Photo/Illutration Seiichiro Murakami talks to reporters on Oct. 12 after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party punished him for calling former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a “traitor.” (Koichi Ueda)

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has barred Seiichiro Murakami, a former Cabinet minister, from taking official party posts as punishment for calling slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a “traitor” to Japan.

The LDP’s Party Discipline Committee decided on the yearlong suspension against Murakami, former minister of administrative reform, at a meeting on the afternoon of Oct. 12.

The committee said Murakami’s remarks about Abe “harmed a party member’s dignity.”

Murakami, 70, told reporters after the decision: “I take it seriously. I withdraw the remark and apologize.”

He also said he will apologize to Abe’s bereaved family after Yamaguchi Prefecture hosts an Oct. 15 funeral for Abe.

Some of Abe’s allies in the LDP wanted a harsher penalty. But others said the punishment could serve to stifle dissenting opinions in the party, the type of atmosphere that developed in the LDP when Abe was in power.

The penalty against Murakami is the third lightest on the party’s eight-level system.

Murakami will lose his position in the LDP General Council, the party’s highest decision-making body.

“The ‘traitor’ remark was extremely irreverent, and we have all agreed that it was unforgivable,” Seiichi Eto, an Upper House member who chairs the LDP discipline committee, said during the around 90-minute meeting.

Murakami made the remark on Sept. 20 when he took questions from reporters following a meeting of the LDP General Council. A long-time critic of Abe’s policies, Murakami openly opposed the government’s decision to hold a state funeral for Abe, who was shot and killed in July.

Saying he would not attend the state funeral, Murakami said Abe “wrecked public finance, the financial system and foreign diplomacy.”

He continued: “Abe destroyed bureaucratic structures, too, and he had the Unification Church help even with elections. If you ask me, he is a traitor.”

On Sept. 29, two days after the state funeral was held, the Abe faction, the largest in the LDP, approved a resolution to seek severe punishment against Murakami for the “traitor” remark.

Faction members took the issue to LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi.

One member of the Abe faction said about Murakami’s suspension, “It should have been more severe.”

On the other hand, a former Cabinet member said Murakami has always expressed dissenting views about the party’s policies and other issues.

“With his protest, some people thought, ‘There is someone in the LDP who gives a decent opinion,’” the individual said. “The party has been saved by that to some extent.”

Another former Cabinet member said: “It is unprecedented for the party to dole out such a punishment with no record that he made such a remark. We should not make this a precedent to bind people into silence.

“A Diet member has a right to make statements and should be free from the constraints of other people.”

Hiroshi Shiratori, a political science professor at the Hosei University Graduate School of Public Policy and Social Governance, said the term “traitor” is a disturbing remark that could be taken as character assassination.

“At the same time, it is commendable for Murakami to voice his objection to the state funeral,” Shiratori said. “The LDP under the Abe administration quashed opposing viewpoints, and debate was stalled by cooped-up feelings.”

The professor noted that no one from the LDP has openly disputed the punishment against Murakami.

“There is a feel throughout the party that it is difficult to criticize Abe or Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who decided to hold the state funeral for Abe,” he said. “With Murakami no longer a member of the LDP General Council, I am afraid that diverse opinions will not be expressed within the party.”

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