Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi has done the right thing in overriding objections from his own party to the ban on donations to individual politicians from firms and other interest groups. His decision, first unveiled in a meeting with opposition party heads Wednesday, paves the way for the enactment of a revision to the Political Funds Control Law during the current Diet session in time for enforcement on Jan. 1.
This development should be welcome, but it does not warrant any complacency. Politicians want to create loopholes in laws when their own personal interests are at stake, and we must make sure that they don't do so this time; otherwise, "money politics" will continue to dominate the nation's political system.
The proposed amendment to the relevant law will not entirely stop the flow of corporate or organized money to individual politicians. Take the Liberal Democratic Party. LDP politicians have at least three legal channels available for the collection of money. The most prominent -- the one that will be affected by the ban -- is the fund-management group controlled by individual politicians. The other two are "koenkai" support groups and local party chapters.