"Hello, this is Shinzo Abe" -- Message from the Prime Minister
(Provisional Translation)

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Japanese

Time to Reform the Civil Service

Hello, this is Shinzo Abe.

As the head of the Government, I shoulder the greatest responsibility for the series of problems surrounding the nation's pension records. My Cabinet will not fail to resolve these problems.

A third-party committee to check pension records will move into action on June 25. The Government will ensure that all pensions are paid in full, including to those without receipts or other documentation to verify their payments, as long as the committee confirms that they deserve payment. The committee will take the position of the general public and work together with the people.

Another committee has started its investigation into the locus of responsibility for the current situation. I will continue to work steadily to carry out, one by one, all the actions that need to be taken to resolve the problems.

We are now in the final stages of the current Diet session.

As the end of the session presses ever closer, there still remain a number of very important bills that must be passed at all cost, among them bills relating to the pension system.

Reform of the civil servant system is another issue that can by no means be delayed.

Our nation's civil servants made huge contributions to Japan's postwar development. However, just as the times have changed, so too has the Japanese people's perception of civil servants.

Amid the economic hardships that followed the collapse of the bubble economy and increasingly fierce international competition, the private sector has made every effort to survive, through bold restructuring and a shift from the seniority-based system of promotion to a meritocratic one. In stark contrast, the civil service has retained an outmoded personnel system in which everyone is assured promotion after a certain amount of time, regardless of how well they carry out their duties.

There can be no escaping the fact that the people's trust in civil servants has been seriously eroded by the frequent occurrence of collusive bidding involving public offices. At a time when we need to be thinking of how to build Japan within a global framework, this influence-peddling for petty profits continues unabated. How long will such practices continue? We must thoroughly eradicate the habits that fostered them.

There are of course a great many earnest and diligent civil servants who excel in their jobs. My intention is to enable such ambitious individuals to give full play to their abilities. It was with this goal in mind that I submitted bills for reforming the civil servant system to the current Diet session.

Currently, some government officials, taking advantage of their status, obtain cushy posts in private firms and organizations after retirement from public office. Once the proposed bills are enacted, however, this murky practice of intermediation by government entities will disappear, as the legislation will totally eliminate the influence wielded by those with authority and budgets over personnel affairs. We will strictly regulate the peddling of influence by these "old boys," and see to it that improper acts are suitably punished.

To ensure transparency in the reemployment of civil servants, I will ensure that the process is carried out through a single entity, a public-private sector human resources exchange center that is independent of government ministries and agencies. It is just such a transparent system that is needed in order to encourage restructuring of the civil service.

Some people think that it would be better to allow civil servants to retain their positions until they reach retirement age, rather than making them seek reemployment in the private sector. I see no merit in this idea.

The voice of the people is clear: "Reform the administration and create a lean government."

Even civil servants -- or rather, civil servants in particular, given the public nature of their positions -- cannot be excepted from the practice of restructuring. It is a mistaken priority to allow the number of civil servants to rise and the civil service to become bloated. Those who lack the required competencies to carry out their duties must be let go.

The idea behind the Government's bills is to promote restructuring in the public sector, while at the same time rooting out the problem of retired civil servants landing executive positions in the private sector.

There is no excuse for putting off this issue any longer.

The bottom line is, we either take action or we don't. Nothing will change unless we take that first step forward.

I am fully determined to carry through with this reform during the current session of the Diet.

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