Parents’ anger has been growing over parliament’s failure to pass a bill designed to oblige all day care centers across the country to install surveillance cameras to help prevent child abuse.
Their resentment is amplified by the memory of promises repeated by the main political parties since closed-circuit TV footage showing a 4-year-old girl being beaten to the floor by her nanny for not finishing her meal sparked public outrage in January.
The ruling Saenuri Party Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung described the incident that happened at a nursery in Incheon as the most shocking case since last April’s ferry disaster, which left more than 300 people dead or missing. His remark did not sound exaggerated to the tens of thousands of parents who leave their children at day care facilities.
Members of the parliamentary legislation committee passed the bill by consensus Tuesday, which was put to a vote at the plenary session of the National Assembly later in the day. The outcome of the vote vividly showed how irresponsible, negligent and cowardly our lawmakers are.
Of the 295 sitting legislators, only 171 attended the voting session, with 83 casting ballots in favor of the bill, three votes short of the simple majority required to pass it. Among the others, 42 voted against and 46 abstained.
This vote count indicates that a considerable number of lawmakers felt heavy pressure from operators of day care centers, who have vehemently opposed being mandated to install surveillance cameras. Associations of nursery owners and employees are said to have a significant influence on election results in many constituencies.
Some legislators who voted against the bill expressed sympathy with the argument that the mandatory establishment of the surveillance system would intrude on day care workers’ privacy and treat them as potential criminals. But their privacy cannot be placed ahead of the need to protect children who are too young to defend themselves from abusive adults. This may be the reason that a day care center at the Assembly complex is equipped with surveillance cameras.
Lawmakers who failed to show up at the voting session or abstained need to be subject to harsher criticism for their irresponsible, opportunistic and cowardly behavior. It was deplorable that an abstainer said after the voting he had thought a sufficient number of his colleagues would vote to pass the bill.
Many lawmakers were also unaware of ― even at the moment of voting ― the details of the bill, which included measures to help ease day care workers’ concerns and improve their working conditions. Some legislators said they would have voted for the bill, if they had known more details. This negligence is simply inexcusable.
The rival parties are now committing to approve the bill in April, alarmed by angry parents’ pledge to block those irresponsible and negligent lawmakers from being reelected in next year’s parliamentary election. They must do so without fail.
