EDITORIAL: Decentralization debate

The Democratic Party of Japan's leadership race is raising hope for promoting the decentralization of powers to local governments.

The two politicians in the running to be elected ruling party president, and also prime minister, are both urging greater decentralization as a means to liberate the nation from the sense of helplessness in which it has floundered for some time.

On the campaign trail, Prime Minister Naoto Kan has argued that the negative effects of the central government bureaucrat sectionalism have led to the current stagnation. He has pledged to radically change the government system into one based on regionalism.

Former DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa, meanwhile, says the only way to revive the nation is a wholesale transfer of both authority and revenue sources from Tokyo's Kasumigaseki administrative district to local governments. Ozawa has promised to take a sharp knife to the vested interests of bureaucrats.

Both politicians are right. We hope they will swiftly come up with specific measures to achieve their visions.

A tough road lies ahead. After coming to power last year, the DPJ adopted the term "regional sovereignty" to describe its decentralization agenda. But the party has made little progress in promoting the cause. Although the DPJ has made decentralization its top policy priority for its government, not a single bill related to the reform has been enacted.

The biggest obstacle is the foot-dragging among government ministries, which are bent on protecting their powers and revenue sources. The "twisted" Diet, in which the Upper House is under opposition control, presents another formidable hurdle to reform moves.

Yet if we take a close look at the two lawmakers' arguments with these realities in mind, the flaws and weak points are immediately noticeable. We worry that their decentralization slogans will likely remain nothing more than hot air.

For instance, Kan's campaign platform materials mistakenly call the regional sovereignty strategy council, the panel tasked with mapping out a strategy for the initiative, the "regional sovereignty promotion council."

Such sloppiness could call Kan's commitment to the cause into question.

Since last year, the prime minister has spoken few words in meetings of the strategy council, and he has not offered any notable instructions. This fact makes the simple misprint look like a telltale sign of his scant interest in reform.

Ozawa's argument on the issue is full of holes. He is talking of raising fresh money through the government's plan to integrate state subsidies to finance specific local programs and projects into lump-sum payments to local governments for no-strings-attached uses.

He has repeatedly quoted local government chiefs as saying that they could offer more services than at present using just 70 percent of the amount they currently receive as state subsidies if they are allowed to use the money at their own discretion.

We support the idea of integrated grants to local governments. The administration should persuade ministries to accept these bold reforms to allow local authorities to use the money as they like.

But it would be difficult to save several trillions of yen through this measure.

About 17 trillion yen ($201 billion) of the 21 trillion yen in state subsidies to local governments are used to pay costs for health-care and nursing care services, welfare benefits and compulsory education. There is little room for local governments to streamline these services to secure money for other purposes. The remaining 4 trillion yen of funds for public works could be reduced by 30 percent, as Ozawa says, but wouldn't be a big source of new funds.

The plan to integrate state subsidies into no-strings grants was designed as a step to increase the money local governments can use at their discretion. It doesn't make sense to try to use the scheme as a key component of the efforts to raise new money.

We urge the two candidates for the DPJ election to offer more specific plans to promote decentralization, spelling out what kind of instructions they would give to ministries if they were prime minister.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 6