On June 15, DP President Renho released the following statement.
Today, the conspiracy bill was passed by the Diet, using what can only be described as a surprise attack of cutting short the discussion of the legislation in the committee by means of having an interim report made to the plenary Diet session. This reckless violent Diet affairs by the ruling parties shows a disregard for democracy and has enabled legislation to pass the Diet that is brutal for citizens and could well lead to a society to be kept under the surveillance of all citizens. Our fury at this enactment is indescribable. The process that led to the passing of this bill has left an irretrievable taint on our nation’s constitutionalism and the passing of the legislation itself will leave our nation the source of future calamity. Prime Minister Abe and other members of the ruling party bear grave responsibility for this.
The Democratic Party is in favor of strengthening anti-terrorism measures, and we believe that Japan should become a party to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) as soon as possible. However, the conspiracy legislation is not an anti-terrorism measure and the TOC Convention can be concluded without passing the conspiracy legislation. If the government was to seriously engage in anti-terrorism measures, they should have embarked on strengthening the measures to be taken in international waters, as proposed in the aviation security bill submitted by the DP. However, the ruling parties have decided to prioritize the surveillance of citizens over effective anti-terrorism measures.
Prime Minister Abe has repeatedly stated that his government has engaged in “clear explanation” of the conspiracy legislation. In actual fact, however, the Prime Minister has engaged in repeated image manipulations, and the Minister of Justice has shown lack of any ability to explain matters. Add to this the administration’s struggles over the Kake Gakuen issue and this has resulted in 80% of the public saying that the government’s explanations are insufficient. Yet despite this, the government has ignored their opinion and took the reckless action over normal procedures. Prime Minister Abe has no comprehension of the meaning of “clear” and as such he has no right to serve as leader of this nation.
Prime Minister Abe has threatened the basic rights of the Japanese people; limiting their right to know by passing the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets, and stomped all over constitutionalism by passing new national security legislation, and now with the conspiracy legislation infringing freedom of thought and conscience. He has made it clear that the next target in his sights is Article 9 of the Constitution. In order to prevent any further destruction to the national lifestyle, the DP will make every effort to obtain the understanding of the Japanese people and defeat the Abe administration.