May 29, 2014
Countering an advisory panel to Prime Minister Abe which proposed to reinterpret the Constitution in order to lift the ban on the right to collective self-defense, twelve legal experts on May 28 set up another panel on the legislation pertaining to national security.
The experts in the fields of law, constitutional law, and diplomacy share a grave concern that Abe’s move to change the constitutional interpretation will undermine constitutionalism. They decided to cooperate by ignoring their differences in political views in order to raise the public awareness of this issue.
On the same day, six of the twelve founders of the expert panel held a press conference in the Diet building. They are former Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau Sakata Masahiro, ex-head of the Foreign Ministry’s Intelligence and Analysis Bureau Magosaki Ukeru, Keio University Professor Emeritus Kobayashi Setsu, and lawyer Ito Makoto.
Sakata pointed out that while each member has their own opinion about the pros and cons of the right to collective self-defense, they all oppose legalizing the controversial right by changing the constitutional interpretation. If the ban on exercising the collective self-defense right needs to be lifted, it will be required to hold nation-wide discussions and then take the legal steps to change the Constitution, he stressed.
Magosaki criticized as unrealistic Abe’s argument that the exercise of the right to collective self-defense is required to rescue Japanese nationals in danger abroad. “Permitting the use of the right to collective self-defense will contribute to putting overseas Japanese in harm’s way,” the former diplomat stated.
“It’s a distorted situation in which the state authority seeks to change the Constitution which is supposed to restrict state power. It seems to me that the Constitution is in danger of being hijacked,” Kobayashi warned.
Ito said that they will hold an open discussion to provide an opportunity for the general public to express their opinions.
The experts in the fields of law, constitutional law, and diplomacy share a grave concern that Abe’s move to change the constitutional interpretation will undermine constitutionalism. They decided to cooperate by ignoring their differences in political views in order to raise the public awareness of this issue.
On the same day, six of the twelve founders of the expert panel held a press conference in the Diet building. They are former Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau Sakata Masahiro, ex-head of the Foreign Ministry’s Intelligence and Analysis Bureau Magosaki Ukeru, Keio University Professor Emeritus Kobayashi Setsu, and lawyer Ito Makoto.
Sakata pointed out that while each member has their own opinion about the pros and cons of the right to collective self-defense, they all oppose legalizing the controversial right by changing the constitutional interpretation. If the ban on exercising the collective self-defense right needs to be lifted, it will be required to hold nation-wide discussions and then take the legal steps to change the Constitution, he stressed.
Magosaki criticized as unrealistic Abe’s argument that the exercise of the right to collective self-defense is required to rescue Japanese nationals in danger abroad. “Permitting the use of the right to collective self-defense will contribute to putting overseas Japanese in harm’s way,” the former diplomat stated.
“It’s a distorted situation in which the state authority seeks to change the Constitution which is supposed to restrict state power. It seems to me that the Constitution is in danger of being hijacked,” Kobayashi warned.
Ito said that they will hold an open discussion to provide an opportunity for the general public to express their opinions.
