[EDITORIALS]MDP monkey business

Regardless of the results of Thursday's elections, the Millennium Democratic Party's efforts to create a "new" party will cause chaos in politics. After changing its name from the National Congress for New Politics to the Millennium Democratic Party little more than a year after winning the presidency, the party is now considering yet another facelift. Changing its name, changing into the "reform party" that the presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun and his allies want or disbanding and forming a new party as the "anti-Roh" Millennium Democrats want ?those are all decisions for the party to make, but it should show some minimum consideration for the people.

It has an obligation to act with some integrity and show at least some sense of purpose in creating a new party. Moreover, it should explain why some of the members are trying to change its presidential candidate. The Millennium Democratic Party will be contradicting itself if it wants to change a candidate who was chosen as a result of the first primary elections ever held in the county with all the historical and political significance of that event. Its candidate has already started preparing for the campaign. For the party to turn its back on him would also be an act of contempt toward the people who gave him the nomination.

Put baldly, the party's name and its choice of a candidate are issues because the party believes it has no chance to win the presidential election with the mud sticking to it as "the president's party." The MDP is not convinced that Mr. Roh has what it takes to win. Whether or not these are valid reasons, it is only right that the party first inform the public of its plans and ask the people for their understanding.

Changing the name and the candidate will not wash away the corruption and the lack of ability of the Kim Dae-jung administration. The new party will not be free from the sins of its predecessor. The Millennium Democratic Party must ask itself whether the people would vote for the candidate of a party that tries to get out of its troubles by repeatedly gathering and scattering in a blind and conspiratorial manner without any sense of purpose or procedure.