Ruling coalition forcibly enacts MSDF dispatch law

   In the House of Representatives plenary session on January 11, the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties used their two-thirds majority to forcibly enact the anti-terrorism special measures bill that will allow the Maritime Self-Defense Force to resume refueling operations in the Indian Ocean.

   The bill was voted down by the House of Councilors in its plenary session earlier in the day. It was the first time in 57 years and only the second case under the Constitution that a bill which the House of Councilors rejected was passed a second time by the House of Representatives to become law.

   The Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers’ Group held its assembly on the same day, and Chair Shii Kazuo severely criticized the ruling parties for their outrageous act. “There is nothing that can justify this act,” he stressed and called for renewed efforts in the struggle against the ruling parties.

   After the ruling bloc proposed a motion to pass the bill a second time in the House of Representatives plenary session, JCP representative Kokuta Keiji took the rostrum to speak in opposition to the motion. He criticized the government and ruling coalition for pushing ahead with their scheme to resume the MSDF mission, closing their eyes to changes in the Afghan and international situations in defiance of public opinion.

   The ruling bloc was destroying parliamentary democracy by only relying on the power of numbers in total disregard of the outcome of deliberations in the House of Councilors, Kokuta stressed.

   Pointing out that the bill is to assist the U.S. in its war in violation of the Constitution, Kokuta stated that Japan must instead engage in diplomatic efforts to further promote the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan and urge the U.S. to end the war.

   In the House of Councilors plenary session, a bill requiring the enactment of a permanent law to send the SDF abroad, which the Democratic Party submitted as “counterproposals” to the government bill, passed by a margin of two votes. While the DPJ and the People’s New Party, which forms a joint parliamentary group with the DPJ, voted for the DPJ bill, the JCP and Social Democratic Party as well as the LDP and Komei Party voted against it.

   However, LDP representative Kosaka Kenji in the House of Representatives plenary session valued the DPJ bill and stated that the ruling bloc should enact a permanent law to send the SDF abroad in close consultation with the DPJ.
- Akahata, January 12, 2008