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UPDATE: Saturday, June 12, 2010      The Japan Times Weekly    2009年9月26日号 (バックナンバー)
 
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New government out of the blocks with many difficult challenges
(From The Japan Times Sept. 17 issue)

 


要約
鳩山政権、難題山積からの出発

Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama became Japan's new prime minister Sept. 16 as the Diet voted him in to the post, ending the long rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power almost continously since late 1955. In an interesting historical twist, the new prime minister's grandfather, the late Ichiro Hatoyama, served as the first prime minister of the LDP.

The formation of the Hatoyama Cabinet comes at a time when Japan finds itself with many difficult challenges. Mr. Hatoyama must lead Japan as it has at least 3.59 million jobless people and enormous public debt, amounting to nearly 1.7 times the nation's gross domestic product, plus such problems as the pension records fiasco, deteriorating medical services, and the graying and dwindling population.

It is hoped that the Hatoyama Cabinet and the three parties in the ruling coalition will make untiring efforts to ameliorate the causes of people's anxiety about the future.

The DPJ declares that taking the initiative for policy development from the hands of bureaucrats is its main political goal. While this is a worthwhile cause, it has so far failed to offer a grand vision of future Japan. Beyond individual policy matters, Mr. Hatoyama and his administration need to make clear what kind of nation they want to build amid the financial impasse and the transformation of population demographics.

It will be difficult to revive the high economic growth of the past. But the new administration should heed people's desire to see a clear strategy that will help stabilize the economy and build new industries that utilize people's ingenuity, thus creating new jobs. If Mr. Hatoyama cleverly handles his call for a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020, this could become an important part of such a strategy.

By utilizing the National Strategy Bureau, creating an administration reform conference to detect wasteful use of public money and dispatching some 100 lawmakers to government ministries, the DPJ aims to take the policy development initiative from the hands of bureaucrats and develop policies on its own. In doing so, the Cabinet and the party must avoid intimidating bureaucrats and being duped by them. They need to develop a system that sets clear policy goals and encourages bureaucrats to cooperate with full understanding of the Cabinet's intentions and do their utmost to execute its policies.

The foremost task of the National Strategy Bureau should be prioritizing policy measures. Given the limited availability of funds, such prioritizing and full explanations about why particular policies are given funding priority will be extremely important. The bureau also should make the decision-making process transparent to gain public support and understanding. The new administration and the DPJ also must prevent lawmakers with vested interests from making deals with bureaucrats behind the scenes.

The new administration may become unable to fulfill some campaign promises because of a shortage of available funds. However, full disclosure of information concealed by bureaucrats will be useful not only for identifying problems in the workings of the government and working out solutions, but also for exposing how the "iron triangle" of lawmakers, bureaucrats and industries worked in the days of LDP politics. The DPJ should not hesitate to invoke the Diet's right to "conduct investigations in relation to government" as guaranteed by Article 62 of the Constitution.

On the diplomatic front, Mr. Hatoyama needs to take the utmost care that his coalition government does not send confusing signals to the international community. The new administration especially should strive to strengthen Japan's relations with the United States. Stable ties will be the basis for Japan making any frank and new proposals to the United States.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 26, 2009
(C) All rights reserved
 

国会で鳩山・民主党代表が首相に選出され、1955年以来ほぼ切れ目なく続いた自民党支配が終わった。祖父・鳩山一郎氏が自民党初代首相だったことを考えると意外な歴史的展開だ。鳩山首相は、失業者359万人、GDP比1.7倍の政府債務、年金記録問題、医療制度の破綻、少子高齢化等の問題を抱える国を導くことになる。

民主党の大きな目標は政治主導の政策決定だが、未来への展望を示していない。個々の政策だけでなく、財政危機と人口動向の変化のなか、どんな国づくりを目指すのか明確にすべきだ。新政権は経済安定化と人々の創意を生む新産業発展の対策を練るべきだ。2020年までに温室効果ガス排出を1990年比25%減にする目標をそのような対策に組み込むのも手だろう。

国家戦略局の活用、無駄遣いを洗い出す行政刷新会議の設置などで、民主党は脱官僚政治を目指す。内閣と党は政策目標を明確にし、官僚が内閣の意図を理解した上で協力し、政策実施に力を尽くすよう促す仕組みを整えなければならない。国家戦略局の第一の課題は政策の優先付けだ。限られた財源のなかで優先順位を付けその理由を説明し、決定プロセスの透明化を図ることで、国民の理解を得るべきだ。

財源を確保できず鳩山政権が公約を達成できないこともあるだろうが、官僚が抱えていた情報の完全公開は、政府の問題点の解決や、自民党政権下での政官業の「鉄の三角形」の癒着の露呈につながる。憲法62条で規定された国会の国政調査権の行使を恐れてはならない。

外交面では国際社会に誤ったメッセージを発信しないよう気を付けるべきだ。米国に対し率直な提案ができる基盤を作るには日米関係強化に励むことが必要だ。

The Japan Times

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