Political Opinion, the Factors Contribute to it and How It Affects Us.

There are a handful of days to the Presidential Election 2015. Election heat was in the air never before. Even politically inactive people are fuelling the public opinion and actively participating in discussions about the election. Although Sri Lankans have some notion about the politics, most of them have not viewing politics in a balanced mind. Many factors have influenced their political inclination. The above mentioned situation is common in any country. Even the so-called developed democracies cannot escape from it but in Sri Lanka, party politics have gone to the extent that people have been blindly following what the media and politicians at political rallies have said. Even their family’s political inclination has affected to shape their opinion. The need for a politically sound population is needed to for a working democracy. After all democracy is all about people’s participation in their governance. Their independent and unbiased opinion should decide the fate of the government. Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka the question remains as to whether the elections represent the honest opinion of the people.

In this article, I have intended to analyze each of the factors which shape political inclination and the adverse effects of irrational political opinion.

Media

This is the most effective method shaping the political opinion. It is considered as the fourth organ of the government recognizing its impact on people. Nevertheless it is media is like a double edged sword. The principle task that the media is supposed to do is the deliver information for the public but not anyone’s opinion. The opinion has to be formed by media receivers. As expressed in the theme of one of the main news providers in Sri Lanka; ‘We report, you decide’. When looking at the behavior of Sri Lankan media today, serious doubts remain to their impartiality. There are mainly three kinds of media in Sri Lanka; government controlled state media, private media and social media. These three methods evolved with time.

From the independence, the government media has played the role of the government propaganda machine. Before the arrival of private media, the media monopoly lied with the government. It is not a secret that the even the governments which were relatively democratic to the present government has manipulated the media machinery to quash the opposition and sabotage trade union actions by spreading false information. Although, with the arrival of the private media companies, the state monopoly has lessened, but then the information flow vested in the hands of media tycoons who either has close links with the politicians or they themselves involve in politics. Manipulative work on the media previously done only by the government only has now taken over jointly by the private media tycoons and the government. The situation has worsen in the resent years polarizing the media field by rival factions of pro-government and anti-government media but now with almost all the private media are either owned by the people connected with the governing party or are supportive of the government, independent media has become virtually non-existent.

The pinnacle of the conduct of bias media can be seen in the days leading in to the presidential election 2015. Government media news items have become campaign advertisements for the incumbent president. The head of one of the government radio stations is in the vanguard of bashing the opposition candidate. His vocabulary cannot be justified under any civilized standard. In some rural parts of Sri Lanka, only the state media channels have the reach. Alternative media cannot contribute to the political opinion in those areas giving the government a free reign to bombard the rural community with anything regardless of the media ethics and standards of independent media. It is apparent in the so called government owned Independent Television Network which is all but ‘Independent’

Social media have been immensely popular among young and urban population and spreading like a wildfire to the other communities as well. Its relative independence and ease of access has led it to be the safe haven of many critics of the government. The digital divide (the polarization of the community by the access to information and communication technology) is limiting factor of this third front but it is not be underestimated as this is the main collaborator for many popular uprisings such as the Arab Spring. IT literacy among young people is growing fast. Mobile phone connections rose exponentially with the technology getting cheaper and cheaper social media is becoming a common factor in shaping the public opinion.

Family background

A child usually gets the perspective of his parents. Family and peers have profound effect on shaping how the child thinks. Even he is older enough to vote, the deep rooted political opinion of his family fuels his judgment. Sometimes it overpowers the rational thinking of a young voter. Children of ‘Die Hard’ party members have a higher tendency to follow their parent’s political opinion and become supporters of the same political party of their parents. Nowadays with the free access to social media and education, young people forming contradictory opinions from the age-old politics of their fathers and grandfathers are not an exception. This situation is a positive remark on the awareness and active involvement on rational politics by the young.

Education

Education, especially knowledge about politics and governance is important for a sound political opinion. Sadly, Sri Lankan education curriculum hasn’t offered a prominent place for political science and history. Only a part of the student population who choose Political Science for tertiary education will gain and insight to politics. Only a handful of youth know what is good governance, rule of law or separation of power. The majority of young minds may not get a sound political knowledge leading in to politically uneducated young population ready be exploited by politicians thus raising suspicions of a master plan by the politicians to create a politically unsound population by withholding the treasure trove of political knowledge from the youth.

 Rural and Urban

The aspirations of Sri Lanka’s rural and urban population are fundamentally different. Most of the rural community is either farmers or small industrialists. The farming community has its distinct needs such as better irrigation system, better prices for their crops etc. The lack of reach of alternative media leads to solid political opinion favorable for one party. It is not wrong to say that serious political issues and government corruption are not considered as factors in choosing candidates. A strong personality with an appealing looks and exaggerated ‘village roots’ will surely appeal to the rural community. When the youth in the villages go to cities for education and for work they might be changed but their peers and family members back in villages are always reluctant to be politically enlightened but there are positive changes with the lessening gap between urban and rural communities.

Urban community is politically active. They are the first to experience the economic policies of a government. Considerable amount of them have higher education standards than their rural counterparts. They tend to choose more liberal and capitalistic economic policies. That’s why the comparatively liberal United National Party has a sound political backing in urban centers while the nationalistic Sri Lanka Freedom Party has their strongholds in rural areas.

Religion, race and caste

Religion, race and caste have shaped politics unlike in any other country and it always will play a prominent part in the future. Minority communities such as Tamils, Muslims and Tamils living in up-country have their own political parties from which they’ve gain bargaining power with the governing party. Coalition governments with minority parties are a common occurrence. The questions remains whether these minority parties have done any progressive work for their community and whether the successive governments have done any favor for the minority communities although they have given ministerial posts for the leaders of those minority parties.

Caste is another issue which is becoming taboo but it plays a vital role in politics. It is an accepted reality that a low caste person cannot be the leader of Sri Lanka. Caste seems to be one of the issues that reduced votes for the common opposition candidate in the election in 2010. Sometimes caste has become the lottery for winning at elections for many provincial politicians because they can secure votes in villages of law caste people as they are always inclined to vote for the law caste candidate.

Most of the above discussed factors which shape the political opinion hinder the chance of taking a rational decision at elections. Some of the people who are blinded by their long established opinions are reluctant to make a change in the society. It is understandable that people become frustrated with the entire political system of Sri Lanka which circled around two political parties who are notorious for not keeping their election promises and not sticking in to their election manifestoes but this vicious system has to change now. Accountability has to be brought in to politics by somehow or other. It can only be done by the public choosing the candidates who are relatively honest, intelligent and capable candidates at elections.

Before we change the political system or politicians, our political opinion needs to be changed. We need to think differently about politics and set aside our pre-conceived notions fueled by media, our family or our race and religion. There are many promising young politicians emerging who really need to make a change. All of us need to rally before them and push them to implement a progressive change in Sri Lankan politics.