Nationalism and aesthetics in Negaraku: a deconstructive analysis

Every country in this world has its own national anthem that apprehend their own national identity, custom, culture, tradition, and the history of the nation. It becomes the prominent aspect in deriving the sense of nationalism and it is the first medium that we learn about this value since we were born. The national anthem really plays an important role as it is clearly related to how strong nationalism of the nation itself. Unfortunately, it seems that Negaraku itself did not give an impact on the spirit among citizens due to lack of understanding of interpretation of the song itself. Therefore, this study aims to describe the meaning and philosophy of nationalism in Negaraku, to elaborate the expression interpretation in Negaraku and to analyze the role of representation in the Negaraku. This study will emphasize an exclusive method by Jacques Derrida (1967) as the core foundation in analysing the writing and speech element in Negaraku. Negaraku's lyrics and musical sheets will be used as the data for this study. The study resulted in drawing a new method that are simple and precise in providing the clear interpretation of the song in understanding the essence of nationalism. Moreover, the study also revealed the importance of aesthetics element in every aspect of our life. Three elements that have been highlighted in this study; the meaning, expression, and representation of Negaraku can give a basic understanding for the citizen in appreciating the song. Besides that, this study is desired to provide valuable insight for the future research in establishing the deconstructionism theory in the academic world, hence, give an educated insight of the importance of philosophical view in people's life.