The National Assembly kicked off its annual inspection of government agencies Monday for a 20-day run. The inspection draws much attention as it is the first of its kind not only for the 18th Assembly but also for the Lee Myung-bak administration. However, concerns are growing that the inspection might serve as an arena for blame games between the governing Grand National Party (GNP) and the opposition.
GNP lawmakers are focusing on what they describe as a decade of misrule by the previous left-leaning governments under Lee's predecessors ― former Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Dae-jung. They think this year's inspection is the first and last chance to shed light on policy blunders of the previous administrations as the power transition moved from the liberals to the conservatives in February.
On the other hand, legislators of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) are trying hard to dig into the Lee government's policy failures, incompetence and corruption allegations. They will raise such issues as the government's mismanagement of the economy and the scrapping of the sunshine policy of active engagement with North Korea, which was advocated by Kim and Roh. They will also find fault with the Lee administration over its handling of candlelit protests against U.S. beef imports and the public scare about Chinese food imports tainted with the harmful chemical melamine.
There is little doubt that people are fed up with ever-intensifying partisan struggles between the two camps. Pundits argue that the Assembly inspection on the government agencies can no longer serve its primary purpose of ensuring checks and balances between the legislative and the executive. The inspection, which was abolished by the dictatorial regime of President Park Chung-hee in the early 1970s, was restored in 1988 riding the wave of the country's democratic movement.
The inspection is aimed at scrutinizing the operation of the executive branch in order to prevent the government from wielding unrestricted power and detect its policy blunders and misadministration. In short, it is intended to monitor state budget spending and the policymaking process to make sure that the government delivers better policies for the people. However, every time the Assembly conducts the inspection of government agencies in autumn, lawmakers of both the ruling and oppositions parties jockey for partisan maneuvering.
It is not easy for the lawmakers to avoid criticism that they are busy waging a dog-eat-dog struggle at a time when the economy is faltering. They should stop playing blame games against each other in order to produce creative results during the inspection. They had better concentrate on discussing how to prevent the recurrence of misadministration and policy failures committed by both the previous and incumbent governments.
It is not desirable for GNP representatives to only try to defend the Lee administration or cover up its mistakes, while firing salvos against the misrule of the liberal Roh government. It is also disappointing that DP and other opposition legislators are attempting to go on mudslinging against the governing camp. All the lawmakers are required to meet the people's expectation that they can make joint effects to attain the democratic principle of checks and balances. For this, they ought to put the public interest ahead of their selfish and destructive partisan interests.