EDITORIAL: Postal reform bill

The way the ruling coalition has been trying to railroad its postal reform bill through the Diet makes us wonder if it has any respect for constructive parliamentary debate.

At the Lower House Committee on Internal Affairs and Communications, the ruling alliance unilaterally terminated deliberations on a bill to revise the Broadcast Law. Members then moved to get the panel to pass the bill so they could immediately start discussions on the postal reform bill. The ruling camp, having forced the bill through the committee after deliberations lasting only six hours, aims to ram it through the Lower House early in the coming week.

When Junichiro Koizumi was prime minister and submitted his proposed postal privatization legislation, the Lower House passed the bill after more than 100 hours of discussions. However, the bill was rejected by the Upper House and Koizumi dissolved the lower chamber for a snap election. The bill was finally enacted after his landslide victory.

The postal reform bill would reverse that process. The ruling camp's haste is unseemly and sloppy. The bill is riddled with problems that could threaten the health of the nation's financial system.

Under the bill, the government would continue to hold a stake in the gargantuan Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance through their parent company. This would allow these financial units to expand because government involvement would serve as leverage to attract customers. Restrictions on their expansion into new business areas would also be eased significantly. Japan Post Bank's deposit ceiling and Japan Post Insurance's maximum insurance coverage would be roughly doubled.

These steps are aimed at maintaining Japan Post's mail service and post office network. But the bill offers no specifics on improving the profitability of these businesses.

There are also causes for concern.

Kazuhiro Haraguchi, minister of internal affairs and communications, has suggested that 10 trillion yen ($110 billion) from the postal savings funds be invested in infrastructure and other kinds of development projects overseas. This would effectively revive the fiscal investment and loans program, which funneled huge amounts of money collected by the postal savings service into public works projects at home through various government-affiliated corporations.

Shizuka Kamei, minister for postal reform, proposed that transactions within the Japan Post group be exempted from the consumption tax. This step would undermine fair competition in the financial sector.

These and other problems need to be scrutinized through Diet deliberations.

The postal reform bill is not the only piece of legislation the ruling coalition is seeking to steamroll through the Diet.

The postal reform bill is being promoted vigorously by the People's New Party, a junior coalition partner of the Democratic Party of Japan, while the revision to the law regulating the temporary-worker industry is being pushed by the Social Democratic Party, another coalition partner.

The ruling camp is apparently rushing to get these bills passed for the simple reason that they will help enhance coalition unity ahead of the Upper House election this summer. If there is insufficient time for Diet debate on important bills, the current session should be extended.

But the DPJ apparently fears that would invite opposition attacks on political funds scandals involving its top party leaders. The ruling party probably wants to concentrate on preparing for the Upper House election. If these are the reasons for the DPJ's reluctance to extend the session, the party should stand accused of dereliction of duty.

The Diet is not a law-making machine controlled by the majority camp. It is a forum for debate on bills and policies where dissenting opinions of minority groups should also be heeded. The ruling coalition should keep this basic fact in mind.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 28