Ruling parties railroad through supplementary budget in lower house

Three ruling coalition parties (Liberal Democratic, Komei, and New Conservative parties) railroaded through the second supplementary budget draft for fiscal 2001 in the House of Representatives plenary session on the night of January 29 without opposition parties attending.

Four opposition parties had been calling for the Lower House plenary session to be held to look into the exclusion of non-governmental organizations (NGO) from the international meeting on assistance to Afghanistan and Liberal Democratic Dietmember Suzuki Muneo's implication in the affair. The ruling parties ignored this request.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo in a JCP Dietmembers plenary meeting on late January 29 said that what the government published as a "unified view" which was expected to explain the discrepancy between the foreign minister and the vice foreign minister over the matter was not at all "unified." Shii pointed out that the product was so poor that the Lower House chair and vice chair had to regard it as "unworthy of comments."

Noting that the ruling parties once apologized for rushing to a Lower House committee vote, Shii said that their railroading the budget bill through the Lower House plenary session was all the more unjustifiable. He said that opposition parties are justified to be absent to show their clear protest.

Referring to the exclusion of two NGOs from the Afghanistan aid conference by the Foreign Ministry, Shii stated that the undemocratic act by the Japanese government has harmed an important international meeting. He criticized the Koizumi Cabinet for failing to make clear to the Japanese people and internationally where the problem lies and who is responsible. Shii said that an influential politician has been found to be controlling foreign policies in his own interests.

Shii said that the future struggle should be in making the government publish a truly "unified view," to probe how LDP Suzuki Muneo put pressure on the Foreign Ministry, and hold the Koizumi Cabinet accountable for its irresponsible reaction. (end)