M, the government issued a letter No.
19/2021 regarding the formation and optimization of the health protocol task force. At the beginning of
the development of covid 19 in Indonesia, the 3M program launched by the government received mixed
responses, some were supportive, and many were against it. Research conducted by Festi Ladyani
Mustofa (2021) found that the level of poor adherence reached 35.2%, and the level of good adherence
reached 64.6%. This data is in line with the results of a survey conducted by BPS in July 2021.
In addition to the level of awareness of maintaining the progress that is starting to grow, the
community also responds it with humour. The use of humour is intended so that the interlocutor is not
too immersed in emotions and tensions during the pandemic. Consider the following sample data.
Figure 4. Health humour
At first, the speaker started with the fact that at that time the government had lowered the status
of several areas from levels 4 and 3 to levels 2 and level 1. The speaker said that there were the
symptomes of the new variant virus, such as headaches, body aches, blurred vision, stomach twists and
staggers. However, at the end of the upload, the speaker closes with the sentence ‘ itu tanda-tanda Anda
sedang kelaparan” ' that's a sign you're hungry …and followed by a laughing face emoticon. The
nuances of humour are felt in an anticlimactic sequence, starting from the alert warning to the
accompanying symptoms until the speaker turns the conversation from symptoms of COVID-19 to
symptoms of starvation.
The third theme is education. There is only one data related to this theme. The statement ‘Wah
UNS sudah PTM ya. Aman ga ?...semoga aman…’ ' Wow, UNS has PTM, yes. Is it safe?...hopefully
safe... ' indicates that the speaker's affection or feeling is related to the implementation of PTM at UNS.
And the words safe? … hopefully safe contains the implications of doubt and hope. The use of the
lexicon ga 'no' shows that the relationship between the speaker and the speaker is not a superior-
subordinate relationship or has a higher authority, but a friendship relationship. Mendikbudristek
Nadiem Makarim also encouraged campuses in PPKM areas levels 1-3 to immediately implement
limited Face-to-face Learning (PTM). However, not all universities have decided to PTM with various
considerations.
The fourth theme carried out by the speaker is related to the economic theme. There are 3 data
related to this theme. Speeches like “Harta pejabat negara meroket! selama pandemi…. Jadi kuatir
kita… bisa diperpanjang pandemi” State officials' treasures skyrocketed! during the pandemic…. So
we are worried that the pandemic could be extended” as a form of worry and ironism. Consider one of
the following examples of economic themes.
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Figure 5. Concerns the economic theme
The picture above shows that 38 state officials in the Indonesia Maju cabinet placed at the top in
the form of photos like passport photos. At the bottom of the photo, there is an inscription of State
officials' assets in yellow. Underneath there is the inscription MEROKET ! With red capital letters, and
on the third line there is the text SELAMA PANDEMI “ DURING PANDEMIC with white capital
letters. At the bottom of the title, there is a subtitle with white font: as many as 70 per cent of state
officials' assets have increased over the past year during the pandemic. Most of the increase in official
assets is at the ministry level. The photo sender gives a verbal response with the sentence Jadi khuatir
kita… bisa diperpanjang pandemi “ So we're worried that the pandemic could be extended”. In that WA
message, there are metaphorical words, meroket in “Harta pejabat negara meroket selama pandemi”
the State officials' wealth skyrockets during the pandemic” which means that the amount of wealth rises
quickly like the speed of a rocket.
That WA message immediately made the speech partners show their attitude in responding to the
WA message, some were negative, and some even mocked and sneered. This is understandable because,
during a pandemic, where all aspects of life are affected, the poverty rate increases, but the assets of
state administrators have skyrocketed. Kompas.com's review on November 7, 2021, said that based on
the records of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the wealth of state officials or
administrators has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. The increase of the officials' assets was
discovered after the KPK conducted an analysis of the State Organizing Assets Report (LHKPN) over
the past year. That report said that the state officials' assets have increased by 70.3 per cent.
This KPK report is inversely proportional to the general economic condition of the Indonesian
population. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported that the number of poor people in March 2021
reached 27.54 million people. This number only decreased slightly by 0.01 million people compared to
September 2020. However, when compared to March 2020, the number of poor people increased by
1.12 million people.
Cognitive attitude
The attitude of the community's cognition in responding to news about the COVID-19 pandemic
in the WA Group only carries one theme, the health. The expressions that are widely used for the theme
of health in this cognitive attitude are quite diverse, ranging from expressions of protest, fake news, and
health humour.
6a, 6b
Figure 6. The attitude of protest and humour on the attitude of cognition
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In (6a) the WA message begins with a re-upload of news from detik.com about the announcement
of the PPKM extension by the president of the Republic of Indonesia. In the end, the speaker expresses
his attitude with the utterance “loss..doll… sampai ladang gandum berubah menjadi koko krunch”
loss..doll… “until the wheat field turns into Koko Krunch” and is followed by emoticons of dancing
women and smiling faces. The use of word loss doll … is a term in Javanese which means moving on
without a hitch. In addition, the word loss doll is also the title of a Javanese song sung by Denny Caknan,
one of the stanzas reads “Los Dol, ndang lanjut lehmu WhatsApp-an” 'keep going, continue playing
WhatsApp' “Cek paket datane yen entek tak tukokne” “check the data package, if it runs out, I'll buy it
later”. The statement contains the intention as an expression of protest against the government which
continues to extend the PPKM, during the socio-economic conditions of the community slump. How
bad is it? Kontan National Daily on August 27 announced the impact of the PPKM extension. In his
analysis, it is said that economic growth in the third quarter of 2021 is predicted to be lower than the
second quarter of 2021 which grew 7.07% year on year (YoY). However, according to the Minister of
Finance, the economy in July-September 2021 will still be in the positive zone. This shows that the
extension of the PPKM does not completely make the community worse off. Moreover, various
government programs have been launched both for affected families and for Small and medium
enterprises (UKM) (https://n (a, b, c) asional.kontan.co.id/news/ppkm-berlanjut-2-bulan-begini-impact-
terekonomian ).
The utterance sampai ladang gandum berubah menjadi koko krunch shows the PPKM extension
time, which is marked with the word sampai “until”. However, the word until is not followed by an
adverb of time, for example until December, or until the next three months, and so on. The adverb of
time used is an excerpt from one of the cereal advertisements. The speech sampai ladang gandum
berubah menjadi koko krunch “ until the wheat field turns into Koko Krunch” also contains the intention
of surrender and the helplessness of the community regarding the timing of the PPKM implementation.
Meanwhile, in Figure (6b), the speaker suggests how to maintain health in the form of humour.
The speaker writes that making love can prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As an argument, the
speaker put forward some scientific explanations. Is that true? that making love can improve health is
recognized by truth by doctors. According to several research results, sex (making love) has some
benefits for physical and psychological health. Having sex is not just to fulfil biological needs. Various
other sex benefits can be obtained if done regularly and safely. This activity can also reduce the risk of
certain diseases (https://www.alodokter.com/11-benefits-sex-for-bodily-more-healthy). This benefit
may be related to increased immunity which in turn can prevent covid-19.
Behavioural attitude
Behavioural attitudes carry three main themes; health, education, and economy. In the health
theme, the speech used is related to the function of the theme it carries. Sentence monggo menawi bade
mirsani tim kubur cepat covid19 di desaku “please if you want to see the quick funeral team in my
village” is a speech of information on the actions taken by the community in helping the government
carry out the funeral of the bodies of people with covid-19 where the government is experiencing
problems because of the large number of bodies that must be buried with the covid-19 protocol. The use
of Javanese sentences shows that the speakers are people who speak Javanese as their mother tongue
and master Indonesian as another medium of instruction. This is indicated by the code-switching from
Javanese to Indonesian.
Another behavioural attitude is vaccination. The sentences like Ikutan ah…. Aku sudah selesai
Vaksinasinya.” I have finished vaccinating” and Hari ini sy otw vaksin 2 astra Senec “today I vaccinated
2 Astra Seneca” or aku malah wis vaksin ke2 per tgl 5 juni, tapi vaksine sinovac “I even got the 2nd
vaccine as of June 5, but the Sinovac vaccine” Indicate that the behaviour of people who are starting to
grow awareness of the importance of vaccination. At that time, there were 64.61% of people who had
been vaccinated with dose 1 and 42.91 people who had been vaccinated up to the second dose
(https://vaccines.kemkes.go.id/#/vaccines). This figure will continue to be accelerated by the
government in coordination with all parties, including the general public. To accelerate herd immunity,
the President targets 70 per cent of Indonesia's population to be vaccinated (Kompas.com ) or about 182
million people. The role of the community is also important in efforts to accelerate the achievement of
the 70 per cent target. At least, according to the West Kalimantan Provincial Health Office, there are 6
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ways to contribute to the implementation of vaccination, namely (a) sharing facts about vaccines, (b)
finding out if they are included in the priority group to be vaccinated, (c) register them for vaccination,
(d) help them get to the vaccination site and return home, (e) help if they experience side effects, (f)
remind them to get a second dose of vaccine. ( https://dinkes.kalbarprov.go.id/support-percepatan-
vacsinasi-nasional-berikut-6-cara-berkontansi-dalam-perlaksanaan-vacsinasi/ )
The second theme is education. The Letter of the Director General of Higher Education No.4/2021
regarding the implementation of face-to-face learning for the academic year 2021/2022, learning at
universities starting in the odd semester of the academic year 2021/2022 is held with face-to-face or
online learning. This then spurred universities to take preparatory steps. The utterance like Insa Allah
smt depan. Proses mewujudknny melalui bbrp prosedur…. Sosialisasi kampus sehat “Insha Allah in the
future. The process of realizing it through several procedures…. healthy campus socialization”,
indicates real actions or behaviour of higher education leaders in welcoming PTM. The use of the speech
Insha Allah is intended as an expression of asking Allah to make it easier. While the use of abbreviations
such as smt 'semester', some 'several' indicates that the communication at that time was not formal and
the relationship between the speaker and the interlocutor was friends.
The theme of education is also expressed humorously by the speakers. The WA message like Nah
inginnya juga segera. Soalnya baju2nya sudah semakin sesak je “ Well I wants it too soon. It's because
his clothes are getting tight. As a response to WA message, Ternyata UNS udah PTM ya ? UNY kapan ?
UNS has PTM, right? UNY when will PTM? is an expression of predisposed behaviour. The sentence
“soalnya baju2nya sudah semakin sesak” “the clothes are getting tighter” is just an argument or reason
for the statement. Nah inginnya juga segera “well, I want it right away”. The question word in the
sentence is a marker for the meaning of cause. The use of the particle je in Javanese is usually expressed
by the Yogya people (one of the verbal characteristics of the Yogyakarta Javanese).
Lastly is the economic theme. The WA message starts with a news link from Detik.com and
continues with a review in the form of a summary of the news content and ends with the attitude of the
speaker. The sentences Ijin usaha Holywing di kemang ….dibekukan….. bebal kolosal “Holywing's
business license in Kemang….frozen….. colossal stupidity” contains several verbal aspects; the word
dibekukan “frozen”, which has the connotative meaning of 'forbidden to operate. In the phrase bebal
kolosal “colossal stupid”, the speaker uses ' al' sound for the beauty of the sound. The words colossal
stupid are formed from the words bebal 'stupid' and kolosal 'on a large scale, so the phrase colossal
stupidity means stupidity carried out on a large scale or stupidity committed by many people. A news
program on Metronews.com was titled ' ‘gawat maksimal akibat bebal kolosal’ “maximum danger due
to colossal stupidity”. The colossal stupid phrase in the news meant that many Indonesian people's stupid
behaviour was shown in public, such as covid-19 patients raging in hospitals and being calmed by
security guards, so that the security guards contracted virus of covid-19, full beds in all hospitals so
Covid patients - not accommodated, government officials who violate health protocols, causing new
clusters, and so on. The following is an example of attitudes of speakers towards the news of covid-19
in WhatsApp Groups.
7a, 7b
Figure 7. Attitudes toward health, education, and economic behaviour
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LITERA, Vol. 21 No. 3, November 2022
CONCLUSION
Based on the data and discussion above, it can be concluded that first, Indonesian community is
a religious society. In dealing with the news of covid-19, they always rely on God Almighty. Second,
Indonesian community is humorous society. Even though they are in the pandemic era, they don't always
respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with feelings of anxiety, fear, and tension. They also responded
with humour delivered in WhatsApp Groups. Third, Indonesian people like fake news / not really true.
They also like fake news about covid-19. The fake news was sent and forwarded many times from the
WA Group to the WA Group. They are very few who seek the truth of that news.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Arts who has funded
this research through the Group Research Fund. I will thanks also to the head of the French Language
Education Department for the encouragement us to this article.
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