Trying to grow up, DPJ to review 2009 manifesto
2011/01/14
Prime Minister Naoto Kan and DPJ Secretary-General Katsuya Okada listen to comments from party lawmakers at Wednesday's meeting. (Teruo Kashiyama)
Soon after the Democratic Party of Japan took power in September 2009, doubts, confusion and even ridicule emerged over the lofty promises in its campaign manifesto. Still, party leaders clung to the contention that they could find the money needed to carry out their vows. They tinkered with the projects, whittled down other programs and scrounged everywhere for funds.
But this week, in a possible sign of maturity--and still nearly 13 trillion yen ($156.6 billion) short of its target--the DPJ leadership acknowledged defeat.
"We will create a party organization after (Thursday's) party convention to conduct a more thorough examination of our manifesto," DPJ Secretary-General Katsuya Okada said at Wednesday's meeting of all party lawmakers.
DPJ officials now realize that their campaign promise to drastically rewrite the budget to implement their pet projects would be impossible to meet because of the utter failure to come up with the necessary revenue sources.
Party officials have apparently decided to provide a thorough explanation to the public on that failure and present a new picture of what revenues and expenditures would look like after the review. Such an explanation is considered necessary to gain acceptance from the public before a comprehensive revision of the taxation system that would involve raising the consumption tax rate.
Although some party members, including power broker Ichiro Ozawa, insist on sticking to the promises, the DPJ leadership, at Thursday's party convention, proposed a comprehensive review of the various projects and budgets the DPJ sought when it was an opposition party.
Projects considered "low priority" would be slashed or eliminated altogether.
Internal party debate centered on the Policy Research Committee will continue until August before a conclusion is reached.
Koichiro Genba, who chairs the Policy Research Committee, said that August, which marks the halfway point of the four-year terms of Lower House members, would be a good time to review the campaign manifesto that led to the election of those lawmakers in 2009.
Genba indicated the policy measures in the manifesto would be classified into four groups: those that have been implemented; those that have already been revised; those that should be implemented in the future by coming up with the necessary revenues; and those that should be abandoned because of a lack of revenues.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a TV program Jan. 5 that the overall manifesto had to be revised.
The DPJ needed to come up with 16.8 trillion yen to implement pet projects included in the manifesto, including the monthly child allowance and a proposal to eliminate expressway tolls. The party promised to come up with the funds by eliminating wasteful spending and drastically rewriting the budget.
Public attention was fixed on how the DPJ would change the policies implemented during the decades-long rule of the Liberal Democratic Party. But the DPJ's efforts to eliminate waste for the fiscal 2010 budget only freed up 700 billion yen.
Unable to thoroughly rewrite the budget, the DPJ-led government came up with a budget in fiscal 2010 with a record level of expenditures.
Desperate to secure revenue sources for its pet projects, the DPJ revised its campaign manifesto for the July 2010 Upper House election, giving up on providing full payouts of the child allowance of 26,000 yen a month per child. The party also had to downsize the scale of its plan to eliminate expressway tolls.
In the budgets for fiscal 2010 and 2011, however, the DPJ could only come up with 3.9 trillion yen of the 16.8 trillion yen.
The government tried to fill the gap by digging out "hidden treasures" from reserve funds of independent administrative agencies and special accounts. But those funds can be used only once and are not a permanent revenue source for DPJ policy measures.
In response to calls at Wednesday's meeting to fulfill the campaign promises, Genba said: "While we said we would come up with 16.8 trillion yen, in the first year we were only able to come up with 3.3 trillion yen and in the second year only 600 billion yen. This is the reality. Conducting a comprehensive review is what the party in government must do."
Another DPJ executive said, "We have to meticulously analyze why we were unable to fulfill our plan to come up with revenue sources and bow our heads to the people."
However, the review may hit snags because those close to Ozawa insist that the DPJ should keep those promises.
At Wednesday's meeting, Lower House member Hiroshi Kawauchi said, "It will cause huge problems if, after contesting the Lower House election with the manifesto, we turn around and say about those promises, 'Let us now review them.'"
The opposition parties could also refuse to enter discussions with the DPJ to revise the taxation system, even if the manifesto is reviewed.
The opposition parties have called for an end to some of the DPJ's major policy proposals, including the child allowance and the proposal to make senior high school education effectively tuition-free.
---bbc
日首相菅直人改組內閣和黨領導層
菅直人的民眾支持度每況愈下。
日本首相菅直人改組他的內閣和執政民主黨領導層，這是去年9月菅直人因組織執政聯盟而改組內閣以來，第二次改組。
按照組閣慣例，周五（1月14日）上午菅直人率全體內閣大臣總辭職，下午菅直人任命新大臣，傍晚經天皇頒發委任狀後，新內閣宣告正式成立。
黨領導層則在菅直人任命後，新成員在黨總部召開記者會標誌啟動。
不過日本各大傳媒周五早上已報道了黨政新人事案，其中最受矚目的變動是內閣官房長官改由前黨幹事長枝野幸男出任，前官房長官仙穀由人轉任代理黨代表。
其次受到紛紛議論的是周四宣佈退出一個叫作「奮起日本」的小在野黨的前財務大臣與謝野馨入閣、任經濟財政政策負責大臣。
財務大臣、外相等重要職位都獲得了留任，使得這次內閣人事改組的部分約佔全體內閣的三分之一，而黨領導層則「換血」約20%。
新內閣和黨領導層的共同特點是依然維持鮮明的擺脫前黨幹事長小澤一郎影響力的體制。
被迫改組
這次改組與以往不同的是，被更迭的大臣並非受到傳媒、輿論追究醜聞或失責而遭撤換，而是因在國會參議院 佔多數議席的在野黨去年在參議院採擇了追究仙穀和國土交通大臣馬淵澄夫責任的決議案，並威脅如果菅直人不更迭他們，在野黨將罷審今年的財政預算案和相關法 案，迫使菅直人猶豫再三，終於在這個月下旬新一屆國會開始前的罕見時期，被迫改組內閣。
與謝野馨剛宣佈退出「奮起日本」黨。
仙穀從日本去年9月下旬提前釋放中日撞船事件中被扣留的中國船長起，被自民黨為主的在野黨追究其主導責任。
馬淵則是去年11月中日撞船錄像被海上保安廳一名官員洩露後被在野黨追究他的管理責任。
不過諷刺的是，菅直人改組內閣前，在野黨陣營裏著書《民主黨令日本經濟崩潰》的「奮起日本」黨代表與謝野忽然有意與菅直人組執政聯盟，因黨內反對，與謝野終以退黨投奔菅直人，從而獲得了入閣「安慰獎」。
民主黨內紛爭爆發
由於菅直人堅持他的內閣脫小澤色彩，並顯示迫使面臨司法起訴金錢醜聞的小澤辭去議員職務的意圖，黨內小澤派系強烈反彈。
周四（13日）民主黨召開的黨大會上，紛爭公開爆發，幾乎使黨大會中斷，導火線則是菅直人重用去年因參議院選舉慘敗引咎辭職幹事長的枝野入閣和啟用政敵與謝野。
黨內紛爭使得民主黨在國會眾議院人數眾多的小澤派議員未來是否造反或者小澤是否率派系議員分裂，令菅直人政權無法繼續執政正引起揣測。
民間的冷眼與批評
不過，日本經濟界和民間傳媒、輿論都對朝野政黨鬥爭和民主黨內紛爭反應冷淡。
今年日本經濟界的春茗酒會上，經濟界巨頭眾口一辭指出，日本目前最重要的是執行政策，改善經濟、民生急待解決的積案。
輿論也廣泛置疑這次菅直人被迫改組內閣是否就能令今後國會運作暢順。
《朝日新聞》周五的社論標題是「問責引起的更迭不要成為慣例」，社論說，參議院的決議固然重要，但日本憲法並沒有給予國會操縱內閣人事的權力，參議院也不應超過眾議院的優越地位以政治掌握閣僚生殺大權。
社論最後說，菅直人這次改組內閣和啟用與謝野的政策矛盾令人疑慮其領導能力。
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