JCP issues Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election policy

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP issues Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election policy

The Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Committee on February 6 published an appeal and proposals for remaking Tokyo. The JCP will develop a major campaign for the July 12 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election. The election will be officially announced on July 3. The outcome of this election will likely have a serious bearing on the lives of Tokyo residents in conjunction with the House of Representatives general election which will be held by autumn at the latest.

Sone Hajime, the head of the policy team of the JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Members Group, explained the political situation in Tokyo and JCP policies in an interview published in the Akahata Sunday Edition (February 15 issue) as follows:

Number of citizens with less than 3 million yen annual income doubled in ten years

Akahata: Under what circumstances is the upcoming election held?

Sone Hajime: It will take place at a time when many Tokyo residents are adversely affected by a series of 'structural reform" policies imposed by the coalition government of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties. Ordinary people's incomes have sharply decreased during the past ten years, and the percentage of households with an annual income of three million yen or less rose from 15 percent to 31 percent.

On January 27 and February 4, the JCP members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly opened a counseling center on the street near the downtown railway stations of Ikebukuro and Shinjuku. Nearly half of those who came to us for advice were people who were out of work, including those who had just been dismissed or whose businesses went bankrupt.

The recent collapse of the job market is further widening income inequalities and pushing up the poverty rate.

We need to face up to the disaster caused by misgovernment and find the way to reduce the Tokyo residents' suffering. We will work hard to achieve a major JCP advance in order to change politics at the national level as well as in Tokyo.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government under Governor Ishihara Shintaro has reached an impasse in the last 10 years. The upcoming Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election will be an opportunity for us to ask voters to choose a party capable of putting an end to the misgovernment.

JCP in Metropolitan Assembly has exposed Governor Ishihara's undemocratic policies

Akahata: How has the JCP in Tokyo dealt with Ishihara's administration?

Sone: In the last ten years, Governor Ishihara's metropolitan administration has forced people to accept cutbacks in welfare and other programs that are essential for day-to-day lives. For example, it abolished Tokyo's program to subsidize medical costs for the elderly.

It is implementing a plan to reduce the number of metropolitan hospitals from the present 16. It halved the budgets for helping smaller enterprises and cut the budget for education. Tokyo is the only prefecture that has not established a small class size for public schools.

Governor Ishihara acted on his own initiative when he established a new bank, ShinGinko Tokyo, It is extraordinary that the metropolitan government has used 140 billion yen in tax money to keep the bank which is useless to small- and medium-sized businesses. The metropolitan government is planning to spend nine trillion yen in a bid to host the 2016 summer Olympic Games.

The JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Members' Group has insisted that the metropolitan government should focus on the immediate needs of the metropolitan residents, particularly in regard to jobs and welfare assistance, and that the creation of the new bank and hosting the Olympics are not Tokyo's immediate needs.

We have been doing our utmost to defend people's livelihoods by opening the path to realizing the demands of Tokyo residents. The JCP has been persistent in demanding that the metropolitan government help those who are out of work find jobs and maintain their living standards. Thanks to these efforts, the metropolitan government has been forced to implement a program to create 500,000 jobs and launch an emergency no-interest loan program.

During the past 3.5 years, the JCP proposed 14 bills in response to the demands of the public. Although the ruling parties rejected them, the metropolitan government, unable to ignore the demands, was obliged to provide free medical services for inpatients up to15 years old and medical treatment for 200 yen for child outpatients for each visit.

After the JCP exposed the squandering of tax money on wining and dining by Ishihara and his aides, they had to stop such inappropriate expenditures. The JCP exposed the extent of wasteful spending by assembly members such as overseas trips using tax revenues.

On the issue of the controversial bank, ShinGinko Tokyo, the JCP pointed out how irresponsible it was for the metropolitan government to impose a sloppy financial plan on the bank, which led to unsound loans and financial failure. The Financial Services Agency has also pointed out problems that confirm our indictment.

The LDP, Komei, and Democratic parties 'en masse" supporting Ishihara

Akahata: What have other parties been doing?

Sone: The Liberal Democratic, Komei, and Democratic parties are virtually the ruling parties in Tokyo. They have accepted all of the governor's proposals such as cutbacks in welfare and medical services, the establishment and running of ShinGinko Tokyo, the relocation of the Tsukiji Fish Market to Toyosu, where soil contamination has been discovered, and the outlandish bidding for the Olympic Games.

As a key component of the ruling parties, the LDP and Komei Party have voted in favor of all of Governor Ishihara's proposals.

The Democratic Party, an opposition party in the national political arena, is almost part of the ruling camp in Tokyo. Just before the Tokyo gubernatorial election in 2007, the DPJ suddenly turned 'confrontational" toward Ishihara and voted against a few proposals such as the initial draft of the budget and the additional funding to ShinGinko Tokyo.

Urgent steps needed to relieve dismissed contingent workers and defend medical and nursing care services

Akahata: What are the main points in the JCP policy platform?

Sone: First, we call for the metropolitan government to abide by the principle of improving the public well-being. Secondly, we insist on ending all wasteful spending. Thirdly, we are calling for the metropolitan government to be guided by the Constitution. Based on these principles, we will propose policies in various fields.

An urgent and concrete measure the JCP is calling for is protection of livelihoods, jobs, and businesses. We will concentrate on extending relief to people who have been laid off as temporary workers, create full-time jobs in education, welfare services, fire fighting, and environmental protection, while at the same time implement public works projects for unemployed.

We call for an increase in the budget to satisfy public demands for better medical and nursing care services. Tokyo should pay half of the medical costs for the elderly aged 75 and older and one-third for the elderly aged between 65 and 69. Tokyo can implement these measures with just 85 billion yen. The JCP plan in the long term calls for free medical services for the elderly 65 years of age or over.

It is easy to find financial resources for all these demands. Though Tokyo is a local government, it has a budget size of Canada. Tokyo has stockpiled 1.6 trillion yen in internal reserves, and that money should be used to benefit its citizens.

While the Tokyo Metropolitan government claims that it will see a drastic decrease in tax revenues for 2009, the drafted FY2009 budget added 100 billion yen as preparatory funds for the Olympics.

In the coming election, the JCP is getting prepared to win more seats in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly after ensuring the reelection of its present 13 members. We are determined to make a major advance so that various demands of Tokyoites embodied in JCP policies will be realized.

- Akahata Sunday edition, February 15, 2009