英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Nov. 19, 2009)
Hiring right bureaucrat for right job is no taboo
官僚ＯＢ人事官　適材の起用なら問題はない（11月19日付・読売社説）

If somebody is deemed the right person to serve in a certain government post, it is the responsibility of politicians, including the prime minister and Cabinet members, to appoint that person, regardless of whether he or she has served as a former bureaucrat or is from the private sector.
This principle needs to be established.
　官僚ＯＢでも民間人でも、「適材」として間違いない人物なら、首相や閣僚など政治家の責任で起用する。そんな原則を確立する必要がある。

Both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors have approved the government's appointment of Takeshi Erikawa, a former administrative vice health, labor and welfare minister, as one of the commissioners of the National Personnel Authority, an appointment that requires Diet approval.
　人事院の人事官に江利川毅・前厚生労働次官を起用する国会同意人事が、衆参両院で可決された。

One of the three commissioner posts at the authority has successively been held by former bureaucrats. It makes sense to have a person like Erikawa as a commissioner to handle the personnel affairs of national public servants, given that former bureaucrats are familiar with public services operations.
　人事官３人のうち１人は、官僚ＯＢが就任してきた。国家公務員の人事管理を扱う人事官に、江利川氏のように、公務の実情を知る官僚ＯＢを加えるのは、理にかなったことといえよう。

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Amakudari redefined

Referring to Erikawa's appointment, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said at the upper house Budget Committee: "We must carry out a reform of the civil servant system [that could be as drastic as] requiring discussions on whether the National Personnel Authority should continue to exist. A capable person should take up the post."
　鳩山首相は参院予算委員会で、江利川氏の起用について、「人事院の存廃の議論が必要なぐらいの公務員制度改革をしなくてはならない。実力がある人をつけなければならない」と説明した。

The government has effectively taken the stance that Erikawa's appointment does not constitute an instance of the so-called amakudari practice, in which retired bureaucrats take well-paid jobs at corporations in sectors they formerly oversaw. The government takes the view that appointing the right person for the right job, while considering such factors as the status of the post and the job's requirements--and as long as there is no mediation by government bodies in the appointment--does not constitute amakudari.
　政府は、今回の人事に関して、「府省庁による斡旋(あっせん)を受けずに、再就職先の地位や職務内容等に照らし、適材適所の再就職をすることは、天下りには該当しない」との見解を示している。

This could be interpreted to mean that appointments of former bureaucrats by politicians to posts the government considers important, such as to the personnel commissioner, do not constitute amakudari.
　今回のように政府が重要と考えるポストに、官僚ＯＢを政治任用することは「天下り」にあたらない、ということだろう。

The appointment of Jiro Saito, former administrative vice finance minister, as president of Japan Post, also should be seen as an example of this stance.
　先に日本郵政社長に斎藤次郎・元大蔵事務次官を起用したのも、その見解に沿った任用というべきである。

It would be difficult to carry out appropriate personnel changes if, as a mere formality, former bureaucrats were automatically disqualified. We hope the government's personnel decisions are made based on the principle of choosing the right person for the right job.
　形式的、機械的に官僚ＯＢを排除していたら、的確な人事の断行は困難になる。民間人を含め、政府の人事は「適材適所」を基本に進めてもらいたい。

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Both parties risk dishonor

When the Democratic Party of Japan led the opposition, it repeatedly made a political issue of government appointments that required the approval of both chambers of the Diet.
　民主党は野党時代、国会同意人事を政争の具にしてきた。

Last year, the party opposed the government's appointment of Toshiro Muto, a former administrative vice finance minister, as president of the Bank of Japan. This shook the then administration of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in a divided Diet, in which the lower house was controlled by the Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition and the upper house by the DPJ-led opposition.
　昨年は、衆参ねじれ国会の下、日銀総裁に武藤敏郎・元財務次官を充てる人事案を拒否して、福田政権を激しく揺さぶった。

The DPJ's Takeo Nishioka, who serves as the chairman of the upper house Rules and Administration Committee, has recently said, "The political situation took precedence over simply judging whether Mr. Muto was good or bad [for the job]."
"I still think it was nonsense that Mr. Muto was rejected," he added.
　民主党の西岡武夫参院議院運営委員長は今になって「純粋に武藤さんがいい、悪いという前に政治状況があった」とし「武藤さんがはねられたのは今でもおかしいと思っている」と語ったという。

These remarks are truly unwise.
　実に不見識な発言と言わなければならない。

However, the LDP's rejection of Erikawa's appointment also is dishonorable.
　自民党が今回、人事官人事に反対したのもいただけない。

Regarding the LDP's opposition, party President Sadakazu Tanigaki said: "[The DPJ] made an about-face by changing the interpretation of amakudari soon after it took power and urging support for [Erikawa's appointment.] There's no ground [for us] to approve it."
　自民党の谷垣総裁は、反対理由として「政権に就いた途端、掌(てのひら)を返すように天下りの定義を変え、賛成しろと言われても、賛成する根拠がない」と語った。

This apparently shows LDP defiance in the face of the DPJ's shifted stance. But if the LDP brushed off an appropriate examination of whether the person in question was the right person for the job, it goes against the claims made by the party while it was in power. It also indicates that the party might, in the end, be merely acting out of revenge.
　これは、民主党の方針変更に対する反発だろう。しかし「適材」かどうかの吟味を脇に置いてしまっては、与党の時の自らの主張を否定し、ただの“意趣返し”に終わってしまうのではないか。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 19, 2009)
（2009年11月19日01時15分 読売新聞）