The ruling parties early Saturday morning rammed much-maligned pension bills through the House of Councilors. However, their resorting to physical violence at a committee session and a tricky procedure at a plenary session badly tarnished the House of Councilors as the "chamber of common sense." The showdown was a sad reminder of the lack of political consensus over pension reform, the most important issue in the current Diet session.
With the 150-day session ending in mid-June, the ruling parties were in a hurry to clear the legislative backlog. An extension is impossible because an Upper House election is scheduled for July. The ruling coalition had another reason to rush action: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will be absent from the Diet for a few days to attend the G8 summit of major industrialized nations, which opens in the United States today.
The opposition parties, which were staunchly opposed to the reform bills, also had reasons for employing heavy-handed tactics. The package, which is designed to raise pension premiums without resolving systemic problems, is deeply flawed. It will likely provide them with ammunition to attack the ruling parties in the Upper House election, which is seen widely as a prelude to the next general election. It is a disservice to the public, though, that bread-and-butter issues like pension reform have been and will continue to be used as tools of partisan politics.