[Editorial] Borrowed Democrats defy democracy

The Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) termed as a last resort for the stabilization of the political arena the lending of three of its National Assemblymen to the United Liberal Democrats (ULD) to enable the formation of a floor negotiating body for the latter. In other words, the ruling coalition seems to believe that the crisis of our government today has been occasioned by the obstructionist tactics of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP).

As the majority party in the legislative chamber, the GNP is in for a criticism for its preoccupation with its own partisan tactics and pursuits, in negligence of its responsibility for state affairs. But it is too much for the ruling coalition to use it as the excuse for the lending of its lawmakers that hardly accords with the principle and sense of democracy.

Among the many causes of the current crisis are self-righteous politics, lending none of its ears to the will of the people, one-sided politics that does not recognize the opposition as its partner in state craft, obfuscated reforms mixing up political logic with economic logic, one corruption scandal after another involving those in power and vociferous charges of regional favoritism in personnel administration; these joined to give rise to an erosion of popular confidence in the double-faced leadership, whose deeds do not match its words.

In disregard of these roots of the crisis, it is going far out of bounds to stick to the so-called DJP partnership between the MDP and the ULD by loaning its own members as a last resort with a view to pushing ahead its own politics by virtue of its numerical superiority. Past history of Korean politics amply proves that such an antic only will lead to greater political instability caused by an extreme reaction from the opposition camp, far from serving to stabilize the political arena.

The part and parcel of a DJP collaboration is power sharing by means of a parliamentary government. The quest for a parliamentary government virtually came to naught as the ULD declared itself to be in opposition during the general election last year and thus removed the foundation of the two-party coalition.

That the ruling coalition has gone all out now to enable the splinter ULD to have a floor negotiation group by fair means or foul is nothing better than an illicit and shameful union of the MDP and the ULD to promote their own mutual partisan benefits.

As has been the case thus far, policy collaboration between the two parties can hardly be expected in the future too. For instance, the MDP is in favor of revising the National Security Law, and the ULD is opposed to the revision as it is supposed to speak for the conservative opinion in the country.

How could the two groups originating from different roots and committed to contradictory ideological tendencies collaborate with each other in terms of public policy?

ULD vice president Rep. Kang Chang-Hui is objecting strongly to receiving the defectors from the Democratic Party. Latent resistance inside the ULD to the lawmakers loaned from the ruling camp will undermine the professed partnership in policy between the two parties.

Then, what is the good of the DJP collaboration? Hasn't the ruling camp started ballooning its own ranks to continue in power by trading the collaboration of the ULD for making it possible to provide the ULD increased political fund subsidies from the state coffers?

Such politics gone astray cannot stabilize the political arena or overcome the national crisis. The ruling party and the government ought now to return to the right path of politics and thus comply with the dictates and wishes of the people.