Shii speaks on TV about JCP's position in this Diet session

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Shii speaks on TV about JCP's position in this Diet session

After the question-and-answer session concerning Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's policy speech on January 30, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo spoke about the JCP's position in the current ordinary session of the Diet on an Asahi Newstar Communication Satellite TV program aired on the same day.

PM lacks understanding of Poverty and social gaps

Q: How was your questioning of the prime minister?

Shii: Citing specific cases like single-parent households, I asked how Prime Minister Abe intends to deal with the problem, but his answer showed he completely lacks any understanding of the hardships poeple are suffering. In regard to the budget, I stressed the importance of income redistribution by means of tax and social welfare services. The prime minister, however, still sticks to the discredited "growth strategy" that large corporations' profits will trickle down to the public at some stage.

Concerning labor-related legislation, he said he will make efforts to eradicate the illegal corporate practices of "unpaid overtime" and "disguised contract labor." However, concerning the bill to introduce a "white-collar exemption system" that will annul overtime payments, his position is to simply postpone the submission of it to the Diet due to a supposed lack of public understanding. He will push forward the enactment of the bill when it has public understanding.

He said that a drastic increase of the minimum wage will destroy small businesses. In reality, however, large corporations are bullying subcontractors in order to keep unit costs as low as possible. Therefore, imposing a restriction on large corporations' arbitrary demands will open the way for drastically increasing the minimum wage. The prime minister also refused to establish a nationwide across-the-board minimum wage system, thus showing no interest in establishing just labor rules.

Q: The prime minister in his policy speech avoided using the words like poverty and social gaps.

Shii: He does not understand this issue, which is exactly the problem. Today, social gaps are growing while the income of the public is decreasing as is indicated by the decrease in real wages. Therefore, today's problem of social gaps is essentially a problem of poverty. He is not aware of this connection.

Q: The prime minister said he will not conduct surveys on the "working poor."

Shii: If he researches the actual situation, the result will inevitably show the seriousness of this problem. However strongly he proclaims his "challenge again" policy, measures not based on the realities will be ineffective.

Squarely challenging Abe's constitutional revision policy

Q: In the upcoming House of Councilors election, Prime Minister Abe says he will focus on constitutional revision, and the Democratic Party says they will focus on living conditions and social gaps.

Shii: Although the JCP is regarding the growing poverty and social gaps as the key issue, we will counter the LDP so long as it focuses on the Constitution. Attaching importance to both the Constitution and living conditions, not preferring either one to the other, the JCP takes a different position from the DPJ which avoids taking up the Constitution issue.

Q: The prime minister is eager to enact the bill concerning the procedures for revising the Constitution in the current Diet session.

Shii: The prime minister replied that Article 9 is the target of constitutional revision. The procedural bill is inseparable from the revision of Article 9, not in any way neutral. The bill also gives the pro-constitutional revision forces many advantages, including the fact that it does not provide for the minimum turnout rate needed to make the referendum valid. The JCP will confront the government by widely making known the fact that this bill is inseparable from the revision of Article 9.

Polls show that only a small minority supports the enactment of the bill in this Diet session. In the Diet discussion, the JCP will squarely challenge the government by strengthening cooperation with the public and social movements in opposition to the adverse revision of the Constitution.

Abe cabinet on the verge of collapse

Q: Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yanagisawa Hakuo's remarks that characterized women 'birth-giving machines' shows that the government is fraying around the edges.

Shii: I feel that the foundation of the Abe government is beginning to fall apart. Cabinet ministers are so lax that they are carelessly showing their true colors.

Yanagisawa made the worst kind of remarks to deny women's character and dignity. Pointing out that the minister is not qualified to be minister, I urged the prime minister to dismiss him. If the prime minister keeps him as minister, his Cabinet's moral sense of human rights is proved to be the same as Yanagisawa's.

Self-cleansing power is called into question

Shii: I also urged Education Minister Ibuki Bunmei and Agriculture Minister Matsuoka Toshikatsu to disclose receipts and accounting books concerning the "office expenses" scandal. They, however, said that they won't disclose them.

It is significant that the only the JCP questioned these ministers on this issue. The DPJ did not question them because they themselves are allegedly involved in the scandal. I would suggest that the DPJ voluntarily disclose the facts about the scandal if they say they have no problem. Taking a position that "the ruling parties come first, we will follow suit," they cannot grill the government. Not only the LDP but also the DPJ is required to come clean.

Q: Are you suggesting that the DPJ cannot take the offensive because the DPJ also has a weakness?

Shii: The DPJ is in a dilemma. Given the fact that the DPJ as well as the ruling parties is advocating a constitutional revision, it cannot take a firm position on the bill to establish the procedures for revising the Constitution, the most controversial issue.

It is important to analyze the Diet situation based on the political parties' concrete policies, not based on the schema of confrontation between ruling and opposition parties.
- Akahata, February 1, 2007