The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Social Democratic Party's split from the coalition government led by the Democratic Party of Japan arose from the fact that their diplomatic and security policies were as irreconcilable as oil and water.
The SDP's departure came after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama dismissed SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima as state minister in charge of consumer affairs, after she refused to sign a document approving the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture. Despite this breakup, the SDP has not ruled out cooperating with the DPJ in this summer's House of Councillors election.
Hatoyama's sacking of Fukushima is understandable in light of her defiance over the Futenma policy--an issue that directly affects national security. The SDP decision to walk out of the tripartite coalition also was a natural reaction.
Hatoyama largely has himself to blame for the messy split: He repeatedly made concessions on Futenma and other issues as he gave priority to maintaining the coalition with the SDP to ensure smooth Diet management and electoral cooperation.
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History could repeat
The Hatoyama administration could repeat its mistake if it concedes to the SDP on policy matters simply to obtain its cooperation in the forthcoming election. The administration should be focusing more on the political realignment looming after the upper house election, as well as forming a "partial coalition" in which ruling and opposition parties cooperate when they agree on specific policies.
In its policy platform declared in 2006, the SDP said it wants to "scale down the Self-Defense Forces that have existed in violation of the Constitution" and "transform the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty into a pact of peace and goodwill." On the Futenma issue, the party insisted on relocating the base overseas--a plan the United States was never likely to accept--and delaying a final decision on the matter while making no effort to find a realistic solution.
Hatoyama buckled late last year when the SDP threatened to bolt from the coalition over the Futenma relocation. The prime minister put off settling the issue in line with the 2006 agreement between Tokyo and Washington. This further complicated an already delicate problem.
Had Hatoyama defused the Futenma issue at that time and bitten the bullet by allowing the SDP to break away from the coalition, he would not have ended up straining relations with Washington, as well as with local Okinawa governments and residents, to the detriment of the national interest.
Making the tough decision then would have spared the prime minister from devoting so much political energy to the Futenma issue. Instead, he could have turned his attention to other diplomatic and domestic issues, such as deepening the Japan-U.S. alliance.
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A heavy price to pay
A coalition government by its very nature requires all its participants to make concessions. But Hatoyama's unwillingness to openly discuss differences in important policy matters with his coalition partners has blown up in his face with the SDP's breakaway.
According to a Yomiuri Shimbun opinion survey taken over the weekend, the Hatoyama Cabinet's approval rating has dropped to 19 percent, and nearly 60 percent of respondents think Hatoyama should resign as prime minister. The percentage of respondents who plan to vote for the DPJ in the proportional representation segment of the upper house election dipped below that of the Liberal Democratic Party for the first time since the DPJ came to power in September.
Public discontent with Hatoyama has been growing over his refusal to take responsibility for his inability to resolve the Futenma issue in line with what he promised the people.
Criticism of Hatoyama is finally emerging even within the DPJ. The party should be aware that people are casting a cold eye over the party because of its inability to reform itself from the inside.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 31, 2010)
(Jun. 1, 2010)
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