LDP wins big

[pchang]

Koizumi promises to continue with reforms.

[OzzyKP]

Privatizing the post office

[Q Classic]

I'm trying to see why the LDP winning in the one-party state that is Japan being something... shocking.

(granted, Koizumi's reforms have had trouble as of late, but... politics there is still dominated by the LDP, so...)

[laurentius]

[Lion Heart -- Message from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi]
(Provisional Translation)


Privatization of the postal services is at the heart of the reforms


Junichiro Koizumi here.

Summer vacation is nearing its end. How did you all spend your
holidays? People everywhere spend their holidays in various ways.
I am sure that while some people returned to their family homes for
the Obon holiday, others embarked on travel, and others applied
themselves to their studies.

In my case, since the dissolution of the House of Representatives
on August 8, I have been working hard as I reattempt to achieve
privatization of the postal services. I have given over my summer
vacation to these efforts.

Everyone is in agreement that we must "reduce the number of civil
servants."
Everyone also agrees that we must "boldly push forward the
administrative and fiscal reforms."
And I think everyone agrees that we must "leave to the private
sector what it can do."

Then why is it that opposition arises once it comes to the
privatization of the postal services? Why is it that the work of
only the post office must be performed by civil servants? Why do
they say that the private sector cannot take it on? I am baffled by
that.

There are approximately 260,000 full-time national civil servants
who work at the post office. If you add the approximately 120,000
part-time civil servants who work a few hours a day, there are
approximately 380,000 civil servants in total. Is it really the
case that the post office can neither function nor provide services
without 380,000 civil servants?

That has never been my way of thinking.

Are not the forces opposing the privatization of the postal
services trying to protect the vested interests of the
approximately 260,000 civil servants who work at the post office?
Are they not trying to maintain the interests of the national civil
servants?

I believe that if the work of the post office is handed to the
private sector, products and services provided would be much better
than those which are now available. Just remember how parcel
services came about. Who enabled the nationwide delivery of ice
creams and fresh seafood in the middle of scorching summers? Who
initiated nighttime delivery service? It was the private sector,
not the government.

Even if the private sector handles the services offered by the post
office, the network will still be maintained in regional Japan as
well as sparsely populated areas. If the postal services are
privatized, the companies created would be subject to corporate tax
and property tax. If these privatized companies were to sell their
shares in the future, the revenue created would come into the
national coffers. In this way, privatization would also contribute
to Japan's financial rehabilitation.

Postal privatization comprises administrative structural reform,
fiscal structural reform, economic structural reform, financial
structural reform, and above all, political structural reform. That
is precisely why postal privatization is at the "heart of the
reforms."

It is only natural that politicians listen to the voices of their
supporters. What politicians must not do, however, is to protect
only the vested interests of particular groups. Politicians must
consider the benefits to the nation as a whole. They must not
compromise the good of 120 million people in order to protect the
vested interests of a few hundred thousand.

Based on the conviction that we must "reform politics," "achieve
economic recovery" and "make effective use of national funds,"
postal privatization has finally become the biggest issue of
contention.

Aiming to effectively use tax revenue, open up the government to
let the private sector do as much work as it can take on, create a
simple yet efficient government, vitalize the economy and reduce
the future tax burden, I will once again stand up to the challenge
of privatizing the postal services.


* Profile of the Prime Minister

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/koizumiprofile/index_e.html

* The title of this column "Lion Heart" is a reference to the
Prime Minister's lion-like hairstyle and his unbending
determination to advance structural reform.

================================================== =====
[What's up around the Prime Minister]

- Youths from Israel and Palestine Pay a Courtesy Call on Prime
Minister (August 18, 2005)

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/koizumiphoto/2005/08/18israel_e.html

Prime Minister Koizumi received a courtesy call from ten Israeli
and Palestinian youths who are visiting Japan.

- Prime Minister Attends the Memorial Service for the War Dead
(August 15, 2005)

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/koizumiphoto/2005/08/15syuusen_e.html

Prime Minister Koizumi expressed his determination to contribute
to world peace and prosperity without ever again waging a war.

- Statement by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (August 15, 2005)

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/koizumispeech/2005/08/15danwa_e.html

- Japan-Pakistan Summit Meeting (August 10, 2005)

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/koizumiphoto/2005/08/10pakistan_e.html

Prime Minister Koizumi held a meeting with Mr. Shaukat Aziz,
the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

As much as I like Mr. Koizumi I strongly disagree with his postal reform. There just is no need to split it up like that. As much as the private sector can come up with new products and services it can never guarantee the local postal services for example. Even if he claims otherwise cutting expenses(unprofitable post offices) and jobs is a global trend in these privatisations. Even more so if some foreign company buys it later. I'm sure that the reforms he would like to see insede the company could be done without completely privatasing the entire company.

In this case Mr. Koizumi might think he is working in the best interest of his people when he in fact might only be having his own neo-liberal wet dream.

Good to see him in charge though

[Drake Tungsten]

I'm trying to see why the LDP winning in the one-party state that is Japan being something... shocking.

It's the way in which Koizumi won it. Certain factions in the LDP oppose his postal reforms. In the old days, the competing factions would have carried out their power struggle behind closed doors and then everyone would put on a happy face come election time. That didn't happen this time. Koizumi purged the anti-reform MPs from the party, called a risky snap-election and ran his own hand-picked candidates (his "assassins", most of them women) in the place of his purged enemies. He ended up winning in a landslide, not only solidifying his control of the LDP but also leaving the DPJ (the party that has been threatening the LDP's stranglehold on Japanese politics) in shambles.

This election is a pretty big turning point in the way both the LDP and Japanese politics in general operate.

[OzzyKP]

You'd think if he purged a part of his party, that they'd join the opposition and strengthen the opposition, not weaken them.

[pchang]

Except that the people have shown they want his reforms. Thus, those that opposed them got weaker (his purged party members and the opposition).

[OzzyKP]

Good for the people of Japan.

Its amazing, the world vilifies us as being a heartless, hardnosed capitalist country, but not in a million years would the people support privatizing the post office. Its pretty much inconceivable.

Even Bush's social security reform proposal, which is honestly a far cry from real privatization, is dead in the water. I give great credit to the Japanese for supporting this.

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
It's the way in which Koizumi won it. Certain factions in the LDP oppose his postal reforms. In the old days, the competing factions would have carried out their power struggle behind closed doors and then everyone would put on a happy face come election time. That didn't happen this time. Koizumi purged the anti-reform MPs from the party, called a risky snap-election and ran his own hand-picked candidates (his "assassins", most of them women) in the place of his purged enemies. He ended up winning in a landslide, not only solidifying his control of the LDP but also leaving the DPJ (the party that has been threatening the LDP's stranglehold on Japanese politics) in shambles.

This election is a pretty big turning point in the way both the LDP and Japanese politics in general operate.

Sure, it's a nice change, but... Japan's still a pseudo one-party state run by the LDP.

I'd've been more shocked had Koizumi's efforts failed, and the LDP lost big--but honestly, I don't think many expected that, either.