[COLUMNIST] Analysing the Gus Miftah-Sunhaji incident from humour theories perspective
Dr Azmi Abdul Latiff
December 6, 2024 20:00 MYT
December 6, 2024 20:00 MYT
Gus Miftah's and his fellow preachers’ acts were the subject of public criticism who argued that the comments and behaviour were unbecoming of the religious figures. -Filepix/TikTok
A RECENT incident involving Indonesia’s preacher and an iced tea seller at a religious event in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia, caught the public's attention and caused public outrage in Malaysia.
AI Brief
- Indonesian preacher Gus Miftah used rude language towards an iced tea seller during a religious event, causing discomfort and public outrage in Malaysia.
- Gus Miftah and his fellow preachers were heavily criticized on social media for behavior deemed inappropriate for religious figures who should promote peace and understanding.
- The incident is explained through humor theories, including the superiority theory and the benign violation theory (BVT), showing how excessive humor can cause hurt and public anger.
During the incident, which was video-recorded and circulated on the internet, the preacher, Miftah Maulana Habiburrahman, also known as Gus Miftah, who was also the Indonesian President's Special Envoy for Religious Harmony and Development of Religious Facilities, called out to the iced tea seller and resorted to rude language while making a joke.
The video shows that the iced tea seller, Sunhaji, displayed discomfort following the embarrassing remarks, judging from his body language and facial expression.
Gus Miftah's and his fellow preachers’ acts were the subject of public criticism through social media platforms X and Instagram, who argued that the comments and behaviour were unbecoming of the religious figures who should promote peace and understanding instead.
The incident has prompted several questions. What could have prompted the preacher to utter the remarks?
In contrast, the public in Indonesia and Malaysia primarily perceived the incident differently. They did not see anything funny in the incident and consequently blasted Gus Miftah and several other figures on the stage for their unbecoming behaviour.
Several theories of humour could explain the events during the incident. First, Gus Miftah's remarks were prompted by his feeling of superiority over the iced tea seller.
According to the superiority theory of humour, jokes originate when a person perceives himself as superior to others.
Thus, laughter becomes a way to express this sense of dominance or triumph over someone else's mistakes, flaws, or shortcomings.
The humour theory of superiority often involves scenarios where someone highlights another's misfortune. The feeling of superiority could lead to the use of aggressive humour.
In explaining humour styles, Prof Rod A Martin of the University of Western Ontario said that the aggressive humour style is used to enhance oneself at the expense of others. The incident clearly showed the aggressive humour style Gus Miftah used at the tea seller's expense.
Meanwhile, Peter McGraw's Benign-Violation Theory (BVT) could explain the public outrage against the remarks.
According to McGraw, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, the violation is when the social, linguistic or logical norm is broken or challenged. Benign is when the violation is not considered harmful, threatening or offensive to the audience.
To explain how BVT works, a humorous situation occurs when a violation is considered harmless, non-threatening or inoffensive.
However, being too harsh in violating a norm could result in the cessation of humour. Instead of being humorous, too much violation in a joke could cause hurt.
Based on the incident, Gus Miftah’s rude remarks were considered embarrassing to the hapless iced tea seller. Calling the iced tea seller ‘goblok’ or stupid is regarded as causing too much violation of social and linguistic norms.
The subsequent laughter reaction by Gus Miftah’s fellow preachers on the stage worsened the sorry scenario. Consequently, this made the joke hurtful and henceforth provoked public anger.
Gus Miftah might just want to joke for fun or add humour to his preaching. Unfortunately, using rude language and embarrassing remarks did not go well with the person at the receiving end or the public.
The incident should remind us to be careful when using humour when communicating. At the same time, it should not deter us from using humour tools such as jokes, puns or witty remarks in public presentations.
Humour is a potentially powerful communication strategy. It can create a bond between a speaker and the audience and help deliver messages to the crowds effectively if used wisely and strategically.
Dr Azmi Abdul Latiff is an Associate Professor and a researcher at the Centre for Communication Science (CComS), Centre for Language Studies, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). His main research interest is humour in multimodal discourse.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI.