June 21, 2011
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2011 June 15 - 21 [POLITICS]
DPJ will give its Dietmembers 350 million yen in summer ‘gifts’ |
In the ex-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, each faction has had a long tradition of giving its junior lawmakers summer and winter monetary “gifts” in order to encourage them to stand behind the faction in solidarity.
The present governing Democratic Party of Japan on June 13 also decided to give summer “gifts” to its younger members in the Diet: two million yen to those in their first term and one million yen to those in their second term.
The DPJ Caucus is reportedly desperate to silence its junior legislators for raising voices of concern against DPJ Kan Naoto. The monetary “gifts” are an attempt to block an inner-party call for the early resignation of Prime Minister Kan.
The DPJ leaders will give its 192 junior Dietmembers 350 million yen in total. Where does this money come from? It comes out of the government subsidy to the DPJ – i.e. taxpayer money.
How dare the DPJ gives that money as a reward to its lawmakers while many victims of the 3/11 disaster have not received relief benefits yet!
An Akahata survey shows that 71 percent of the victims said that their lives have become much harder, and as much as 40 percent said that they are living on their savings.
A chief columnist of Mainichi Shimbun in the evening edition on June 14 criticized the ongoing political turmoil by saying, “They are playing a childish political game using government subsidies as war chests.” The column goes on to say, “The 32 billion yen in political subsidies should be immediately abolished” in order to fund a “debt cancellation order” in a bid to rescue residents suffering from “the double-loan hell” in the disaster-hit region.
The public will be watching how political parties and politicians deal with the “gifts”.
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