The government and ruling party are so uncoordinated that this time it is really serious. Cheong Wa Dae advisors say they intend to recommend to president Roh Moo Hyun that he veto the revision to the "Police Civil Servant Law," passed by the National Assembly in August. It is hard to believe that Cheong Wa Dae is considering vetoing legislation that was drafted by the ruling party.
The revision to the existing law was the result of similar proposals by the ruling Uri and main opposition Grand National parties. They worked together and produced a single bill at the committee level. It calls for police to be promoted to lieutenant after merely fulfilling set number of years of service, and was controversial from the start. Lower-ranking police expressed overwhelming support, saying their life-long concerns had been answered. On the other hand it is going to cost tens of billions of Won each year, and some people were opposed to it because of the imbalance it would create with the promotion systems for firemen and correctional officers.
The problem is that the ruling camp did not have any system of review in place that would have fixed the problems back at the stage where it was drafting the revision bill. There are frequent "government and ruling party consultation sessions," but you wonder what they did at those. The government says that since the bill was the product of agreement between the ruling and main opposition parties the consultations were just a formality. That is little more than an irresponsible excuse. Cheong Wa Dae has been a particular problem. If it thought there was something wrong with the bill it should have taken its case to the ruling party and prevented it from passing. Who knows why it sat back and did nothing to now be so up in arms.
When the government and ruling party get so confused it is the people who suffer the consequences. If would be one thing if the ruling party never wrote the bill in the first place. How will they deal with the disappointment and anger felt by police officers if it gets vetoed? Cheong Wa Dae will have to find itself a solution, but it is pathetic that one has to see the ruling camp in such a dilemma.
The Hankyoreh, 26 December 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Gov't Did Nothing When Uri Passed Police Bill |
