APPRAISAL ANALYSIS OF ROY SURYO’S DEFAMATION ACCUSATION TO EKO KUNTADHI AND MAZDJO PRAY

Abstract

In 2021, the former Minister of Youth and Sports, Roy Suryo reported Eko Kuntadhi and Mazdjo Pray for a defamation case regarding the comments in their YouTube video. The former minister reported that the two had falsely accused him and defamed him regarding the hit-and-run case that he faced with the Indonesian actor Lucky Alamsyah in the same year. However, the case still did not reach any conclusions in 2022. This research then aims to investigate whether the video contains defamation to be considered a criminal case as claimed by the former minister. This study would employ the appraisal framework proposed by Martin and White (2005) in order to analyze the contents of the video, including the comments of Eko Kuntadhi and Mazdjo Pray. To help reach a deeper analysis, the study would also use the intertextuality of the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) by Reisigl and Wodak (2009). Both the appraisal and the Discourse-Historical Approach were applied to analyze the utterances made by the two in their video entitled EKO KUNTADHI & MAZDJO PRAY: DEWA PANCI BIKIN ULAH LAGI (PRA KONTRO #36). Findings indicate that Mazdjo Pray and Eko Kuntadhi have body-shamed Roy Suryo through mockery, particularly to his mustache through negative judgment. The duo also used mockery to link Roy Suryo’s mustache to his successful appointment as the Minister of Youth and Sports after succeeding both the official minister, Andi Mallarangeng, and his ad interim minister, Agung Laksono, citing that the only reason for his promotion was due to his mustaches’ likeness to that of Andi’s. The duo also made various comments regarding Roy Suryo’s activities on Twitter, citing that he often utilizes his technological skills only to analyze various pornographic contents to verify the actors and actresses portrayed. Meanwhile, the analysis indicates that the claims for defamation regarding the case are not to be found since the literature describing the events matches the statements.