The ROK president election is on the corner. It is reported that Mr. Lee Myung-bak, candidate from Grand National Party is leading the run with obvious advantages. The legend of the president candidate seems to give us many fruits of thoughts.
Mr. Lee comes from the bottom of society. He worked as a garbage collector to support his life and studies. After his graduation, he worked very hard and got the nickname of “bulldozer”. He became the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction at the age of 36.
Mr. Lee is a pragmatic person and he calls himself a “can-do” leader which will make him the right person to take command of the South Korean economy. He really has shown his strong ability to transform a dream into reality. As an elected mayor of Seoul in 2002, he managed to accomplish the project to the buried Cheonggyecheon stream under the great pressure from all walks of life. He communicated with different groups and tried to persuade people into finding the beauty of future life after the project was finished. Finally he realized his dream with 1% possibility of success and brought a safe and beautiful natural stream and the traditional culture back to the citizens in Seoul. The success of the project shows Mr. Lee’s pragmatism and brings him much support from the grass-root society.
Promise on development also becomes an explanation for Mr. Lee’s high support. In contrast to the other two major candidates, Mr. Lee Hoi-chang and Chung Dong-young, Mr. Lee Myung-bak conveys the information for a better future for the somewhat stagnant nation under the disappointed leadership of current president Roh Moo-hyun. His engagement policy towards North Korea also based on the perspective that if North Korea can keep following the direction of No Nuclear and Opening-up, in ten years, South Korea can help their north brothers and sisters to reach the goal of US$3000 per capita income. The brilliant future presented by Mr. Lee surely brings him large support.
The preference showed from the Korean people brings a piece of vital information to today’s politicians: pragmatism and promise on development possess strong appeal and power. Compared to Mr. Lee Myun-bak, another candidate Mr. Lee Hoi-chang represents the old politicians who uphold strong ideology to insist a containment policy towards DPRK, while Mr. Chung dong-young seems to be lack of pragmatism. Neither of them can bring a signal of future development for the nation.
When people are voting for their president, they are not merely voting for the guy, but their life in a foreseeable future. It is not something easily interpreted as a trick of politicians. Although politicians can use different ways to make themselves quite appealing, the civil society will always try to pick out the one who is thinking about the life of the ordinary people and will act in the interest of the nation.
There are people complaining that people are always not selecting the best, but just eliminating the worst in the election. I should say that is due to the little differentiation between the candidates. If one candidate is obviously showing his/her true love for society rather his/her devotion to one stubborn ideology, he/she is bound to win. However, it is always the case that the candidates are too “political” to make them appealing to the voters even though they may be proud of their delicate decorations prepared for a long time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)