The Liberal Democratic Party, which has led constitutional discussions, has arranged a new setup for amendment to the Constitution. To break a stalemate in Diet deliberations on the Constitution, the LDP must try to cooperate with as many other parties as possible.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to appoint Hakubun Shimomura, a former education minister and one of his close aides, as head of the Liberal Democratic Constitutional Reform Promotion Headquarters. With an eye on the necessary intraparty procedures for constitutional revision, Abe has installed Katsunobu Kato, whom Abe highly values, as chairman of the General Council, the LDP's highest decision-making body.
In the recent LDP presidential election, Abe insisted on giving priority to revising Article 9 of the Constitution to stipulate the existence of the Self-Defense Forces. It is significant that this stipulation would put an end to arguments for the unconstitutionality of the SDF, which maintains the peace and security of Japan.
Former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba, who took exception to Abe's proposal for the revision of Article 9, was defeated in the presidential poll. However, it is necessary to promote intraparty reconciliation so as to prevent antagonism from lingering.
The LDP plans to present a constitutional revision proposal to the Diet during an extraordinary Diet session that will be convened shortly. The ruling party said it wants the Commission on the Constitution in each chamber of the Diet to discuss its proposal.
Abe shelved a prior consultation on the LDP's proposal with its coalition partner Komeito. This is because although it was desirable for the two ruling parties to reconcile their different points of view, Komeito had not changed its passive stance toward the consultation.
Deliberations on constitutional revision will fall through without the cooperation of Komeito.
Win public understanding
Komeito's basic stance is to leave the text of each article in the Constitution unchanged and only add to them if considered necessary. Abe's proposal for revising Article 9 is aimed at adding a provision that would provide legal grounds for the SDF, which is similar to Komeito's position. The LDP should seek Komeito's understanding of its proposal by providing detailed explanations.
Since this spring, opposition parties had avoided holding substantial discussions at the parliamentary commissions on the Constitution, instead using the matter to their own partisan advantage.
The ruling parties want to enter into deliberations on constitutional revision at the commissions by using a proposal on revising the National Referendum Law, including the installation of community voting stations, as a priming pump.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties have shown reluctance to deliberate on the ruling camp's proposal, arguing for the need to strengthen limits on TV commercials related to national referendums. They seem to aim to postpone discussions on constitutional revision.
It is the duty of the Diet to sincerely deliberate on how the Constitution should be. The opposition parties' response, which is causing dysfunction in the commissions, is open to question.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, has taken a stance that his party will positively hold discussions on such issues as local autonomy. They should proceed with intraparty discussions to put together concrete views on revision.
The Diet has held repeated deliberations since 2000 on the revision of Article 9 and security measures to be taken in case of emergencies, so all parties share an awareness of the issues. Given this, now is the time to deepen debate on constitutional revision.
Pushing forward Diet debate requires the understanding of the people. The LDP is called on to ramp up its public relations activities and emphasize the significance of constitutional revision in a comprehensible manner.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 12, 2018)
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
