 Shii makes clear who the real political contender is Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on a communication satellite TV program broadcast on May 25 spoke on the present political alignments concerning postal privatization and the nursing care insurance system, stressing that the real political confrontation exists only between the JCP and the ruling parties. The Democratic Party of Japan's policy is virtually no different from the position of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, he added. Shii's remarks are as follows: Privatizing three postal services is aimed at offering the 350 trillion yen market of postal savings and post office life insurance systems to large Japanese and U.S. corporations. The DPJ advocates the "privatization of money," and in this respect has no political difference from the ruling parties. Rather, the DPJ is even more straightforward than the ruling parties in speaking for the interests of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and U.S. finance capital. On the postal privatization bill, the JCP rejects boycott tactics and calls for the bill to be nullified by thorough parliamentary discussion. Both the DPJ and Prime Minister Koizumi call for privatization on the grounds that "the state-run postal services are obstructing the private money sector and is therefore counter-productive." They are clearly representing the interests of the financial circles. In the eyes of the public, the postal savings and post office life insurance system are valuable national assets offering universal and indispensable services not possible for the private sector to offer. On the bill to aversely revise the nursing care insurance system, the JCP has criticized the government for planning to impose excessive burdens on the public and cut home care services. The DPJ in the House of Representatives expressed similar criticisms to the JCP's, but voted in favor. These developments show that the DPJ, in the name of "preparing for taking power," has come to accept all policies of the ruling parties on key national issues. The situation makes the role of the JCP more important than ever. - Akahata May 26, 2005 |