Democratic Party's election for party leader is far from convincing the public

Japan Press Weekly

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Democratic Party's election for party leader is far from convincing the public
Akahata editorial

The Democratic Party of Japan picked a new leader replacing Ozawa Ichiro. In the vote by DPJ members of the parliament, Hatoyama Yukio was ahead of Okada Katsuya.

As the secretary general of the party and the key player in the DPJ leadership led by Ozawa as its president, Hatoyama has consistently defended Ozawa. After announcing his candidacy in the in-house election, he stated, "I will not be (Ozawa's) puppet." He now says that Ozawa will be treated as a member of the new leadership. How can the DPJ allay public criticism of Ozawa and the Democratic Party?

DPJ is accountable for Ozawa's scandal

Ozawa was obliged to step down as DPJ president due to the revelation that for years he concealed the fact that he accepted huge amounts of cash donations from Nishimmatsu Construction, a second-tier general contractor construction company. When he announced his resignation, Ozawa displayed a defiant attitude by stating, "I have nothing to be ashamed of." However, opinion polls conducted after the arrest of Ozawa's secretary show that an overwhelming majority of the public wanted him to resign. Clearly, he was forced to resign because of public criticism.

Nishimatsu Construction reported at its shareholders' meeting that its political donations to politicians, including Ozawa, were made using political action groups as conduits, which is illegal. This was another decisive confirmation that the suspicion was real.

However, Ozawa refused to make an effort to establish the truth behind the allegation of illegal donations. Even after he was forced to resign, he said, "I want to continue to be in the forefront of the party struggle." How can the DPJ accept this superficial resignation?

Hatoyama never tried to take an initiative as the PDJ secretary general to investigate into the allegation of corruption. On the contrary, he openly defended Ozawa saying that "he is the cleanest politician" and that the arrest of Ozawa's secretary was a "plot." He has the obligation to explain to the public why the DPJ did not make an effort to clean house.

In the course of the party election to pick a DPJ president, Hatoyama said, "Mr. Ozawa stepped down for the sake of party unity. Okada said, "The amount of funds Mr. Okada collected is smaller than those collected by Liberal Democratic Party factions." Both of them defended Ozawa without answering questions about the allegation.

Hatoyama said that he wants Ozawa to play an active part in the DPJ's effort to take power to which he promised to devote all his energy.

Hatoyama is now talking about the need to "outlaw corporate donations." However, the public will not take it as a serious promise if the DPJ fails to explain the allegation that Ozawa accepted illegal donations.

Hatoyama has also called for a cut in the number of House of Representatives proportional representation seats. The proportional representation system most accurately reflects the will of the public. Cutting the number of seats in the proportional representation part of the House of Representatives will undermine parliamentary democracy.

Inability to confront misgovernment

Hatoyama has been calling for the Constitution to be revised. But he conceals the intention when he calls for a "fraternal society" and for "tax money to be given back to the public from the bureaucracy." It is characteristic of his party that he is not willing to put and end to the present government policy of serving the interests of large corporations and implementing policies at the U.S. beck and call.

If the DPJ continues to provide excessively favorable treatment to large corporations and the financial circles, it will be unable to solve the immediate problems that the majority of the public needs to solve even if it can take power and will have no new policy positions to offer to meet the demand of the majority of the public calling for LDP politics to be replaced by something new.

? Akahata, May 17, 2009