Komunikasi Moral Lewat Gurindam Dua Belas Raja Ali Haji (Communicating Moral Values in Raja Ali Haji’s Gurindam Dua Belas)

Abstract

This article explores the functions of Raja Ali Haji’s Gurindam Dua Belas as a medium of to the audience communication. It argues that since the gurindam convention is instructively laden with ethical-moral values, it therefore lends itself as an effective mode of expression for the poet in communicating his thoughts to his audience. This argument will be explicated through the moralist approach that focuses on the ethical-moral functionality of the gurindam in the development of human capital. The findings have shown that Raja Ali Haji’s Gurindam Dua Belas are well-endowed with ethical-moral issues and perspectives that may even benefit the development of the nation. Besides that, obedience to one’s parents, good mannerism and avoidance of prejudice are also salient themes in gurindam that can be effectively deployed as one’s everyday communicative moral device.