It’s Democracy, Stupid

Political Crisis Seems More Serious Than Economic One

The parliamentary melee involving lawmakers and National Assembly guards over the weekend showed a new low in Korean representative democracy.

One might feel tempted to criticize all those involved ― governing and opposition parties and the Assembly secretariat ― or lament the needlessness of politics as a whole, like an anonymous caller who threatened to ``blow up parliament unless politicians stop fighting."

It might be an easy, temporary way of venting one's anger and frustration but would hardly be helpful in solving the chronic stalemate at the ``sanctuary of people's representatives."

The first ― and easiest ― target is the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), which has had its 80-odd lawmakers and 200 other party officials occupy major assembly halls for more than a week to prevent the passage of what it considers ``undemocratic" bills. Thus, critics say, the minority opposition's physical interference is an old method of dictatorial days, which defies democracy's most basic principle of majority rule in this ``era of democracy."

As most Korean know, however, what has brought about the ongoing sit-in was the one-sided passage of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement motion and the government budget bill for 2009 by the governing Grand National Party (GNP). If a government and ruling party railroad everything using their majority status and turn a deaf ear to minority views, it's a dictatorship by majority.

All this shows, however, that in a country run by an empirical presidency like Korea, political parties in general, or the legislative branch ― and judiciary branch for that matter ― can be little more than ``maids" to the executive branch, or more directly, the president.

The secretariat's attempts to pull the striking lawmakers out of the assembly building by force came right after President Lee Myung-bak said in his New Year's address that everything would be all right, given the ``parliament's cooperation." It was like a sign for action for the governing party and GNP floor leader-turned-Speaker Kim Hyung-o, who were bent on studying Lee's face and reading his lips.

It was also noticeable that Lee, while using such terms as ``crisis" and ``reforms" dozens of times, never used expressions such as ``national unity" or ``communication with the people," as he did in his inaugural speech almost a year ago. The president, who stressed his administration would strive to ``serve" the people last year, called for sacrifices from every sector of society this time. An economic crisis should be no excuse for pushing through the government's agenda regardless of popular opinion, but rather an occasion to soothe and lessen public pain, particularly of low income earners, hit hardest by current economic difficulties.

It's difficult to side with the DP's time-honored strategy of physical obstruction, but equally irrational is a situation that leaves few options for some lawmakers other than to become lawbreakers.

There's been a lot of talks about the limits of parliamentary democracy or representative politics among political gurus when the government and ruling party become one and the same with no force or function of checks and balances. One alternative they cite is the democracy of minorities, or direct democracy by the ``smart mobs." We think Korea showed its example in last year's candlelight vigils.

President Lee should return to the politics of compromise by legislating urgent economic bills first and shelving controversial political and social bills later. Korean voters do not want their politicians to continue making headlines in foreign media this year.