post

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

DPJ lawmakers back postal privatization from the outset

The Democratic Party of Japan is in a state of confusion due to its ambivalence over Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's postal privatization policy, because influential DPJ lawmakers have been backing the Koizumi's plan to privatize the country's postal services all along.

Koizumi first called for a postal privatization in 1998 when he ran in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in vain. The next year, he established a supra-partisan study group toward a postal privatization.

As of June 2001, the 28-member study group includes 19 from the DPJ and five from the LDP. Many of these DPJ lawmakers hold important posts in the party leadership.

Although the DPJ has promoted the postal privatization plan from the outset, they voted against the bill in the recent Diet session. Meanwhile, the DPJ Manifesto hints at a postal privatization with postal savings and postal life insurance services scaled down.

DPJ Leader Okada Katsuya is a supporter of postal privatization, but with the general election in mind, the DPJ opposed the privatization bill as an election campaign tactic. The DPJ is now struggling with this inconsistency. -- Akahata, August 25, 2005