Japan’s opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa presented himself Wednesday as the prime minister in waiting, pledging to slash wasteful spending and focus on people’s needs if his bloc wins looming elections.
In an address to parliament, Ozawa made a raft of policy promises including repairing the worn-out pension system, increasing the number of doctors and nurses and closing a widening gap between rich and poor.
The veteran political strategist offered a confident address from the podium at parliament, saying he would deliver a true “policy speech” after new Prime Minister Taro Aso’s combative remarks two days earlier.
“This is the first time in my 39 years as a lawmaker that I heard a prime minister’s policy speech that slandered the opposition,” said Ozawa, 66, head of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
“I will give you answers to your questions by giving my policy speech,” he said without looking at Aso.
Aso took office last week with a mission to help the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party defeat the rising opposition in elections that could come as soon as next month.
The prime minister, in his own policy speech, accused the opposition of being irresponsible by blocking legislation since it won a landmark victory last year to take control of one house of parliament.
“We want quick snap elections after having sufficient debate in parliament to show which party wants what kind of policy,” Ozawa said.
“The biggest issue is whether to continue the current government which keep wasting public money by giving a free hand to the bureaucracy, or to replace it with the DPJ-led new government to make a drastic change,” he said.
Ozawa has vowed to bring in more political appointees to reduce the power of the influential bureaucracy.
He also pledged to offer more perks to Japanese who have more children to reverse a declining birthrate and to strengthen the farming and fisheries sectors.
Ozawa did not mention his opposition to a controversial naval mission in the Indian Ocean helping the US-led “war on terror” in Afghanistan. Aso has vowed to renew the deployment.
“The DPJ government will make the Japan-US alliance stronger based on an equal partnership with the United States,” Ozawa said.
The opposition last year briefly halted the Indian Ocean mission, arguing that officially pacifist Japan should not take part in “American wars.”
Ozawa, who comes from the conservative wing of his party, has supported a more assertive military policy in the past. But he says Japan should follow the United Nations and not simply rubber-stamp US policy.
Aso pressed Ozawa to answer more directly on the questions he raised in his policy address, including whether the opposition would support a supplementary budget to help Japan cope with rising fuel costs.
But Aso also criticised Ozawa for using the forum to deliver a speech and not ask questions of the prime minister as intended.
Aso, an advocate of government spending to boost the economy, later gave his strongest signal yet that he would delay elections until after he pushes through budget measures.
He said he may also propose another package to help Japan cope with the fallout of the US financial crisis.
“I believe what the general public wants is a stimulative package rather than snap elections,” Aso told reporters after the parliament session.
“Because the (economic) situation is worsening, I think people will ask for more policy packages after the supplementary budget legislation,” he said.