Japan's political Crisis

- By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

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Needless to restate here that the Us-led terror invasion of the Islamic world has converted the US- NATO led anti-Islamic nations under charge into utter chaos and instability. Most of the terror war western countries undergoing serious economic and political imbalances.  Australia, UK, USA Japan are a few of them to mention. Japan is a typical example of recurring political struggle.  

Japan is a NATO member and a close ally of the US-led global state terror nations killing Muslims in Islamic world. Japan is in a deep recession and at times the prime minister has appeared indecisive. Last week, Aso survived a no-confidence motion put forward by the opposition in the lower house. But the upper house, which is dominated by the opposition, passed a similar motion. LDP rebels tried unsuccessfully to remove him before he could dissolve parliament, believing he was leading them to a historic defeat.

Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso, the fourth prime minister since the party won the last election to the lower house of parliament in 2005 has dissolved parliament and announced to hold an early election for 30 August. Aso apologized to legislators of his ruling party for a series of defeats his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has suffered in local elections, including in the key Tokyo municipality. ''Although we received lots of support from party members and supporters in a series of local elections, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, we unfortunately failed to achieve our initial targets. My shortcomings caused mistrust from the public and I apologize from my heart for this," Aso told his party's legislators in a televised speech. On 21 July Tuesday morning, his cabinet gave its formal backing to Aso's plan to dissolve parliament and hold a general election. Japan is in a deep recession and at times the prime minister has appeared indecisive.

Aso’s successful bid for the leadership of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in September 2008 was his fourth attempt to win the post. He lost out to Junichiro Koizumi in 2001 and came a distant second to Shinzo Abe in the leadership election of September 2006. When Abe stepped down a year later, Aso was seen as the front-runner until Yasuo Fukuda emerged to beat him. Taro Aso is the third LDP Prime Minister since the charismatic Junichiro Koizumi stepped down after winning the last elections to the more powerful lower house of parliament in 2005.

The charismatic, if gaffe-prone, Aso was elected leader of the LDP in September in a move the party hoped would shore up its public standing. But recent polls now suggest Aso’s popularity is languishing below 20%, raising the spectre of an electoral defeat for the LDP, which has only been out of power a few months in the last 50 years. Watanabe's resignation will raise fears in the LDP that more could follow. The LDP still retains a two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament.  

The manoeuvring within the LDP reached its head after disastrous local election results for the prime minister's governing coalition over the weekend. Voters in Tokyo ended its majority on the Metropolitan Assembly, handing the most seats to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. If such a result were to be repeated nationwide, it would be a sea change in Japanese politics. The Liberal Democratic Party has governed Japan, alone or in coalition, for more than half a century, except for a break shorter than a year in the early 1990s. A well-oiled election-winning machine, it has close ties to big business and the bureaucracy, and has enjoyed strong support in rural Japan.  But voters have become increasingly disenchanted. One leader called going to the country with him in charge "almost like a mass suicide".  

LDP rebels had sought to remove him before he could dissolve parliament, believing he was leading them to a historic defeat. Polls published by the Asahi and Mainichi newspapers on Monday suggested that support for Aso had continued to decline since previous surveys last month. They showed him trailing Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama. The Democratic Party favors more independence from the US, a greater Japanese contribution to peacekeeping missions, and a smaller role for government. Last week, Aso survived a no-confidence motion put forward by the opposition in the lower house. But the upper house, which is dominated by the opposition, passed a similar motion. Aso's position had already been weakened when the LDP lost control of Tokyo city council in elections on 12 July.

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Aso is the first Roman Catholic to be made Prime Minister in Japan. Taro Aso is a charismatic but gaffe-prone conservative politician who served as foreign minister under two different prime ministers before winning the top job himself. Aso is known for his strong conservative views, advocating a tough line towards North Korea and rejecting any change to the law to allow women to ascend the throne. He wants Japan to adopt a more muscular foreign policy and has criticized China in the past, describing its military spending as a threat to Japan and the region. Aso is also a blunt speaker who has had to apologize for some of his more controversial statements. He once reportedly likened opposition tactics to those of the Nazis in Germany. His time in office has been dominated by the global economic crisis and dealing with an increasingly hostile North Korea. Aso was the first foreign leader to be received by US President Barrack Obama.  

On 24 September 2008 Japan's parliament has confirmed flamboyant conservative Taro Aso as the country's new prime minister. But reflecting the deep division facing Aso, the lower house was forced to overrule the upper house's alternative choice of an opposition figure. Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has dominated Japanese politics for more than 50 years, but is now facing an ascendant opposition. he last prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, resigned from his post in early September after less than a year, frustrated by the ability of the opposition-controlled upper house of parliament to stymie his legislative plans. In addition Japan is facing stormy economic conditions. DJP leader Ozawa appeared to relish the challenge in his remarks quoted by AFP news agency. "The final battle has begun. The autumn of elections - the autumn to change the government - is coming," he reportedly said. Corruption has spoilt the reputation of the opposition.  

There has been a strong sense of drift in the party. Hoping to capitalize on the disillusionment is the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). It is promising to loosen what it says is a bureaucratic stranglehold on policy making, increase welfare provisions and pay more heed to the needs of consumers and workers.

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Japan, which endured a lost decade of stagnation in the 1990s, has more recently been racked by its steepest recession since the end of World War II. The approval rating for Taro Aso's cabinet is hovering around 20%, according to newspaper opinion polls. He is perceived as weak, a policy flip-flopper, and his gaffes have not helped.  

In January 2009 a senior politician Watanabe quit Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in the latest blow for the party and embattled Prime Minister Taro Aso. Watanabe announced his resignation from the LDP at a packed news conference. Yoshimi Watanabe, a former cabinet minister, questioned Aso's political judgment and said he feared Aso could "invite tragedy" to Japan. Watanabe was a vocal critic of an LDP-backed supplementary budget which will see the public get cash handouts. His demands that the long-dominant LDP call a snap election were also ignored.  

A 12-trillion-yen ($135bn; £92bn) second supplementary budget designed to try to stimulate the economy was passed by the budget committee of the lower house of parliament. Of that, two trillion yen will be passed to the public in cash handouts - something Watanabe says is a gimmick that will do little to get the country out of recession. Aso has rejected the criticism, saying extraordinary measures are needed for this "once-in-100-years event".  

Opinion polls suggest the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could lose heavily to the opposition Democratic Party (DPJ) in the election. A DPJ victory would end five decades of almost uninterrupted rule by the LDP. A DPJ victory would end five decades of almost uninterrupted rule by the LDP.  But the main opposition party is far from cohesive, made up of LDP defectors on the right through to former socialists on the left, and its path to power is not assured. Fundraising scandals have not helped, forcing Ichiro Ozawa, the DPJ's leader to resign earlier this year. His successor, the man who hopes to be Japan's next Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, recently apologized after it emerged individuals listed as his political donors were in fact dead. It must overturn a commanding majority in the lower house enjoyed by the LDP and its coalition partner.  

The writing on the wall is that ruling party has lost its credibility but the opposition has not gained form the failures of the government though it won the Tokyo polls. Chances are fifty-fifty for both and only the poll campaign would settle the matter, either way, though the ruling party would have to take the elections more seriously then the opposition.

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Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Independent Researcher in International Affairs,

The only Indian to have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation in South Asia.