Bureaucrats' final meeting?

Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009
Kyodo News

Bittersweet gathering as DPJ prepares to pull plug on traditional power base

The nation's top bureaucrats on Monday held their last meeting under the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso to set the agenda for the following day's Cabinet meeting.

It was possibly the final such ritual because the Democratic Party of Japan, which will take the reins of government Wednesday, has vowed to shift power from bureaucrats to politicians.

The meetings of administrative vice ministers, held in the prime minister's office Mondays and Thursdays — the days before Cabinet meetings — are believed to date back to the establishment of the Cabinet structure during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) and have long been a symbol of bureaucratic control over the decision-making process.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Iwao Uruma, who has been chairing the meetings and is resigning from his post Wednesday, urged his fellow vice ministers to speak their minds when necessary regardless of whether the meetings are abolished.

"Even if the meetings are done away with, it is important for the members of the meetings to boost their horizontal cooperation and speak to Cabinet ministers if something is likely to be done to the detriment of the nation and the people," he said during Monday's meeting.

The DPJ, which advocates abolishing the meetings to give elected officials greater power in making decisions, will be launching a new Cabinet after Yukio Hatoyama is voted in as prime minister.

While a Cabinet meeting is the government's highest decision-making body, attended by every minister, what is discussed has been decided in advance by the administrative vice ministers, or the highest-ranking bureaucrats, in their twice-weekly meeting. There is, however, no legal basis for the vice ministers to hold their meeting.

The DPJ also aims to abolish the regular news conferences the vice ministers have held after their meetings, on the grounds "there will be no administrative vice ministers' meetings anymore," as DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada put it last week.

Brushing aside concerns this will limit public access to information, Okada said, "It won't infringe upon the public's right to know."

Uruma said the current format has served for generations by enabling bureaucrats to coordinate policies before Cabinet members gathered to make decisions.

But now that the venue is expected to be abolished, "I hope both (bureaucrats and politicians) will bring their wisdom together as they go about building a system in which Cabinet meetings will run smoothly in unanimity," he said at a news conference.

Several administrative vice ministers said at their news conferences after Monday's meeting they also open to the new administration's policy.

"I don't think (the meetings) are the one and only measure to ensure the unity of the Cabinet," said vice farm minister Michio Ide.