By Chung Min-uck
The interim emergency committee of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) has allegedly decided to shed the expression “conservatism,” causing heated debate within the party ahead of the general election in April.
The proposal comes at a time when the GNP is experiencing a factional feud between the newly launched leadership committee and certain lawmakers over various issues, including nomination rules for the election and the scope of an investigation into recent allegations of cash-for-votes in electing the party chairman.
A member of a sub-subcommittee in charge of amending the party platform said Wednesday that it had drawn up a draft outline of a new party platform which eliminates the word “conservatism.” It also planned on submitting the new position to the emergency committee for approval after discussions.
However, the sub-subcommittee soon backed off following a severe backlash from lawmakers.
“We haven’t decided on removing the word conservatism from the party platform yet. It will take at least two to three weeks as we have to gather opinions from others,” said Rep. Kwon Young-jin, head of party platform reform. “There is no draft outline.”
The emergency committee will decide on the matter after the three-day Lunar New Year holidays starting Jan. 22.
The outline was also allegedly going to delete the expressions “against populism” and “advancement” to cope with the GNP’s new policies on public welfare.
Rep. Park Geun-hye, chairwoman of the emergency committee, earlier announced a welfare policy which aims to meet the needs of people in different age brackets and income levels.
The party platform was last revised under Park’s leadership in 2006.
The proposal made by the committee to revamp its pro-rich image ahead of the general election is facing strong opposition from some lawmakers who consider “conservatism” as the core value sustaining the 14-year-old party.
“The problem is not the GNP being a conservative party. What matters is that the GNP has failed to stand up for the right conservatism,” said Rep. Chun Yu-ok.
“What’s important is to carry out the right conservatism,”said Rep. Chung Doo-un, a leading reform-minded lawmaker.
“Removing the word conservatism in the party platform seems betraying the ones who love and care about the GNP,” said Rep. Chung Mong-joon, a former party chairman and a presidential hopeful.
The issue of amending the platform emerged last week when Kim Jong-in who heads the subcommittee on policy reforms said, “the word conservatism needs to be removed to keep in line with the changing times.”
Rep. Park’s emergency committee, launched last month with the hope of rescuing the endangered GNP, has been stymied in its attempts to push forward reform plans.
According to a public survey by pollster Realmeter last week, more than half of respondents answered that they were not expecting much from the reforms.
Observers say that a failure to reform will negatively affect the GNP in the general election, and could even dent the popularity of Park in the lead up to the presidential poll in December.
The committee’s call, Monday, for a thorough investigation into the cash-for-votes scandal by the prosecution was reversed the following day.
Rep. Kwon Young-se, the GNP’s secretary-general, said Tuesday that the committee would fully corporate with prosecutors but “has no additional plan to report any more allegations to them besides the case revealed earlier by Rep. Koh Seung-duk.”
Besides Rep. Koh revealing the scandal concerning the 2008 party convention, many other allegations have surfaced including possible irregularities in the presidential primary between Park and President Lee Myung-bak in 2007.
The specifics of the GNP’s nomination criteria for the general election have not been released due to the internal feud.
The committee only agreed on the big picture of reflecting 80 percent of open public votes in selecting candidates.