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Koizumi criticizes Aso over remarks on postal privatization+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, Feb. 12_(Kyodo) _ Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi criticized Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday for remarks in which he showed his willingness to review postal privatization, which was initiated under the Koizumi Cabinet. "We cannot fight an election if there is no trust in the prime minister's words," Koizumi, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, said at a meeting of parliamentarians promoting postal privatization held at the party headquarters in Tokyo. "I feel more like laughing than getting angry...I am just amazed (at Aso's remarks)," said Koizumi, whose LDP won the last House of Representatives election in 2005 when he singled out the postal privatization issue in the campaign. Aso said last week he is willing to review the current four-company setup under Japan Post Holdings Co. launched in 2007 as part of the postal privatization process, although he does not intend to put postal services under state management again. Koizumi also showed a cautious stance over having bills related to the second extra budget for fiscal 2008 clear the Diet by holding a second vote in the lower house with support from the ruling parties' two-thirds majority. "I do not think the bills are those which need to be passed by using the two-thirds majority," Koizumi said of the proposed legislation that would implement provisions in the extra budget, including a controversial cash benefit plan. "I don't want to say, 'I voted for them at that time, but I actually didn't (approve of them)'," he said, hinting at the possibility he may not cast a ballot in favor of the extra budget's related bills. The remarks by Koizumi, who served as prime minister between 2001 and 2006, may have some influence on lawmakers within the LDP as some have started to shift away from Aso, who has been struggling with plunging support rates. Koizumi, who has formally expressed his intention to retire from politics when his current term as a lower house member ends, had earlier refrained from criticizing Aso publicly. At Thursday's meeting, Koizumi also said, "When junior members express critical views of the prime minister's policies, party executives suppress them, saying, 'Don't shoot him in the back.' But the current situation is that the prime minister is shooting people who are trying to fight (in the upcoming lower house election) from the front." Aso declined to comment on Koizumi's remarks, but said, "I have said that I will make remarks cautiously, as I have heard there are various criticisms." The prime minister also reiterated his view that he wants to tackle a general election after completing economic measures, which he deems to be important in light of the economic recession. On Koizumi's remarks on the budget-related bills, Aso said the government and the ruling parties need to make efforts to have them passed by parliament as they decided on the cash handout plan through proper procedures. Last week, Aso said in the Diet that he was not in favor of the postal privatization plan but had agreed to it because he was a Cabinet member when the government decided on it. But he revised the remark on Monday, saying he was against the policy when he became internal affairs minister in 2003, but after studying it for two years he found it could be profitable if it is implemented appropriately. Aso's remarks stirred criticism not only from the opposition parties but also from members of the ruling coalition parties. Meanwhile, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama criticized the three-point reform package promoted by the Koizumi administration, saying that parts of the plan were "mistakes" as local governments have suffered as a result. "There are some parts that were mistakes," Hatoyama told a lower house plenary session. "As the reforms have been afflicting local governments so much, I think some parts were not necessarily correct." Countering Hatoyama, Aso later told reporters at his office that the three-point reform package's shifting of 3 trillion yen in tax revenues from national to local levels was "a big achievement" and that he does not think it was wrong. The reform package is aimed at promoting subsidy cuts, decreases in tax grants to local governments and transfers of tax-collecting power to local authorities as part of steps toward further decentralization. Copyright ? 2009 Kyodo News International, Inc. |