Photo/Illutration A Science Council of Japan meeting on Oct. 2 approves a request seeking an explanation from Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga about his rejection of six candidates recommended by the council. (Tetsuya Ishikura)

The Abe administration was known for reinterpreting laws and long-standing guidelines to push through its preferred policies on national security and personnel matters. But concerning the approval of recommended members for the Science Council of Japan, it simply rewrote an internal government document.

In 2004, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications compiled the report that said, “It is not expected that the prime minister will reject appointments of candidate members recommended by the Science Council.”

But Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga did so in October, refusing membership to six of 105 scholars recommended by the council.

The 2004 internal document in effect maintained the government stance laid out in 1983, when the Science Council law was revised to change the selection process of council members. Instead of electing new members, the council would recommend the candidates for approval by the prime minister.

At that time, government officials explained in the Diet that the prime minister’s approval would be a formality and all recommended scholars would be appointed.

But in November 2018, the Abe administration had the Cabinet Office secretariat in charge of the Science Council compile a new internal document that said the prime minister was not obligated to appoint all the scholars recommended by the council.

That effectively opened the door for Suga to become the first prime minister to reject new members recommended by the council. The six who were denied membership had in one form or another expressed opposition to various policy stances taken by the Abe administration.

The 2004 document was compiled as explanatory material for Diet deliberations revolving around revising the law regarding the Science Council.

A major change that arose was moving to the current practice of allowing the council to recommend all new members. In the previous system, separate academic organizations submitted their own recommendations.

The ministry document dated Jan. 26, 2004, was recently obtained by Hiroyuki Konishi, an Upper House member with the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

Opposition lawmakers are expected to press Suga on why the new document was put together in 2018 that overturned past practice regarding Science Council recommendations.

In an interview on Oct. 5, Suga said, “There is no change in the thinking of conducting appointments based on the law and the system at the various times when such decisions are made.”

As chief Cabinet secretary, Suga supported Shinzo Abe in his record tenure as prime minister of seven years and eight months.

Under the Abe administration, legal provisions about the retirement age for top prosecutors were revised through a change in interpretation in an apparent attempt to promote those considered close to the government.

The administration also changed the government interpretation regarding the exercise of the right to collective self-defense and passed legislation that allowed for a limited use of that right.

That change was a subject of criticism from among the six scholars rejected by Suga.

Related News