postal_bill

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

Shii proposes joint struggle to scrap Koizumi postal bills in post-election Diet

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo called on other parties to band together to scrap the postal privatization bills in the special Diet session to be convened following the general election.

Shii made this statement on September 5 during a speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo. He said that the JCP will cooperate with all parties opposing Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's postal privatization bills in the struggle to scrap the bill.

The JCP throughout its election campaigning is pointing out that the real aim of the Koizumi postal privatization bills is to destroy public postal services to provide the Japanese and U.S. banking industry new markets to make more profits.

He said that the JCP has been criticizing Prime Minister Koizumi for claiming that privatization will help cut the number of public employees and thus increase tax revenues.

He said, "The important point is that all parties in this election, except for the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties, are opposed to the Koizumi postal privatization bills, though differences persist between these parties regarding postal privatization per se."

He pointed out that even among the parties opposing the Koizumi postal bill, they take different positions on privatizing postal services. He said it stands to reason that the parties debate each other during the campaigning.

Shii stressed that the JCP is making efforts to persuade voters that a JCP advance in the election is the surest way to scrap the Koizumi postal bills because the JCP is unequivocally against the entire scheme of postal privatization. -- Akahata, September 6, 2005