EDITORIAL: Kan-Ozawa debate

The choice between old-style politics and the emerging new political culture has become a key issue of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's leadership election to be held Sept. 14.

This is inevitable, given the way the political situation has drifted even after last year's historical regime change.

We want to hear in-depth debate on this issue between the two candidates for the election--Prime Minister Naoto Kan and former DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa.

During an election debate, held at the Japan National Press Club on Thursday, Kan challenged Ozawa on this issue.

"There are two main elements in the old style of politics," Kan said. "One is the power of money and the other is the power of numbers. Mr. Ozawa's political style is marked deeply by a firm faith in the power of money and numbers."

Kan went on to advocate deliberative democracy, which is characterized by consensus-building through careful and mature discussions on policy issues between the ruling and opposition parties and between the government and the public. He said he wanted to take this approach to create a new political culture.

It is unfair to describe Ozawa as a simple embodiment of the "old political culture." He has also acted as a radical reformist in the vanguard of political reform. Yet, there is no denying that Ozawa is a politician in the political tradition of the now-defunct Liberal Democratic Party faction headed by former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, which acted on the principle that numbers talk.

In the DPJ's No. 2 post, Ozawa took advantage of his power to determine the party's official candidates for national elections and control over the party's political funds to build up a large group of followers. He scrapped the party's policy research committee and concentrated power on the secretary-general's office he headed. This is a political style that is antithetical to deliberative democracy.

In Thursday's debate, Ozawa was bombarded with questions. If he is elected prime minister, would he change the DPJ's partner in the ruling coalition? If the prosecution inquest committee looking into his political funds scandal decides for a second time that he should be indicted, would he, as prime minister, agree to face prosecution?

Ozawa offered no clear answer to any of these questions, saying his victory in the election is anything but certain. Critics would rightly say his attitude reflects his aversion to explaining his actions and propensity to have a free hand.

There is apparently no major disagreement between the two candidates over the relationship between politicians and bureaucrats. Both have been calling for a shift from politics led by bureaucrats to politics led by politicians. The difference between the two politicians is in their views about power in politics.

Kan, who vows to make the DPJ clean and open, proposes a decision-making process involving all concerned parties. In contrast, Ozawa envisions a top-down decision-making system with power concentrated in the hands of the leader.

For years, Ozawa has been preaching the importance for a political leader to enhance and expand the political group that supports him and not to hesitate to concentrate power in his hands and exercise his power. He articulated his views about political power in his book titled, "Nihon Kaizo Keikaku" (published in English as "Blueprint for a New Japan").

These are the basic principles for action that he has followed throughout his checkered political life. Obviously, he also believes that what matters in politics is the result, not the process. In this age when politicians have to ask the public to bear a heavier burden, is it really possible to make important political achievements without offering detailed explanations or making serious efforts to build consensus?

The DPJ leadership election will deliver the final verdict on the political approach epitomized by Ozawa, which has played a major role in Japanese politics over the past 20 years or so.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 3