<![CDATA[Poems that satirize corruption invite competing readings, yet studies of such poems rarely state how rival readings are excluded. This study reads D. Zawawi Imron’s six-stanza pantun “Koruptor” through Hirsch’s hermeneutics to establish what verbal meaning the poem conveys, which forms of social criticism it supports, and how its significance differs from that meaning. Earlier work on Zawawi Imron’s poetry, on corruption in literature, and on satire in the pantun has used semiotic, structural, or sociological approaches; none found tests readings of a pantun of social criticism against Hirsch’s criteria of legitimacy, correspondence, generic appropriateness, and coherence. The study is a single-case, descriptive-interpretive analysis of the 24-line text taken from 2018. Data were coded on data cards, organized with the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña, and tested against text, genre, and context; competing readings were recorded in a validity matrix. Fifteen of the 24 lines carry at least one figure or symbol, with irony, antithesis, and repetition each in four lines and hyperbole in three, and the word koruptor appears in the isi of every stanza. In stanzas 1, 2, and 5 the sampiran supplies rhyme and atmosphere only, whereas the sampiran of stanza 6 is aligned with the isi. Six forms of social criticism are supported by specific lines. Of 11 candidate readings, three were accepted, five rejected, and three left unestablished or merely compatible. The intended meaning is a moral critique of corruptors who conceal their conduct behind a calm, pious, and honest public image while the poor bear its cost; its significance is discussed separately. The findings rest on one poem and one interpreter and need testing on other texts.]]>
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