DPJ pledges government not led by bureaucrats+

TOKYO, July 27 Kyodo -
The Democratic Party of Japan unveiled its manifesto Monday for the Aug. 30
general election, which features a promise to realize a government led by
politicians rather than bureaucrats and four other principles that would guide
a DPJ-led government.
In the policy platform, the main opposition party also makes five major
promises, including the creation of a monthly child allowance for families of
26,000 yen per child.
The full implementation of the allowance program, which the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party has criticized as vague about its financing source, will be
moved up to fiscal 2011, a year earlier than originally planned, DPJ President
Yukio Hatoyama said in announcing the platform in Tokyo.
The DPJ platform is certain to draw interest and be subject to scrutiny as
opinion polls have shown that the party is well positioned to win the national
election and may secure control of the powerful House of Representatives, which
elects the prime minister.
As for the other guiding principles, the DPJ pledges in the manifesto to
centralize policymaking in the Cabinet, enabling the Prime Minister's Office to
take the lead over ministries and agencies, departing from a society driven by
vested interests and giving prominence to local autonomy.
In the news conference, Hatoyama said the DPJ aims to create a politics in
which the people rather than bureaucrats play a central role. ''We are at a
historic turning point'' for ending such politics, which has lasted for
decades, he added.
If implemented in full, the party's initiatives would cost a total of 16.8
trillion yen in the fiscal year beginning April 2013.
The DPJ says it aims to secure 9.1 trillion yen through abolishing wasteful
spending of taxpayers' money, 5 trillion yen from unused government funds and
2.7 trillion yen through taxation reform.
''I'm convinced that we would be able to secure about 9 trillion yen as a
financing source by implementing only the projects that are needed,'' Hatoyama
said, adding that as part of the effort, his party would also eliminate the
so-called ''amakudari'' practice of bureaucrats landing jobs related to the
government agencies they worked for.
Though not included in the platform, Hatoyama pledged that if the DPJ takes
power it will not raise the consumption tax from the current 5 percent for at
least four years -- during which the party hopes to implement pledges in its
platform.
He said, however, that he is willing to engage in discussions on the
possibility of increasing the sales tax, reversing his previous stance that
even discussions on a tax hike should not be conducted at a time when the
nation's economy is mired in a recession.
Hatoyama, who took over the DPJ leadership post from Ichiro Ozawa in May, also
promised to take responsibility if his party fails to come to power or realize
its campaign pledges while in power.
The major campaign promises are broken into five categories -- the elimination
of wasteful use of taxpayers' money, child-rearing and education, pensions and
medicine, local autonomy and employment as well as the economy.
Besides the child allowance, some concrete proposals based on the promises are
provision of income support for households engaged in agriculture and
fisheries, and drastic pension reform.
Also included is a comprehensive reordering of the nation's budget in order to
secure resources to finance these new measures.
The manifesto also maps out five specific actions to breathe life into a
DPJ-led government's guiding principles, such as appointing more than 100 Diet
members to posts in ministries and agencies, and creating ministerial panels
involving a small number of people to coordinate policies between ministries
and agencies.
In the meantime, the platform calls for abolishing the meetings of senior
bureaucrats in vice ministerial posts -- forums that have long been criticized
as effectively setting the agenda for Cabinet meetings and relegating the
latter to a mere rubber-stamp body.
The other actions are the establishment of a national strategy bureau directly
under the prime minister to set basic policies on the nation's budget and
diplomacy, fundamentally reviewing personnel decisions for senior bureaucrats
in the central government, and setting up an administrative renovation council
to radically review state projects.
Regarding Japan-U.S. relations, the DPJ says in the platform that it will aim
for a ''close and equal'' alliance, adding that it will review the realignment
of U.S. forces as well as the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.
But on Monday, DPJ policy chief Masayuki Naoshima said his party would not seek
radical changes to bilateral relations if it comes to power and that a DPJ-led
government would not renege on a pact reached between the two countries on the
force realignment.
The party also indicated its reluctance to upset its ally by not including in
the platform its opposition to the Maritime Self-Defense Force's antiterrorism
refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.
The party's platform also calls for additional unemployment benefits for those
seeking employment so that such benefits can cushion the impact of job losses.
Billing the program a ''second safety net,'' a DPJ-led government would provide
up to 100,000 yen a month to those receiving job training after their
unemployment insurance benefits are terminated or after closing their
businesses.
The platform also pledges a 25 percent cut in Japan's greenhouse gas emissions
from 1990 levels by 2020, a more ambitious target than the 8 percent reduction
goal announced last month by Aso.
The rival LDP has been working on its policy platform to make it public on
Friday, party Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters.
The lower house was dissolved July 21 and official campaigning for the election
is slated to begin Aug. 18.
==Kyodo