At a time when the international situation is changing at a dizzying pace, is the Diet properly fulfilling its role? By conducting business as usual, the Diet can be described only as being too inward looking.
The 182-day ordinary Diet session has ended. The passage of a law on work style reform will lead to changes in labor practices in Japan, such as by curbing the long working hours of some employees.
New rules, including caps on overtime work, will be phased in from April 2019. Unreasonable disparities in the working conditions of regular and non-regular employees also should steadily be eliminated. It is vital that labor and management hold in-depth discussions and ensure these reforms are effective.
Ratification of the revised Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal, which has been signed by 11 nations including Japan and Australia, came in the wake of the United States' withdrawal from the original pact. It is significant that free trade is being promoted under highly transparent rules.
How will the government construct a trade policy at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" approach is roiling global trade?
East Asia's security environment could change due to the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit meeting. How will the government deal with a U.S. administration skeptical about the importance of alliances?
In the Diet, the ruling and opposition parties need to present their own opinions and policies on these serious issues, which are unlike anything the nation has experienced since the end of World War II, and call on the public to understand their positions.
Abandon arrogance
Debates between party leaders were a golden opportunity to do this, but there is an undeniable sense that these debates consisted of nothing but the opposition hounding the government over scandals and each leader waxing lyrical about their own party.
This ordinary Diet session was symbolized by two scandals -- the sale of discounted state-owned land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen, and the establishment of a new veterinary department at a university operated by Kake Educational Institution.
Since last year, the opposition parties have harried Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over his alleged involvement in these scandals. It seems many of their questions were aimed more at tarnishing Abe's image than actually uncovering new facts in these cases.
In response to a string of government scandals, the opposition parties even refused to attend deliberations for more than two weeks while they demanded, among other things, the resignation of Finance Minister Taro Aso. However, the opposition was unable to force the administration into a corner.
That prospects of the opposition parties did not rise even when the support rate for the Abe Cabinet dropped was probably due to their continuation of this unproductive Diet strategy.
By the same token, another striking feature of the Diet session was the sheer number of insincere answers given by the prime minister, cabinet ministers and bureaucrats as they attempted to fend off pointed questions from the opposition. This also was one reason why the Moritomo and Kake scandals dragged on for as long as they did. The administration must abandon the arrogance that comes with being in power for so long, and adopt a stance of carefully explaining the suspicions swirling around it.
The legislative branch of government has a duty to constantly discuss the way the Constitution should be, without being swayed by the political situation.
The House of Representatives Commission on the Constitution did not hold one substantial discussion during this Diet session. Questions have been raised about the opposition parties' approach of rejecting discussions on constitutional amendment under the Abe Cabinet. Each party should swiftly hold its own discussions on this issue and prepare for the next Diet session.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 23, 2018)
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