Editorial
Manifesto promises weigh heavy on DPJ
The largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has released its manifesto ahead of the House of Representatives election, making serious promises to voters.
The manifesto outlines the party's proposed structure for a government administration that seeks to abolish meetings of administrative vice ministers under party leader Yukio Hatoyama's call for a departure from political bureaucracy. It outlines five important political areas, and provides a schedule for materializing the party's proposals along with a breakdown of financial measures.
The manifesto brings a taste of reality to the prospect of the government administration changing hands. Considering the fact that it serves as a pointer for the DPJ's pledges under a Hatoyama administration, its importance cannot be underestimated.
But despite conveying enthusiasm for changing politics, the manifesto makes hardly any mention of consumption tax policies. Furthermore it lacks substance and persuasiveness in the fields of diplomacy and public security. The party should provide additional explanations on its policies to voters.
Forming the centerpiece of the DPJ's manifesto is the party's proposal to unify the government and ruling parties in a move to secure political leadership. The party promises to set up a national strategy bureau to which the prime minister belongs, along with a new reform council to review administrative excesses.
The DPJ can be credited for rethinking meetings of administrative vice ministers, which result in Cabinet meetings becoming mere facades. But the party's idea of a "Cabinet ministers committee," in which several Cabinet ministers make policy adjustments, is vague. Concerns also remain that bureaucrats will try to retain authority by changing the face of the administrative vice ministers meeting to that of a separate gathering. The party should provide a clear picture of the new structure, along with a schedule for introducing it.
In other areas, the party's important policies of paying the full amount of proposed child allowances and providing income supplements for each farmer will be implemented in fiscal 2011, ahead of the party's original schedule. There are plenty of enticements in the manifesto, including support for high school fees and the abolishment of tolls on expressways, but one should not sweepingly label the method of paying allowances instead of implementing complicated tax breaks as pork-barreling.
Still, the party's statements that it will squeeze out the 16.8 trillion yen necessary for its new measures and policies by cutting unnecessary expenses and utilizing buried funds require further substantiation. In particular, the manifesto designates consumption tax as the source of funds for the structure of minimum-level pensions, but does not even mention Hatoyama's policy of holding back on consumption tax hikes for four years. In light of such facts it is hard to call the DPJ a responsible political party.
Furthermore, discontent remains over the manifesto's outlook on diplomacy and security. The DPJ has softened its original stance of "embarking on" revisions to the Japan-U.S. Status-of-Forces Agreement to "making suggestions" for an amendment. This reflects the pragmatic line of taking a stable Japan-U.S. relationship into consideration. But the manifesto makes hardly any mention of specifics. Demand has been seen for a change in ideas on diplomacy, but the manifesto provides no clues as to the direction in which the diplomacy of Hatoyama is heading.
Nevertheless, the manifesto pays attention to overall balance, and makes clear reference to the abolishment of various deductions in line with child allowances, showing the party has matured from the time of the 2003 House of Representatives election that marked the beginning of political parties' manifestos -- a point for which we can credit the party.
At any rate, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been slow in producing a manifesto. Rather than spending all its time criticizing the other political parties' policies as lacking focus, it should quickly lay its opinions before the public.
(Mainichi Japan) July 28, 2009