[Editorial] Nobody Volunteers for Retirement in MDP and Uri Party

Lawmakers of the Grand National Party (GNP) followed one after another not to run for the general election on April 15. Their decisions might have been made in consideration of complex factors such as the demands of the times and political pressures, however we can define them as a meaningful flow for creating new political atmosphere in view of public consensus on “an overall political change.”

On the contrary, the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and Uri Party seem to stay away from these voluntary withdrawals. Young groups of the parties especially stand by overall shift, and one assemblyman of the national constituency yesterday vowed not to run for the election. But the real targets that have to withdraw from the election keep folding their hands behind their back, expressing not to make any change. Some aging and powerful lawmakers from Jeolla province even hinted on collective protests against this fresh movement.

Just like the GNP, the MDP and the Uri Party don’t have a few old members who, based on the regionalism, have been nominated three or four times as representative and taken charge of powerful positions within their party. Without any specialized background or capability, the fact that they were once the close aides to the former President Kim Dae-jung, or that they were engaged in democratization movements in the past, has helped them receive overwhelming votes from certain area for a long time and brought them a long-term glory.

Most of all, many representatives of the Uri Party, which poses as a “political ruling party,” were involved in various scandals including accepting business corporate slush funds, corruption in national defense affairs, suspicions on gambling, and others. Who will think of these lawmakers as the role model that are fit to the spirit of new politics and political reform that the Uri Party used to advocate?

A large number of lawmakers among the powerful old group are retorting that age, times of being elected, the cases that are currently on trial, or one’s hometown cannot be the standards for total shift. Apparently, some aged lawmakers have demonstrated their outstanding talents and abilities in the Assembly. At the same time, however, there are more figures that should look back on their range of political activities straightforward and what they have done for the nation and the public.

Now is the time that politicians have to get out of the “name card politics” which had been prevalent on the three Kims’ regionalism era, and play a major role in possessing specialized knowledge and an original mind. Politicians should also read the fast changing world, discuss together in the Assembly, and legislate with refined manner. Those representatives who fail to follow the need of the times had better give up their right without hesitation and devotionally give ways to the new rising groups. It is important that one should know when to step down. Otherwise, he cannot escape from the judgment of voters in the end.