The following is from Yoshiko Sakurai's serial column, which will be the last issue of Weekly Shincho, released today.
This article also proves that she is a national treasure, the supreme national treasure, as defined by Saicho.
It is a must-read not only for Japanese people but for people worldwide.
Prime Minister Ishiba's grudge, the complete destruction of the Abe faction
When I saw Shigeru Ishiba's cabinet lineup, I intuitively felt that its essence was "anti-Abe" and aimed at completely destroying the Abe faction, and I stated this on "Prime News."
My conviction deepened when I saw the new punishment standards Ishiba announced on October 6th for politicians who do not report their political funds.
The new standards are the following three points.
1. Those who have received party punishments that are heavier than "not being endorsed in an election" will not be endorsed,
2. Those who are still serving suspensions from their posts will not be endorsed, except for those who have fulfilled their accountability at the Political Ethics Review Board,
3. Those who have been punished but have not been sufficiently accountable will also not be endorsed.
It was also decided that even if unreported politicians are endorsed, they will not be allowed to have multiple proportional representation seats.
Combining the above three points and this one will indeed weaken the Abe faction.
Ishiba says, "I will create an ethical sense in the LDP that follows the rules."
These are words we want to avoid hearing from Ishiba.
No other politician has changed the rules as much as he has during the presidential election and in the short space of one week since he became prime minister.
Anything indeed goes in politics, and changes to rules and policies are not uncommon.
However, what is distinctive about Ishiba's rule changes is that they have no public interest.
Ishiba's change of rules seems driven by personal interests.
He panders to public opinion and wants to be praised by the Asahi Shimbun and other newspapers to save himself.
A typical example is the measures taken to deal with the non-listed lawmakers mentioned above.
One of the first things Ishiba said in the presidential election was that he would personally hear the circumstances of each non-listed lawmaker and decide whether or not to endorse them.
However, he retracted the above statement overnight, changing it to, "The new administration will decide what to do."
Undoubtedly, the anger of Takeda Ryota, a key figure in the Nikai faction, was behind this.
Takeda has been suspended from his position for one year due to the non-disclosure issue.
Still, from the beginning of the presidential election, he supported Koizumi Shinjiro and Ishiba along with former Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide.
When Ishiba could not gather 20 endorsers, it is said that he sent four to six endorsers to Ishiba.
Ishiba was finally able to run in the presidential election.
However, asking each person to explain their situation and making comments about the endorsement issue would have put him at odds with Takeda.
Facing Takeda's anger, Ishiba probably had no choice but to back off his comments.
Targeting Hagiuda
After dramatically defeating Takaichi Sanae in the runoff election, Ishiba, before he was officially elected prime minister, dissolved the Diet on October 9th and called a general election on the 27th.
Who was it that so nobly stated that he wanted to hold a Budget Committee meeting, answer questions from the opposition parties, fully explain his thoughts, and then invite the public to make their judgment?
As Ishiba continues to reverse his stance on many policies, including this one, the Asahi Shimbun and others have begun to pursue the issue of official endorsement.
Concerns about a "public backlash" have arisen within the LDP, and Ishiba has changed his tune again.
The point ② is noteworthy about Ishiba's new official or non-official endorsement criteria.
When the criterion for drawing the line is whether an explanation has been given at the Political Ethics Committee if the punishment is still ongoing, two big-name politicians immediately spring to mind:
Takeda and Hagiuda Koichi.
Ishiba cannot stand up to Takeda for the reasons mentioned above.
However, considering the criticism from the Asahi Shimbun and others, something must be done.
So the target was narrowed down to Hagiuda, a key figure in the Abe faction.
The only difference between Takeda and Hagiuda, who have been suspended from office for one year, is whether they explained it at the Political Ethics Committee.
Takeda attended the Ethics Committee as Secretary-General of the Nikai faction, while Hagiuda did not.
Ishiba must have noticed this.
Those at the core of the LDP - Secretary-General Moriyama Hiroshi, Vice-President Suga, Koizumi, and Ishiba himself - must be well aware of why Hagiuda did not attend the Ethics Committee.
If they knew, they would not have been able to blame Hagiuda.
And yet they punished him this time by not officially endorsing him.
It is the ultimate violation of the rules.
As the reports at the time clearly show, Hagiuda had left it up to the party to decide whether or not to attend the Ethics Committee.
We asked Hagiuda to talk about the situation at the time.
"The Diet's Ethics Committee is a forum for politicians under suspicion to prove their innocence. All Diet members have the right to attend and explain, but it is not an obligation. Personally, I thought it was okay to appear before the Ethics Committee or not. Looking back at my press conference, you will understand this very well. I have repeatedly said that I would follow the party's decision. I left it up to the party to decide whether to attend, and I intended to attend if I was told to. However, the party announced its decision to limit attendance to former secretaries-general of each faction, so I decided not to attend."
What are the party's rules?
General Affairs Chairman Moriyama and National Affairs Committee Chairman Hamada Yasukazu were the party executives who decided that Hagiuda would not attend the Ethics Committee.
Hagiuda continued.
"I was a minister and police chief in the Abe Cabinet for five years when the political funds issue was an issue, so I am not involved in faction affairs. There are many things I need help understanding, even when I'm asked. So I just followed the party's decision."
It's different from Hagiuda, who has been avoiding explaining the political funds issue.
He has given detailed explanations at press conferences, his blog, online television, and numerous local rallies.
On the evening of January 22nd this year, he held a press conference without time restrictions.
In the press conference, which continued until reporters' questions were exhausted, he announced the total amount of refunds for the past five years and from his first election to the present.
Over 20 years, that's 28.06 million yen.
As he gained experience, the faction's quotas increased little by little.
Hagiuda's office worked hard to sell party tickets to compensate for that.
However, due to the impact of the coronavirus, the quota amount was suddenly lowered, and the refunds increased.
However, he was told that there was a possibility that the political funds to be paid to the faction would be increased, so the administrative staff kept the refunds without using them in case of an emergency.
At a press conference on January 22nd, Hagiuda stated that he had 18,979,094 yen left, and on March 29th, he donated the entire amount back to the Seiwa Kai.
After Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was assassinated, Mori Yoshiro named the "Five Men," including Hagiuda, as the force leading the Seiwa Kai.
The other four were Takagi Takeshi, Nishimura Yasutoshi, Matsuno Hirokazu, and Seko Hiroshige.
Hagiuda is the only one who was not involved in faction affairs.
As is well known, when Abe realized that the handling of funds was illegal, he summoned Nishimura, Seko, and others multiple times to try to stop them.
Hagiuda was never called.
I want to confirm this again.
It was the LDP that decided that he did not need to attend the Ethics Committee.
What are the party rules if he is now being unrecognized because he has yet to appear before the Ethics Committee?
Why are the party rules different now than they were then?
It is also clear that Ishiba feared Takeda and targeted Hagiuda after securing a way to save Takeda.
Ishiba has no right to talk about "rules and fairness."
In the end, all that is visible is Ishiba's deep resentment, wanting to destroy all of Abe's legacy, including human resources.
2024/10/1 in Umeda
