Wartime laws can control mass media and cellular phones

The contingency legislation which the government will submit to parliament will give the prime minister the supreme power to control vital public facilities and force the general public into cooperating with the government in wars.

The government on April 11 added a clause "public cooperation" to the outline of a bill "on response to contingencies," one of three contingency bills, stating that the public will be asked to cooperate with public facilities under the government command.

In addition to the punitive measures against disobedience to government orders for preserving materials, the new item will strengthen government control on the people, said Akahata on April 12. It will allow the government to label those who won't cooperate with the legislation as "criminals."

Also, the government is considering the application of the Basic Law on Disaster Prevention Measures in order to increase the coverage of "designated public facilities" in emergencies, of which the prime minister, in their place, commands and/or gives out orders.

The disaster prevention law assigns sixty organizations as 'designated public facilities,' including the Japan Red Cross, Japan Highway Public Corporation, New Tokyo International Airport Authority (NAA), Nippon Express Co. Ltd., and electric power-, gas-, and nuclear power plant-related corporations.

If this really happens, the government will be entitled to mobilize them as "cooperative organizations" under a government decision on basic contingency measures.

Also, workers of these organizations will be dragged into war cooperation in the form of "company instructions." For example, Japan Red Cross nurses will be forced to go to battlefields. Drivers of Nippon Express will be mobilized for military transportation. NTT Corp. and its cellular phone division will be asked to give the military top priority, Akahata reported.

If private broadcast media organizations are designated to this category in addition to NHK, Japan's mass media will only be allowed to put out government statements, concealing real aspects of contingencies, and making the mass media totally unable to report the truth, Akahata warned. (end)