New Law on Anti-Piracy	No.636 June 9, 2009
		Discussions started May 27 in the House of Councilors on the new anti-piracy bill after its general outline was explained. The ruling bloc sees developments calmly, as the act was approved already in the House of Representatives on April 23. In accordance with the Diet Act the Lower House is entitled to pass the bill whether it fails to be cleared in the House of Councilors or not. The Self Defense Forces (SDF), deployed already in the waters off the Somali coast thanks to the SDF Act, intensify patrol activities freely, disregarding the constitutional principles. ABROGATE ANTI-PIRACY LAW – DON’T OPEN PATH TO FULL LAW ON MILITARY MISSIONS ABROAD! It is two months since the destroyers Sazanami and Samidare set sailed for the waters off the Horn of Africa for a patrol mission. The two military vessels were sent there in compliance with Article 82 of the Self Defense Forces Act to be authorized to commit in maritime patrol activities. Initially, the government ordered to interdict ships linked to Japanese companies, but in the course of one and a half months the vessels helped protecting foreign boats five times in the name to ‘rescue’ them. The Ministry of Defense explains that the commitments do not constitute maritime interdiction activities but as ‘an obligation to rescue sailors’ or ‘information collection’ pursuant to the Sailors’ Act. The regulations imposed on the maritime patrol mission are thrown away as the ministry insists to counter-attack against firing. Participate P3C Aircraft and Special Forces in Duty Minister Hamada ordered May 15 to deploy two P3C antisubmarine patrol aircraft. The airplanes arrived in Djibouti May 31 with thirty six passengers aboard, who make the total number of personnel 107 to work on the P3C duties. On May 16 fifty officers and soldiers of Central Rapid Reflex Regiment stationed at Utsunomiya Ground SDF Base, north of Tokyo, were celebrated in the farewell party for their departure for Djibouti. The regiment is a special force organized to cope with terrorist actions and ordered to involve in protecting P3C aircraft there. The defense ministry says that P3C aircraft works to suppress pirates and that the mission is part of maritime inspection. However, in the waters of Djibouti no piracy is reported. The machineguns and armored vehicles the ground troopers are equipped with, consequently, target armed groups who are not pirates. The ministry’s explanation totally lacks rationale. Following these developments, a C130 cargo plane of the Air SDF left May 19 for Djibouti to carry personnel from the Ground SDF and weapons aboard. Now in Djibouti all forces of Japan’s SDF, namely Air, Ground and Maritime, are present in full composition: approximately 600 troops are ready to crush several dozens of pirates who seek ransoms. It is a typical example of a proverb: to kill a chicken with a butcher knife. Path to Full Act for Overseas Military Duties The controversial anti-piracy bill, different from the existing legislation on terrorism, for instance, the Anti-Terrorism Special Act and Special Act for Reconstruction in Iraq, does not have limits for destinations of deployment and a period of legal effect. It has a provision, for the first time, to specify ‘use of firearms in order to fulfill a duty’, which has been prohibited due to unconstitutionality by Article Nine. Incidentally, in the current maritime activities the troopers are allowed to use weapons in compliance with Police Act to face situations, like, to prevent criminals from escaping or deter resistance. In other words, the anti-piracy bill leads to full-fledged legislation, with an excuse of pirates, to allow Japan’s military forces to operate abroad without any limitations. It is a long-wished hope of the Liberal Democratic Party and the government. A step to come next is obvious: on the seas a military mission is free, and thus, the same should be true on the ground. The government envisages that SDF may be mobilized to anywhere in the world at any time – it undermines Article Nine. You should see the law as a process to enact a law to authorize unlimited military actions abroad on the eternal basis. Re-Approval in the Lower House, No! Anti-Piracy Act, No! The ruling parties have agreed to extend the current Diet session by 55 days to July 28, though June 3 was set to end. The government’s intentions are clear: to prolong dissolution of the House of Representatives for general elections and to wait for re-approval of the law by the same House. Our task is to encourage social opinions to oppose and abrogate the anti-piracy law and press the government to dissolve the House of Representatives for general elections on an earliest date.