Ryutaro Nonomura was a member of the Hyogo prefectural assembly. He resigned after his suspicious use of an allowance for political activities had been exposed. This scandal is still fresh in our memory. What drew the public attention was not his wrongdoing but his funny attitude at a press conference he gave in July 2014 to offer his apology. He suddenly began weeping and shouting, saying, “The problem of elderly people is not limited to Hyogo but common to Japan, isn’t it?” He reiterated words that could hardly be taken as an apology or explanation. His press conference was broadcast live, providing families across the country with a laughingstock. His case was sent to the prosecutors on January 19 this year on suspicion of fraud,　and production and use of public documents with a counterfeited seal.

兵庫の野々村竜太郎県議会議員が、政務活動費をめぐり辞職に追いやられた事件は記憶に新しい。この事件が注目を集めたのは、事件そのものより、野々村議員が昨年７月に行った謝罪会見の様子が異様であったからだ。野々村議員は会見の途中、突然泣きわめきながら、「高齢者問題はわが県のみならず、日本人の問題やないですか」など、謝罪とも説明とも受け取ることのできない発言を繰り返した。この会見の模様はテレビで一般家庭にも流され、物笑いの種になった。彼は今年１月１９日、詐欺と虚偽有印公文書作成・同行使容疑で書類送検された。

  The allowance given to assembly members to fund their political activities is public money consisting of taxes paid by citizens. The question here is that Nonomura was not an exception at all. His colleague, Hideo Iwatani, was found to have used his allowance to pay for the light refreshments served at his supporters’ club and for the gasoline he had privately used. Shinobu Kamo, another Hyogo prefectural assembly member, allegedly used his official travel allowances to pay for 18 private trips with his wife both at home and abroad. There is the possibility that assembly members in other prefectures did or are doing similar things. So, improper use of allowances should be viewed as a problem for Japan as a whole.

政務活動費は税金で成り立っている公金である。問題にされているのは野々村議員だけではない。同じ兵庫県議会の岩谷秀雄議員は、本来は政務活動費を充てられない後援会活動用の茶菓子代や私用のガソリン代などに支出。同じく加茂忍議員は妻を同伴した旅行を国内外１８件の出張旅費などに充てていた。その他の地方議員も同じようなことを行っている可能性も考えられ、日本全体の問題だと考えるべきだろう。

  This cannot be simply considered as a matter of innate qualities of individual assembly members. Are not the voters of Hyogo prefecture responsible for having chosen such troublesome assembly members? Yukichi Fukazawa (1835-1901), the founder of Keio University, says in his book “An Encouragement of Learning”, “Ignorant people have a stern government.” His words are taken to mean that foolish people are deaf to persuasion so the government controls them by terror, which naturally leads to a strict government.

　議員の資質の問題と割り切れないものがある。このような困った議員を選んでしまった県民の側に責任はないのだろうか。福沢諭吉の「学問のすすめ」に、次のような言葉がある。「愚かな民の上には厳しい政府がある」。この言葉は、愚かな民衆を支配するには道理をもって教え諭すことが無理なので、威圧して脅して支配するしかなく、自然と厳しい政府ができてしまうという意味で用いられる。

People’s interest in politics seems to be thinning as indicated by the fact that the voter turnout in the general election last December fell to 52.66%, a postwar record low. A growing number of Japanese seem to think that they have nothing to do with politics and that politics is not worth while bothering about. That might be why they have those assembly members who spend their allowances for private purposes and cry loudly in public. Such scandal could have been prevented if more people had taken interest in participating in politics and kept watching their politicking.

今日の日本でも、昨年２０１４年の前回総選挙の投票率が戦後最低の５２・６６％だったことにも見られるように、政治への関心が薄れてきているようにみえる。政治への当事者意識がなくなり、政治を考えなくなった人が増加してきているからこそ、政務活動費を政治活動と関係のないことに使ったり、公衆の面前で感情をあらわにして号泣したりするような人物が出る結果になったのかもしれない。多くの人が政治へ参加する意欲を持っていたら、議員の政治活動に対して監視を強めることができ、事件を未然に防ぐことに繋がったのかもしれない。

  It looks almost sure that Japanese aged 18 or over will become eligible to vote in the next House of Councilors election in 2016. This means that young people get more right about politics. They need to keep up their interest in politics so as not to elect no-good councilors.

来年の参議院選挙では選挙権が１８歳以上の者に与えられる見通しとなっており、若者の権利がより大きくなる。その時に困った議員を選んでしまわないよう、日本の政治に関心を持ち続けることが必要だろう。

(Written by: Takahiro Kusunoki)