Japan's parliament passed a contentious pension reform bill on Saturday despite a struggle by the main opposition party to kill it, a play for support a month before elections in which pension policy will be a hot topic.
But the battle in parliament, which delayed voting for nearly a day by using several ruses, may have backfired by increasing voter distrust of politicians still further.
"It is unbearable that such an important thing be decided in this form," the daily Mainichi Shimbun said in an editorial before the bill passed, adding, "In this way, only distrust of politics is left."
The bill aims to hike premiums and cut benefits, and is disliked by a public angered by revelations that lawmakers on both sides failed to pay into the national pension scheme at a time when the government is urging ordinary citizens to do so.
Opposition lawmakers, led by the largest opposition Democratic Party, used the "ox walk" tactic, stepping slowly towards the dais where they cast their ballots, a traditional delaying move.
They also submitted several motions to relieve lawmakers of key positions, along with a non-binding censure motion against Health Minister Chikara Sakaguchi. All were voted down.
Occasional scuffles erupted, with lawmakers shoving at each other on the floor of parliament amid angry shouts.
In the end, the bill, which coalition leaders had hoped would be enacted on Friday by being passed by the Upper House, did not pass until Saturday morning, with the Democrats and another opposition party boycotting the vote.
It went through the Lower House last month.
"This is very unfortunate," Akira Imaizumi, a Democratic lawmaker in charge of Upper House policy, told reporters. "Why must everything be rushed through so fast?"
But Shinzo Abe, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, countered by telling reporters, "The opposition's old-fashioned tactics will not be tolerated by the people. We fulfilled our responsibilities."
A furore over the failure of top politicians to pay pension premiums has stoked voter distrust of the national pension system, now groaning under the burden of a rapidly ageing population. The coalition says the reform bill is needed to keep the system going.
The fuss toppled a powerful cabinet minister and the previous Democratic Party leader. Even Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi admitted he had not enrolled in the pension system for more than six years, before enrolment was compulsory for parliament members and students.
A growing number of self-employed individuals is declining to pay premiums, and salaried workers resent having to make mandatory payments, since they may never benefit from the system.
The Democrats had hoped their fight against the bill would bolster their political fortunes ahead of Upper House elections on July 11, but editorials lambasted their efforts as mere posturing to gain votes.
"This was nothing more than a performance before the election to show that they were different from the coalition," the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun daily said. "It was absurd to see grown men and women performing the ox-walk".
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