[Editorial] Bills for Political Advantages and Increasing Public Burden

It seems that the political circles go too far in their pork-barreling, which originated from their eyes set on the upcoming presidential election. Regardless of whether it is the ruling party or opposition parties, standing committees at the National Assembly are competing each other to sponsor pork barrel bills and pass them into law for their political advantages. Those politicians are really disappointing.

For the past several days, a few bills on debt relief for agricultural and fishing village households permit of illegal rooftop rooms and increase in the military pension passed through standing committees of the Assembly. And such other bills are still waiting for passage. A senior official with the Ministry of Planning and Budget said, "Though whenever there are elections, a lot of bills presented for political advantages poured in. But this year there are more bills sponsored than in the past."

There are some problems in this situation in that most of the bills are hastily made in order to suit needs of some specific interests that try to jump on the election bandwagon. In other words, when those bills are passed into law, there could be a lot of side effects. In order to secure financial sources for these newly enacted laws, the government could fail to appropriate the budget for the right things. In the end, the public might end up bearing the subsequent cost burden. In a nutshell, politicians take credit to themselves and people deal with the burden. Do the politicians really exist for people?

It is very obvious that there will be controversy over equality. In the case of a bill on increase in the military pension, the benefit only goes into a specific group of people. Therefore, other groups of people are highly likely to rise against the passage of the bill. Some bills are not related to financial sources but allow illegal activities. A case in point is the bill on legalization of illegally built rooftop rooms. Politicians say that it was intended for ordinary people. However, if the law is stretched enough to allow "building another floor" on illegal buildings in southern Seoul or Bundang and Ilsan areas, it is causing a huge problem.

For lawmakers to sponsor bills is desirable in some way. But it is not right for them to do a lot of bills for political advantages in the run-up to the election. As representatives of the public, they should exam and review all the bills sponsored in a responsible way. Pork barrel bills, which were passed by standing committees should be deliberated on in a plenary session of the Assembly.