ニュース 2009/03/19 Political Reform Promotion HQ discusses politics and money, amendment of political fund law On March 19, a meeting of the executive of the DPJ Political Reform Promotion Headquarters took place at party headquarters, in the wake of statements by President Ichiro Ozawa that all donations by corporations and other organisations should be banned, and a lively debate on the issue of politics and money was held. At the start of the meeting, the Chair of the HQ, DPJ Vice President Katsuya Okada said, “We will return to the starting point of the issue of politics and money and engage in thorough debate. That is the way for us to recover the trust of the Japanese people.” He stressed that he wanted to debate a whole variety of issues, such as donations from companies engaged in public works projects, donations from corporations and other organisations, purchases of party tickets, and the limitations that should be placed upon the receipt of donations by the local branches of political parties, and to create effective measures. DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama also addressed the meeting, saying, “We must take the wishes of the people very seriously. The basis for our forming the DPJ, for our leaving the LDP, was our desire to create clean politics.” He went on to explain that when he had met with President Ozawa yesterday, Ozawa had said, “The people will not be persuaded unless we totally abolish donations from corporations and other organisations. We have to increase donations by individuals.” Hatoyama added, “There may be some difficult aspects to this, but let us engage in a debate that will convince the people.” In the meeting, Secretary General of the HQ Yoshihiko Noda presented a report on a survey regarding hereditary politicians, and that was following by free discussion. During the free discussion a variety of opinions were expressed, for example that political activities should be unrestricted as a matter of principle, that political activities are not carried out by politicians alone, that banning donations from corporations and other organisations is necessary, and that an interim period is necessary, but following that corporate donations should be totally banned.