&#91EDITORIALS&#93Party squabble is draining

There are many urgent issues that politicians should tackle: enormous damages from the typhoon, the request from the United States to dispatch additional troops to Iraq, the aftermath of the World Trade Organization ministerial conference on which the fate of Korean agriculture depends and the anarchic protest rallies staged by Buan residents. None of them are easy to solve and they all could bring a national crisis. It is time to gather the wisdom and capabilities of the political community. Especially, it is time for the ruling party and its members to lead the country with their sleeves rolled up. But the party is lost.
The internal turmoil of the Millennium Democratic Party shows no sign of ending. When the new party faction decided to bolt from the MDP on Saturday, it seemed that the feud would be over soon. But some new faction members started to shy away from taking that action, studying the reaction from their constituency; those who decided to remain in the party are engaged in a power struggle. Because both the old and the new factions are engaged in a struggle for expansion and leadership, the party responsible for the operation of the government is not where it should be.
The government party is responsible for supporting government policies in the National Assembly, and it must cooperate actively with the opposition to fine-tune policies. If it does, the opposition party can play a constructive and cooperative role in governing. Because of the eight-month internal feud, the channels among the two parties and the administration are blocked. How can we expect smooth government administration?
We do not care whether dissidents remain or bolt the party. The ruling party must restore stability quickly and work on the pending issues, many of which affect the people’s livelihood directly.
President Roh Moo-hyun must also decide quickly which of the two factions he will take as the administration’s party so that he can stabilize national politics and concentrate on state affairs. It is not right that the president pretends to be neutral to the internal feud of his party.