Archive for August 30th, 2009
Media: Opposition wins landslide in Japan election
VOA
Japan Enters New Era in Crushing Election Rebuke of Ruling Party
By Kurt Achin
Tokyo
30 August 2009
Japanese voters have resoundingly rejected the party that has set the country’s policy agendas for more than half a century. The rise of a center-left party promising to soothe the pain of globalization is being seen as a major break with business as usual.
As official results continued to solidify in Japan, media exit polls made it clear the party is over for those who currently run the country.
Cheers of delight went up at the headquarters of candidates for the Democratic Party of Japan, as broadcasters predicted a landslide victory over the Liberal Democratic Party.
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| A poster of Yukio Hatoyama, leader of Japan’s main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, Tokyo, Sunday, 30 Aug. 2009 |
The DPJ appeared set to gain more 300 out of 480 lower house seats in play. That result is consistent with months of expectations that LDP Prime Minister Taro Aso and his party would be defeated the DPJ and its leader – Japan’s presumed next prime minister -Yukio Hatoyama.
Hatoyama expresses his gratitude, saying it was the people’s strong desire for change that brought about this result. He says the vote clearly reflects the deep public desire to shift the country’s balance of power.
The LDP has controlled Japan’s legislature almost without interruption for the past 55 years. But many voters blame the party for Japan’s worst period of recession since World War Two. The DPJ has campaigned almost exclusively on bread-and-butter economic issues, appealing to voters who feel the LDP has lost touch with average families.
In a sentiment shared by many here, this Japanese voter says “I am not a big fan of the Democratic Party – but this time, why not?”
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso struck a note of deep humility in accepting his party’s defeat.
He says the election result is regrettable, but that he will take the people’s voice seriously. In a signal he will likely resign soon, he says he blames the defeat on his own failure, and will accept personal responsibility.
Hatoyama now inherits the conundrum of Japan’s struggling economy – ballooning debt, sputtering growth, and a rapidly aging population.
On foreign policy, the DPJ has signaled closer regional integration with East Asian nations, particularly neighboring China. Hatoyama has vowed to “re-examine” Tokyo’s relationship with the United States – but says the U.S.-Japan alliance will still be a cornerstone of the country’s security.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-08-30-voa12.cfm
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Media: Opposition wins landslide in Japan election
By ERIC TALMADGE (AP) –
TOKYO — Japan’s opposition party won historic elections in an apparent landslide Sunday, media projections said, sending the conservatives to defeat after 54 years of nearly unbroken rule amid widespread economic anxiety and desire for change.
The left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan was set to win 300 or more of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955, according to exit polls by all major Japanese TV networks.
The loss by the Liberal Democrats would open the way for the Democratic Party, headed by Yukio Hatoyama, to replace Prime Minister Taro Aso and establish a new Cabinet, possibly within the next few weeks.
The vote was seen as a barometer of frustrations over Japan’s worst economic slump since World War II and a loss of confidence in the ruling Liberal Democrats’ ability to tackle tough problems such as the rising national debt and rapidly aging population.
The Democrats have said they will seek a more independent relationship with Washington. But Hatoyama, who holds a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University, insists he will not seek dramatic change in Japan’s foreign policy, saying the U.S.-Japan alliance would “continue to be the cornerstone of Japanese diplomatic policy.”
National broadcaster NHK, using projections based on exit polls of roughly 400,000 voters, said the Democratic Party was set to win 300 seats and the Liberal Democrats only about 100. Official results were expected early Monday.
TV Asahi, another major network, said the Democratic Party would win 315 seats.
The LDP’s secretary-general, Hiroyuki Hosoda, said he and two other top officials plan to submit their resignations to Aos, who serves as president of the party.
As voting closed Sunday night, officials said turnout was high, despite an approaching typhoon, indicating the intense level of public interest in the hotly contested campaigns.
“We’ve worked so hard to achieve a leadership change and that has now become almost certain thanks to the support of many voters,” said Yoshihiko Noda, a senior member of the DPJ. “We feel a strong sense of responsibility to achieve each of our campaign promises.”
Ruling party leaders said they were devastated by the results.
“I feel deeply the impact of this vote,” former Prime Minister Shintaro Abe, a leading Liberal Democratic Party member, told television network TBS. “Our party must work to return to power.”
Even before the vote was over, the Democrats pounded the ruling party for driving the country into a ditch.
Japan’s unemployment has spiked to record 5.7 percent while deflation has intensified and families have cut spending because they are insecure about the future.
Making the situation more dire is Japan’s aging demographic — which means more people are on pensions and there is a shrinking pool of taxpayers to support them and other government programs.
“The ruling party has betrayed the people over the past four years, driving the economy to the edge of a cliff, building up more than 6 trillion yen ($64.1 billion) in public debt, wasting money, ruining our social security net and widening the gap between the rich and poor,” the Democratic Party said in a statement as voting began Sunday.
“We will change Japan,” it said.
Hatoyama’s party held 112 seats before parliament was dissolved in July.
The Democratic Party would only need to win a simple majority of 241 seats in the lower house to assure that it can name the next prime minister. The 300-plus level would allow it and its two smaller allies the two-thirds majority they need in the lower house to pass bills.
Many voters said that although the Democrats are largely untested in power and doubts remain about whether they will be able to deliver on their promises, the country needs a change.
“We don’t know if the Democrats can really make a difference, but we want to give them a chance,” Junko Shinoda, 59, a government employee, said after voting at a crowded polling center in downtown Tokyo.
Having the Democrats in power would smooth policy debates in parliament, which has been deadlocked since the Democrats and their allies took over the less powerful upper house in 2007.
With only two weeks of official campaigning that focused mainly on broadstroke appeals rather than specific policies, many analysts said the elections were not so much about issues as voters’ general desire for something new after more than a half century under the Liberal Democrats.
The Democrats are proposing toll-free highways, free high schools, income support for farmers, monthly allowances for job seekers in training, a higher minimum wage and tax cuts. The estimated bill comes to 16.8 trillion yen ($179 billion) if fully implemented starting in fiscal year 2013.
Aso — whose own support ratings have sagged to a dismal 20 percent — repeatedly stressed his party led Japan’s rise from the ashes of World War II into one of the world’s biggest economic powers and are best equipped to get it out of its current morass.
But the current state of the economy has been a major liability for his party.
“It’s revolutionary,” said Tomoaki Iwai, a political science professor at Tokyo’s Nihon University. “It’s the first real change of government” Japan has had in six decades.
AP reporters Mari Yamaguchi, Kelly Olsen, Shino Yuasa and Tomoko Hosaka contributed to this report.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hlQO-kyvIEyrc0I90V5l0LFN7JTwD9AD7ACG0
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Video: Japanese voters say it’s time for change
AFP
World focus on Burma (30-8-2009)
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A Marine on St. Croix man finally learns the fate of his MIA brother
Pioneer Press – Elizabeth Mohr –
Loren was just 17 when Kenneth’s plane disappeared in the China-Burma-India theatre (Burma is now known as Myanmar). Loren was in boot camp for the Marine …
Burma’s generals go too far
Charleston Post Courier –
Report Names World’s Most Repressive Countries
Ethical Travel News – Tania Campbell –
… Burma has become an impoverished dictatorship orchestrated by the ruling junta, led by Senior General Than Shwe. Aung San Suu Kyi, who wishes to restore …
Just what the UN needed, More Ban ki-Moon mush
New Europe – Andy Dabilis –
She said he was a “passive observer” to Burma’s arrest of opposition leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and criticised his slow reaction to …
Making AICHR work for Asean citizens
The Nation –
The litmus test will come soon when the current Asean chair submits the Asean statement on Burma calling for Aung San Suu Kyi’s freedom, which will be …
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Los Angeles Times –
Than Shwe as well as detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Webb also was able to secure the release of American John Yettaw, with the military …
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Los Angeles Times – Mark Magnier –
was given rare access to supreme military leader Than Shwe as well as detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on his trip to Myanmar. …
For goodness sake!
Malta Independent Online – Joseph M. Cachia –
… facilitating the release of American John William Yettaw, but at the same time urged Burma’s ruling junta to release Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. …
Treasure house of memories
Deccan Herald – Jackie Pinto –
Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson, his sister Thelma and his brother Ivor were born in Burma (Myanmar). They were evacuated to India during the Japanese …
20% growth in non-oil exports to ASEAN
Tehran Times –
… Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
Conflict flare up in Triangle
The Nation – Don Pathan –
Bluffing between the military government and one of the cease-fire groups – the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), also known as the Chinese …
In Defense of Ban Ki-moon
Korea Times – Tom Plate –
For the first time since the Vietnam War days of U Thant, then from Burma, the organization has an Asian as secretary-general. He is Ban Ki-moon, …
Autumn exhibits bring the bling
The San Francisco Examiner – Janos Gereben –
“Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma, 1775-1950” features more than 100 works from Thailand (Siam) and Myanmar (Burma), mostly from the Doris Duke …
Save Burma 