How much power that People Play in the Public Opinion
For Their Society
By: Chim Linna
People are the most elements for each nation and they live under the overlook of their own government which limited their walking path by the law– approved by the legislature in individual nation. In the democratic countries, people have more freedom to expose their opinion against or suggest to the government system than in the communist countries.
In fact, public opinion also involve with people live if they start to open their view concerning with political, social issues or expressing their own thought. Moreover, Public opinion plays both in the democratic and non-democratic governments.
Public opinion is shaped both by relatively permanent circumstances and by temporary influences. Among those, there are ideas that characterize the popular culture at a given place with a given time. In the U.S., for example, the youth-oriented culture of the late 20th century affects the attitudes of many people toward aging and the elderly.
Other fairly permanent circumstances– such as race, religion, geographical location, economic status, and educational level– can strongly influence the opinions of an individual or a particular group about many subjects.
Certain temporary factors also affect the public’s attitudes while those are also the impact of current events and the opinions of influential or authoritative persons; the effect of the mass communications media and the concerted campaigns of public relations professionals.
If people are going to live together in society, they must set up certain rules, policies or regulations in order to show that their society have some permanent form. In this way, the society can carry on its life with little conflict or disorder. In a dictatorship, the controls set up are forced on the majority of the people by a small group who control the instruments of power. The people have little or no voice in deciding what kinds of controls are to be used. But in a democracy, the controls rest on the voluntary consent of at least a majority of the members of society.
In many early societies, and in some countries today, leaders have used force or violence to push their people to accept the rules. In some cases, the mere threat of violence is enough. Some leaders have used fraud to deceive the people. To protect their people from fraud, governments have extended laws against this abuse which including unethical practices in medicine, advertising, selling, and other fields.
Cambodia now is one of the countries that follow to the democratic ideology. But it still face a bit problem which in term of economic, culture, environment and especially in political situation during election period. However, this country is more opened to people for expressing their opinion or using their freedom of expression if comparing to other countries that applied communist ideology in this word.
People can change the situation in one country completely when they have a chance to use their power. They can drop their leader from the power while they know that this leader is not suitable to control the country or he does not have enough ability to hold this position. For instance, People Power Movement, four-day protest in 1986 in Manila, forced Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos into exile and ended his 14-year dictatorship of the Republic of the Philippines.
Many factors that affect the position of people will take on any public issue while people’s values and attitudes influence the opinions they hold. Some people are well informed or make an effort to become so, and others make quick judgments based on casual impressions. Some people act quite independently. Yet other people are influenced mainly by the views of their friends and associates. Well-informed people often come from different opinions. They interpret facts differently, or because they have different interests, desires, anxieties, and prejudices.
Some individuals, especially celebrities, frequently have much more influence than others in the process of opinion formation. Such a person often appears to know all the facts and to have an outstanding ability to determine how they should be dealt with.
Thus, this person may boldly and aggressively urge people to support a particular idea or course of action. Leadership may also be taken by unknown or ordinary people who, either as individuals or as small groups, spread their ideas slowly by word of mouth.
In time, they can make a deep impression on the opinion of the masses of people. When the government or the leader see the problem that make the people feel suspect, so the leader can do a forum in public and let people to open their idea to against or pro the government. Further more, people can do a request to invite the leader to clarify his opinion to the public. Opinion leaders are those people who have more than usual influence on the opinions of others. They can be people with whom we have face-to-face contact or people that we see on television or people we read about. They are people we like and trust such as a particular family member, a teacher, a movie star, a rock singer, a newscaster, a politician, etc. These people often play the role of interpreters—explaining what we see or experience. The opinion leaders whom we see face-to-face usually have more of an impact on what we think than those we experience indirectly through television or the print media[1].
Manifestation is the most sign that people can show their power to expose their opinion in the time when the authorities blind and deaf.
One article was brought out in the newspaper that aims to unfurl the reaction of people to protect their advantage. More than 400 villagers interrupted improvement at the market of Angkor Borei town in Takeo province (Cambodia). “ We are not fighting against the renovation of the market, but we are against the work they are doing on the edge of the road and out side the market’s fence,” said Um Theive, a villager of Angkor Borei district.
The work is making the road narrower and will make it difficult for poor people from remote villages without market stalls to sell their crops, said protester Ngoy Mitmetry. The improvement is needed, Disputed District Governor Chhiev Hou said “Now it is very dirty and there is no sewage system. It is difficult for people to buys good s in it.” Chhiev Hou said villagers will face arrest if they halt the work again. Protesters have field a complaint with human rights organization Adhoc. “We are investigating,”said Men Makara, Adhoc coordinator for Takeo province. “A road is state property, and anyone building on one is violating the law.”[2]
Democracy depends on a balance of power of difference groups rather than upon the power held by one or a few groups. It is the basic that be designed to secure for freedom of citizens in order to know the facts about publics matters, to secure full, free public discussion, and to make public decisions more effectively.
In the United States, a number of such controls exist. For example, the
Constitution provides for a careful system of checks and balances. The president is balanced by Congress and the Supreme Court. Congress is balanced by the president and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is balanced by the president and Congress. In addition, the framers of the Constitution realized that further safeguards were needed to protect the individual against any single group that might seize power. The first 10 amendments, known together as the Bill of Rights, were added to the Constitution as a further protection of the opinions, privileges, and opportunities of citizens[3]
Today, the modern of communication makes vast numbers of people aware of controversial issues and common interests; publics tend to be large and impersonal.
The concept of the public opinion also assumes that everyone will have a common understanding of the events or conditions that are being criticized or supported.
People can see the situation in their country differently. Some countries give freedom of expression to people, and let them to spread their opinion or even to judge the government system directly ,but others just give only the word “freedom of expression “ to people, and in fact, people can not speak freely to against/attack the government while they have noticed some abnormal cases.
[1] Name of author: C.Michael Botterweck, Mary Kate Haitt
Title: People & Politics: An Introduction to American Government.
Page:137
Gregory Publishing
Fifth Edition 1995
[2] The Cambodia Daily newspaper
Saturday and Sunday, July 16-17,2005
Written by : Thet Sambath
[3]Ms. World Book 2004
Search : “People Power and Public Opinion”
