Editorial
Hatoyama urged to show path toward politics of fraternity
The extraordinary Diet session that opened on Monday should be a venue where the ruling and opposition parties can debate what are the fruits of the transfer of power from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
For the first time since he took power in mid-September, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama delivered a policy speech in a Diet session.
As head of the government, Hatoyama is urged to explain during the Diet session how he will put the DPJ's election pledges into practice.
Another focus is how the opposition LDP will challenge the DPJ's policies in Diet debates. Moreover, reform of the Diet, with the transformation from a bureaucrat-dominated government into one led by politicians as its core, is also noteworthy.
The prime minister's first policy speech showed his enthusiasm. He compared the significance of the latest transfer of power to the Meiji Restoration, calling it a "bloodless Heisei Reform," "the return of political power from bureaucrats to the public" and "general cleaning of the post-war government." Touching upon what he calls "fraternity politics," which forms the basis for his administration, he said he will pursue a society in which the weak also have a role and in which not only bureaucrats but also regional communities should play a more important role in public services.
His passion should be highly appreciated even though his words appear rather flowery. The question is whether his administration is capable of putting these pledges into practice.
The Hatoyama administration has already begun to draft the fiscal 2010 state budget in a bid to drastically reallocate funds, which is the core of the DPJ's election manifesto. The government should explain how it will slash requests made by government ministries and agencies for budgetary allocation, which have snowballed to 95 trillion yen, and how it will secure financial resources, such as use of reserve funds from the special account the DPJ pledged during the campaign. To that end, the government is urged to fully release relevant information and show guidelines for securing funds to implement policy measures. In particular, financial resources and an economic strategy are indispensable for fraternity politics, but Hatoyama has so far failed to draw a road map to achieve this.
In particular, the government should clarify its priorities for important policy measures incorporated in the DPJ manifesto -- including the provision of child care allowances, making public high school tuition and expressway tolls free and guaranteeing certain levels of income for farming households -- as well as show a schedule for implementing them. Moreover, it should provide an explanation if it becomes unlikely to implement these policy measures as it has pledged and seek the public's understanding. The Diet should function as a place where representatives of the public will scrutinize the Hatoyama administration's policy issues.
In explaining his diplomatic and security policies, Hatoyama defined Japan's roles in the international community as "a bridge between countries in the world" and "an open country surrounded by sea." To fulfill its role as a bridge, the prime minister renewed his unwavering resolve to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and to pursue a world without nuclear weapons. As a country surrounded by sea, he said he wants to make the waters in the Asia-Pacific region a "sea of friendship and solidarity."
The philosophy behind these pledges is understandable, but he has failed to clarify the direction of the "close and equal Japan-U.S. alliance," which will be the core of these measures.
In particular, differences that have surfaced between Cabinet ministers over the planned relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa Prefecture have caused great confusion to Okinawa residents and others involved in the issue.
Since Hatoyama has declared that he will make the final decision, he should announce the government's coordinated view on the issue at the Diet. His past remarks include calls for a fundamental review of the Japan-U.S. alliance, such as a "security arrangement without the permanent presence" of U.S. forces in Japan and "step-by-step reductions of U.S. bases in Japan." Hatoyama should also clarify the location for discussing a review of U.S. forces in Japan.
(Mainichi Japan) October 27, 2009