As the Lower House is set to approve a bill to amend the Political Fund Control Law, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is likely to deliver on his promise to enact the legislation during the current regular Diet session.

But what counts is the substance when it comes to whether the revision can restore the public's trust in politics.

Pushing through this half-baked, half-hearted political funding reform, which is full of measures of questionable efficacy and elements with uncertain outcomes, with so many details and specifics left for future review, under a schedule-driven, deadline-focused approach will likely not reduce public cynicism about politics.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's proposal to rewrite the law governing political funding, which has been revised by incorporating the demands of Komeito, the LDP’s junior coalition partner, and the conservative opposition Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), was approved by a majority of these three parties in the Lower House special committee on political reform.

It is expected to be passed in a Lower House plenary session on June 6 and then sent to the Upper House.

Last-minute political wrangling flared up, however, between the LDP and Nippon Ishin over the agreed bill changes concerning the disclosure of “seisaku katsudo-hi” (policy activity expenses), a loophole that allows political parties to provide funds directly to individual politicians with no legal requirement to disclose how they are used.

Kishida and Ishin head Nobuyuki Baba agreed during their recent meeting on the disclosure rules, but the opposition group reacted angrily to the LDP’s revised bill, which limited the disclosure requirement to expenditures over 500,000 yen ($3,200) per year.

The ruling party was forced to change the provision to eliminate this limitation, resulting in the postponement of the previously set voting schedule. The LDP paid a price for its decision to leave the details to later discussions and decisions.

Moreover, the required disclosure will only come 10 years later. No satisfactory explanation has been provided for the delay in disclosure.

The parties have also agreed to cap the expenses, but the amount has yet to be determined. There is also talk of partially blacking out the receipts when disclosed, but the extent of this measure is unclear.

No deadline has been set for the establishment of a third-party institution to check these expenditures and the details will be worked out later. These uncertainties raise serious doubt about whether these measures will really be effective, or even be actually implemented.

While incorporating various demands from other parties into the supplementary provisions for later consideration, the LDP has flatly rejected the joint demand from opposition parties, including Ishin, to ban donations by companies and other organizations.

Even if it is not realistic to ban all such contributions immediately, the LDP’s refusal to engage in constructive talks about enhancing the regulations or transparency will not help allay the public's concerns about the risk of policies being distorted by big-money politics.

The LDP has suffered a series of damaging election losses. In April, it failed to win any of the three Lower House by-elections. Since then, the candidates the party officially endorsed or supported have been defeated in various local elections.

While regional circumstances in these electoral districts vary, the defeats are probably not unrelated to the public disappointment at the Kishida administration's handling of the slush fund scandal and its approach to political funding reform.

In the Lower House special committee, the questioning time allocated to each party was fragmented and it is difficult to believe that the committee was able to adequately scrutinize the revised proposal.

Answering questions about the bill at the committee for the first time on June 5, Kishida spoke of his "strong determination to enhance trust in the political funding system and strengthen the foundation of democracy."

If he truly meant business, he should not hesitate to ensure sufficient time for Upper House deliberations on this vital legislation and show a willingness to make further amendments to convince the public that the reform will work.

Another key issue that will test Kishida’s commitment to political funding reform is ensuring effective disclosure of how Diet members spend their fixed monthly allowances intended to cover research, travel and communications expenses, paid to them in addition to their monthly salaries.

These allowances were formerly known as allowances for “documents, communications, travel and accommodations,” or “buntsu-hi” for short.

The parties have finally agreed to start discussions in the Rules and Administrations Committees of both chambers on the matter. Kishida’s performance concerning political funding reform will also be measured by whether he can meet the challenge during the current Diet session.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 6