November 14, 2009
Recent developments have revealed the true intention of Democratic Party Secretary General Ozawa Ichiro in advocating “Diet reform.”
He initially called for a ban on the bureaucracy to respond to lawmakers’ questions in Diet sessions on the pretext of the need to have politicians take the initiative. However, it is now clear that he wants to exclude the Cabinet Legislation Bureau director-general from Diet sessions.
The Legislation Bureau director-general has been responsible for providing constitutional interpretation of various issues on behalf of the Cabinet.
Since he was a Liberal Democratic Party member, Ozawa has been a staunch advocate of barring the Cabinet Legislation Bureau director-general from speaking in the Diet, apparently aiming to get constitutional interpretations changed.
The DPJ at its panel for the promotion of political reform on November 12 approved a plan that includes taking the Cabinet Legislation Bureau director-general from the position as a special government assistant.
The Cabinet Legislation Bureau has made arbitrary interpretations of the Constitution, insisting that the SDF are constitutional, but it has been unable to support flagrant violations of the Constitution.
In 1990, when he was the Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General, Ozawa advocated that Japan should send the Self-Defense Forces abroad during the Gulf War. His assertion, however, failed to drum up support partly because of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau director-general’s statement in the Diet refusing to change the constitutional interpretation that the SDF cannot be sent abroad.
Ozawa calls for banning “special assistants” from responding to questions in the Diet, even while the heads of the National Personnel Authority and the Fair Trade Commission are allowed to do so.
Presently, members of the bureaucracy, only with the bureau head and some other “special assistants” excluded, are not allowed to respond to questions in the Diet unless they are recognized as government witnesses by the House of Representatives Speaker and the House of Councilors President.
If Dietmembers are not allowed to ask questions of the bureaucracy, it will create a major obstacle for the Diet, the supreme state organ, in supervising and observing state administration.
Besides Ozawa, the Democratic Party as a whole has often made constitutional interpretation allowing an overseas dispatch of the SDF if the international operation is approved by the United Nations. Also, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirano Hirofumi has argued that the Hatoyama Cabinet should not necessarily be bound by the bureau’s past statements in the Diet.
Now that the DPJ is poised to enact a new Diet reform law in the current Diet session, it is essential to rally public support to halt this attempt so that the Diet will continue to work as the supreme state organ and the attempt at constitutional revision will fail.
- Akahata, November 14, 2009
The Legislation Bureau director-general has been responsible for providing constitutional interpretation of various issues on behalf of the Cabinet.
Since he was a Liberal Democratic Party member, Ozawa has been a staunch advocate of barring the Cabinet Legislation Bureau director-general from speaking in the Diet, apparently aiming to get constitutional interpretations changed.
The DPJ at its panel for the promotion of political reform on November 12 approved a plan that includes taking the Cabinet Legislation Bureau director-general from the position as a special government assistant.
The Cabinet Legislation Bureau has made arbitrary interpretations of the Constitution, insisting that the SDF are constitutional, but it has been unable to support flagrant violations of the Constitution.
In 1990, when he was the Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General, Ozawa advocated that Japan should send the Self-Defense Forces abroad during the Gulf War. His assertion, however, failed to drum up support partly because of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau director-general’s statement in the Diet refusing to change the constitutional interpretation that the SDF cannot be sent abroad.
Ozawa calls for banning “special assistants” from responding to questions in the Diet, even while the heads of the National Personnel Authority and the Fair Trade Commission are allowed to do so.
Presently, members of the bureaucracy, only with the bureau head and some other “special assistants” excluded, are not allowed to respond to questions in the Diet unless they are recognized as government witnesses by the House of Representatives Speaker and the House of Councilors President.
If Dietmembers are not allowed to ask questions of the bureaucracy, it will create a major obstacle for the Diet, the supreme state organ, in supervising and observing state administration.
Besides Ozawa, the Democratic Party as a whole has often made constitutional interpretation allowing an overseas dispatch of the SDF if the international operation is approved by the United Nations. Also, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirano Hirofumi has argued that the Hatoyama Cabinet should not necessarily be bound by the bureau’s past statements in the Diet.
Now that the DPJ is poised to enact a new Diet reform law in the current Diet session, it is essential to rally public support to halt this attempt so that the Diet will continue to work as the supreme state organ and the attempt at constitutional revision will fail.
- Akahata, November 14, 2009
