International   

Japanese Parliament approves bill to privatise postal services

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's key reform-initiative of postal privatisation was approved by Diet (Parliament) on Friday. This has given

Mr. Koizumi a free hand to initiate further economic reforms, reshape his Cabinet and restructure the top hierarchy of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Following the earlier parliamentary rejection of his postal privatisation initiative, Mr. Koizumi called a snap general election.

Winning the polls held on September 11 by a landslide, he presented the relevant bills to the two chambers of Diet, the only change being a six-month delay, now proposed, for the completion of the 10-year privatisation process. The delay has been caused largely by the time taken up by the electoral process that followed the parliamentary disapproval of the bills.

The privatisation of Japan Post, which has funds of over $3 trillion (several times the size of India's Gross Domestic Product) in people's savings and life insurance money, will now be completed by September 30, 2017.

Japan Post will be split into four companies for this purpose, and the work will begin on October 1, 2007.

The new bills were approved by the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, on Friday by a vote of 134-100, according to reports from Tokyo.

It was this House that had rejected the bills when they were first presented to it.

The House of Representatives, the lower chamber, approved the new bills by a huge margin of 200 votes on Tuesday. The LDP and its coalition partner, the New Komeito Party, command a two-thirds-plus majority in this 480-member chamber.

The previous House of Representatives had adopted the bills by a slim margin, with a number of LDP members rebelling against Mr. Koizumi's move.

Unlike on the previous occasion, the Opposition Democratic Party of Japan presented an alternative postal reform bill this time, only to see it being rejected by the House of Representatives.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Rescue operation called off in PoK
Asian socialite jailed in U.K.
Pinter to continue anti-war campaign
Japanese Parliament approves bill to privatise postal services
Key air base turned into relief camp
Clandestine Service head
Vaccine alert over bird flu
Sistani calls for "Yes" vote in referendum
Coming soon: Spielberg video games
Vaccine alert over bird flu
Two more Indians stranded in PoK are safe
Indian killed in accident at Shanghai

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu