A law or a statutory regulation – in a country that claims to be based on law – is always used as the basis for regulating the life of the nation and state. This is because in these laws there are always three main provisions, namely (1) regulations, (2) prohibitions, and (3) sanctions. A person who has violated one of the regulatory provisions in a law is often said to have violated the law, especially written law. Thus, a person who has violated the law is the same as breaking the law.
If a person speaks the language of legislation, it means he is speaking the language of law, more precisely speaking the language of written law. So far, many legal experts think that the language used in law is different from other Indonesian languages. In fact, in Chapter III of the Language Variety of Legislative Regulations, the Law on the Establishment of Legislative Regulations (Law No. 12 of 2011) Annex 2 is stated as follows
The language of laws and regulations is basically subject to the rules of Indonesian grammar, both concerning word formation, sentence preparation, writing techniques and spelling, however, the language of the laws and regulations has its own distinctive features which are characterized by clarity or clarity of meaning, appropriateness, behavior, harmony, and adherence to principles in accordance with legal requirements both in the formulation and in the way of writing.
Based on the quotation, it is clear that the language in legislation or the language in written law is also Indonesian which must comply with the rules of Indonesian grammar, both in (a) word formation, (b) sentence preparation, (c) writing techniques, and (d) the spelling. However, in the next statement – namely, however, the language of the laws and regulations has its own characteristic which is characterized by clarity or clarity of understanding, straightforwardness, standardization, harmony, and compliance with legal principles.–become an anomaly from the previous statement. This is because the statement can be interpreted that the Indonesian language outside the statutory language is not characterized by (1) clarity or clarity of understanding, (2) straightforwardness, (3) rigor, and (4) obedience and only the language of legislation has these four characteristics.
Among linguists and language teachers this anomaly statement actually includes the characteristics of effective language, namely the structure must be clear, the form and choice of words must be straightforward, and the information conveyed is not ambiguous so that it does not need to be anomalized with the previous statement. Thus, the Indonesian language used in legislation does not only use standard grammar rules, but also must pay attention to or follow the principle of sentence effectiveness.
Word Formation
The formation of words in the language of legislation is carried out based on the morphology of the Indonesian language and general guidelines for the formation of terms. This word formation includes the form and choice of words (diction). Following are some examples of word choice in legislation.
Types and tariffs on types of non-tax state revenue as referred to in Article 16 as well as regional income as referred to in Article 25 shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations.
The choice of words carried out in this paragraph means ‘carried out’, so it is very strange if the types and rates of non-tax state revenue and regional income are implemented in accordance with the provisions of statutory regulations . What can be carried out is a job or task, not the type and tariff as well as regional income as in the provisions above. In order to become standard norms, these provisions must be changed to become as follows.
The types and rates of non-tax state revenue as referred to in Article 16 as well as regional income as referred to in Article 25 shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations.
Sentence Compilation
The sentence structure in legislation must also follow the syntactic rules of the Indonesian language. Thus, mandatory elements in sentences such as subject and predicate must always exist in every provision set forth in an article or paragraph. Without the presence of one of these elements, the article or paragraph in the law cannot be said to be a norm because the norm must be a proposition. Several cases are presented in the following.
In the event that the geothermal exploitation for direct use as referred to in paragraph (1) letter a is in a conservation forest area, it can only be used for natural tourism activities.
Example (3) consists of two main parts, namely (i) in the case of geothermal exploitation for direct use as referred to in paragraph (1) letter a is in a conservation forest area and (ii) can only be used for natural tourism activities . Part (i) is commonly called adverbial and part (ii) is commonly called predicate. Thus the sentence cannot be said to be the norm because the subject of the sentence does not yet exist. For this reason, in order to become the norm, example (3) must be corrected by bringing up the subject of geothermal exploitation as shown in (3a) or (3b) below.
a. In the case of geothermal exploitation for direct use as referred to in paragraph (1) letter a, which is in a conservation forest area, geothermal exploitation can only be used for natural tourism activities.
b. Geothermal exploitation for direct utilization as referred to in paragraph (1) letter a located in a conservation forest area can only be used for nature tourism activities.
In addition to having a subject, norms in statutory provisions must also have a predicate. Without the presence of predicates, articles or paragraphs in legislation cannot be said to be norms because norms must be in the form of propositions and conditions for propositions must have a subject and a predicate. The predicate in legislation must be a verb in the form of an action. Several cases are presented in the following.
The results of the identification as referred to in paragraph (2) are used to measure and estimate the extent to which the risk is potentially dangerous, widespread, and spreading so as to paralyze the economy.
Example (4) consists of three parts, namely (i) the results of the identification as referred to in paragraph (2) , (ii) to measure and estimate the extent to which the risk is potentially dangerous, widespread and spread , and (iii) so as to paralyze the economy . Part (i) is commonly referred to as subject, part (ii) and part (iii) are commonly called information. Thus, this example cannot be said to be a norm because the sentence predicate does not yet exist. For this reason, in order to become the norm, example (4) must be corrected by bringing up the sentence predicate, which is used as shown in (4a) or used as shown in (4b) below.
a. The results of the identification as referred to in paragraph (2) are used to measure and estimate the extent to which the risk is potentially dangerous, widespread, and spreading so as to paralyze the economy.
b. The results of the identification as referred to in paragraph (2) are used to measure and estimate the extent to which the risk is potentially dangerous, widespread, and spreading so as to paralyze the economy.
Writing Technique
The right writing technique makes it easier to understand a norm to be expressed. The norms contained in the following provisions are difficult to understand because they are not well presented.
Art 62
In providing nursing care, nurses are prohibited from providing drugs other than free drugs and limited free drugs, except in carrying out tasks under certain conditions as referred to in Article 34 and in an emergency situation to provide first aid as referred to in Article 36.
The sentence in the norm above is linguistically correct, but to understand what information will be disclosed requires special care to understand what information will be conveyed. Difficulty understanding of the passage lies in the use of prepositions (conjunction) on a recurring basis. To facilitate understanding, inner conjunctions can be replaced with the word on or vice versa and tabulations should be made such as changes in (1) or (2) below.
Art 62
Nurses in providing nursing care are prohibited from giving drugs other than free drugs and limited free drugs, except in carrying out tasks on :
certain limitation conditions as referred to in Article 34; and / or
emergency to provide first aid as referred to in Article 36.
or changed to the following.
Art 62
In providing nursing care, nurses are prohibited from giving drugs other than over-the-counter drugs and limited over-the-counter drugs, except for the implementation of tasks in :
certain limitation conditions as referred to in Article 34; and / or
emergency to provide first aid as referred to in Article 36.
