Protesters reject Constitution plan

Opponents claim Abe is ignoring will of Japan's people

TOKYO - About 55,000 people rallied on Wednesday to protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempts to amend Japan's pacifist Constitution as the nation marked its 70th Constitution Memorial Day.

Protesters, including students, legal experts and representatives from opposition parties, gathered in Tokyo's Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park, holding banners and flags and shouting slogans such as "Safeguard the Constitution!" and "No more wars!"

Renho Murata, leader of the largest opposition Democratic Party, said at the gathering that the Constitution belongs to the people and it should be up to the public whether to amend it.

"What the Abe administration has done is threatening the basic principles of the pacifist Constitution and Abe's attempts to amend the Constitution shall be firmly opposed," she added.

Kazuo Shii, head of the Japanese Communist Party, said that what shall be changed is not the Constitution but the government's attempts to ignore the Constitution.

Shori Sato, a citizen in Tokyo, expressed concerns that Japan would be involved in wars without the Constitution.

"It's because of the pacifist Constitution that we could enjoy our life as we do now. We would lose our peaceful life if Japan is involved in wars," he said.

Tazuko Ikeda, another protester, said that people value peace more after experiencing the terrors of war and the pacifist is worth guarding.

On Wednesday, Abe outlined the planned amendments in a video message at a gathering to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Constitution coming into force.

Charter changes

He said he hopes to see a revised Constitution come into effect in 2020 under a plan that will see the first change to the post-World War II charter.

He specifically mentioned Japan's Self-Defense Forces.

"By making explicit the status of the SDF in the Constitution during our generation's lifetime, we should leave no room for contending that the SDF may be unconstitutional," the prime minister said.

Japan's current Constitution is best known for Article 9, in which Japan renounces its right to wage war and promises that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained."

The Constitution has not been revised since it came into effect on May 3, 1947.

According to Japanese law, amending the Constitution requires two-thirds approval in both chambers of the bicameral national Diet as well as approval from the majority of the people in a national referendum.

Revising the Constitution has long been a goal of Abe and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The LDP has been advocating constitutional revision as part of its platform since the party was founded in the 1950s, including changing the war-renouncing Article 9.

The LDP and other forces in favor of revising the Constitution won a two-thirds majority in last year's upper house election, bringing the prime minister's goal of constitutional revision closer to fruition.

Public opinions about amending the Constitution, however, remain differed. A recent poll by Japan's Kyodo News showed that 51 percent of the respondents were against any constitutional amendments, while 45 percent were in favor.

(China Daily 05/05/2017 page11)