Controversial Secrecy Bill Passes Japan Lower House

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)--A controversial state secrets bill passed the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan's parliament, on Tuesday night, amid persistent concern that the public's right to know could be affected. The Lower House vote was delayed by hours due to fierce resistance from opposition parties, although the bill was endorsed in the morning by the Lower House Special Committee on National Security. The bill was supported by opposition Your Party, except for three dissidents, as well as the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. "It is too early to vote on the bill after only some 10 days of deliberations," Akihisa Nagashima from the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan argued prior to the vote in a Lower House plenary meeting. "The bill is indispensable for ensuring the safety of our country and our people," Takeshi Iwaya of the LDP stressed. In protest against the ruling bloc's forced vote, members of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) left the chamber before the vote, although the opposition party had agreed with the ruling parties and Your Party to support the bill. Kenji Eda, former secretary-general of Your Party, also walked out of the chamber, while two other Your Party members--Yosei Ide and Hiroki Hayashi--voted against the bill. Speaking to reporters later, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, "The bill is designed to ensure the safety of the people. We will make efforts to dispel concerns among the public through deliberations in the House of Councillors." "We should remember today as the day that the ruling bloc, with its overwhelming majority, began to lose control," DPJ leader Banri Kaieda said. The bill was sent to the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, immediately. The Upper House will begin deliberations at a plenary session Wednesday after an expected committee vote for the bill in the morning. The legislation could be enacted by the Dec. 6 end of the ongoing session. The so-called designated secrets protection bill will give government agency chiefs the authority to designate state secrets in four areas, including diplomacy and defense. Officials who leak designated secrets could be punished with prison terms of up to 10 years, compared with up to 5 years under the Self-Defense Forces Act and up to one year under the National Public Service Act. Designated secrets will be made public in 60 years at the latest. But there are exceptions for the disclosure rule. Among them are weapons and codes. Chances cannot be ruled out that the designators will on their own discretion enlarge the scope of exceptional secrets to be hidden from the public for longer terms, critics warned. At the Lower House committee meeting on Tuesday, Abe said a third-party panel should be set up to check confidentiality designations but he stopped short of promising to establish the panel. The panel was included in the bill as a pending item. END