Just Hate It

How can we say that a national leader is legitimate, when he asserts the Constitution, by which his power is vested on, is baseless? Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has been reiterating strange remarks during the discussion in the Diet. “The draft of current constitution was literally made by the occupation army. Having spent a long time, there are provisions out of date. We write our own constitution. That is the concept that opens our future,” told Abe. After all, he simply hates it.

The focus of constitutional argument these days is about reinterpretation of Article IX, which prohibits exercise of collective self-defense right. Although Cabinet Legislation Bureau, which has been the highest authority in interpreting the constitution, had been keeping a standpoint that exercise of collective self-defense right could not be exercised, because it would exceed the requirement of the constitution for unilateral defense, and that the cabinet would need to amend the constitution, if it had wanted to do that.

Abe has been looking to be frustrated with the interpretation. “I am the supreme leader of the government. I will be responsible for statements of the government and exposed to the decision of the nation in the election,” he emphasized. He showed, in other words, his intention to overtake CLB as the authority of interpreting constitution.

Why is Abe so serious about the reinterpretation? That is because he thinks it is necessary. “The security situation around Japan is getting severe and threats easily come over the borders. No nation can protect its peace and security only by it self,” he reiterated this phrase, as if he thought it to be a magic spell.

However, his reasoning has some weak points. He emphasizes that Japan-U.S. alliance will come to an end, if a Japanese Marine Self-defense Force is not helping an attacked U.S. Navy vessel. How the alliance will be broken up, by the way? Is he saying that U.S. would immediately repeal San Francisco Treaty, because Japan is denying to help a U.S. vessel? He also asserts that it is impossible for the Self-Defense Force to remove mines on the sea lane or to inspect a vessel on international sea. But, there is an argument that it is possible within a concept of individual self-defense right, which the constitution already allows the government doing.

The argument of Abe is setting unrealistic limit in the activities of Self-defense Force, threatening the nation with unrealistic possibility in a jeopardy of Japan, and induce the people to follow the government, along with the propaganda of threats from Asian Continent. The biggest problem is the fact that the leader does not have actual strategy to deal with the consequence he will be drawing out.