By AKIRA MINAMI/ Staff Writer
June 28, 2018 at 14:20 JST
Shinjiro Koizumi, far right, and his Liberal Democratic Party colleagues explain their proposal for Diet reform at a news conference in Tokyo on June 27. (Takeshi Iwashita)
A group of young ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers compiled a Diet reform proposal to more efficiently uncover the truth in scandals while ensuring policy debate does not get lost in the commotion.
Public distrust of the political sector has heightened amid scandals involving two school operators, Moritomo Gakuen and the Kake Educational Institution, that have nagged at the Abe administration for months.
Many voters remain unconvinced by the explanations given by the prime minister and government officials.
The proposal said something has to be done to regain public trust.
The main pillars of the proposal are designed to create a Diet that is more open and policy-oriented and does not simply pursue scandals.
The group, formed in March and chaired by Keiichiro Tachibana, 57, includes Shinjiro Koizumi, 37, chief deputy secretary-general of the LDP and son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
The young lawmakers presented their proposal to LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai on June 27 and asked that a new party organ be established to consider how to implement their suggested measures.
The proposal cited the need for “an improved version” of the current prime minister-led style of government by tweaking bugs in the system.
To create a more open Diet, the group proposed establishing a special investigative committee whenever doubts arise over the integrity of the administrative branch.
The proposal said these committees should have the power to summon sworn and unsworn witnesses to testify in the Diet and to request official documents to conduct a thorough investigation.
An increasing number of Diet staff should be assigned to such committees to support the initiation of the Diet’s investigative powers, according to the proposal.
If such special investigative committees focus on scandals involving the administration, Diet organs could be used in a more policy-oriented manner.
Rather than the current practice of using the Budget Committees of the two Diet chambers to go after administration officials suspected of wrongdoing, the proposal said the Budget Committees’ priority should be on deliberating bills.
The proposal also said debates should be held between party leaders and between Cabinet ministers and opposition lawmakers at a pace of once every two weeks.
In exchange, the proposal calls for “more rational” rules regarding the presence of the prime minister and Cabinet ministers at Diet committee and other sessions.
Better planning for Diet debate over a longer time period would make it possible to hold Diet deliberations that are focused on policy, the group said.
One suggestion was to reach agreement on the Diet schedule at least two weeks in advance.
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