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2 Japan's Abe tries to make a new
start By Hisane Masaki
exert strong leadership in
addressing them. In the eyes of many Japanese, Abe
seemed to be taking the scandals less than
seriously and is intent on just shielding his
political allies in the dire straits.
At a
press conference on Monday night, Abe expressed a
firm determination to take a tougher stance on any
future money scandals. The premier said he has
chosen the appropriate
individuals for the
respective posts according to their capabilities.
But he stressed that the new ministers must come
clean with their political funds and that they
"will have to be ready to step down if they cannot
explain themselves" in the case of money scandals.
Abe's first cabinet was widely criticized
as being packed with close allies. Apparently
keeping that criticism in mind, Abe appointed
Masuzoe, a harsh critic of the prime minister, as
health, labor and welfare minister, whose
portfolio includes the pension system.
Another major factor widely blamed for the
coalition's electoral drubbing is growing public
frustration with social disparities, such as the
perceived widening of gaps between rich and poor
and between urban and rural areas, which critics
refer to as the negative legacy of Abe's
predecessor Junichiro Koizumi's market-friendly
reforms.
When Abe, 52, took office as the
youngest Japanese premier since the end of World
War II, he set forth a highly conservative agenda.
Naming his first team the "nation-building
cabinet", Abe advocated a more assertive foreign
policy and called for a "departure from the
postwar regime" by revising the pacifist
constitution, among other things.
Many
Japanese feel, however, that Abe, a political
blue-blood nicknamed the "prince" for his good
looks before becoming premier, is out of touch
with the public feelings and concerns of ordinary
Japanese citizens about bread-and-butter issues.
The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)
took advantage of this with its campaign slogan:
"People's everyday lives should come first."
During the election campaign, DPJ leader
Ichiro Ozawa energetically canvassed rural areas
in a strategy aimed at appealing to farmers and
others who feel left behind by the
structural-reform drive initiated by former
premier Junichiro Koizumi and inherited by Abe.
The DPJ's election manifesto featured "three
promises": to settle the government pension
fiasco, boost child-care measures, and provide
financial aid to farmers.
In an apparent
bid to demonstrate how seriously he is tackling
the issue of social disparities, especially
between urban and rural areas, Abe picked former
Iwate governor Masuda as internal affairs and
communications minister, a post in charge of local
government affairs. Masuda has also assumed the
newly created post of minister in charge of
addressing the issue of disparities between urban
and rural areas.
The Abe government will
probably not backpedal on its structural-reform
drive, but it appears very likely to slow down the
pace of reforms. At its first meeting on Monday
night, Abe's new cabinet adopted a basic policy of
listening more carefully to the public and paying
enough attention to the negative aspects of
reforms while continuing to pursuing a drastic
review of various postwar systems with the
ultimate goal of creating a "beautiful" Japan. The
cabinet specifically singled out eight priority
policy goals, including the restructuring of the
creaking pension system and the enhancement of
measures aimed at helping rural areas.
But
Abe will have trouble getting any proposals
enacted. To be sure, the LDP-led coalition
commands more than a two-thirds majority of seats
in the 480-seat House of Representatives, but
because of a loss of control of the 242-seat House
of Councilors, the Abe government will face
significant difficulties pushing through its
legislative agendas.
The first major
challenge for Abe's new cabinet and LDP leadership
will come during an extraordinary Diet
(parliament) session expected to convene in
mid-September. The 2001 Anti-Terrorism Special
Measures Law is to expire on November 1. The Abe
government plans to extend the law in the Diet
session to keep naval ships deployed in the Indian
Ocean to fuel US-led coalition vessels supporting
operations in Afghanistan.
When the law
was extended last October for a year, the DPJ,
along with the other smaller opposition parties,
voted against the extension. DPJ leader Ozawa has
repeatedly vowed to oppose an extension, although
some members within the biggest opposition party,
including former party leader Seiji Maehara, favor
an extension.
Hisane Masaki is a
Tokyo-based journalist, commentator and scholar on
international politics and economy. Masaki's
e-mail address is yiu45535@nifty.com.
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