Technology
is becoming more and more important in our daily life so much so that is has
been spread rapidly throughout the years. Living with the help of technology
has been a great help in our daily life. With the help of technology like our
Smartphone and computer we can obtain more information not only from our country
but from around the world hence creating something called Public Sphere.
Public Sphere
Public
Sphere is defined as a sphere where private individuals joining together to
form a public body. The Public Sphere concept was further developed by a German
sociologist named Jurgen Habermas, writer of the book “The Structural
Transformation of the Public Sphere”. The Public Sphere is created in the
18th century although there are traces of it back in the middle
age where the king or lord presents himself before the audience. Public sphere started to emerge in the 18th
Centuary through the growth of coffee houses, literary and other societies,
voluntary associations, and the growth of the press. ("Jurgen Habermas and the Public
Sphere," n.d.) Back then the public and private realms did not separate
and the king was the only public person and the others were spectators. The
Public Sphere is an unambiguous domain, set in opposition to the private. The
Public Sphere is a territory of social life which something impending public opinion
is created. It is a symbolic term used to portray the virtual space where the
public can interact. The public act as a public body when they confer in an
open fashion which is with a guaranteed freedom to have assemblies and
association and liberty to convey and show their opinions. The World Wide Web
is intangible just like the Public Sphere; it is a virtual space where the
people of a country can trade ideas and talk about issues to reach an agreement
about matters of public interest.
Shell’s Brent Spar incident
Newspapers, television, magazines, radios and internets are
the media of the public sphere. The formation of public opinion increasingly
occurs across national borders. Opinions of
the global society no longer refer only to those opinions of assemblies of
state leaders or the international elite. A rising trend of intangible,
phantomlike, and much more volatile phenomenon occurring from general media
coverage events happening around the world. During some special occasions, a
global public sphere has emerged as a debate for political discussion and
opinion formation. A few international events which happened during the last
ten years bear witness to the internationalization of the public sphere and
opinion formation. Some of the examples are like Shell’s plan to leave the
Brent Spar oil platform in the North Sea.
The Brent Spar is a large floating rig, for 15 years this loading buoy is used to store petrol from the North Sea. Shell wanted to sink the structure of the 450 feet long floating rig, with the approval from the government of Ireland, Scotland and also the United Kingdom. Sinking the rig will cause serious damage to the marine environment of the North Sea. After learning about Shell’s plans more than 24 Greenpeace activists from 6 North Sea countries planned to occupy the rig.("Greenpeace campaigns against dumping the Brent Spar oil rig, 1995 | Global Nonviolent Action Database," n.d.) With the help of technology this issue soon became a topic of discussion from not only the North Sea countries but other countries as well. A few months after that, 8 countries along with Spain, Ireland and Austria join together for a boycott on all the Shell products. After months of protests, increasing pressure from the public and also loads of bad publicity, Shell finally scrapped their plans to demolish the Brent Spar and agreed to dismantle the Spar on land and the scrap will be recycled to build the foundations of a new ferry terminal. ("World: Europe Brent Spar gets chop," 1998, p. xx)
Bersih Rally
The internet plays a vital role in communication breakthrough
in the world today. It has revolutionized how people communicate and obtain
information. (Ubayasiri,
n.d., p. xx)
When events like the Shell incident occurs a chain of
interactions from different countries are activated and partially associated to
each other as a result of strong media coverage. Measures taken by governments,
corporate business interests, NGOs, and the public in general (demonstrations,
appeals, strikes etc.) feed into an international public sphere and stimulate
reactions and discursive feedback in different areas and countries.
The aggregation of public opinion in this process occurs both nationally and internationally, and the media demonstration of this transnational public opinion gets its own momentum. Although political leaders are still more sensitive to public opinion articulated in their country, they cannot ignore the public opinion expressed through the global media like the Bersih Demonstration which happen in Malaysia on the 9th of July 2011 which caught the attention of the global media. Bersih is a Rally held in Kuala Lumpur is a peaceful non- violent rally arranged by the opposition and also civil society movement. The goal of this rally is to protest against the government to reform the election system now and have a clean and fair election.
During the 2008 elections the members from Bersih reported the existence of phantom voters which apparently saved Prime Minister Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak’s position as the ruling party back then. (Mohd, 2009, p. xx) The rally was considered illegal since the police did not issue a permit for the rally to be held. Hence riot police used weapons like tear gas as well as water cannon laced with chemical to break up the crowd.
This transnational public opinion represents a political power in its own right, and it has the capability to pressure national opinions and, thus, to change the national political basis of power. The news of this riot is then covered up by the main stream media like television, radio and newspapers since most of the main stream media are affiliated to Barisan Nasional which is the current ruling party. With the government controlling the main stream media Malaysians have no choice but to turn to the internet for more information.
Since then websites like Facebook has become a Public Sphere for Malaysians to discuss about this issue. With the help of the internet many Malaysians who are technology literate are able to differentiate what is really happening in Malaysia compared to those who are not technology literate. Through this public sphere they are able to see the news of what is really happening in our country as the government has limited power to censor off all the sources. Besides that Malaysians can also discuss among other Malaysians or even people from other countries to discuss about the issue, whether is it the same situation happening in that particular area as stated in the main stream medias or is it how the government overseas handle the situation.
The aggregation of public opinion in this process occurs both nationally and internationally, and the media demonstration of this transnational public opinion gets its own momentum. Although political leaders are still more sensitive to public opinion articulated in their country, they cannot ignore the public opinion expressed through the global media like the Bersih Demonstration which happen in Malaysia on the 9th of July 2011 which caught the attention of the global media. Bersih is a Rally held in Kuala Lumpur is a peaceful non- violent rally arranged by the opposition and also civil society movement. The goal of this rally is to protest against the government to reform the election system now and have a clean and fair election.
During the 2008 elections the members from Bersih reported the existence of phantom voters which apparently saved Prime Minister Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak’s position as the ruling party back then. (Mohd, 2009, p. xx) The rally was considered illegal since the police did not issue a permit for the rally to be held. Hence riot police used weapons like tear gas as well as water cannon laced with chemical to break up the crowd.
This transnational public opinion represents a political power in its own right, and it has the capability to pressure national opinions and, thus, to change the national political basis of power. The news of this riot is then covered up by the main stream media like television, radio and newspapers since most of the main stream media are affiliated to Barisan Nasional which is the current ruling party. With the government controlling the main stream media Malaysians have no choice but to turn to the internet for more information.
Since then websites like Facebook has become a Public Sphere for Malaysians to discuss about this issue. With the help of the internet many Malaysians who are technology literate are able to differentiate what is really happening in Malaysia compared to those who are not technology literate. Through this public sphere they are able to see the news of what is really happening in our country as the government has limited power to censor off all the sources. Besides that Malaysians can also discuss among other Malaysians or even people from other countries to discuss about the issue, whether is it the same situation happening in that particular area as stated in the main stream medias or is it how the government overseas handle the situation.
In a nutshell, with the help of technology and the public sphere, the public are able to learn about the truth of an incident instead of blindly accepting all the news and information given to us through main stream media. The public will be more aware about what is really going on in the world and that can help them to make better judgment in the future when facing similar challenges.
References
Azizuddin, M. S. M. (2009). Public Sphere and Media Politics in Malaysia. Newcastle upon Tyne, GBR: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
Azizuddin, M. S. M. (2009). Public Sphere and Media Politics in Malaysia. Newcastle upon Tyne, GBR: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
Greenpeace campaigns against dumping the
Brent Spar oil rig, 1995 | Global Nonviolent Action Database. (n.d.). Retrieved
from https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/greenpeace-campaigns-against-dumping-brent-spar-oil-rig-1995
Jurgen Habermas and the Public Sphere. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.media-studies.ca/articles/habermas.htm
Ubayasiri, K. (n.d.). Internet and the Public Sphere: A
glimpse of YouTube.
Retrieved from http://ejournalist.com.au/v6n2/ubayasiri622.pdf
World: Europe Brent Spar gets chop. (1998, November 25). BBC.
World: Europe Brent Spar gets chop. (1998, November 25). BBC.
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