DPJ and LDP do not debate policies but insult each other instead

Japan Press Weekly

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

DPJ and LDP do not debate policies but insult each other instead

In the latest extraordinary Diet session, people noticed that the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Democratic Party were ignoring the general public and were insulting each other without bothering to debate their policies.

When an LDP lawmaker criticized Prime Minister Kan Naoto for reading a pre-prepared script and asked, "Can't you answer without referring to your notes?" Kan answered back, "The same goes for you. You should ask me questions without using notes."

When a DPJ representative murmured, "Come on, sit down," while members of the imperial family were standing up at a Diet ceremony, the LDP soon submitted a motion of punishment against the DPJ member of the Lower House. In retaliation, the DPJ made a motion against an LDP legislator whose cellphone rang during the same ceremony.

"You both are acting like children," said Japanese Communist Party representative Sasaki Kensho instructing the two parties to not disgrace the parliament. "You should debate your policies," he said. In the end, both motions were not put to a vote.

Since the DPJ came to power, it has betrayed the expectations of the public in the new government. It has now become just another faction of the LDP.

Examples include: To patients of hepatitis B who requested relief, Finance Minister Noda Yoshihiko said, "An increase in taxes will be one option" in order to pay out the settlement money. Prime Minister Kan refused to meet the Nago City mayor who came to Tokyo all the way from Okinawa to ask the prime minister to reconsider the plan to construct a new U.S. base in the city. Former Justice Minister Yanagida Minoru mocked the Diet, saying, "Being justice minister is easy, I only have to remember two set phrases (to use in the Diet)." In addition, together with the LDP and the Komei Party, the DPJ ignored the demands of handicapped people and went ahead with an extension of the controversial "self-support" law.

As for the LDP, ignoring its responsibility for successive governments' ambiguous handling of territorial issues, it only worked to find faults with the new government. The LDP supports the DPJ move to increase the consumption tax and build another foreign military base in Okinawa as the previous government attempted to but failed to do. Hostile to worker protection, the LDP opposed a revision of the Worker Dispatch Law by defining it as an "anti-business" law. This old party even refused to participate in Diet deliberations on the grounds that a censure motion against the cabinet spokesman was adopted.

Both the DPJ and the LDP have similar policies. That is why they did not want to discuss policies and just hurled insults at each other. Ignoring the general public demand for better living conditions, they are engaging in a race to gain the steering position in the Diet.

- Akahata, December 4, 2010