Political Communication of Jawara in the Road Infrastructure Program and Poverty Alleviation in Pandeglang District, Indonesia

Abstract

Pandeglang is one of the districts in Indonesia's Banten Province with high poverty rates and uneven road infrastructure conditions. This issue has an impact on the difficulty of people to live more prosperously due to economic obstacles and inadequate access. This study aims to describe the political communication of Jawara in the Jamsosratu poverty alleviation and road infrastructure program. This study uses a qualitative method and multiple case study design using Habermas" communicative action theory. Data is collected through in depth interviews and participatory observation techniques, both for key informants and informants. In implementing participatory observation techniques, the author directly interacted with informants and key informants both in formal forums and in day-to-day informal forums. The informants are selected using purposive sampling. The key informants are jawara who are directly involved in road infrastructure program, while key informants who are related to Jamsosratu program is people who understand the research problem but are not directly involved. The author, finally, interviewed 14 key informants and 8 informants. The results showed that the champion was a determinant factor in regional development. Jawara make political communications with the government, the community is also political elite. There are two typologies of Jawara: traditional and modern Jawara. The political communication of traditional jawara leads to consensus regarding community empowerment at micro level, while the political communication of modern jawara leads to the consensus of development at macro level. Iluksioner communication orientation is dominated by traditional jawara, while proluksioner communication orientation is dominated by modern jawara.