The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has entered its fourth year since he returned to power. His current term in office is now the second-longest in recent history, after the Koizumi administration, which lasted about 5½ years.
The simultaneous achievement of an end to deflation and fiscal reconstruction, realization of regional invigoration and a “society enabling dynamic participation by all citizens,” and materialization of “diplomacy that takes a panoramic perspective of the world map” and proactive contribution to peace — these important policy agendas must be pushed forward by taking advantage of his long and stable administration.
This year’s ordinary Diet session convened on Monday, much earlier than in usual years. Partly because an extraordinary Diet session was not convened last autumn, the government will seek to obtain approval for a ¥3.3 trillion supplementary budget for fiscal 2015, which ends March 31, before deliberations start on the fiscal 2016 budget.
Realize a strong economy
Deliberations are also scheduled on bills related to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade framework on which a broad accord was reached last October in negotiations involving Japan, the United States and 10 other countries. The TPP framework provides for greater freedom of trade and the easing of investment rules, thereby serving as one of the pillars for the revitalization of the Japanese economy.
Realization of a strong economy would provide the foundation for implementation of various policies such as social security, education, foreign policy and defense. To this end, early Diet passage of the two budgets and TPP-related bills is crucial.
After scoring big wins in three consecutive national elections, the LDP enjoys status as the overwhelmingly dominant force in the Diet. But not a few people offer the Abe administration passive support as they consider it only to be more or less “better than a Democratic Party of Japan-led government.”
Abe must bear in mind that he should conduct Diet business humbly without being complacent about the numerical strength of his party and provide the people with thorough explanations about his policies.
Of course, Abe must resolutely push for realization of policies that are indispensable to the future of Japan even if public opinion is divided as in the cases of the security-related laws and the law on the protection of specially designated secrets. At the same time, he must not neglect efforts to build a wider consensus by holding talks with the opposition parties.
A House of Councillors election is set for this summer. It provides an opportunity for the voters to give an interim evaluation of the third Abe Cabinet, which was inaugurated in December 2014.
In his New Year press conference, Abe said, “To stably implement more policies, we would like to secure a majority [in the upper house] with LDP and Komeito members working together.” Abe ruled out the possibility of holding a House of Representatives election simultaneously with the upper house poll, saying, “I have no plan at all to dissolve the lower house [for a double election].”
Opposition weakness
Concerning the heap of challenges to be tackled in such fields as the economy, social security and foreign policy, the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito will have to come up with concrete prescriptions and future paths to their realization.
Opposition parties’ responsibility is also grave. They won’t be able to win wider support from voters if they merely criticize the Abe administration while failing to put forward any convincing counterproposals.
A matter of concern is that the DPJ executives under party leader Katsuya Okada have made the party’s “leftist colors” more vivid in the Diet deliberation on the security-related bills. Okada, who had earlier shown a positive stance on the defense of U.S. military vessels in areas surrounding Japan, shifted his standpoint to all-out opposition.
Unless the DPJ, which once held the reins of government, presents realistic foreign and security policies, a constructive argument can hardly be expected.
The DPJ and the Japan Innovation Party have formed a unified parliamentary group in the lower house and now considering merger prior to the upper house election.
Yet the two parties remain far apart in their assertions over security policy and personnel costs for public servants.
The DPJ, the Japanese Communist Party and other parties are even moving forward in jointly supporting independent candidates in such constituencies as Kumamoto and Ishikawa, under the banner of abolishing the security-related legislation among other positions.
The LDP criticizes such move as an “ultimate collusion.” Even within the DPJ, there are opinions opposing the party’s united front with the JCP.
Any attempt to rally forces merely for the sake of an election without forming agreements on policies is nothing but “a union of convenience.”
Initiatives from Osaka (Osaka Ishin no Kai), keeping its distance from the DPJ and other opposition parties, is emphasizing its stance of proactively cooperating with the Abe administration over such issues as constitutional revision.
With regard to revising the Constitution, Abe said he “will firmly call for the revision during the upper house election, while at the same time deepening discussions about the revision among the public.” The important thing is a discussion on specifics.
Required for the revision is not only the proposal to be initiated by the Diet, with at least a two-thirds majority of both the lower and upper houses approving it, but also an approval of the proposal by a majority of voters in a national referendum.
As this is an important issue that will have a serious bearing on the future of the nation, the ruling parties should aim to reach an agreement with a broad range of parties, including the DPJ.
Deepen discussions
The LDP has made proposals prioritizing three items in revising the top law: adding a stipulation regarding national emergencies, including major disasters; adding wider recognition of human rights, such as those related to the environment; and adding a stipulation regarding fiscal discipline.
It is a defect of the Constitution that there are no stipulations that would make it possible for the term of office of the Diet members to be temporarily extended at the time of a major disaster when it would be difficult to hold an election.
The issue should be discussed together with that of boosting the prime minister’s authority to effectively protect people’s lives and property.
Meanwhile, it is questionable that Okada has spoken in setting a target for the upper house election of “holding those forces in support of amending Article 9 [of the Constitution] to less than two-thirds.” His particular highlighting of Article 9 — which the LDP does not prioritize — reminds us of the Japan Socialist Party under the so-called 1955 system.
We hope the ruling and opposition parties first of all earnestly begin discussions toward narrowing down the subjects to tackle regarding constitutional revision.(The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Link: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002662699
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