FROM LITERACY TO IDEOLOGY: SEMANTIC SHIFT ON THE REPRESENTATION OF “TUHAN” MEANING

Abstract

Revisiting and re-describing the meaning of “Tuhan” (Allah or God) are currently predicated to reset the thought of thinking on how so far “Tuhan” is represented as signified code. The word “Tuhan” is literate in such a thing as a textual understanding. But, “Tuhan” is sometimes distorted as a manifestation of certain ideology of language either in religion or politic. This article is aimed at describing the phenomena of using the word “Tuhan” in some current issues. A short overview of semantic system of the word “Tuhan” is given, capturing on the semantic rules therein. The semantic analysis of “Tuhan” is also combined with the analysis of ideology. In this article, the meaning of “Tuhan” is semantically changed from the source meaning. The change of the meaning can be seen from the role. There are five dimensions of which the meaning “Tuhan” varies ideologically: 1) belief, 2) religion worship, 3) experience, 4) knowledge, and 5) consequence.