Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto won the ruling alliance's support late Friday for a compromise administrative reform proposal to hand over the three controversial services of the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry to a new public corporation in five years.
The proposal would allow postal workers who are transferred to the new entity to retain the status of public servant. The agreement means that Hashimoto has at last mapped out a rough blueprint for a new government to be introduced in January 2001.
Under the plan, the current 22 government ministries and agencies will be integrated into one office and 12 ministries, as the prime minister has insisted. However, it remains to be seen whether the plan will lead to a slimmer, more efficient and transparent government in the 21st century as Hashimoto has repeatedly promised.