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Japanese leader claims mandate, pushes ahead with postal reform Japan's ruling coalition submitted a package of bills to Parliament on Monday to privatize the sprawling postal service, pushing ahead with reforms that would result in the world's largest private bank, AP reported. A vote is expected in mid-October, and the coalition's powerful two-thirds majority in the lower house following its September 11 landslide election win means the legislation should pass easily. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the election demonstrated wide public support for the reforms. He pledged lawmakers in a policy speech Monday that he would achieve postal privatization "without fearing pain, without being daunted by vested interests, without being bound by precedents." Koizumi reaffirmed the policies he has pushed since taking office in 2001: structural reform, economic recovery while restraining public spending, and stronger relations with the United States, symbolized by his dispatch of noncombat forces in support of U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Koizumi's program was attacked during the campaign by the top opposition group, the Democratic Party of Japan, which opposed postal privatization and vowed to withdraw troops from Iraq. But that message failed to resonate with voters. The bills, which were endorsed at a Cabinet meeting earlier Monday, would split up Japan Post's delivery, insurance and savings deposit services and sell them off by 2017. The privatization process would begin in late 2007 and create the world's largest private bank. Koizumi said postal privatization would be the first in a series of reforms he would push for, using his enhanced political clout. "I have been pressing for wide-ranging structural reforms in areas such as finance, taxation, regulation and expenditure, in order to revive and move forward our country since I took office," Koizumi said, pointing out the disposal of mountains of bad debts by Japan's banks under his watch. Koizumi's ruling coalition, led by his Liberal Democratic Party, made major strides in the elections for the lower house of Parliament. Koizumi called the snap elections after the upper house rejected the postal reform proposal in August. "The Japanese voters showed strong support and expectations for us to continue with reform," said Heizo Takenaka, economic minister and architect of the reform proposal. "First of all, we want to have the bills passed in this session." Japan Post runs nearly 25,000 post offices and employs some 400,000 full- and part-time workers in its delivery, insurance and savings deposit services. It controls some 330 trillion yen (US$3 trillion; euro2.48 trillion) in deposits. The Democrats were expected to come up with a counterproposal, but the party is still reeling from its defeat at the polls and has not yet decided on a policy. Democratic Party leader Seiji Maehara called Koizumi's policy speech empty, saying he discussed little other than postal reforms. "He only focused on postal privatization and gave no details on other issues," Maehara said. "It's as if he is asking the public for carte blanche, and I'm deeply concerned." Though Koizumi did not announce a decision on whether to extend the dispatch of Japanese troops in southern Iraq, he suggested that the mission was still not finished. Tokyo has about 500 noncombat troops in a humanitarian mission in the city of Samawah that is due to expire in December. "The fight against terrorism is not over yet," said Koizumi, a firm supporter of U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Through international cooperation, Japan will work hard ... to prevent and eradicate terrorism."
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