Tokyo turns a new page
NEW Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) -- the country's fifth leader in six years -- has pledged to rebuild his party's battered standings and revive the economy before upper house elections next month. His predecessor, Dr. Yukio Hatoyama, was in the office only for eight months and stepped down on June 2.
In the election on June 4, he comfortably saw off little-known backbencher Shinji Tarutoko, who was seen as a proxy for deposed DPJ secretary and veteran political manipulator Ichiro Ozawa.
Kan's 291 votes to 129 victory is seen by some as a sign that Ozawa's power has been waning, but other insiders believe that Ozawa directed his camp to split its vote to obscure the size of his bloc.
A triumphant Kan pumped his fists in the air and bowed to colleagues after easily winning a leadership ballot of DPJ MPs for the party leadership. The Asahi Shimbun said in an editorial: "Japan's politics has turned a new page."
Kan will name his new cabinet and flesh out his policy agenda within a week, although he installed two of Ozawa's strongest enemies, Yukio Edano and Yoshito Sengoku, as party general secretary and cabinet secretary in a move to further freeze out the "shadow shogun" of Japanese politics.
Ozawa and Hatoyama had been tainted by electoral fundraising scandals before the latter's failure to fulfil his campaign vow to shift the US Futenma base off Okinawa finally finished them as a leadership duo.
Former finance minister Kan is expected to stick by much of the policy platform adopted by the Democratic Party of Japan when it seized power last year, but to provide a far steadier hand at the helm than the dithering Yukio Hatoyama.
Speaking before the vote, Mr. Kan pledged to focus on ending two decades of economic stagnation by tackling Japan's massive public sector debt and poor growth rate.
"I will carry on the torch of reviving Japan that the Democratic Party received from the people," he said.
Kan is expected to honour the accord that Hatoyama was forced to strike with the US in keeping the Futenma marines base in Okinawa, but he has also talked about placing equal emphasis on Japan's increasingly strong trade and diplomatic relationship with China.
The other main elements of the DPJ's platform include deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the formation of an East Asian community and cutting back of Japan's bureaucracy and wasteful spending.
The left-leaning DPJ heavyweight will need all his toughness to drag the party from the rut the Futenma row and the corruption scandals surrounding the former DPJ leadership have left it in ahead of next month's upper house elections.
Polls on June 5 showed support for the DPJ, which had slumped to 36.1% from 20.5% in late May, and nearly 58% expressed high hopes for Kan.
Kan, the son of a businessman, is seen as being more decisive than his predecessor -- and he has built up a reputation for taking on obstructive bureaucrats. He cut his teeth in public life as a student activist and headed a patent law practice in the 1970s.
He was elected to the Diet in 1980, but he shot to political prominence as health minister in the mid-1990s, when he blew the whistle on a tainted-blood scandal involving his own department, an almost unprecedented move in contemporary Japanese politics that won him public acclaim.
However, the father of two has also battled scandals, including his failure to make pension payments for 10 months, which forced his resignation from the health portfolio. In 2005, Kan toyed with the idea of starting a new party, called the Dankai (or Baby Boomer) Party.
Japan has been facing three issues for a long time, and none of his predecessors could resolve them. They are (a) an unresponsive political system, (b) a ballooning national debt, and (c) a nearly two-decade long economic slump.
Political experts say that Kan is expected to give his government a clearer sense of direction than his predecessors to handle these issues. He has been a straight talker and will be much more pragmatic and down-to-earth than the indecisive Hatoyama in pursuing his policies.
"My first job is to rebuild the country, and to create a party in which all members can stand up together and say with confidence, 'We can do it!'," a smiling Kan said after his party earlier installed him as its new leader.
Kan vowed to revitalise Asia's biggest economy, which has been in the doldrums since an investment bubble collapsed in the early 1990s. He reportedly said: "I want to create a government that can implement policies to break through Japan's 20 years of stagnation."
Analysts say that what is less clear is how he will handle foreign affairs, in particular Japan's relations with the US. "Japan has a lot of problems, including the North Korean issue," said Kan, stressing that US-Japanese ties remain the "cornerstone" of foreign policy.
He also said that he would maintain Japan's goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% from 1990 levels by 2020, one of the most ambitious targets of any country, and to seek an EU-style Asian community in future.
Analysts say that what is required for Japan is a decisive leader who can take charge and restore confidence, and the new prime minister has a reputation and track record as a strong leader who has good communication skills. He seems to fit the bill for now.
Barrister Harun ur Rashid is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.
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