Transitivity Analysis on The Portrayals of Indonesian Police Image by The Jakarta Post And The Sydney Morning Herald in Ferdy Sambo Case

Abstract


Introduction
In many countries, the image of the police force as the legitimate body of law enforcement has been a subject of surveys.For example, a public attitude survey conducted by IPSOS Mori under the commission of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in 2016 in the UK reported a positive image of local policing, with 52% of the respondents expressing satisfaction.Meanwhile, in the US, the national survey by Pew Research Center found that the public's evaluations of police  Public perceptions towards police are shaped by sociocultural agencies.One of such agencies is the news media that, as observed by Shi and Fan (2019), has become a source of information with a robust potential power to influence opinions, knowledge, beliefs, values, and social relations.Many studies have been conducted on how media coverage of police activities help form public opinions towards police.For instance, Kusumayantie (2015) examined two daily newspapers, Kompas and Pos Kota, regarding their depictions of Indonesian police.Using quantitative content analysis, Kusumayantie found that both newspapers portrayed the police positively when covering their work, competency, and professionalism, but negatively when exposing news related to their morality.Another study on Indonesian police image portrayal in the media was also conducted in 2015.Davies, Stone, and Buttle (2015) analysed 63 Lombok Post news reports pertaining to Indonesian police activities and found that the reports tended to draw Indonesian police image in a neutral light.Not only in Indonesia, similar research was also done in different countries, such as one by Chan (2015) who concluded that Hongkong's police image was seen in a negative light as it was depicted by the media rather unfavorably in terms of order-maintenance work, although it was possibly due to the political inclination of local media.
The current study explores the portrayals of the police image in relation to the investigation of the murder of Brigadier Yosua Hutabarat, committed by Inspector General Ferdy Sambo.This case received significant attention both nationally and internationally in Indonesia, primarily due to the involvement of high-ranking officials within the Indonesian National Police (POLRI), including the perpetrator, the victim, and the investigator.Through media coverage, the general public invested in the development of the case.Fowler (1991) argued that the news media do not simply represent a reality in their reports but rather reconstruct a perception of reality through intricate processes of selection and transformation.Consequently, the public becomes susceptible to an ideological perspective generated by the news reports concerning the image of the Indonesian police.
On August 9, 2022, POLRI organized a press conference, during which the Chief of the National Police, General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, officially named Inspector General Ferdy Sambo as a suspect.The press conference was attended by journalists from various media outlets, including The Jakarta Post, a local English news outlet, and The Sydney Morning Herald, an Australian-based news media.The Jakarta Post published its report online on the same day as the press conference, while The Sydney Morning Herald published theirs the following day.Since both reports stemmed from the same source, the press conference, they can be compared in terms of their similarities and differences.It is for this reason the current study picked its objects of comparison.
In order to expose the mechanism of reality reconstruction and perspective generation in the news reports, the researchers rely on Halliday's Systemic-Functional Grammar, especially on its concept of transitivity, as the theoretical framework and analytical concept.Fowler (1991) claimed that transitivity analysis is significant in examining news reports to reveal how the reporters textually reconstruct their subjects.This claim is in alignment with the theory of clause as representation (the ideational dimension of language) as propounded by Halliday (1994) in his seminal work on Systemic-Functional Grammar.
Many news studies have used transitivity analysis as a facility to reveal ideological significance of news coverage.For example, Sari (2020) conducted a study examining online news platforms, specifically focusing on liputan6, who was covering news about the police's efforts to prevent the spread of a prohibited party's ideology in Indonesia.Sari's conclusion emphasized that the government maintained control over the protest, highlighting the relative powerlessness of the activists during their arrest.The findings of the transitivity analysis indicated that the material process was the most frequently used in the news articles, followed by the verbal, mental, and relational processes.The presence of relational and mental processes in the news articles indicated that the activists were perceived as significant figures in the protest.
Furthermore, transitivity as an analytical concept and tool was also used in comparative studies as shown by various researches.Suparto (2018) surveyed two articles, one published by antaranews.com and the other hrw.org, that covered the Basuki Tjahaja Purnama's case.After examining every sentence used in each article, Suparto (2018) revealed that each article used elements of participants, processes, and circumstances differently from the other.Another comparative study was conducted by Isti'anah (2014), who analysed four selected opinions about the Jakarta governor election.Implementing transitivity analysis, Isti'anah (2014) several observations.In terms of the Material process, the people of Jakarta were identified as the ones taking action, highlighting the importance of the election for them.The candidates, on the other hand, were portrayed as the ones affected, having goals, or receiving actions.Passive clauses were used to express people's demands for the candidates to take real action.Regarding the relational process, the researcher found that Jakarta played a significant role as the carrier of certain attributes.This means that Jakarta is closely associated with specific characteristics in the minds of the people, and these attributes are inseparable from the city itself.As a result, people expect the next governor to be more effective in addressing the complex issues faced by Jakarta compared to the previous governor.In terms of verbal and mental processes, the data revealed a limited number of instances.This suggests that the focus was not primarily on the candidates' statements or thoughts, but rather on their concrete actions related to the election.
Previous research examining how the Indonesian police force is portrayed in the media has been relatively limited compared to similar studies conducted in other countries.To bridge this gap, the current study seeks to contribute by analyzing the transitivity structures in two news reports, one publihsed by The Jakarta Post and another one by The Sydney Morning Herald, to reveal how each depicts the image of Indonesian police.In doing so, the study answers two research questions: 1) How do the two news articles depict the Indonesian police?2) What are the similarities and differences in the portrayal of the Indonesian police image between the two news articles?
The investigation of Ferdy Sambo's case received extensive coverage on both national and international news media platforms, generating substantial discussions in the public spheres both online and offline.This suggests that the case has the potential to significantly influence public trust in the police force.
Therefore, the currecnt study is an endeavor to educate the public regarding perception of law enforcement, identify biases and stereotypes in media portrayals, and encourage journalist ethics and objectivity.

Methodology
The current comparative study is focused on analyzing two news reports that were published after the POLRI, an acronym from Kepolisian Negara Republic Indonesia (The National Police of the Republic of Indonesia), press conference held on August 9, 2022.The first report, titled "Ferdy Sambo charged with murder, cover-up," was published by The Jakarta Post on the same day, while the second report, titled "General Charged with murder in a new twist to case of bodyguard," was published by The Sydney Morning Herald on August 10, 2022.The selection of these articles was based on their accessibility, being in English, and sharing the same source (the press conference).The rationale for choosing these articles lies in the research's scope and focus, which centers on analyzing the transitivity structures of the articles.
To analyze the portrayal of the police image in the two reports, the researchers adopted Halliday's Systemic-Functional Grammar as a theoretical framework and Critical Discourse analysis as their chosen research method.Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) put forth the idea that a single clause conveys three metafunctions simultaneously: as a message, an exchange, and a representation.As portrayal falls within the realm of representation, the clauses in the articles are examined by focusing on their transitivity structures.According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), transitivity is the grammatical system in a clause that expresses the experiential aspect of meaning (clause as representation), which includes the actions, the individuals involved in those actions, and the accompanying circumstances.To put it in the context of the study, it is the transitivity system that allows the authors of the news reports to construe their experiences or ideas about the police in clauses.Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) listed three elements of the transitivity framework, which are: 1) a process that unfolds through time, 2) the participants that are involved in the process, and 3) circumstances that are associated with the process.The process and the participant components are always present in the clause, but the circumstantial element (usually also known as an adverbial group or prepositional phrases) is not obligatory.Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) provided a comprehensive breakdown of different processes and participants involved in transitivity (see Table 1).The Material process involves actions and events, with the Actor as the initiator of change.Additional participants in material processes include the Goal, the Affected, and the Agent.The Mental process pertains to sensing and feeling, with the Senser as the one perceiving and the Phenomenon as the object of perception.The Verbal process focuses on communication and narrative creation, involving the Sayer, the Receiver, the Verbiage, and the Target.The Relational process is centered around characterization and identification, primarily realized through the verb 'be.'It encompasses three types: attributive (Carrier and Attribute), identifying (Token and Value), and possessive (Possessed and Possessor).The Behavioral process relates to the actions and behaviors of conscious beings, with the Behaver as the primary participant.In certain conditions, an additional participant may exist, referred to as the Behaviour or the Phenomenon depending on its relationship to the process.The Existential process indicates existence or occurrence, marked by the word 'there,' which is not further analyzed for transitivity.The sole participant that receives a label in this process is the Existent.The table below shows the summary of processes and participants involved in transitivity based on Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), Eggins (2004) and Isti 'anah, (2014).(see Table 1).The researchers examined every clause in the news reports, categorizing them according to their processes, participants, and circumstances components.This analysis was aimed to reveal the preferences of the reports' authors in terms of the type of process, participants, and circumstantial functions employed when reporting the case, especially how they portrayed the role of the police.By comparing of the analysis results from each report, the researchers drew implications and concluded the similarities and differences between the two articles in their portrayal of the Indonesian police image.

Data Analysis
The data analysis in this study involved several steps.Firstly, we identified and marked each verb used in the clauses.Secondly, we classified the process type of each verb.Thirdly, we calculated the percentage of each process type in the texts.Fourthly, we presented the findings.Fifthly, we discussed the findings.Lastly, we drew conclusions on how the police were depicted in each news article.To conduct this analysis, we utilized Halliday and Matthiessen's framework (2004, p. 107), which focuses on the process unfolding through time, the participants involved, and the associated circumstances.We used a diagram to aid in identifying and categorizing the verbs used in each clause.
Regarding the process element, Halliday (1994) explains that the transitivity system helps us organize the world of experience into different process types: material, mental, relational, behavioral, verbal, and existential processes.In our data collection, we counted the verbs in simple sentences and main clauses of complex sentences.For compound sentences, we included all the verbs, including those in parallel clauses.

Results and Discussions
Both The Jakarta Post and The Sydney Morning Herald predominantly used material processes to describe the case, followed by verbal processes.Table 2 demonstrates the significant presence of material processes in both articles, accounting for 56.14% in The Jakarta Post article and 55.32% in The Sydney Morning Herald article.Similarly, verbal processes were utilized at a rate of 24.56% in The Jakarta Post article and 27.66% in The Sydney Morning Herald article.Given that both reports focused on the investigation's progress and were presented as coverage of a press conference, it is expected that material processes would be the primary choice, as indicated in Table 2.This aligns with the nature of news as a form of non-literal discourse aimed at informing readers about current events (Tian, 2018).The second most frequent process type in both articles was the verbal process, accounting for 24.56% in The Jakarta Post article and 27.66% in The Sydney Morning Herald article.Similar to the material process, the verbal process is crucial in news reporting for maintaining objectivity by directly or indirectly attributing information to its sources.On the other hand, the occurrence of relational, mental, and existential processes in both texts was relatively low, each accounting for less than thirteen percent (see Table 2).Table 3 presents the overall count of participants identified in the analysis of both articles.As the Material process dominated in both news reports, the corresponding participants were also prominent.In The Jakarta Post article, the Actor accounted for 24.77 percent, while the Affected appeared at 7.44 percent.In The Sydney Morning Herald article, the Actor and Affected represented 15.58 percent and 11.69 percent, respectively.In addition to the Material process, the verbal process in The Jakarta Post article report exhibited significant occurrences of the Sayer and Verbiage participants, at 13.76 percent.Interestingly, The Sydney Morning Herald article contained a higher occurrence of the Sayer participant, surpassing The Jakarta Post's at 18.18 percent, with a negligible difference in the occurrence of Verbiage at 11.69 percent.

Process Types and Participants
In analyzing the Experiential meaning, Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) focused on the process and participants in each clause.We followed his theory and started to analyse each clause we found from both articles by analyzing each process type.

Material Process
The material process is a process of doing, involved with the Actor, Goal, and Affected to explore the "doing" process.The total 56.14 percent and 55.32 percent of Material processes in The Jakarta Post and The Sydney Morning Herald articles on Sambo's case were presented in detail in Table 2, and the Participants (Actor, Goal, and Affected) were presented in Table 3.The details of the Material Processes and their Participants in the data are available in Appendix 1 and 2. Samples 1 to 5 were extracted from The Jakarta Post article, highlighting the prominent role of the police as the authoritative entity leading the case.In sample 1, the police acted as the Actor, carrying out the action of 'charging' with 'former internal affairs chief Insp.Gen. Ferdy Sambo' and Richard, Brig.Ricky Rizal as the Goals.Sample 2 featured the Actor 'police' performing the action of 'finding,' while sample 3 depicted the special investigative team as the Actor, 'detaining' Ferdy as the Goal.In sample 4, the police were the Actors involved in the 'investigating' process, where the Goal was 'the motive.'Sample 5 conveyed an implicit message emphasizing the police's objective approach, as they uncovered evidence of unprofessional conduct by the initial officers investigating Sambo's case (sample 3).This conveyed the police's commitment to fairness and aimed to maintain public trust and confidence in the police force.
1. … they had charged former internal affairs chief Insp.Gen. Ferdy Sambo with the murder of his own aide de camp, Brig.Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat … 2. … our special investigative team found that 3. The police have now officially retracted that account … 4. … they were still investigating the motive for the murder … 5. the special investigative team found that police officers who initially investigated the case had acted "unprofessionally" at the crime … Samples 6 and 7 portrayed the alleged suspects as the primary Actors.These individuals assumed the role of Actors when the news article recounted the sequence of events.In sample 6, Ferdy, one of the suspects, was the Actor responsible for the action of 'firing' using 'Yosua's gun' as the Goal.Sample 7 depicted Ricky and KM as the Actors engaged in the process of 'helping,' with 'Richard' as the Goal.

Ferdy fired Yosua's gun into the wall of
his house in an attempt to simulate a shootout … 7. Ricky and KM helped Richard to kill Yosua … The Affected participants shown in the Indonesian news article were also described during the account of the incident.The Affected is a participant who is being affected by the action exposed.In samples 8 and 9, the Affected was shown by a single noun, Yosua.Although formed in a passive sentence, Yosua remained the subject of the sentences, hence he was the main point of interest in those sentences.

… that Yosua was killed in a shootout 9. Yosua was shot by [Richard] on the orders of Ferdy …
The Jakarta Post article also highlighted the role of the Affected participants when describing the incident.The Affected participant refers to the individual who experiences the effects of the action being discussed.In samples 8 and 9, Yosua was identified as the Affected using a single noun.Despite being structured in passive sentences, Yosua remained the subject of the sentences, making him the focal point of interest in those particular statements.
10. … a case that has gripped the nation.11.Yosua's killing immediately caught the public's attention ...
In The Sydney Morning Herald article, the primary focus was on the case itself, which took on the role of the prominent Actor.The article emphasized the recent developments in the case, with actions such as 'threaten' and 'rip' highlighting the centrality of the case in the information presented.Notably, the second news article employed passive sentences to describe the case.Rather than using active sentences that would attribute the role of Actor to the police, the article preferred passive constructions, thus avoiding explicit mention of the police.In sample 14, Sambo was portrayed as the Affected without explicitly specifying the police as the agent of the 'charge' action.It appeared that the article intentionally avoided focusing on the police in this regard.
12. … a high-profile case that threatens to erode trust in law enforcement in Southeast Asia's most populous nation.13. … narrative has been ripped up … 14.An Indonesian police general has been charged with the murder of a junior officer at his house in a dramatic development in a high-profile case … The article from The Sydney Morning Herald provided a chronology of the incident, featuring the suspects as the Actors and the victim as the Affected.Sambo, in the role of the Actor, was involved in the actions of 'order' and 'fire' (as seen in samples 16 and 17), while Yosua, as the Affected, experienced the action of 'tortured' (as shown in sample 15).

Sambo, 49, had ordered the killing of his
bodyguard and driver … 16.After the fatal shooting, [Sambo] fired [Hutabarat's] gun into the wall of his house in an attempt to simulate a shootout," 17. … he had been tortured.
In contrast, the article provided minimal coverage of the police as the Actor.It included only two statements where 'an investigation' and 'they' (referring to the police) were presented as the Actors engaged in the processes of 'determine' and 'investigate' (as seen in samples 18 and 19).President Joko Widodo, being the highest authority, was mentioned and portrayed as the Actor who took action by 'weighing in' (as shown in sample 20).

an investigation involving ballistic and
forensic examination, CCTV footage and phone records had determined that … 19.… they were still investigating the motive behind the shooting.

President Joko Widodo again weighed in
on the episode urging a thorough probe to protect the reputation of the police.
Both The Jakarta Post and The Sydney Morning Herald articles primarily utilized the material process to report on Sambo's case.This is a customary approach in news reporting, as the main objective is to inform readers about current events or incidents.As noted by Tian (2018), the material process aligns with the nature of news as a form of non-literal discourse that conveys what is occurring in the world (p.439).However, upon closer examination, the focus of the material processes differed between the two news articles.The Jakarta Post primarily positioned the police force as the Actor, while The Sydney Morning Herald highlighted the case and its development as the Actor.
In The Jakarta Post article, the police were predominantly portrayed as the Actor with the authority and power to lead the investigation.The occurrence of the police as the actors accounted for 22.93 percent, while the case as the Actor was mentioned only twice [See samples 10 and 11].On the other hand, The Sydney Morning Herald article designated the case as the Actor in 9.96 percent of the instances, with the police mentioned as the Actor in only one sentence (sample 19).This finding corroborates Tian's (2018) study, which suggests that the emphasis on specific Actors reflects the reporter's intention, often aimed at criticizing a particular entity, as was the case with the Chinese government in Tian's study.Furthermore, The Sydney Morning Herald preferred to employ passive sentence structures when describing the case, downplaying the role of the police and highlighting the case itself as the focus of the report.This finding aligns with Isti'anah's (2014) research, which concluded that the intentional use of the Affected in clauses aims to shift attention to what transpired with the noun phrase in question.

Mental Process
A Senser in the Mental process is the one that senses, feels, thinks, and wants to perceive.According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), the significant feature of a Senser is that of being 'endowed with consciousnesses', or human-like.The participant that is sensed is called a Phenomenon.A Phenomenon is a participant who is felt, thought, wanted, or perceived.The position is in a sense reversed (2004, pp. 201-203).

"I (Senser) don't want this case to erode public trust in the police force (Phenomenon) …
In The Jakarta Post article, the three mental processes were attributed to the president of Indonesia, acting as the Senser.It is acceptable to use a Mental process from those in the highest command, such as a president.The president realised that "the police need to investigate the case thoroughly" (Phenomenon).As the highest commander, Jokowi demanded that he "don't want this case to erode public trust in the police force" (Phenomenon).He also urged that we as a governance body "need to maintain the National Police's reputation at all costs."(Phenomenon).

… investigators (Senser) now believe
Sambo, 49, had ordered the killing of his bodyguard and driver and attempted to cover it up (Phenomenon).

Widodo (Senser) has on several occasions demanded transparency (Phenomenon) over the death of Hutabarat …
Similar to the The Jakarta Post article, the article from The Sydney Morning Herald also contains two imperative statements from the president who 25. … "has on several occasions demanded transparency (Phenomenon) over the death of Hutabarat" and did (Phenomenon) so again ".
However, one notable Mental process in the text did not originate from the president but from the investigators, acting as the Senser who "now believe Sambo, 49, had ordered the killing of his bodyguard and driver and attempted to cover it up (Phenomenon)."It is worth noting that considering the context of a serious case under investigation, the use of a word related to feelings, such as 'believe,' by the police seemed unprofessional.The inclusion of the Mental process 'believe,' attributed to the investigators through an indirect statement from a highranking police officer, suggests that The Sydney Morning Herald intended to raise doubts regarding the reliability or professionalism of the police.
Drawing from Isti'anah's (2014) study on Jakarta's election, where Mental processes were infrequent as the articles focused more on candidates' concrete actions rather than their emotions, both articles in the present study also displayed minimal use of the Mental process.Presumably, this was due to the critical nature of the reported issue, which involved the integrity and credibility of the police as an institution.Consequently, employing the Mental process could potentially raise uncertainties among readers regarding the professionalism of the police.
Nonetheless, The Sydney Morning Herald did employ one instance of the Mental process, using the word 'believe' with 'the investigators' as the Sayer (See sample 23).This raises questions about the choice of a word related to feelings in a sensitive case like Sambo's.What is even more intriguing is that the statement originated from the police, an entity entrusted with establishing facts rather than relying on emotions.It appears that The Sydney Morning Herald aimed to instill doubt in its readers regarding the professionalism of the police.

Verbal Process
According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), there were three main participants in the verbal process (processes of exchanging information) -the Sayer (a participant who speaks), the Receiver (to whom the message is addressed), and the Verbiage (the verbalization itself).They also believed that "Verbal" clauses in news reporting allow reporters to impute information to sources, including officials, specialists, and eyewitnesses.Therefore, it is essential to include the participant and circumstances used in the verbal clause in analysing both texts.

Samples (26), (27), and (28) extracted from
The Jakarta Post article aimed to attribute the information to the police, specifically the officials, as the primary source.The author of The Jakarta Post article, as evident in sample (28), appeared to have the intention of informing the public, the readers, about the police's error and their subsequent retraction of the previous investigation's announcement.This was done by highlighting the police as the source of information and emphasizing their acknowledgment of the mistake.Furthermore, in sample (29), the information was attributed to Jokowi, the President of Indonesia, who holds the leadership role in the country where the incident occurred.Jokowi told the press on Tuesday.
In samples ( 30), ( 31), and ( 32) extracted from The Sydney Morning Herald article, the reporter aimed to attribute the information to different sources.Sample (30) intended to provide insights into Yosua's condition from the perspective of his family.Sample (32) disclosed Lumiu's role as a crucial witness in the incident.As for sample (33), the reporter sought to assign the information to Mahfud MD, the Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, a respected authority figure, who would ensure Lumiu's protection.The following are the corresponding samples: Both The Jakarta Post and The Sydney Morning Herald articles approached verbal processes in different ways.While both articles utilized a similar number of verbal processes and reported statements from authorities, The Jakarta Post predominantly employed an indirect speech form, whereas The Sydney Morning Herald presented them in a direct form.However, both articles included a direct quotation from President Jokowi Widodo, suggesting their intention to report the news objectively.Incorporating direct or indirect statements from relevant sources is a common practice in news reporting to maintain objectivity (refer to appendix 5).Additionally, sample 28 in The Jakarta Post likely aimed to restore public trust after the initial false claim made by the police, which was subsequently retracted following a comprehensive investigation conducted by a new investigative team.

But after
These findings on the use of verbal processes align with Tian's (2018) study, which suggests that the choice of primary sources in news reporting can influence readers' perception of the reporter's intention.In Tian's research, quotations from Xi's speech and an official's statement on Japan and history allowed The Guardian to subtly distance itself from the reported views while maintaining the impression of legitimate, objective criticism effectively conveyed to the news recipients.

Relational Process
In Relational Process, Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) believed that the verbs categorised into this process serve to characterize the Token to the Value, identify the Carrier with the attribute; and to show the relationship between the Possessor and the Possessed.
There were three relational processes found in The Jakarta Post, two Attributive and one Identifying.No Possessive process was found in The Jakarta Post.In sample (34), a twist was the Carrier of the Attribute shocking and surprising, describing the quality of the Carrier (a twist) using the adjectives shocking and surprising.In sample (35), allegations acted as the Carrier, grew as the process, and louder as the attribute.The samples of relational clauses in The Jakarta Post were:

In a twist (Carrier) that was both
shocking and yet hardly surprising (Attribute) … 35.Allegations of a cover-up (Carrier) grew louder (Attribute) … In The Sydney Morning Herald, there were four relational processes found, one Attributive, one Identifying, and one Possessive.In sample 36, Hutabarat is the Carrier of the Attribute trained sniper.Attribute trained defines the Carrier (Hutabarat).In sample 37, the Identifying process found in The Jakarta Post was the Token.Meanwhile, the most important thing was the Value.It was the subject pronoun for Jokowi's utterance, "Don't let the public lose confidence in the police," which the it replaced the public's confidence in the police.Sample 38 described Lumiu as the Possessor of the lowest rank, in which the lowest rank was the Possessed.The samples were as follows: 36.Hutabarat (Carrier)  The authors of both articles did not use this relational process to portray the police image positively or negatively.

Existential Process
The existential process represents something that exists or happens (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).In this process, the only labeled participant is the Existent, which can be any phenomenon such as a thing, a person, an object, an institution, or an abstraction.The word there in the existential clause does not have any functional label since it does not have any representational meaning, although it is assigned the Subject role in the Mood analysis (Eggins, 2004).
In The Jakarta Post, there were five existential clauses that were used to introduce objects such as no indication and sufficient evidence, events, or actions such as no shootout, some attempts, and any indication.

There was no shootout …
The existential clause appeared only once in The Sidney Morning Herald.It was utilised to introduce the shootout that did not happen.

There had been no shootout.
The nonexistence of shootout was reported in both articles, yet from different sources.In The Jakarta Post, it was reported as a statement coming from the police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who said that the investigators discovered the finding (sample 39).Meanwhile, The Sidney Morning Herald went straight to the source, Lumiu, who revealed the statement to the investigators (sample 40).
The fact that The Jakarta Post dismissed Lumiu as the source insinuated that the news article tilted more toward the police as the authority of the case.The Sidney Morning Herald chose to reveal Lumiu as the source as the news article regarded the case as the center of the report.

Circumstances
Circumstantial elements are optional elements usually recognized by adverbial groups or prepositional phrases.Types of circumstantial elements are extent (covers distance, duration, and frequency), location (covers place and time), manner (covers means, quality, comparison, and degree), cause (covers reason, Purpose, and behalf), Contingency (covers conditions, default, and concession), accompaniment, role, Matter, and Angle (covers source and viewpoint) (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).

Circumstance of Extent
The circumstance of extent is interpreted as describing the process in space-time (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).The circumstantial of extent was used only in The Sydney Morning Herald article by using the adverbial time For weeks to describe that the news has been featured as a headline in Indonesia for weeks.

The case, which has dominated headlines
in Indonesia for weeks …

Circumstance of Location
This circumstance is interpreted as the place or the time where a process unfolds (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).The space in this circumstance not only talks about concrete but can also be abstract.
In samples ( 42) and (43), most circumstances described concrete space since both news described criminal activity that had taken place in specific concrete locations.It also can be seen in samples from both news that they used prepositions in and at to describe the locations.The samples of circumstances of location from The Jakarta Post were as follows:

… Second Agent Richard Eliezer, at
Ferdy's residence in Duren Tiga, in South Jakarta.43.The police have now officially retracted … Samples ( 43) and ( 45) featured the adverbial usage of "now," indicating actions taking place at the time of speaking.Notably, the presence of "now" in these samples suggested shifts in the positions of the police (43) and the investigators (45).Previously, the police had announced that Yosua was killed in the shootout, but this stance has since changed due to the case's progression.Similarly, in (45), the investigators initially expressed doubts regarding Sambo's involvement in Yosua's death, but their perspective has now shifted due to developments in the case.The Sydney Morning Herald provided the following examples of locational circumstances:

… carries the death penalty in Indonesia … 45. … investigators now believe …
Both texts mentioned similar places and times, which was expected since both news reported the same event.It can be challenging to determine if the phrases were abstract locations or other types of circumstances.Therefore, a question indicating location, such as where?, can help determine if the prepositional phrase belongs to the circumstance of location-for example, using a question where for samples 46 and sample 47, we knew where the Sayer (referred to Jokowi) did not want the public's trust to deteriorate in the police, which was an abstract location.Some abstract spaces (such as in the police, within the police force) also occurred.The following were samples from The Jakarta Post (sample 79) and The Sydney Morning Herald (sample 80):

… I don't want this case to erode public
trust in the police force … 47. … the public lose confidence in the police… Journal of Language and Literature ISSN: 1410-5691 (print);2580-5878 (online) Siska Ria Lenora et al.

300
The Jakarta Post, being a local newspaper, provided extensive details about the location, including Duren Tiga and South Jakarta.On the other hand, The Sydney Morning Herald, an Australian-based news outlet, did not mention these specifics in their report.Interestingly, The Sydney Morning Herald used the term "now" to inform its readers that there had been a recent change in the investigation outcome.This change occurred after Lumiu, the witness, revealed to the investigators that the reported shooting had never actually taken place.(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).

Circumstance of Manner
The Jakarta Post mentioned a twist, a circumstance of quality, that described the quality of the story and as well as its truth.Another circumstance of quality was sexually that described the quality of the action harass.

In a twist that was both shocking … 49. … attempt to sexually haras Ferdy's wife …
The Sydney Morning Herald also employed the exact circumstance of manner sexually, which was expected since both news were referring to the same event.

Circumstance of Cause
Circumstance of cause is interpreted as the reason why the process is actualized.It has two types, namely Reason (the meaning of the current condition for which the realization of the process) and Purpose (conditions designed behind the actualization of the process) (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).
One example of the circumstance of reason found in The Jakarta Post article was for potential ethics breaches, which was used to describe the reason behind the investigation on 31 officers from the internal affairs division (Propam), including Ferdy.

… were being investigated for potential ethics breaches …
The prepositional phrase for the murder (sample 52) from The Jakarta Post, described the intention of the police investigation, which was to find the motive for the murder.As in sample (61) taken from The Sydney Morning Herald, the prepositional phrase for protection was to describe the Purpose behind Lumiu's action to seek a witness' protection program (sample 53).

Circumstance of Accompaniment
The circumstance of accompaniment involves more than one participant in the process and represents the meaning 'and,' 'or,' 'not' as circumstantial.The interrogatives are and who/what else?
In samples 54 and 55, the circumstances of accompaniment involved two entities.In sample 54, the shootout process involved not only Yosua but also another junior officer.As in sample 55, the process of the affair claimed by Sambo did not only involve Yosua but also another entity, that was Sambo's wife, Putri Candrawathi.

… in a shootout with another junior officer… 55. Hutabarat had been suspected of having
an affair with Sambo's wife …

Circumstance of Contingency
The circumstance of contingency focuses on an element on which the process of realization depends, and it is marked with the use of prepositions such as despite and notwithstanding.

One circumstance of contingency found in
The Jakarta Post news, In (56), despite the charges was interpreted as although the four suspects were charged under Article 340 of the Criminal Code, the police were still investigating the motive of the murder.

Circumstance of Matter
Related to verbal processes, this circumstantial is equal to the Verbiage, 'that which is described, referred to, narrated, etc' (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).The circumstance of Matter is expressed by prepositions such as about, concerning, and sometimes commonly of.The interrogative form is what about?As seen from ( 57) and ( 58), both samples used similar prepositional began with prepositional into.Since both news were referring to the same events, both news employed similar circumstances of matter.The samples from The Jakarta Post (sample 57) and The Sydney Morning Herald (sample 58) were seen below:

Circumstance of Angle
The circumstance of angle can be related to either 1) the Sayer of a 'verbal' clause, containing the sense of 'as … says' or 2) to the Senser of a mental clause containing the sense of 'as … thinks', in which it can also be called type 'viewpoint', for the use is to represent the information provided from somebody's viewpoint by the clause (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).This circumstance is expressed by using complex prepositions, for instance, according to, in the words of.
In (59) and ( 60), respectively, the circumstances of Angle that occurred expressed the sense of as the police's chief detective Comr.Gen. Agus Andrianto said, and as Listyo said, referring to those two important figures as the Sayers.In The Jakarta Post article there were two circumstances of angle:

Similar to
The Jakarta Post, the Circumstance of Angle in The Sydney Morning Herald also contained the sense of 'as … says', with the news report as the Sayer, referring to the news report in Indonesia as the Sayer which the possible reason may because this event was happening in Indonesia.However, The Sydney Morning Herald only had one circumstance of angle, which was:

… according to news reports.
The analysis of the circumstances yielded results that were consistent with the findings of Suparto's (2018) study, where the circumstances of location and matter were prevalent in the news articles (refer to Appendix 8).This can be attributed to the nature of both news articles, which revolved around a criminal case where details about the specific place and time were crucial.Similar to the circumstance of location, the circumstance of matter was utilized to provide additional explanations and details pertaining to the shooting case.
In contrast, Isti'anah's (2014) study produced different outcomes in terms of the circumstances analysis.The study conducted by Isti'anah (2014) revealed that the use of circumstances of contingency overshadowed the circumstances of location.This disparity can be attributed to the news coverage focusing on the opinions surrounding the Jakarta governor election.The news articles examined in Isti'anah's study aimed to emphasize the claims and promises made by city officials, as well as the thoughts and beliefs of Jakarta citizens, rather than solely focusing on the specific place and time of the events.

Conclusion
Transitivity analysis reveals how the choice of words and linguistic strategies employed by different news outlets can shape contrasting perspectives on the police's role in the given case.In The Jakarta Post, the police were portrayed as the main Actor, highlighting their authority and control in the investigation.The news article extensively featured quotes from the police, bolstering their credibility as a news source.Conversely, The Sydney Morning Herald downplayed the police's role through the use of

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Public's evaluations of police performance in four key areas

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Survey on Indonesian citizens' trust in the police force

Table 1 .
Summary of six processes and participants

Table 2 .
Process Types

Table 3 .
Types of Participants of Transitivity Processes The followings are the sample of the Verbal Process in The Jakarta Post article: Circumstances of Manner describe in what way the process is done.The subcategories of Manner are Means, Quality, Comparison, and Degree.Means describes how or by what means a process takes place.The circumstance of quality is usually with an adverbial group -ly or preposition in or with

Appendices Appendix 1: Summary of Material Process in the Data
President Joko Widodo again weighed in on the episode urging a thorough probe to protect the reputation of the police.7Ferdymay have orchestrated Yosua's murder.. Sambo, 49, had ordered the killing of his bodyguard and driver... 8 … and then attempted to cover up his alleged crime.….and attempted to cover it up.9 … our special investigative team found that ... an investigation involving ballistic and forensic examination, CCTV footage and phone records had determined that.... Ferdy since Saturday at the National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) detention center in Depok.... fourth man, junior officer Second Patrolman Richard Eliezer Lumia, 24, who is accused of firing the fatal shots at Hutabarat on the instruction of Sambo 14 Ricky and KM helped Richard to kill Yosua...The case, which has dominated headlines in Indonesia for weeks... 15 All four suspects were charged under Article 340 of the Criminal Code on premeditated murder... ...took the dramatic turn last week... 16 ...which carries a maximum penalty of death, or life in prison, according to Listyo....has applied for protection under the country's witness and victim protection program... 17 they were still investigating the motive for the murder.. so that he is saved from torture, from poison or whatever" 18 … and whether or not Ferdy also shot Yosua."could reach court to provide testimony".and that Yosua was shot by [Richard]on the orders of Ferdy."Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo told a press conference on Tuesday.… due to the discrepancies between the account provided by Yosua's family -who claimed he was tortured … … and Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD called on police to support that process… 8 Since then, Listyo said that police had questioned … "After the fatal shooting,[Sambo]fired[Hutabarat's]gun into the wall of his house in an attempt to simulate a shootout," 12 The police have detained A 20 …..he was tortured before he was killed....they were still investigating the motive behind the shooting.21 Allegations of a cover-up grew louder in response to the police's claim... officers had tried to destroy evidence, including CCTV footage, after the slaying of Hutabarat.... … "Since the beginning, I have said this: …" 12 .. President Jokowi once again urged the National Police to investigate the case … "… Investigate it thoroughly, don't hesitate, don't cover up anything, reveal the truth as it is," he said.13 "From the beginning, I've said that the police need to investigate … Reveal the truth as it is.