[Editorial] Reform Lies in Ignorance of Disorder Caused by Truckers` Strike?

Once principles begin to falter, they falter for good. The truckers` strike clearly demonstrates how hard it is to cope with social disorder once principles are called into question. President Roh ordered the strike to be handled as the law required, and the government promised to mobilize the police if the strike continued. Nonetheless, Busan truckers joined the picket lines. They snubbed the principles of government, or just ignored them. If the Roh administration had coped with this problem the way laws and principles required, the strike would not have engulfed the whole nation.

The government haphazardly handled the Pohang truckers` chartered strike. That is why it is the government’s own fault that it is in its current situation. Underlying the strike are the pro-labor policies of the Roh administration and the heightened expectation level of truckers who are taking advantage of the "soft" position of President Roh.

This is the first year for the Roh administration, but we have experienced almost an equal number of strikes and labor disputes that we saw last year. It is hard to deny that the hasty reform drive and its expectations have caused society to loosen up across the board.

Politicians should be held accountable for the situation we currently face. Some of the truckers` demands such as lowering taxes on diesel are issues the National Assembly should handle. Nevertheless, political parties belatedly issued statements on May 7, as much as one week after the labor union first officially threatened to walk off the job. It was then the next day that President Roh scolded cabinet members for their negligence in handling the issue. "Like administration, like legislature."

Even afterwards, politicians didn`t do anything about it. It simply was none of their concern. They only gave lip service to the public and to the President and showed no sign of action whatsoever. These politicians were just busy with their own agendas including their struggle for intra-party hegemony. They had not a care in the world about the exploding social unrest gripping the country.

If reform means doing things dilly dallying without principle, we want nothing to do with it. Government officials should learn from this disaster, caused by their own past blindness, and do their best to set up principles and order for future unrest. We have to show something to those who dare start illegal collective acts in our nation. Then they just might learn a thing or two about principles.