June 23, 2015
With the aim of enacting the controversial security legislation, the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties on June 22 used their majority in the House of Representatives to extend the current Diet session until September 27. The session was scheduled to end on June 24.
The 95-day extension is the longest in Japan’s post-war parliamentary history. At a Lower House plenary session, the Japanese Communist and Japan Innovation parties voted against the extension. The Democratic, People’s Life, and Social Democratic parties boycotted the session.
At the end of April, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo gave a speech in the U.S. Congress. He stated that he will enact the war legislation by this summer to enable Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to take part in U.S.-led war, greeted by wild applause. To fulfill this pledge, the governing parties decided to prolong the parliamentary session.
In the Lower House special committee debating the war legislation, ministers’ replies and explanations regarding the bills were often confused. Since the administration put forward the measures on May 16, Diet deliberations have been suspended nearly 50 times.
At a Diet hearing on June 4, all three constitutional experts who were called to testify, including a scholar endorsed by the LDP, denounced the security legislation as unconstitutional.
At the special committee’s hearing on June 22, former Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau Miyazaki Reiichi pointed out that allowing the country to exercise the right to collective self-defense violates the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution. “The government should retract the bills immediately,” he said.
In an attempt to refute the argument condemning the legislation as unconstitutional, Defense Minister Nakatani Gen said that the government had drafted the bills considering “how to adjust the present Constitution to fit in with this legislation”. This remark sparked public criticism and the minister was driven to retract his statement.
PM Abe insists that sticking to the past governments’ view regarding the use of the collective self-defense right as unconstitutional would amount to neglecting his duty as head of state. However, the prime minister neglects his duty to explain to the public why it is necessary to reinterpret the pacifist Constitution.
The latest opinion poll conducted by Kyodo News shows that 63.1% of respondents oppose enactment of the war-related bills during the current Diet session and 84% are dissatisfied with the government’s accounts of the legislation.
In accordance with the mounting public opposition, the Abe administration should withdraw the bills.
Past related articles:
> Constitution needs to adapt itself to war-related bills: DefMin Nakatani [ June 8, 2015]
> All constitutional scholars in parliamentary hearing criticize war legislation as unconstitutional [ June 7, 2015]
The 95-day extension is the longest in Japan’s post-war parliamentary history. At a Lower House plenary session, the Japanese Communist and Japan Innovation parties voted against the extension. The Democratic, People’s Life, and Social Democratic parties boycotted the session.
At the end of April, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo gave a speech in the U.S. Congress. He stated that he will enact the war legislation by this summer to enable Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to take part in U.S.-led war, greeted by wild applause. To fulfill this pledge, the governing parties decided to prolong the parliamentary session.
In the Lower House special committee debating the war legislation, ministers’ replies and explanations regarding the bills were often confused. Since the administration put forward the measures on May 16, Diet deliberations have been suspended nearly 50 times.
At a Diet hearing on June 4, all three constitutional experts who were called to testify, including a scholar endorsed by the LDP, denounced the security legislation as unconstitutional.
At the special committee’s hearing on June 22, former Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau Miyazaki Reiichi pointed out that allowing the country to exercise the right to collective self-defense violates the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution. “The government should retract the bills immediately,” he said.
In an attempt to refute the argument condemning the legislation as unconstitutional, Defense Minister Nakatani Gen said that the government had drafted the bills considering “how to adjust the present Constitution to fit in with this legislation”. This remark sparked public criticism and the minister was driven to retract his statement.
PM Abe insists that sticking to the past governments’ view regarding the use of the collective self-defense right as unconstitutional would amount to neglecting his duty as head of state. However, the prime minister neglects his duty to explain to the public why it is necessary to reinterpret the pacifist Constitution.
The latest opinion poll conducted by Kyodo News shows that 63.1% of respondents oppose enactment of the war-related bills during the current Diet session and 84% are dissatisfied with the government’s accounts of the legislation.
In accordance with the mounting public opposition, the Abe administration should withdraw the bills.
Past related articles:
> Constitution needs to adapt itself to war-related bills: DefMin Nakatani [ June 8, 2015]
> All constitutional scholars in parliamentary hearing criticize war legislation as unconstitutional [ June 7, 2015]
